my nashville dream

Did you watch the series debut of Nashville last night on ABC? I didn't...I'd long since watched it online because I am just not into delaying gratification. I have to tell you, I thought from the show previews (and see also the movie Country Strong) that it was going to be pretty cheesy.   It isn't entirely without cliche and the Southern accents could use a little work, but I love the music, I love seeing Tennessee in lots of beauty shots, and I LOVE Connie Britton. 

I think she's really good in this role if for nothing more than I never saw her as Tami Taylor, her character from Friday Night Lights. She's full-on channeling Faith Hill on the stage and I'm thinking Martina when she's being a mom. And her hair....

Here's my dream, though, and tell me if you're feeling it, too. Kyle Chandler (aka, Coach Taylor) makes a guest cameo as his character not-Dusty from Pure Country. 

photo credit here

Now that I'm certain I will never have perfect country music singer hair this is my new Nashville dream. 

In Knoxville with Gavin Rossdale and Garden & Gun

I flew down to Tennessee this weekend for a super quick visit.  There was a wedding.  There was love.  There was food and laughter and there was sleep lost because there was, as always, a time deficit.  For fun, there was even Gavin Rossdale on Gay Street (no Gwen, but Zuma + a nanny; they were getting gelato from here). I love a celebrity sighting.

The current issue of Garden and Gun has a great little feature on Knoxville. It tells of a city that is special but not over-confident.  You read the story and you would never believe it's about a place that, for years, has voted Olive Garden its favorite Italian restaurant.  I felt like a proud native reading that article, but as I dined on Market Square and strolled around downtown this weekend I felt a little like a curious tourist....one who is already anticipating her next return trip. 

When the Sun Sets the Moonshines

If my father was on Facebook, this would be his profile picuture....

Without fail, if the man is entertaining, be it in swim trunks and flip flops or a more formal affair, as was this weekend, celebrating my stepmother's birthday...

Big Dave, despite having lived years in Virginia Beach, cannot tame his inner Appalachian, and when the night grows dark, out comes Tennessee's finest - a Mason jar of moonshine.

For those of you who know a little about hootch, you've likely heard of the legendary brewer Popcorn Sutton. Somehow, Daddy still manages to get his hands on some vintage 'shine - only the best for our guests, you know. And though, for most people, it's their first taste of white whiskey, without fail they ask for a second sip.

I'm guilty of embracing this novelty when I have parties sometimes, too. Most people don't keep moonshine in their home bars, but....I suppose it's like growing up with guns. When you've always had it around, it doesn't even phase you. Unless of coures, you sip too much...

In Washington, Tennessee State Society used to host a party called When the Sun Sets the Moon Shines. Locals may have wondered where such a clever name was born. I'm oddly proud to say you can thank my father for that one.

Taking Care of Business - Graceland

While planning last weekend's trip to West Tennessee, I discovered that few of my East Tennessee family and friends (save, obvioulsy, the Taylor Mades) have actually been to Graceland. We're more of a Dollywood people, I suppose.

Though I've been to Memphis a hand full of times, I'd only just driven by the Gates. Sarah (also native Knoxville) hadn't been either...

So, with Elizabeth, (native Nashville - those Middle Tennesseeans must caucus with Elvis; she's never been to Dollywood)  who is the ultimate Elvis fan and repeat Graceland guest, we - as Elvis might say - took care of business!!

Confession: I sort of loved it!

That's Sarah and me in the TV room. I think Elvis would have loved One Tree Hill, you don't?? I mean, hello Tyler Hilton. Hee.

Bellied up to one of the King's bars...college style. Here's where I would have mixed E a Dolly Partini... Thank you very much, he would have said. Join me for dinner?

That was Lisa Marie's swingset...

It looks just like the model all of us had as little girls, too!


Far be it for me to not keep in theme with well, anything, so...appropriately, for lunch at Rockabilly's Diner, I split a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwhich with E (Elizabeth...not to be confused, obvs, with Elvis) that...like the rest of the food I ate while in Tennessee, left my diet, um....all shook up.
 

Walking in Memphis

 ...and Nashville! Ever had one of those weekends that you'd anticpated for months, and it STILL managed to be more fun than you'd expected? I'm fresh off one...

An unexpected and extended stay in Nashville gave me a night dining with Jenni at her favorite GOOP restaurant......

where I ate, hands down, the most amazing bruchetta of my life. It tasted like cake...and was almost too pretty to bite!

There was also an impromtu visit with my old friend, Lori, who ten years, several pounds (mine) and two children (hers) ago was a reporter with me in Knoxville.

Now she's the toast of Nashville with her amazing new career as a Franklin-based designer at Re-Do.

Here's a little peak into her shop...

P.S. Nashville Readers: You may recognized her husband...

After seeing Lori, Sarah, Elizabeth and I hit the road, next stop Memphis. The mixed cd was the perfect backdrop for a little road trip conversation inspired by deep and probing questions....

Before we knew it we had taken Flight at dinner....

Lobster biscuits and gravy, anyone?

There were cupakes, too...

and cupcake carnage...

The next day we would find ourselves down in the jungle room, getting roughed up by the Peabody Duck Police and finally, seeing our friend Jenny get married!

The only thing we didn't have: special t-shirts like these fellow girls trippers...

which might have given us, for a fleeting moment, the Delta blues.

Tennesscenes....

If you no longer live where you were raised, you'll likely know what I mean when I say this about going home....

Sometimes, when you're visiting, you can't wait to get out of there, and back to your new life. Other times, you wonder why you ever took a different path...

It is when you feel the latter that you have the best time, obviously, and feel the warmest about your home. That's how I felt last week down in East Tennessee.

It isn't always that way. I'm not proud of it, but sometimes, I get above my raisin' when I roll into my hometown. I see everything through the eyes of a Washingtonian, and become someone who thinks she's a little more cosmopolitain than those who've never lived in a bigger, faster place.   I know I'm not the only person whose homecoming has left them feeling a little puffed-up, but I'm just 'fessing up to it.

I should also confess that I didn't truly love and certainly never fully appreciated where I grew up 'til I left it. Now, I often fall short of the words to describe what it is I actually even miss, which at times is everything and sometimes nothing but the people I love who are there still.

I can't even really put into words what it is that makes it so much different from or more special than living in D.C. or Maryland, where for ten years I've lived, but when asked, still say I'm from Tennessee.

It's been hard for me to bridge the gap from where I'm from, to where I choose to live now.

I was shopping last week in Knoxville and heard a sweet little lady twanging so hard, I swear, I couldn't make out what she was saying. Such a scene is not unlike when I'm shopping around Washington and someone is speaking a different language, only last week, in Tennessee,  I felt a tad like the foreigner, and that made me a little sad.

Home is where your heart is, so it's said, but most of my nearest and dearest are still in Tennessee...

I have more friends than I can count between Northern Virgnia and Pennsylvania, but my oldest (and even some of my newest) friends are all down South.

I've learned to love blue crab, and even Old Bay, but nothing tasted better to me than the Grainger County tomato sandwiches I ate last week....

sitting on my mom's back porch.

I may never live down South again, and sometimes I wonder if I did live there, would I love it as much as I do now because I don't live there?

I celebrate the South for all its cliched fame (Football! Sweet Tea! BBQ! Y'all!) but there are bad things about it that can't be ignored. As a native I will defend the region like a daughter should, though I am as guilty as many for having empty pride for just being born Southern.

Until I live there again and certainly if I never move back, I'm sure I'll keep romanticing Dixie like some ex-boyfriend who really is better as a memory. Still, I know what keeps a little bit of my heart there really is bigger than a bumper sticker. I know it takes more than simple geography to make a place special, which is what I keep reminding myself as I slip back into the life I have here...just below the Mason-Dixon...while missing, still, a life lived at a Southern pace. 

Hello, Dolly!

People from Tennessee love Dolly, our most famous native. Little blond-headed girls from Tennessee who grew up with an affinity for gold lame and got their boobs at an unnatural age, well...they adore her.

As a one-time season pass holder to Dollywood and devoted Dolly fan, I offer you this How To on making the most of your Dolly Parton concert experience...

Because Dolly is, quite simply, a national treasure people, even those not from Tennessee, will line up hours before her show....

Patrick lives Two Doors Down from Beth

 even in the sweltering Virignia sun. 

I work 9 to 5 with these guys

With coolers and blankets in tow, you must be in line very early to ensure a prime viewing spot...

Steven used the down time to whip up a centerpiece for our spread from flowers growing in the Wolf Trap garden...

...because if ever there is a show for which you illegally pull flowers from a national park should go big or go home, it is Dolly!

Kenny Rogers for Islands in the Stream? Clearly!

Kenny Rogers Roasters for your concert picnic?  Please. Only a giant ham will do for Dolly.

You will, obviously, also need biscuits. Dolly's Dixie Fixins, y'all.

So as to ensure that no one picks up someone else's Dolly Partini, drink labels inspired by Dolly song and film characters are also recommend.

While Dolly sings everthing from Jolene to the Hannah Montanna theme song, one must sing along...and maybe even clog a little during Rocky Top. You singing with Dolly while Dolly sings Miley? Truly, the best of both worlds.

Even if you have to be at work very early the next morning...

you must stay til you see Dolly's bus pull away immediately following her encore. Her band will still be on stage playing, but with a police escort, she'll travel into the night. She's just that DHollywood.


Despite the heat and the hard ground, you will have an absolute blast!

And when you read your local paper's review the next day, and they describe Dolly and her performance as "real and gorgeous"...well, you will agree.

Your next move, after making an appointment with your hair dresser to go a bit blonder, will be to plan a trip to, where else......Dollywood.