Small Town America Tour

We had the best time on our little back road tour.     This was planned as a very relaxing trip, no special places to stop unless we saw something interesting.    Of course, food was always at the top of our itinerary!     

We started out around 9:00 a.m. on Thursday morning  hitting I-65 heading north.     We planned on getting off in Clanton and traveling on Highway 31 as far as we could.

    

Just outside of Montgomery looking toward Prattville

Sons of the Confederacy flag

 

Heading into downtown Clanton and some pretty scenery along the way

  

 

 

This old antebellum home was behind a fast food place where we stopped.   Unfortunately, it was in pretty bad shape.

 

From Clanton we arrived in Birmingham on Highway 31.    Hwy. 31 is also known as the Old Montgomery Highway or the Birmingham Highway.    It just happens to run by the Riverchase Galleria (as well as Old Time Pottery – and yes, we stopped there for a little Christmas shopping).

 

Skyline of downtown Birmingham

Just outside of Birmingham we next came to Warrior, Alabama where I snapped this old car.     My dad and mom had one just like it when I was a little girl!

This looked like a great place to stop to eat some good old fashioned barbeque and it was soooo good!

 

 

Here’s Big Daddy himself!

Continuing on Hwy. 31 we headed to Cullman, Alabama.

Cullman is home to the Ava Maria Grotto.    A monk who lived on the grounds of  a Catholic mission carved all of this work at the Grotto!    It is stunning to see his work!

Looking down the path at the beginning of the tour of the grotto.

Back to the town on Friday we discovered that Cullman was going to host their annual Christmas tour the next day.     All the shops were decked out for Christmas.

 

Years ago when my mom and I visited relatives in Cullman, I discovered this place called Southern Architecture and Accents.    Outside the shop was this huge urn planed with a fern.   Let’s go inside and check it out….

   

This place is unbelievable!    It stretches on forever with one-of-a-kind architectural pieces.    Most would be for a big home and a large pocketbook!

 

 

Way out of my price range but just gorgeous….

  

 

 

 

 

 
I actually saw this piece in their workshop.    Loved the color and I got a little sample of the wood to bring home to use in the future.

 

We saw this store around the corner and it turned out to be my favorite place.    

Lots of hand painted harlequins throughout the store.     One of the rooms was full of nothing but lamps and lamp shades.     I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of all those lamps…

This large picture was so pretty

I would love to have a cozy spot like this to read or watch TV.     Again, more harlequins!

  

 

 

These were paper maiche (sp?) Christmas ornaments and only about $12 each!

More pretties…

 

Another wall painted with creme and gold

Then we started driving around the historical home district.     This was just a little building next to the one below

According to the sign outside of this cute little cottage, this was the first home built in Cullman

 

  I had to take this of these chairs in the side yard of this home.    I just got two chairs and a table like this from the lady who held my mom’s estate sale.    She had them painted red but I’m going to paint them white next spring

Look at that tree in the yard with the chairs….took my breath away!

 

I loved this little house and especially the front door.    This is the door I want on the front of my home which looks a lot like this one (painted brick, etc)

 

    

There were lots of planted window boxes which made me want to come home and plant something in mine

 

 

 

Moving on the next day to Decatur, Alabama.    This first house I fell in love with.    It’s hard to tell from the pictures but it was so darling.     I’m sure the lady living here thought we were stalking her…she was working in her yard and I made hubby go around the block several times so I could just drool over this cottage.    Wait till you see what I spotted around back on her porch!

 

Look at her pumpkins and gourds all piled up here..so cute.

And her windowbox….to die for!

 

But look here!    Drop cloths on her porch!     I had already planned to do a drop cloth treatment on the frame of my gazebo in the back next year but isn’t this stunning?

 

    

  Cotton fields of Alabama!

Our hotel was in the downtown historic district, right across the street from antique and speciality shops

Pretty little tablescape in this window

Looking down the street at the shopping area.    You can see the hotel where we stayed in the far right corner

   

Lobby in our hotel 

    

  

  More windowboxes!

 

 

  

And finally heading home!

 

We had a wonderful time.     We even stopped at a yard sale Saturday morning in Decatur where I scooped up a rusty-looking candlestick for $1.00 and a huge rattan thing-y for my front door for 5.00.    

Yesterday (Wednesday) I had the pleasure of meeting a lady who had made a comment on my blog when I posted about Taylor and the Christmas on the Coosa pageant.     She works downtown close to me so we met for lunch.     I think it’s the beginning of a great friendship!    Hi Michelle!

Also, on Monday I’ll be giving ya’ll some great recipes using Bryan sausages and Little Smokies.      More on that soon……until then, stay safe!

Back Roads and Small Southern Towns

Tomorrow hubby and I will head out bright and early for a few days.    We have no specific destination in mind….just drive toward north Alabama to see the fall foliage traveling the backroads of Alabama and  passing through small southern towns.   We hope to see some sights like this:

….while driving down a beautiful tree lined road like this….

and I have no doubt we will see something very much like this:

 

 

I will be sharing lots of photos with ya’ll when we get back.            See ya’ll then!

Christmas On The Coosa

Saturday kicked off the Christmas season in the little town where my daughter and her family live with the Christmas On The Coosa pageant.    There are several categories and Taylor wanted to participate in the Petite Miss Christmas On The Coosa.     All along, we never talked about “winner or losers” but that it would be fun to do and MiMi (me) would have her a fabulous dress made!    Some of her friends from ballet were also participating so Taylor was really excited  and looking forward to having a good time. 

After an initial meeting and one practice session, today was the big day.     Of course, the mamas (and grandmammas) were more nervous than the little girls.    

We tried a couple of bows in her hair to see which one we liked best.  Taylor’s hair is so thick (like her mom’s and mine) that her curls fell out before we left and we had to re-roll (is that a word) her hair again.

 

I found a wonderful lady that makes beautiful clothes for little girls.     Taylor’s dress is a simple “pillowcase dress” that ties on the shoulders.    I had her initials monogrammed in white,  just lovely. 

 

Lots of the little girls congregated in the bathroom to dress and primp.    Taylor and her friend posed for this sweet picture.     I also surprised Taylor with a little pearl bracelet with a silver cross.    She had seen one she liked a few weeks ago and I decided to gift her with one for her special event.

Each girl was asked a few questions about their likes, interests, and hobbies.    Here Taylor is telling the interviewer her favorite singer is Taylor Swift.    And yes, she is barefoot….it’s a Southern thing for little girls to wear their heirloom dresses and go barefoot!    She got her toenails painted a ballet slipper pink.

    Doing “the walk”….she was so poised for such a little girl

 

How could you not fall for that face?

 

Beautiful mom and daughter

Taylor and one of her cousins

 

Taylor and her sweet friend Mary Ashley.     You might recognize Mary Ashley as being the daughter of Melissa at A Little Loveliness.     

While neither Taylor nor Mary Ashley won a crown or title, no one can deny these girls are winners in anyone’s book.

I was so proud of how Taylor handled herself.     She went to have a good time and that’s exactly what happened.    It didn’t bother her in the least she did not get crowned.    Now that’s a winner to me!

One (or Two) Projects Closer!

Remember earlier this week when I posted a few teaser pics showing a few projects I had in the works? I actually got one of them finished today! And on top of that, I went ahead and started on another one I’ve been meaning to do for quite a while.

Here’s the little teaser photo from earlier this week:

When cleaning out my mom’s house, I found some great old unfinished wood frames so I took four of them and painted them out black. I might distress them later but for now, they will be solid black. On Monday, I went to Hobby Lobby for white mats and glass. I got these cheap little mats for $1.99 each and when I found out the glass was going to run me $7.00 per pane, I again found a more cost-friendly alternative and picked up four of these:

$1.99 for these too! It has a cardboard back and you can’t tell the glazing is not glass. So for around $16.00 I had 4 mats and 4 pieces of “glass” for my free frames!

Here’s my new black and white gallery I hung in the kitchen so everyone can enjoy seeing them all the time.

(I don’t know why these first few pictures look so washed out….the last two show the true color of the walls in the kitchen)

I’ve had this old butcher block table I bought many years ago at a little flea market for $25. It’s rickety and the base is not real wood but cheap looking veneer. When I was single, I used it as an island of sorts in my kitchen but now that THE MAN lives here, it would not work for him so I moved it. I keep dishtowels in the drawer. I’ve wanted to do a paint treatment on the veneer, maybe a distressed creamy white and on the top (which is real wood) stain it dark to match my table. So I went ahead and did the staining and will tackle the painting another day. If anyone can give me some hints on how to paint that veneer, I would be forever in your debt!

Here it is after I taped off the top. I know some of you would have used some kind of stain blocker or sanded down those water rings, but patience is not one of my virtues, and I like immediate results, so the stains stayed. I think it gives it character, don’t you?

I slathered on about 3 coats of Min Wax Dark Walnut stain, let it seep in for a little bit, then wiped it down. The wood really took that stain – just like I wanted!

More washed out pics….it must be the light, sure can’t be anything I did, right?

I’m still working on the table (below). When I took the tape off this morning, some of the stain had seeped below to the painted part so I will have to fix that before I show it to you.

Don’t forget to re-set your clocks back one hour Saturday night (fall back).

EDITED TO ADD:

(I PREVIOUSLY SAID "SO YOU'RE NOT LATE FOR CHURCH" BUT A VERY ASTUTE READER POINTED OUT YOU'D BE EARLY! THANKS TERRY!)

Wouldn’t You Love To Know What I’m Working On?

I finally got in some time to start some projects I’ve been putting off for some time.     Sunday I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get as many started as I could and of course, that meant NOTHING got finished.    In my defense, I will say that I ran out of “supplies” such as paint, I needed some stuff from Hobby Lobby which of course is closed on Sunday, and then ran out of steam and daylight.    I was doing a lot of painting outside and it is supposed to rain a lot this week, so I wanted to use what daylight I had.    Anyway, here’s just a few of the projects I’ve got going on and hope to finish up and cross them off my never-ending list soon….

   

 

 

 

That’s three things I’ve got going but none completed.     However, I do plan to get at least two of them finished this week and then I can share that with ya’ll.   

I’ll be excited to get a few more things done.    I have two big projects I would love to get started on and finished before Christmas but that remains to be seen.    They involve painting my bedroom and bathroom and COMPLETELY re-vamping my sunroom.    Fingers crossed!