vie a la table

wil and i went our separate ways the last two days!

wil walked into our cabin-home for the next two months right about the same time i stepped into our nashville-for sale home.

yesterday i went with my boss to atlanta…she goes once a month and this was my last time accompanying her (it’s usually every other month between me and cassie who joins). it was lame to add two days to the tally of being apart from wil, but before realizing that, i knew i wanted to take advantage of my last chance of visiting atlanta and our usual design stops.

wednesday we leave at 7 am, and it’s a 4 hour drive…we head straight to the design center…walking through showrooms looking at furniture pieces and different lines, requesting fabric samples to take back, and any other odds and ends that we are looking for at the time. it’s always really enjoyable to see things in person and also match faces with names of the people we talk a lot with on the phone.

it also made me curious if whoever i might work for visits the seattle design center and what that might be like.

we wrap up right at 5 when it closes, and usually have a great dinner…last night was no let down. we more often than not will shop for an hour or two- this time we visited the mall (usually it’s philene’s basement). but thursday has in store a very early start with lots of walking, so we honestly go back to the hotel and go to bed very early!

now, i know wil and all those starbucks folks are used to getting up at 4 and 5 in the morning, but it’s not so easy for those of us who are used to getting up 2-3 hours later. it’s rough! but we do it not so much for the deals, but by getting to the antique market while everyone is literally pulling stuff off the trucks, you are ensuring you get the best stuff before someone else! we wake up at 4:45 nashville time, and get to the buildings at about 6…

here is not long after we arrived in the south building…this row of vendors was just starting to unload. carolyn was checking out the size of a chest to be used for in a powder with a sink. it didn’t work.

this is maybe 3 or 4 hours later, and mind you, this view shows about 1/15th of what this building holds, plus a 2nd building of the same size…the ‘booths’ in this building are less defined, except for those hanging blue signs of letters, and tend to look a little more sparse than the north building because the south tends to have large furniture pieces and the north all the lighting, and other piddly things like silver, jewelry, books, etc. and it’s kind of madness the whole time. the economy has hit it, with usual vendors not showing up, or repetitive inventory, or just less inventory like this picture shows…more often than not you are maneuvering between pieces close together.

there’s definitely a lot of interesting nice pieces, but there’s still junk and stuff you wonder why someone bought that thinking someone else would want to buy it from them… our favorite usual dealers are either european, or go to europe themselves.

one very specific thing about scotts is the food. there are ‘food courts’ all over, and it’s all junk! this one is particular makes the whole center smell sooo gross..greasy southern food. just think about smelling fried catfish at 9 in the morning. pleasant.

oddly enough, after a lucky morning after buying a bunch, the power went out in the whole building while we were trying to look at oriental rugs. instead of picking a rug in the dark that we thought was brown and unroll at home and find out it’s like hot purple or something, we left about an hour early. i was quietly thankful, because usually the last hour is the hardest on my feet and mental endurance.

we got to nashville earlier than usual, and i made my way to our quiet home…i don’t want to get myself all down, but it’s really weird sitting at the computer just waiting to hear for the dogs to come up the stairs and see me.

wil, on the other hand, made it to brevard! yesterday was full of goodbyes and last social endeavors…golf, lunch, driving around, dinner, games. and i got a picture from his phone last night…

we decided in the last week to actually let the dogs be on the couch since it was the end of their time with that couch, and who cares! gracie had definitely tried to establish this for the last….well, forever, so you can tell she was all over it, and i don’t think ava quite gets it. : )

it looks like wil might have been stuck in some traffic, but he’s there! i asked him to take a picture of our cabin, so i will share. or maybe he can! maybe we can separately update the blog while we have our own adventures. that’d be fun.

Filed under:
ava, gracie, kris, life, photos, tennessee, work by kris