The Hall: Before and After

What is our facination with the before and after? Who doesn't love a good makeover show or a magazine article with pictures showing the ugly before and the beautiful after? I decided my own front hallway needed a little improvement; I wanted something a little more inviting to greet me when I opened the front door. As you can see all white can be a little drab and uninspiring. Nothing that a coat of paint can't solve. The painting is a print I picked up in Spain - La Tierra by Cesar Manrique.

Road trippin' down south

Last weekend I took a short little trip to Austin, TX and Nashville, TN. My company had a vehicle in Austin that needed to be driven back to Virginia and while we could have paid a transport company to ship it up here, I thought I'd better go down and take care of it myself. I love Austin -- it's great restaurants, fun night life, live music and eclectic art scene. My company also has a condo there, which they are selling, so I had to take advantage of the super cool pad one last time. This is the view from the condo's 28th floor balcony. You can see why I wanted to visit there one last time before they sell the place. In another life (where I have lots of money) I have a sweet place like this.I flew down to Texas with a co-worker and after two days in Austin, we loaded up the car and started our long journey north. The first day we drove 14 hours through Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee, finally arriving in Nashville around midnight. After a good night's sleep, we wandered around Music City for a day, listening to all the live music pour out into the streets. We enjoyed the music, looked in some of the shops and ate some delicious southern BBQ. I had pulled pork on corn cakes with plenty of coleslaw and BBQ sauce. YUM!

Of course, for me, a trip wouldn't be complete without a visit to an art museum or gallery. I visited the Frist Center for the Visual Arts and saw an amazing exibit of paintings on loan from the Cleveland Art Museum. Here are two of my favorites from the exhibit.

La Vida by Picasso

The Red Kerchief by Monet

Walking down the street in Nashville, I came across a rather unique gallery - Nashville's Smallest Art Gallery. It is just a glass case on the side of the building. I loved these paintings by Ryan Hale.

After enjoying a brief day in Nashville, we hit the hay early so we could leave at 3 a.m. the next day. I was excited to pass though the rest of Tennessee and a large part of Virginia. My favorite part had to be the Smoky Mountains which were so breath taking that when I saw them, I screamed. We passed through them in the early morning just before sunrise and the hills were covered in a thick fog that hovered above the rolling mounds of green. They truly looked smoky, almost to the point of sultry, like a smoky nightclub with an air of mystery. Unfortunately I remembered to pull out my camera after it was too late. This was taken somewhere near the Tennessee - Virginia boarder. My trip through the south was definitely too short. Someday I will plan a proper trip there and take time to visit the Grand Ole Opry, Smokey Mountain National Park, Texarkana (just because I like the name) and other random towns full of interesting people, rich southern soul food and beautiful landscapes. Oh, and I promise I'll take more pictures next time. I am sad that I didn't get a real picture of Nashville or the long country roads through Texas. Next time.

Saratoga Springs

For Memorial Day weekend, Rebecca and I went up to Albany and surprised Emily with a fun little sisters weekend in Saratoga Springs. It was nice to get away and spend some time in horse country. We of course had to try on some gear. Aren't we the cutest cowgirls ever? After a morning of shopping, we hit the Saratoga Farmers' Market where we browsed booths and had some delicious samples. I think a lazy morning at an outdoor marked is one of those simple summer pleasures that I miss during the winter.
After shopping and walking around town, we were ready to relax. The whole point of the weekend was a visit to the famous Roosevelt Bath House and Spa so we were glad to finally be there for our treatments. To start off, we had mineral baths, which, to be honest, seemed a little sketchy to me. I don't even take a bath in my own tub unless I scrub it for hours so the thought of bathing in a public bathtub was a little unappealing. And, when we got into our separate rooms, it kind of felt like a hospital room with an old porcelain tub and institutional white tile, not to mention the water was orange and you couldn't see the bottom of the tub. Who knew what could be lurking in the fizzy water. Once I got past all of that, it was relaxing and I started to understand why people have been going there since the '40s to enjoy a good mineral bath. After a facial and then a massage, we were sufficiently relaxed. It was time to enjoy a night on the town.
After dinner at a deliciously over priced restaurant (Saratoga is famous for them) we went to see Ann Hampton Callaway at the Spa Little Theater. We seemed to be a little out of our age bracket, but it was a brilliant end to a fabulous day. She sings mostly old standards, jazz and blues and does an excellent Barbara Streisand impersonation. We laughed and not just a little. And I am positive I am becoming like my mom -I like waiting after the show to meet the star. I admit when I was younger I was slightly sheepish when our mom would encourage us to go backstage and meet someone who was only being nice to us because he or she needed to maintain a fan-base. But now as I've gotten older, I've embraced this practice. It's fun to get autographs and cheesy posed pictures. Thank goodness I started a blog. Now I have a place to display the backstage photo shoots.

A lazy Sunday in Saratoga

On Sunday we got up early and watched Emily's husband, Doug, finish a duathlon. (He finished 3rd in his age group - Congrats Doug!) It was nice to get up early and enjoy the nice weather. While we were waiting for him to finish the race, Rebecca and I wandered around some of the art galleries in the up & coming art district of Saratoga. Then we met up with Em & Doug for brunch at Mrs. London's bakery. It was so delicious, I cleaned my plate. The Saratoga sparkling water was a highlight too. They're very proud of their water up there.We enjoyed the perfect Sunday afternoon -- lying on the grass in the cool shade of a big tree taking a nap.

More pictures of Saratoga Spa State Park and the bath houses. The whole complex was designed to be a place where people would linger and relax. We did just that.