Friday Favorites # 18

1. Richmond, VA print ($30): I think this print is so cute and finds a great home among so many other great Richmond prints on Etsy.
2. Round Spindle Table ($67): This cutie is from Wal-Mart if you would believe it!  It comes in a variety of colors so it could fit any decor, but I think the yellow was super fun for a nice pop of color
3. Ball Mason Jar Printable (free):  There is not much I love more than vintage Mason jars and free, so this one is a winner all around!
4. Cork Globe ($129): I was heavily crushing on this cork globe but honestly cannot imagine spending $129 on it, but if you have that kind of money it  is a super cute find!
5. Eyelet Sundress in Guava ($30): I got this dress back when it was on sale for $20 and I absolutely love it!  I often pair it with  navy sweater and it is the perfect color combination!  An excellent addition to your summer wardrobe!

Road Trip Day 6: Little Rock, Memphis & Oxford

This was the first hiccup day of our semi-planned trip.  Aside from the first 4 nights, we intended to book hotels while we were on the road, taking advantage of the last minute hotel deals on priceline and orbitz.  Well when trying to book a hotel for the night in Memphis (our intended stop for the evening), we kept coming up empty, come to find out it was the beer festival so everything had been booked up for weeks.  With this new realization, we need to get an early start if we were going to do everything we wanted to do in Memphis for the day.  So we headed over to the Clinton Presidential Center.  It was an intriguing building, but made for a good early morning learning sesh.  Unfortunately, and much to CJ's dismay, we did not spot Hillary, but we did pick up a few interesting pieces of information about our former president.

Hey Hil! CJ is a fan!

Random thing, there was a dinosaur exhibit that was opening in the Presidential Center about two days after we were there, so they had all kinds of dinosaur things around.

Tennessee welcomes us for the first time on this trip...

Hitting up Graceland

Elvis' home

So although it took FOREVER (actually about an hour in line to get on the bus to drive across the street--don't get me started), we finally made it in and got to view the elaborate design style of the one and only Elvis Presley....

Mirrors on the ceiling

The Jungle Room

better view of the house

After our time at Graceland, we were cutting it close but really wanted to check out the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, so we got there about 3:30 and had just under 90 minutes to do the museum as quickly as possible (which I do not recommend)...

The Lorraine Motel is where MLK was killed and they have taken the Motel and turned it into a museum, they even have his room exactly how it was the night he was murdered.

After we left the museum, we headed straight to the Peabody so we could see the little duckies make their exit for the day, it was crowded but we went to the upper level to take in the action...

Google Awesome Video

Then of course we had to hit up the lights and signs on Beale Street before heading out of town for the day...

Since our next stop was Oxford, MS, we just went ahead and drove that way crossing into Mississippi and CJ finally completed her 50 state journey.

She was so excited!

We walked around "The Square" in Oxford and got a yummy southern dinner before finally calling it a night!

Road Trip Day 5: Gateway Arch & Little Rock

Though our tickets were not until 10am, we were up early (see the sunrise in the below pictures), so we thought we would see if we could go into the Gateway Arch at an earlier time.  

Since we had no problem at all switching to an early time (apparently it is just hard to get a later time), we were scheduled to go up at 9:15am, so we made our way over to the arch and snapped about a million (okay, okay, maybe only like 50) pictures of the arch before heading inside for security and gift shop shopping, since we still had about 20 minutes until the tram would go up.

We were in the first set of trams to leave for the day and so nothing was crowded and it was a great blessing as we only had 3 of us in the pod car.  I am not normally claustrophobic but I could maybe see it being a little crowded if you had 5 people in there and then made it to the top and it was super crowded there too!  But the views were incredible and the experience was unforgettable, so this definitely topped my list of favorites for this trip!

Cardinals stadium from above

View of the Mississippi River

Old Courthouse Building, which is now were the Park Rangers have their ticketing office for the Arch

Pano View

picture taken about 630 feet in the air!!

Waiting for our pod car to arrive

After the arch, we were on the road again.  But this time our trip took us on some cute almost back-roads into Arkansas!  The day was beautiful and the trip was enjoyable!

We arrived in Arkansas and CJ checked off her 49th state!

Me having no numbers, apparently felt pressure to pose....

After all the states I have been to, I have to say Arkansas definitely does it right with their signs and tourist info.  We stopped in at the welcome center for some information and were greeted with a friendly smile, a bag of brochures and some Arkansas pins just for stopping it!  I loved the enthusiasm!

After only a brief bit into the state, we stopped at Pinnacle Mountain and it was easy to see why Arkansas is called "The Natural State."  The view was beautiful and full of lush greens everywhere.  This was just one of many many mountains in the area; we were able to make a short walk up the mountain for some beautiful views.

Unfortunately, we did not get to meet Jim Bob and Michelle, like I had hoped for, but we did enjoy some of the beauty the state had to offer.  

We also did a drive by of Little Rock Central High School on recommendation of one of our clients.  I was amazed at the vastness of this high school.  It was so big and is still in operation today.  "This was the site of the most prominent national example of the implementation of the May 17, 1954 supreme court decision on Brown v. the Board of Education, where nine African-American students' bravely persisted in attending a formerly all-white school."   We have all seen the pictures, when the troops were brought in by President Eisenhower to eventually protect the students, I cannot imagine what life was like for them.  Having to have an escort to school everyday to ensure my safety.  Quite an amazing history...

We also made our way to River Market in Little Rock and enjoyed some live music and a yummy dinner by the River before making it back to the hotel for the evening.

Tomorrow it is off to the Clinton Presidential Library, maybe there will be a Hillary sighting???