I never was a Girl Scout, but I last week I got to be an Art Scout! What is an Art Scout? An Art Scout is an art🎨 teacher that "will try to promote art and the art community and to help others create art." Also, the teachers must commit to living a colorful life.
Art Scouts is a group started by Laura Lohmann, Cassie Stephens, Ginger Pacer, and Jennifer Alvarado. If interested in Art Scouts, check out the Facebook page. (Click HERE for the Art Scouts Facebook Page)
What could be a better trip for 2 sisters 👱👱 that both teach art 🎨? How could we pass up a trip to Nashville 🎸🎸🎸 and a chance to be an art student again? We toss ed the idea around and decided Art Scouts was a must! 👏👏👏👏👏
We started the trip early on Tuesday morning. Heading out at the break of dawn for Nashville, we drove up I-75 North breezed through Atlanta with no traffic jams. The last time the sisters cruised through Atlanta non-stop was on an airplane. Trust me, Atlanta traffic is horrendous.
My sister, Kim, was a bit annoyed that we had to leave Perry, Georgia, so early. I wanted to leave because I was excited about getting to Nashville. Fun was awaiting! There were sights to see! There was lunch to be had! Unbeknownst to me, Nashville was an hour behind our time. Instead of arriving at 1:00, we arrived before noon. Seriously, lunch was barely being served because we were so EARLY. Kim was not loving me for waking her so early, but you never know about Atlanta traffic.
Once we got to Nashville, we searched for a parking lot. Since we were so early, we found an empty parking lot close to the lunch spot that we had chosen. Oh boy, the parking was a problem. I am peculiar about parking spots. I do not like to park close to people. I do not like dings. So, I finally find the perfect spot. I back in the car in the spot. I get out. Kim yells from pay machine, "What number are you in?" I got out and looked, but the doggone number was rubbed off. So, I moved the car again. I get parked just right. I get out. Kim yells again, "What is your space?" I look and see that the number is rubbed off this space too. So I decided that it would be a great idea💡 to look to see if the number was rubbed off before I parked my car 🚙 on the third try. Guess what? I found a spot with a number and all was good. Nashville, you need to get the parking lot folks to borrow some black paint from Cassie Stephens and re-paint those numbers. Parking was not a pleasant experience and it is the first experience. Paint those numbers, Nashville people! Paint is good for tourism!
After the car was parked in the numbered spot, I wanted to get my guitar out and strum on the streets of Nashville. Now, I can officially say that I have played in Nashville. After the shabby concert for the parking lot people, we headed for the Acme Feed and Seed restaurant. We look and see "American Steam Feed Company" on the side of a building. Kim tells me the restaurant is closed. We had a nice sister fight (one of many) as I tried to explain that we were going to Acme Feed and Seed. Yes, we walked around the corner to find the location of our next meal, Acme Feed and Seed. If your interested in the cool foodie 🍝🍕🍔 place, click HERE for more information.
Don't y'all just love the guitar 🎸 that my son sharpied for me? (Yes, sharpied is a verb for art teachers.) Click HERE for the story about Rob painting a guitar for his mama.
Here is Kim giving me the look. The look is quite familiar. In many instances, the look exudes a strong emotion and is usually followed by her saying, "Really?'"
Once we filled our bellies with burgers and fries, (Omg, delish) we headed for the top floor and snapped a few pics.
Can I just say something about the word "belly" here? My hubby told me that his mom did not let him use the word belly. Wha? I mean, how would you say belly button? Do you just say button? What about belly ache? If you just say ache, well it is not specific. Beer belly? Belly buster? Belly flop? Belly laugh? Bellyful?
After doing a few Snapchats from the roof, we departed for the Johnny Cash Museum. Johnny Cash is just classic. We could not miss the opportunity to view some of "the man in black's" cool stuff. We paid about $20.00 to get into the museum. We both enjoyed our time checking out all of Johnny's life and times. On the way out, we saw that Johnny actually liked to draw. There were several of his drawings on the wall in the museum. What about that? Johnny Cash liked to draw. Well paint me green and call me a cucumber!
My friend, Laura Harrison, loves Jack White. Of course, she has influenced me and I also love Jack White. Jack White owns Third Man Records in Nashville. If you are interested in Third Man Records, click HERE.
We had another parking space problem at Third Man Records. We drove around and around trying to find a parking space. I tell you, we were making ourselves and the people on the street dizzy because we were going round and round searching for the perfect parking space. Finally, I just stopped the car and we introduced ourselves. We got their addresses and plan on sending them Christmas🎄🎅 cards next year.
Once we were in, we were in awe of the place. Third Man Records was worth the parking lot hunt. We did not get to see Jack White.😔 The people at Third Man Records were super nice and real groovy. The shop is small and there were people all over the place. Once again, I picked up a guitar. Lucky for Jack's employees, the amplifier would not work. Finally, we departed Jack's place. We dropped a few $﹩💵﹩$ at Third Man Records.
We found some wall art in Nashville that was super cool. This wall was my favorite. It was painted by Jason Woodside. (Click here for Jason Woodside info)
Right across the street from Jason Woodside's mural, we found Kelsey Montague's Wings. For more on Kelsey, click here.We posted about the wings recently. (Click here for Kelsey Montague Post)
Finally, we sadly departed Nashville for the location of Art Scouts, Montgomery Bell State Park. (Montgomery Bell Link) If Nashville traffic was like Atlanta traffic, we could possibly make it to Montgomery Bell by the time Jimmy Fallon came on The Tonight Show.
Once we got checked in, we headed for The Loveless Cafe. (The Loveless Cafe Link)
At the Loveless Cafe, we went right in and sat down. The nice waitress came over to our table. Kim asked about what was good and the waitress said that she loved the pork chops. The waitress said that she had eaten the pork chops every day of her first year of working there. So, what did I do? I ordered the pork chops. Kim, well she ordered a salad. The waitress walked off and Kim said, "Why did you order pork chops? You don't even like pork chops." I did not know really. I just felt like the lady was so excited about the dang pork chops that I should order them.🐷🐷🐷🐷🐷 Life is all about building others up. If I have to eat pork chops, then, I will eat pork chops.
The food was so good, except for the pork chops.😋 I am sure if I had like pork chops, they would have been good. There were 2 pork chops and they were big. The pork chops were dipped in a gallon of batter and fried. I tell you, they were BIG like the size of a green Frisbee. Here we are taking a picture. You cannot see Kim, but she is there.
Do you see the No Vacancy sign in the picture above. OMG, this sign brings back childhood memories or maybe I should say nightmares. On the Cochran family trips, we would never call ahead and make reservations. As most folks in our area, we often went to Panama City Beach. Bobo (our dad) woke us up and we headed out before dawn. Our first stop was the Waffle House. I always ordered a waffle and bacon. Yummy to the tummy. I wonder if Mama Ray likes the word tummy. Anyway, we get to the beach strip and we start looking for a hotel. We ride and ride. Bobo gets out, gets out, gets out, x 100 times and finally finds us a place to stay.
I have to tell this Bobo vacation story kinda, real quick. Kim, Bobo, and I took the family on vacation to St. George Island. We love St. George. Bobo rented a house. We had all the families. I mean we pack, y'all. We even take the hermit crabs to the beach. It is like a homecoming for the hermit crabs. Finally, after driving 4 hours, we arrive to our beach house. Bobo goes up and opens the door. He yells, "Come on, y'all, start unloading!" We unload for 1 solid hour. I had sweat dripping and I was exhausted from climbing the stairs. Our kids were little, so they were like zerofied help. We start washing clothes when we got there because we had gotten soaked at a stop at some small aquarium on the way. I started cooking grits because we had bought fresh shrimp from a man on the side of the road. The kids got the PlayStation connected. We were settling in to our new home for the week. Kim notices that the sheets are not on the beds. So, Kim calls the realty company. The lady said she would be right over with some sheets. Kim's husband, Dan, goes outside to open the gate so the kids could swim in the pool. Dan could not get the gate open with the code. While he was outside, Mrs. Realty lady drives by the house and turns in the driveway next door. Dan yells to the lady and asked her why she was over at that house. Mrs. Realty lady said, "Why are you at that house?" Dan says, "This is our rental house." Mrs. Realty lady yelled back, "No it is not. I don't know who's house that is and you better get out of there as quick as you can!" Wow. Classic Bobo move here. Bobo grabs the hermit crab cage and tells us to MOVE IT next door. Chevy Chase, for sure. All we can figure is the house was unlocked and Bobo thought he had opened it with a key. Lord have mercy.
Back to my Art Scouts story...Sorry.
Wednesday morning, we woke up bright and early. We headed down for art! A cool, funny dude named David gave us our name badge. He is an art teacher, too. After everyone checked in, we did the Art Scout Oath. The word oath is serious. I said this oath with enthusiasm. For 2 days, my creative soul would be fed.
We made these cool arrows that we pointed upward towards Heaven when saying the oath. I mean folks, this was a serious ceremony. We all gave our sincere oaths and had an instant bonding moment. I hope this oath was not a secret initiation process. If so, oopsy.
Here is the gang. I have know idea why Kim (in the pink) is holding the arrow up in the air. Actually, do you see anyone else with arrows?
The art teachers (Laura, Cassie, Ginger, and Jennifer) had everything so organized. I mean, folks, look at this sign. Somebody in this group was organized.
Was it Jennifer? I do not think so because she was always cleaning up our mess. She was constantly picking up stuff off the table. Our table would put stuff out to see if she would clean it up. Guess what? She did!
Was it Ginger? I doubt it was Ginger because she has boys and she said she was very right brained.
Was it Cassie? No, could not be Cassie. She was too busy signing her book. If you every want to know how to autograph a book, check Cassie. She writes and writes and writes. She writes like Ernest Hemingway.
Was it Laura? Well, I am betting on Laura. I think she was the great organizer. She drives a mini van. Mini van drivers are organized. Now if she drove a VW bus, I would say no. The mini van is a dead give away for an organized person.
Look at all my project and goodies below. The goody bag was loaded with stuff better than Oprah's Christmas Give Aways!
Here is Cassie's book about clay. See what I mean by the signing? She had to swap pens while she was signing because she had written so much. Great book, by the way! Want it, click HERE!
Upon completion, I got this amazing certificate. Doesn't it look official? I am an Official Art Scout now.
We met lots of friends at camp. We met Katie, Liliana, Michelle, Dorinda, DeEtte, Desire (Check her facebook page, HERE! I gave Katie my arrow because she was young and nice. Also, I picked on her lots because she was quiet. She missed the night that we made arrows. Katie needed an arrow to shoot for the stars in the years to come teaching art.
Here are the Bosses of Art Scouts.
You got Laura in the purple tie dye. She is super nice. We met her at NAEA in NYC. Doesn't she look super organized? (Find Laura here)
To the right of Laura, Ginger. She is wearing black like Johnny Cash. (Find Ginger here)
In the middle is Cassie. She has on a colorful dress to match her colorful personality. (Find Cassie here)
Jennifer is to the right of Cassie. She has on red. She was super nice and made us all feel welcome.
David is in the camo. He is the guy. My favorite thing about David? Well, I liked when he took our picture and told us how to pose. I felt like a supermodel. He would say, "Act surprised!" and we would all act surprised. David was gifted in making the art teachers pose.
Great fun with great people! If you are an art teacher and have dreamt of joining a secret organization, Art Scouts should be considered. It is great to be with your people and doing your thing. I am lucky that me and my sister share this thing. Life is always colorful in our world!
Here's the Soul Sisters with Johnny. Look at me playing the G Chord just like Johnny.
RocK on and aRt ON, folks!
Here's my all time fav Johnny song. I think Johnny needed a Hall's cough drop.
1965
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