When I was a little girl… let’s say 3rd grade or so.. our classroom took a field trip to the zoo. It was my first time at the zoo (that I can remember anyway). The zoo keeper (zooologist?) or the man with the brown shirt and hat on showed us all the snakes. He took them out and held each one of them and explained their markings, etc. We even got to hold some of them. I was so confused by this. I was always taught to believe that snakes were bad bad bad! But as it turns out they are just misunderstood. I can get down with that. I’m quite often misunderstood myself, even at the tender age of 8. I learned that day that snakes are cool and you can hold them. Fast forward about a month… I’m at my grandparents house in Walnut, Mississippi. I get pissed at my parents for something (who knows what it was at that age) and I dart off down the clay dirt road in hopes of proving to them how very angry I am and that I might just run away down county road 222 never to be seen again.. They don’t care. I’m walking along and I stumble upon a large snake by the side of the road squirming. It looks in distress. I have to help this snake! Get it to the vet! I have to help the poor misunderstood snakes of the world if it’s my very last mission on earth. I pick the snake up and it’s falling over and down both of my arms. I trot up to the house where my dad is outside in the yard. I rush up to him with my squirrly serpent and plead that we need to help him. My dads eyes become very large and he yells, ‘goddamnit’.. I guess he was still mad at me from earlier?… As I’m holding the snake there realizing that my father will be of no help to me and my wounded reptile, the dogs (skeeter boy and Bob) take the snake from each end and start playing tug of war until the snake snaps in half. With blood on my shirt and my snake friend dead I look up at my father who says, “do you know what that was?”… that was a cotton mouth snake and it would have killed you in 2 seconds if it wasn’t already dead.

I decided not to play with snakes anymore but I would continue to be misunderstood in life.

THE APRON MUSEUM - IUKA, MISSISSIPPI

Aprons have always been a backdrop in the culture of the kitchen. Mostly worn by women, aprons have evolved to provide people all over the world with a layer of protection against mess and dirt. Aprons are used in food service, carpentry work, the medical field, hair salons, construction and even mechanical work. There is not much history known about the origin of the apron. Paintings dating back to the 1300s depict women in aprons, but we really don’t know precisely when and where the apron was invented.

Since 2006, Carolyn Terry of Iuka, Mississippi has owned and curated the world’s only apron museum. With over 3,000 aprons, she is proud to explain where some of her most prized collections have come from. Estate sales, donations, and her private collection cover the walls and racks of the right side of the store. On the left side, aprons and vintage collectables are for sale starting as low as $3.00. Each apron has it origin and date received on it for collecting purposes.

Carolyn is most proud of her Claudia McGraw aprons. Claudia, from Black Mountain, North Carolins, had a popular tea room where she hung some of her hand made aprons on the wall. Within hours of hanging them they all sold. She became one of the most popular apron makers in history providing aprons forGreta Garbo, Eleanor Roosevelt, Amy Vanderbilt and many others. (Searching online for a Claudia McGraw biography is not easy.)

What makes the mystery of the apron so interesting is how the information is found only through talking to an apron enthusiast. If you Wikipedia apron you don’t get a historical account, timeline or specifics.

Stories passed down through generations and memories are what we have as origins for this piece of clothing known as an apron.

The Wizard of Malls

I try to avoid the mall. I don't go to the mall because I'm poor. Well, not super poor, but I'm not a disposable income kinda human at this point. I have a lot of what's called "consumer debt".... which basically means the pizza I ordered 5 years ago when I was broke and hungover cost me $200.00 on my credit card. Take that and multiply it by a thousand and you might have an idea about my current financial profile. I shop at The Dollar General. The last thing I googled was "free car giveaway contests"...Surprisingly I didn't find much and I think I gave my work computer a virus. I guess only Oprah gives away free cars and her damn show isn't on air anymore. Oprah, if you're reading this, can you please help me? I saw an episode where you took away all this woman's debt for her? That or a free car would do wonders for me! Thanks. I digress...... But I'm going to the Mall today with a friend. I'm excited because it feels like years since I've been in a mall. How do I act? Do they still have Auntie Anne's Pretzels? I heard someone say they offer valet parking now. That's a service that I can do without----mainly because they don't take credit cards. Oh man I wonder if they still have all those dumb kiosks in the middle? I recall this one time this guy got me for every dollar in my wallet---LITERALLY. I adamantly declined his lovely hand scrub (infused with pure gold, no doubt) but once he got his grubby little hands on mine and dipped them in the warm water and starting rubbing I was sold. I had to have that shit! Ok, so I need to stay out of the middle and walk really fast past those guys. What else? Do I have all my credit cards? Discover? Check! Bank of America? Check! Fuck yeah, let's go to the Mall! Shoes and purses and makeup, oh my! We're not in Big Lots anymore, Toto!

Check out my contribution to The Guardian for Nashville's top 10 shops and top 10 things to do on the East side. 

Guardian Guide to Nashville

A Story from Story, Arkansas

"Yeah it only takes about 5 hours to get there". That’s what everyone I talked to said.

We arrived at the ‘Harbor Something?’ 8 hours after leaving Nashville. Granted, we hit traffic. And someone had to stop and pee a lot (I swear it was NOT me). But much to our delight our cabin (aka condo made of wood) was well-equipped to handle all three colorful personalities in our camp. We had everything we needed to eat and drink which is what we are always mainly focused on doing.

But this trip was also about digging for crystals. Arkansas has the largest reserve of quartz next to Brazil (Brazil being number 1). Lake Ouachita (WAH-SHEE-TAW), the lake our place was near (I would say ON but we had a view of the tennis court) features one of the biggest crystal veins in the world. There is also a very rare jellyfish frolicking in those waters but we’ll save that research for a warmer trip. The Corp of Engineers made this lake for it’s hydro-electric power, water source, and wildlife conservation…..but another reason is the preserve the crystal underneath it. There are many uses for quartz and as we are rapidly depleting our natural resources, it’s no wonder the government wants to protect this “gem”. We use quartz in everything from watches, microphones, radios, and computers. And some people just think it’s pretty….which is why we were there.

After a lengthy search online for the best mines to dig, we found Gee and Dee’s. An old ma and pa shop where you can pay to dig your own crystals. We got up Saturday morning and had Brannon call to let them know we were heading their way soon. After about a 15 minute phone conversation Brannon hung up and said Dee told him that the mine was shut down but we could dig in their front yard. We were a bit confused but knew somehow we would get back in that mine and dig!

Again, we under estimated our travel time… but only by 12 miles this instance so we were ok. We arrived at Gee and Dee’s greeted by two sweet dogs and Dee herself. She called me Antarctica although I was certain she was talking to Renae, my friend who was sporting a faux polar bear vest ensemble (perfect for mine digging—;)) I digress…The yard was beautiful. It was like Superman’s crystal cave threw up on a yard in Story, Arkansas. But we also wanted answers. Why can’t we dig? Dee explained that back in late June of 2010 there was a flash flood that came through around 5:30am and killed at least 20 people (6 of them children) while they were camping in the Ouachiata State Park. Noted as the Albert Pike Flood, it caught national headlines and President Obama even offered federal help. The national attention shed light on the mines there as well. They came in and implemented new codes and laws for the miners making it impossible for the “working man’s miner” to adapt and conform. They don’t have the monetary resources to make huge scale changes to abide by the new regulations and stay open. Dee was even caught digging on her own land and fined. We weren’t getting back there and neither were the owners of the mine. With heavy hearts we combed through their yard collections grabbing anything that even slightly interested us. We learned from Gee about the nature of the rocks and how they form, about the history of their mine and what the future holds for them. “I will have to sell my mine to the government. That’s all I can do”. I felt a true sense of what this man was going through. Having mined for 54 years that’s all he knows to do. He said that crystals were more addictive than cigarettes (they both smoked a pack each while we were there). He has a true passion for mining you can tell by his hands. I knew when I saw the huge heart-shaped crystal he pulled and carved for Dee, that this was a gentle man in love with his life and his rocks. I felt an overwhelming amount of empathy watching his livelihood robbed of him in his twilight years and for a good while that day that is all I could think about. I digress, again.

The visit ended with Gee showing us his private collection in the back shed. We bought some sacred pieces there and learned that Gee was a bluegrass musician. He gave us two cd’s of The Ouachita Mountain Boys. And let me tell you… it was good! They were having a jam session at 5 at the Blue Bell (a small cafe in the middle of nowhere). We sorta/kinda promised to be there and we did show up but just too early. Our brains and hearts and bones were worn out. We returned to our cabin/condo on Lake Ouachita, sat in the floor staring at our crystals speechless for about an hour, and then it was time to eat and drink again. 

VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO 

Vieques in Puerto Rico is one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean. Frequented by tourists from all over the world, Vieques is known for its amazing beaches, wild horses, and Spanish culture.

But like almost everything beautiful, it also carries a dark past. The island was used by the U.S. Navy as a bombing range and testing ground for many years. Military presence was there for approximately 60 years. It was highly protested after a Marine Corps F-18 dropped two 500-pound bombs on a security post killing a local resident and injuring four others. Presidents Clinton and the latter Bush were active in removing military presence from the island. And by 2003, the troops were gone. The Eastern end of the island is now a national wildlife refuge and closed to locals as well as visitors.

The Beaches in Vieques are nothing short of spectacular. La Playa Negra is the infamous black sand beach whose sand is said to be magnetic, literally. Many of the other beaches can only be reached by traveling on muddy swamp-like gravel paths with wild horses (among other unidentified wild creatures) until the forest opens up into paradise. 4-wheel drive is a necessity.

The most noted attraction to Vieques is the bioluminescent bay. At night, the bay lights up with tiny microorganisms that glow (when disturbed) in the water. Every movement in the water creates a frenzy of energy that lights up the night. Each flash from the microorganisms lasts about 1/10 of a second but with all of them lighting up together it puts off a bright electric blue in the water. Mosquito Bay, as it is also referred to, is known as the brightest bay in the world. Motions to protect the bay have been in order by the Vieques Historic and Conservation Trust as garbage and other pollution threaten to destroy the natural habitat of the bay.

It is said that when the Spanish first arrived to the island and discovered the unexplainable light in the water they believed it was the work of the devil so they attempted to choke off the bioluminescence by dropping boulders in the channel leading to the ocean. This concentrated them in the Mosquito Bay making them glow brighter. The only other bay like this in the world is found in Vietnam.

Being in Vieques you get the true human experience — mesmerizing beauty, along with a wildness and energy that things were not always this good here. It’s caught between undeveloped and developed but no one would dare force this island into something it’s not. The history cannot be re-written nor does it want to be. Some native islanders are always looking for a way off of the island while visitors are still trying to get here every year.

GAP

I had the opportunity to shoot for The GAP when my friend Lauren Zwanzinger was asked to style a lovely cream sweater for their blog. Lauren is the brilliant stylist behind The Transatlantic Blog but many know her from her amazing Pinterest following. I can't wait to watch her travel the world in style. See the beautiful sweater and photos here Cozy in Cream