Nashville Recap and a Visit with The Pickers

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Well, once again I have been MIA for awhile . . . I really am sorry! The summer schedule so far has just undone me.  I can’t seem to get my head above water and get into any sort of good routine.  Ughh.  While my littlest is napping though and my big two kiddos are quietly doing some “table time,” I’m going to finally write my post telling about my Nashville trip!

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If you remember, I spent two weekends ago in Nashville with my husband, his siblings, and his parents to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary (an amazing milestone, right?)

We spent a good bit of time in the downtown area, including a night out on South Broadway at a little local Honky Tonk. When in Rome!

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We also spent an evening at the Grand Ole Opry, which was really fun.

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I am really embarrassed to admit that even though I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee and spent a good bit of time in Nashville as a kid, I didn’t really have any idea what made the Grand Ole Opry so special.  We took a backstage tour before the show though and I learned all about the history of the Opry and it’s significance in the country music world.  If you are in Nashville and decide to see an Opry show, but like me are Opry-ignorant, I

We took a backstage tour before the show though and I learned all about the history of the Opry and it’s significance in the country music world.  If you are in Nashville and decide to see an Opry show, but like me are Opry-ignorant, I highly recommend taking the backstage tour–it will really help you appreciate and enjoy the show so much more.

By far though, the highlight of the weekend for me was of course, looking at junk!

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Yep, we popped into Antique Archaeology, home of lots of great “rusty gold” picked by the hands of America’s favorite pickers, Mike & Frank (well, technically I learned Antique Archaeology is just Mike’s store and a few other show-spoiling facts, but let’s stay focused on the junk!).

I think every other person was really only there to buy a T-shirt,  but me, I was there to see all of the cool stuff!  I could have stayed for hours, even though it’s a pretty small store, because I kept seeing things that were completely unique, like this one-man-band instrument set.

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Amazing??!! I also really liked this Harmonica selling display.

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Wouldn’t that look so neat displayed on top of a big cabinet or sitting on top of some vintage suitcases?

Or what about this olive tree root carved into the semblance of Jesus?

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Have you ever seen anything more unique than that?

By far my favorite item at the store though was this huge antique toy horse (you can read more about my antique horse obsession here).

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It’s hard to tell it’s scale in the picture, but it was really big–and it’s price was big too, coming in at a cool $1100.  Sadly, that’s waaaaaay outside my decorative budget, but, a girl can dream, right? (Update-two days ago some friends visited the Nashville AA store and texted me that the horse was gone, so apparently someone else has deeper pockets than I do!).

I wanted so badly to buy something, but couldn’t find anything really fantastic in my price range.  So, like most everyone else, I left with a t-shirt and a bumper sticker for our work truck 🙂

The next day, we also got to spend a little bit of time in Leiper’s Fork, a tiny, one-street town south of Nashville where there are some more neat antique stores.  My husband and I visited there about 8 years ago, and I was looking forward to going back to see if anything

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Not surprisingly, it was still just as sleepy and picturesque as it had been 8 years ago.  It’s just a neat town, a great place to get away from the suburban sprawl.

We wandered around and saw some more great vintage pieces, including this old church sign I fell in love with.

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Icy Sink Baptist? So, so funny (I’m allowed to laugh at a church’s name since I’m a pastor’s wife).  And how about this fantastic collection of ironstone pitchers?

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On our way down and still on my Antique Archaeology high, I was remembering an episode where Mike and Frank visited Leiper’s Fork.  I said to my husband that maybe this is where we could run into Mike since we didn’t see him at his store. Well, as we talked with the lady working at the little yellow house antique shop, she casually mentioned, “Yeah, Mike was here filming on our porch and inside the store just yesterday”.

Man! One day late!

So my hope of running into him wasn’t too far fetched, just off on the timing. I had grand dreams of convincing him to hire me as a picker for his store and embarking on these grand, cross-country adventures where I scour the “back roads of America for rusty gold” . . . Guess I’ll just have to go back to my ACM booth and run Lost & Found 🙂

(By the way, if you have no idea who Mike and Frank are and what in the world I’m talking about, go watch an episode of the History Channel’s show American Pickers).

So, there is the long-awaited Nashville recap. Coming up, I have a furniture makeover to share with you all, and also on Friday a guest post on Coastal Charm’s Friday Shop TalkI’m so excited to be featured on Linda’s great blog and I hope you all stop in to say hello and show some luuuv for Lost & Found 🙂

I promise I won’t stay away so long again!  Thanks for sticking with me.

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Ty-Juana T Taylor

Tuesday 29th of November 2016

Hello, where did you find the Icy Sink Baptist Church Sign? That's my parent's church and the George White is the name of the former past. I'm sure someone would be happy to know that such a sign exists.

Dawn @ We Call It Junkin.com

Monday 7th of July 2014

That's so cool that you got to go there! I'm sorry the horse didn't work out though, I know how you want one! Thank you for sharing this at the History & Home link party. Take care, Dawn @ We Call It Junkin.com

Susan

Thursday 3rd of July 2014

Great photos and glad you had fun in Nashville! I live in Franklin and if you visit again, check out the cool shops and antique stores in Franklin. And did you know Mike Wolff has a home in Leipers Fork? It is a cool little town.

JaNean Framstad

Wednesday 25th of June 2014

I have always wanted to go to the grand ole opry. I told Donna this spring we should go with Margaret because its not so far. Dean told me they had a good time. JaNean

Margaret Mize

Wednesday 25th of June 2014

Love the ironstone pitchers, did you get the price on the two either side of the large one in back row? I have my grandmother's and it looks very similar to them. I would love to know the value. Thank you and so glad you enjoyed Nashville, it is a great place to visit.

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