Part 2--Cooper Young Fest/A Midtown Meanderer's Weekend

So, as advertised, here is the final chapter in the saga of last weekend!!  I would have preferred to have finished it before this weekend, but alas--it's too late now for regrets!  This past week has been busier than usual. There was the usual hanging out with The Hubs, Chillin' on the porch, "Weekly Excursion of Adventures in Taking the Daughter Grocery Shopping and Out to Eat", then the added "Adventures with My Mom", as well as the unexpected "Adventure in Driving The Daughter to a Job Interview" (send good vibes, send good vibes).   As you will recall (if you don't recall you can check out my last post!) we were discussing the Cooper Young Festival!  There were so many incredible things to see!!  Handmade Jewelry was definitely  one of the most popular items at the Fest, and there were so many different kinds from which to choose.  I really loved some of the quirkier stuff.  These Steampunk pieces were so well done and so interesting to see.  I  love all the old watch pieces and gears.  

 Annie Fraley and Upster are the makers of  some of these unique pieces.  These earrings were Steampunk cool as well.  I love the artful tags used to display them. Speaking of Steampunk, check out these Steampunk Christmas ornaments I saw !! Don't you need them for your tree?  (btw-Xmas is only 97 days away!!)

This talented young lady combined painting, jewelry, and even a funky cool hair color. Her art was so pretty!

Okay, I'm starting to meander around in my topics now--so back to jewelry.  These were hands down (definite intentional pun)  the most interesting pieces of jewelry I saw.  I loved the brightly colored Barbie style shoes, bracelets made from poker chips, zipper necklace, and was equal parts intrigued and frightened by the Barbie hands necklace.   These were most assuredly unique!!

                           

One last piece of jewelry that caught my eye was this one.  First, I absolutely adore the way it is displayed.  It looks so beautiful!  What caused me to pause was the "Mother " pin in the middle.  I have shadow boxes with pictures and mementos for each of my Grandmothers.  In the one for My Dad's Mom is a pin almost identical to this one, that was given to her by her only child, My Dad, in the 1940's.  I was surprised to see a pin just like it!! 

There were loads of T-shirts for sale at the Festival, but Cat-Octopus and Roller Skating Giraffe were my favorites of the day!  There were even a few booths with vintage clothing and antique goods, and The Hubs and I enjoyed picking through them.  I loved this hoop skirt dress. It would look delightful on this young lady, if only were her size...

 

I love to see people repurposing things.  Making these old children's books into journals was a great idea.  One of the books in the box I had when I was a kid, and one The Daughter had.  Actually, I'm pretty sure we still have them both!

Here are some more of my favorite repurposed products.  

                              

Making guitars from repurposed materials is not  a new idea, as the gentleman who makes them was telling me, but is what many musicians used to do back in the day when they couldn't afford or didn't have access to instruments of their own.  These wind spinners made from aluminum cans demonstrate that there is a use for everything!!  I enjoyed the bugs and crabs made from old nuts, bolts, spark plugs, etc.   The yard art was lots of fun too!  The big flowers were ceramic and painted by hand, and the birdhouses were a home a bird could be proud to own.  

The local LGBT Center had a booth at the Fest, as did the other businesses and Restaurants that line the Streets of Cooper and Young.  

 

This amazing event had absolutely tons of fun for people of all ages!!

                           

After a few hours of meandering, looking, touching, taking pics, etc., we were beginning to grow weary of the crowds of people blocking the sight of the products, stopping in the middle of the road, walking like snails, standing in the way, etc., etc., etc.  Also, our poor brains were ready to explode from trying to take in everything!  (I know, I know, #middleagedproblems) We didn't make it to all of the stalls, but we gave it a good try. There was just so much to see!!  So, we decided to meander back on over to relatives B & S's house, and see if they were home yet.  They were, and we had a great time hanging out on their porch, chatting with them, meeting some of their friends, as well as meeting our newer relatives, their dogs P & W.  It was nice to sit and relax for a bit, and as I mentioned before, the weather was wonderful that day.  We headed out to go get Dinner, and as we were leaving the neighborhood, I saw this car that I had seen when we were coming in earlier.  

Perhaps I 'm really a middleaged hippie at heart (okay-no perhaps about it!), or perhaps it's because my first car was a VW bug, that my parents owned when I was a child, (and we actually put flower stickers on it at one time in the 1960's) but I loved this!!!  Maybe someday I'll have a Bug again...sigh...

So, the Hubs and I meandered over to one of local Midtown restaurants, El Toro Loco, 

since we were getting hungry.  We enjoyed a lovely dinner, then headed home and participated in more of our favorite Midtown pasttime--chillin' on our front porch, watching the squirrels, birds, dogs, and people.   Life is good in Midtown!!

Stay tuned for further adventures of meandering and musing...

Peace out...

Midtown Weekends are the Best!!

So, it was definitely a great weekend to be a Midtowner! Saturday was the Annual Cooper Young Festival, which we have been wanting to check out for a few years now, but it always seemed to be too much of a hassle to schlepp all the way out there from the burbs.  Since we are now official Midtowners, we finally made it! The Cooper Young Fest celebrated its 27th year, with expectations of over 130,000 attendees.  It is billed as "Memphis' most anticipated outdoor celebration" and "the paramount event of the Summer".  Cooper Young is Memphis' largest Historic District.  Over 425 artisans from around the nation presented original art and hand made crafts, with local musicians on 3 separate stages, and even a children's play area.  So firstly, The Hubs and I decided to meander over to relatives B & S's home in Cooper Young, to see if they had any available parking spots left in their driveway. They were out enjoying the festivities, and we didn't want to hinder their friends who were already parked in the drive.  After scoring a new blender for The Daughter (bring on the smoothies!) at a yard sale across the street, serendipitously, a spot opened up, so we grabbed it!!   B & S live a few blocks from the actual fest, but parking was full all the way up and down the streets as far as the eye could see!    
                                        
  Some CYers  had their own block parties going on, complete with food, drinks, and karaoke! The whole neighborhood was in celebration mode!  Remember that Memphis Summer heat I was complaining about a couple of weeks ago?  It was hiding all day long!! Some people were actually wearing jackets, as the temp had only reached a mild 66 degrees!!

When we got to the actual fest, on first glance it seemed that all 130, 000 people had arrived at the same time that we had! The multitudinous masses, the conflux of congeries... In other words--it was a big crowd!!!   

We saw lots of interesting people !! Some I would have liked to have had the chance to be able to sit down and chat with...  Everyone was having a great time.

There were so many amazing things to see !!  Stall after stall after stall of handmade items!! The art was so intriguing and thought provoking.  These paintings caught my eye with their bright colors!!  Btw-you can click on the pics to see them larger and catch all the details.  

 I really enjoyed how this  artist used actual vinyl records, then cut them so meticulously into the shapes of the artists  who recorded the songs.  Some people are so creative!! 

A few other things that attracted my attention were these beautiful paintings done on old windows.  What a great idea!  I also loved the usage of actual book covers in mixed media. Very nice!

One Artist was even using the Festival as her studio.  Her paintings were beautiful! It was interesting to see her at work.  

There were so many wonderful handcrafted items!!  I really loved this chair, made with the logo for this year's fest on the back, and with a seat made of ties! I wonder where all of these ties have been.  What a great way to repurpose!!   

Homemade candles and handmade soaps were definitely some of the most popular items for sale at the Festival.  I like to think I know a lot about different candle scents, but these were some that I had never before encountered (and I'm not sure if I want to encounter them again!).   

  The Festival featured lots of carnival style food, but I was so interested in all the wares, that I didn't even get around to trying any of it.  Next time I'm trying some Olde Fashioned Soda and some warm Bavarian nuts! We saw relatives A & F on the way out tho, and F got to sample the shaved ice.  

Speaking of being on the way out, I'm going to leave you here for now, but stay tuned for part 2 of Cooper Young Fest/A Midtown Meanderer's Weekend.  I will leave you with this thought as I close...

Peace out...

A Little bit of this, a little bit potato chip...

So, I've been trying to figure out what to muse about for the last few days...Should it be the Rock For Love Crosstown Block Party last Friday, which was really cool btw, or the delicious nachos I had at Huey's on Saturday, or my favorite flavors of Lay's special edition potato chips and limited edition Oreos, or should I spend forever writing about my Amazing Daddy, who flew away from this Earth on the wings of the morning 15 years ago this week? So, I've  come to the conclusion that I will combine all of the above! How's that for decisiveness!!
First topic is Potato Chips!!! As you probably know, Frito-Lay is having a special contest, whereby customers were able to suggest new flavors of potato chips, and then all of us (John and Jane Q. Public) get to vote on which is the best, and that one will then become a regular flavor in their line of products.  Apparently, I wasn't paying attention for awhile, because it took me some time to notice that there was something going on. When Ms. J. told me how much she loved the Wasabi Ginger flavor, suddenly I was all up in this phenomena of new chip flavors!!  I love Cappuccino, but sadly, I do not want it on my potato chips, thank you very much.  Also,  (I know, I know, I have to go against the grain) since I have not eaten bacon since the 1970's (I gave myself away there--#middleagedproblems), I ruled out the Cheddar Bacon Mac'n'cheese flavor. Besides, there are just too many things going on there anyway.  So, the first one I found was this one.  It's wavy, and it's mango-ey, and it's salsa-ey.  I fell in love with mangoes when I visited Brasil a few years ago, so now I love everything mango. The added bonus is that it gives me all the special nostalgia of my time in Brasil.  I love these chips!  The next ones I managed to find were these!!  
Oh Em Gee!! It's like sushi on a chip!! I couldn't decide which one I liked best for awhile, (I insisted it was whichever one I was eating at the time) but I have come to the conclusion that it is the Sushi one!!  To make it even cooler, even My Vegan Daughter can eat them!!  So, I need to go to the  Do us a Flavor Contest, and vote for  Meneko Spigner McBeth of Sewell, NJ 's chip flavor, and hope that Frito-Lay deems to make it a permanent flavor, because--wasabi!!! Another one of my recent obsessions has been these beautiful things!! 
I had noticed some limited edition flavors of Oreos lately, on my weekly excursions of Adventures in Taking the Daughter Grocery Shopping.  Might I introduce to you, if you have not had the pleasure of becoming acquainted...Caramel Apple Oreo's!! I have fallen in love again!!  The Hubs was skeptical until he tried one, then He quickly became a convert.  I'm saving a few packages of these for closer to Halloween, that is if I can manage to stay away from them for that long!! While we are still talking about food (one of my fave topics) The Hubs and I hit up Huey's on Saturday nite for dinner. As they tell us, "Huey's has been serving up Blues, Brews, and Burgers since 1970".  It has also been voted "Best Burger" in Memphis Magazine's poll, every year since 1984!!  I love the burgers, and I love the fact that you can have a veggie burger or a black bean burger in place of any meat patty on their specialty burgers, since I also haven't eaten cows since the 70's either.  Well, being the fun and fancy free Midtowners that we are, we decided to forego burgers, and each have the Nachos. (Chips piled high with grated cheddar cheese, beef, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, jalapenos and sour cream)  I left off the beef, (and the jalapenos--I'm a wuss) and replaced it with guacamole--so much tastiness, and no cows were harmed in the process! Anyhow, we were not disappointed!!  These nachos were amazing!!!    

                                               

 But, enough of my food reviews for now-- I'm going to have to go make a snack in a few  minutes! 

 

Rock for Love (a benefit for Church Health Center) was a 3 day event.  Fortunately for us, nite one was right around the corner from us, at Crosstown.  The hubs and I decided to meander over and check things out.  There was live music in 5 different locations, with a revolving door of local musicians performing, new art at Crosstown Arts, food trucks, a Hula Hoop Luau at Co-motion, free snacks, and even some free, locally brewed beer!! We even saw some of our favorite neighbors there!!  The Cleveland St. Flea Market got into the spirit as well, with a special origami craft demonstration, while a DJ spun old 45 records.  Everyone was groovin' .   

In other areas, there were singers, musicians, and even some  violinists.

Crosstown Arts, always on the cutting edge of modern artwork, did not fail to provide thought provoking new pieces.    

                                                        

 I finally got to see the inside of  Amurica Photo Studio, and even sneaked a peek at one of their photo booths they weren't using that nite. (I admit it, I snuck a selfie in there too--but you have no proof of it here!)

It was a great nite to be a Midtowner, and we had a great time.  Look closely, and see if you can spot the moon...

So lastly, as advertised, I present to you My Daddy, Paul Vrsek. 

                

I know lots of people think their Dad is the best, but trust me, I know better.  My Dad was amazing.  His parents immigrated from Slovakia just a few years before He was born, and he grew up in a Slovak community in Blue Island IL. He didn't even speak English until He started school.   He's the cute little one there with his Dad and Uncle.  He was married to My Mom for 50 years when he died, after years of struggling with Cancer, and eventually Leukemia.  He was too young, and far too important to us to have gone so soon.

 In 1981,  for Christmas I bought him tickets to see His favorite Artist, Willie Nelson.  We were Country Cool that night!! 

When I married My True Love,  (Yes, that's You Mr. Hubs) My Daddy was there to share in my joy.  And when I became a Mom, He was My Baby's BFF--the best Grandpa ever!!  In our hearts for always...

I could talk about Him forever, but for now we'll leave that for another time...

         Until next time, stayed tuned to see where I meander to next, and peace out...

                 P.S.  Call your Dad and tell Him that you love Him.