I moved to from Germantown, TN to Lexington, KY my Junior year (yikes!) and though it was going to be just awful. I could NOT have been more wrong. I met a super awesome group of girls and still keep in touch with most of them to this day. We have all been to each others weddings, our husbands are all friends now, and we usually try to have a Girls Trip every year. It's so nice to see how everyone has grown up and matured (husbands, kids, houses, etc.).
Blah, blah - anyway! So, last weekend I went to visit Frances. Frances and I have been friends since we were 16 and I recently spent the most amazing week of my life in Paris with her (which I need to blog about...) She living in Richmond, Virginia now and recently bought a house. While we were in Paris looking at the most incredible art in the world she said she wanted a painting, and I said I would paint her one (I think I was a little art-high at the time). I have dabbled in painting, and by no means consider myself an artist - but she said she didn't care what it looked like as long as it was from me (awwwwwwwwwww... famous last words, huh?)
So, I painted one and shipped it to her and hopped on a plane for the big reveal, and...
She loved it!
I was so thrilled because I loved it too! Isn't her living room amazing? She and another Kentucky friend, Whitney painted the coral bookcase without telling her husband first. But he loved it (duh). The rug is from Pottery Barn, the tables are family antiques and the upholstery has all been recovered. It is absolutely my favorite room in the world right now! I love being an adult...
Well, this all took place within 5 minutes of me landing, so what to do with the rest of our time? The weather was absolutely gorgeous so we decided to check out the Canal Walk downtown. It's an awesome walk that takes you directly through downtown Richmond and is rich with modern art and history. For example, I did not know that the burning of Richmond was the end of the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln came through the city and emancipated all of the slaves. He was assassinated 5 days later. Crazy.
Canal walk - goes right through Downtown Richmond
Awesome artist murals along the walk - Memphis, I hope you're taking notes.
The walk ends at the ruins of the bridges that were burnt in the Civil War. There was a bridge walk that chronicled the 3 days Richmond burned and ended in the middle of the James River. It really was amazing to be surrounded by all of that history. I got chills.
Frannie and I at the end of the walk.
Well, I'm not done yet. Since we were all excited about the new house, we decided it also needed a face life. We decided we were going to paint the shutters! Sounds easy, right? Well, not that it was hard - just more involved that we were anticipating (bushes and direct sunlight and spiders, oh my!) But we powered through and I it looks amazing!
Selecting a color was more difficult than we thought. The original color was a hunter green and we wanted to go navy. But some were too dark, some were too bright...
But in the end we picked the perfect color and the house looks fantastic! Go us!
Overall it was an amazing trip! Between all the decorating, painting and historic tours I also got to reconnect with one of my oldest friends - which makes it all worth it! Love you, Frannie! I'll be back soon!
