Serenbe is Cool, So is Valentine's Day

I can hear it now...  "oh, your Valentine's Day was just so great because it was your first one.  Wait until you get older, Valentine's Day is the worst." Well... whatever.

It was my first Valentine's Day with Jimmy, and it was perfect.  Couldn't have been better...  so sorry to all you guys who hate Valentines Day.  You can stop reading now.

If you Love Love (Ginny Branch), you can read on...

We started our weekend by going to see Trey Anastasio (lead singer of Jimmy's number one love, PHISH) perform with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.  It was a great show.  Trey preformed many classic Phish tunes such as YEM and Divided Sky.  He also preformed some songs by the Trey Anastasio Band.  It was interesting hearing all the songs changed form their traditional arrangements into orchestral pieces.  I liked Water in the Sky best.  It was such a beautiful song.

Another highlight of the evening was this violinist's sweet Prada shoes.  I was captivated...

A couple in the back got engaged dring the show, which was such a special moment.  Trey congratulated them and dedicated YEM to them, where he teased "Here Comes the Bride."  I am into romantic stuff, so I thought was was really special.

Speaking of romantic things, Friday Jimmy sent me these beautiful flowers...

Didn't he do a great job?  Along with the flowers came tickets to Willie Nelson.  NO WAY!!!???!!!

Seeing Willie Nelson was on my bucket list.  Did you know he is 79 years old?  Can you believe it?  I had never seen him live and was dying to see him when he was at the Tabernacle.  Jimmy surprised me with tickets, and we went Sunday night.

Since seeing Willie Nelson was such a huge deal for me, I was fairly panicked about what I could do for Jimmy that could even come close to matching that.  Luckily I had the stroke of genius to call Nan Haverty, one of our agents here at Beacham & Company.  Nan and I do a lot of work together with me photographing her listings.  Her husband helped develop Serenbe, which is a sustainable community in Palmetto, GA.  There is a great town square with wonderful food and shops.  There is also a wide spectrum of real estate and a horse barn with ample acreage.  I asked her a for a HUGE FAVOR.  I asked if it would be ok for Jimmy and me to stay in her house at Serenbe for Valentines Day.

9015 Selborne Lane is currently for sale and is absolutely breathtaking.  I was so thankful when she said Jimmy and I could stay there!

That just left one more thing I needed to figure out, a Valentine's present for Jimmy.  I thought and thought about it, and solicited help from all of his friends (sorry-- I am very annoying).

I was so excited about Jimmy's present I almost couldn't stand the ride to Serenbe...  As soon as we walked in, I put in on the breakfast table and made him open it.

A record player?  WHAT?!?  I know!!!  Isn't that an awesome present?  I know what you're thinking, "How could someone who loves music that much not own a record player?"  I was confused myself.  After exhaustive research I settled on this Hype record player from Urban Outfitters.   Pros: it's portable, it has built in speakers, it has an AUX out so it can be plugged into surround sound, it looks cool.  Cons: It's fairly cheap and can break easily.  It was the best choice for me at the time, and Jimmy thinks it was the right one, SO YEA BLAYNE.  In addition to this record player I gave him my entire collection of records, which has taken a lifetime to build.  It includes classic albums by artists such as: The Beatles, Grateful Dead, Pure Prairie Legue, The Marshall Tucker Band, and Jimmy Buffett.  Yea, I know, I am an amazing girlfriend.

It seems Jimmy thinks so as well...

See how happy he is?  I know.  It's pretty cute.

After present opening time we went to The Hil Restaurant, which was amazing.

Yea for Valentine's dinner!

These were homemade potato chips with Vidalia onion dip!  yum.

After dinner we went back to Nan's house where I got excited about how beautiful it looked at night, so I took a few pictures.  You can see Jimmy walking on the porch in that picture if you look closely.

Isn't that breathtaking?

This is a view of the pool house from the house at night.

This was the view this morning outside my room to the pool house.  Doesn't that look peaceful?

While Jimmy packed the car, I walked around to the front of the house and took this picture.

And then walked up to the front porch to see this view.  I could have stayed forever, but alas, we both had to get back to work.

I made Jimmy stop the car to get this shot.  Photographers say that the best time to take pictures are at dawn and dusk.  Since I make it a rule to only be awake for one of those times, I was taking full advantage of the light this morning...

We waved good bye to these guys as we pulled away...

and caught our last glimpse of the country as we made our way back to the highway.

Cheers to an amazing first Valentines Day Jimmy.  I'm so in love with you.

-Blayne

P.S. Nan, thank you so much for making this little trip possible.  Your home is so beautiful, and we were so lucky to get to stay there!  You're the best!

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Phish- The Gorge- Help me Pack!

Hi guys!  Guess what time it is?  It's time for another personal post.  Yippie!

So about a month ago I wrote about going to see Phish in Charlotte and Raleigh...  remember when I discovered the perfect kitchen?  Well... I am going again, but this time I am flying across the country to Washington.  I'm so excited.... so excited.

I'm going with my boyfriend, Jimmy.  (I know... he's so cute!)  I was telling my mom the other day that I don't think I have ever been this excited for a trip in my life, which is saying something because I LOVE going on trips.

I am excited about this trip for so many reasons.  First, the venue is supposed to be amazing.  There is really nothing behind the band... it just sort of drops off into the gorge.  I've seen Phish at a lot of different venues but never anywhere like this.  I might go to see it even if Phish wasn't playing!  I've also never seen anything like this period. I've never been to the Grand Canyon or even spent much time on the West Coast... so all very exciting.

Second, we are camping.  If you know me at all you can go ahead and stop laughing.  I know.  It's funny.  I am very much an inside girl.  About 6 months ago I decided I wanted to get into camping.  I haven't really camped since Discovery at Westminster, and that was kind of a disaster.  I enjoy things like washing my hair and sleeping in a bed.  I decided I wanted to get into it as a challenge to myself.  It's always good to do things that make you uncomfortable in order to grow as a person.  Well, camping makes me a little uncomfortable.  I have been talking such a big game though that I couldn't pass up the opportunity.  (plus the phish aspect.  duh)

Apparently what I am going to do is less camping in the tradition sense (see the serene picture I used at first) and more like a big party.  When I was searching for pictures of camping at The Gorge I came across these amazing photos by Matthew J. Van Deventer on his blog.  What a talented photographer, and I think the pictures really tell the story.  I thought I would include a few so you can get an idea and just because they are so pretty!

I included this picture not so much because of the feeling, but more because it's just so beautiful!  Isn't it?  Can you believe the feeling portrayed in that shot?

I love this picture too... just hanging out before the show.  I am very intrigued by this photographic process.  It looks like HDR to me, but how could it be?  In HDR you combine 3 images, but if he did that the jumprope would be moving.  I wish I could figure it out because I think it would be ver cool to use on some of our listing photos.

I love this picture of this girl brushing her teeth with the bottle of water!  1. it's AWESOME, and 2. it seems to give a pretty good idea of what it will be like.

I don't know if you guys do this too, but before I go on a trip I spend so much time in my head trying to figure out what it will be like.  Especially this, since it is so far out of my comfort zone and so far beyond anything I've ever done.  I think these pictures give a great idea of what it will be like, but at the end of the day I am still having trouble imagining it.

Allow me, if you will, to be totally self-indulgent for a minute.  Well, I guess it's my blog, so I can do what I want....  but I am having this problem with packing.  There is so much going into the decision.  First, there is the thing about us actually being outside the whole time (not to mention is should be 90 in the daytime and 60 at night), so you would think fashion was not a priority... but then there is the whole "first trip with a new boyfriend have to look super-cute thing."  Stressful!  ha ha.  (I know, what a life, right?)

I really want to bring this necklace.  You know I like birds a lot, plus it's durable... so that's good, right?  You never know what kind of dancing I might be doing :)

I am going to bring this one too.  Birds.  I know.  I have a problem.  What about clothes?

I love this dress so much.  I got it on my trip to Venice when I was 17.  It is so lightweight that it would be perfect in 90 degree heat.  The only problem is that it is white.  Do you think it will get too dirty?  I guess it can always be bleached.  (do you love my mirrors?)

I love this dress.  I got it from Rachel Farmer after she daughter ordered the wrong size for prom.  Lucky me!  It is orange (brand=T-Bags), and I was thinking it would be great to wear on the plane with a cute sweater (you know it gets cold on those planes!).  What are your thoughts?

This shirt is awesome.  It is silk and the straps are braided.   I wore it to the Furthur show the other night and was impressed with how roomy and breezy it was.  I got it on sale at Anthropologie if you're interested :)

And finally I want to bring this awesome shirt!  This is the back.

And here is the front.  I literally cannot say enough nice things about this shirt!  It is from my friend Dana Spinola's store Fab'rik. If you have not been to this store, GO!  I love it.  Amazing finds that won't break the bank.  It is definitely my new favorite boutique in Atlanta.  I have gotten so many of my favorite summer outfits there... including this shirt.  I wore it hiking the other day and it was so great.  Of course it was about 100 degreese, but the open back was so nice and kept me cool.  I am looking forward to breaking it out in Washington (plus, who doesn't love an american flag shirt at a concert... duh.).  Again, go to Fab'rik.  You won't be sorry. :)

So... that's all I have so far.  What do you guys think?  To much?  What should I leave behind and what else should I bring?

I leave on Thursday and I am so excited!  To see the play by play you can always friend me on facebook (Blayne Beacham).  I will upload pictures throughout the trip, but I will also write a post about it when I get back home :)

Wish me luck! :)

And remember to enter to win Wicked tickets!