by Carla Louise | Apr 21, 2015 | Adventures, Alter Ego, carlalouise, Gratitude and goals, Inspiration, Life Magic, Memories, Photography, Self portraits |
Week 10 of 2015. In which I embarked on an epic road trip through my soul home of Texas (hopping over into Louisiana the following week), and fulfilled one of my longest-held dreams – to see Alan Jackson live in concert. I haven’t finished editing the 3000 photos I took over the fortnight, so here are a few tasters:
(fuzzy because we were only allowed mobiles, not proper cameras)
The gig was the main reason for our visit, and oh, how utterly glorious it was. I cried most of the way through it with sheer emotion at being there after more than 20 years of waiting to see him on stage. AND he played all my favourites from the early days.
I also found time to…
Have the traditional breakfast-with-beer at the airport:
Drive my fellow passengers mad by taking photos of the pretty clouds on the plane:
Wake up on Wednesday morning to four inches of snow. In Texas.
Fall in love with Jon Pardi, who was supporting Alan Jackson (and he’s currently single. Reckon he’d fall for that accent all American men seem to inexplicably find super cute?! Though is it just me whose speech becomes half pure Southern belle and half female Hugh Grant the moment I set foot over the border into the States?)
Eat ridiculous amounts of the best fried chicken, mash and creamed corn in the world at Babe’s in Roanoake, TX:
Try a DQ Blizzard on our drive to Fredericksburg:
Make a pilgrimage to my Dad’s spiritual home in Luckenbach, Texas and added a charm to my talisman necklace while playing at practising for being a cowgirl:
Have a makeover before the gig, which was lovely and pampering:
to be continued…
by Carla Louise | Sep 9, 2013 | Adventures, Inspiration, Personal Development, Photography |
Things have been a bit quiet over here on the blog, while I’ve been having creative block and lots of ideas all at the same time. Which is something of a weird situation, it has to be said – I have notebooks and word documents bursting with ideas, but was stalling on knowing what to do with them.
However, through the haze, one idea has taken shape and become clearer… (my apologies for the terrible quality of the pic – I will endeavour to replace it when the light is better)
Yup, I’m going unicorn hunting. (armed only with a camera and notebook, I don’t want to hurt them!!)
Those of you who knew or followed me before Ducking Fabulous was born, when I was blogging but not here, may remember some musings back in 2009 about a camper van trip across the UK.
Now, while I’m certainly still intending to convert my own camper at some point, currently I don’t have the time, space or money to start on that particular project. But it has come up in several conversations recently, and I also unearthed, entirely by accident, the original itinerary and route I’d put together for the first one.
You may also have noticed that unicorns have become my thing. Not intentionally, but I’ve always been fascinated with faeries, unicorns and all things mystical and magical. (yes, I know this blog is called Ducking Fabulous. I like ducks too. I’ll find a duck with a unicorn horn. Maybe.)
The British Isles are heaving with magic and myth, with unicorns and dragons and castles. I want to document the stories in words and photographs, a legacy of magic woven throughout our islands.
For the first time in some time, my day job is one I have no wish to leave. So while I won’t be taking a year off to travel, I don’t want to put off the trip until I a) have a camper van and b) can do the whole trip all in one go.
And so I will shortly embark on a series of journeys in my beloved Poppy, and occasionally by train. Hunting the mythical, magical tales of Britain, and maybe beyond.
I hope you’ll join me on that journey?
(I’ll probably set up a separate site for the trip when I decide on a final name for it – I’ll post the link when I have it. For now, my writing will continue to live here!)
by Carla Louise | Mar 4, 2012 | Uncategorized |
… as Dad put it when we crossed the border, which I thought was lovely! I had cake for breakfast in honour of Sophia’s birthday, and then today was mostly about driving – I drove across an entire state (Arkansas) in a day! It was good experience, but not the most inspiring of landscapes –but we entertained ourselves by trying to find a Cracker Barrel to have brunch at – the one we saw a sign for in Texas appears to have been stolen, but we found several after that 🙂
I found the signs for Memphis and Nashville weirdly evocative.
Took a photo of Daisy near an empty truck. The trucker behind said he’d be upset if I didn’t take one of her with him in his truck. So I did. Spot the duck!
Daisy with our food when we eventually found a Cracker Barrel (this was hugely entertaining at the time, but I realise probably lacks the humour in a blog post…)
Entering Tennessee, over the bridge.
Even with The Great Cracker Barrel Hunt, as it will ever after be known, we arrived in Memphis in good time in the evening. Our hotel, rather wonderfully, was right behind Beale Street, so we were able to park the car and mooch round the corner to Beale Street to have dinner at BB King’s 😀
Dad pointed out, when I was trying to decide which boots to wear out, that it is not a cowboy town, and he’s right – Memphis has a feel all its own, and it’s fantastic. It’s vibrant and noisy and full of people, and reminded me a little of Covent Garden at night, if Covent Garden had neon lights and really good blues music. And we had endless fun with Daisy lol…
And then, slightly randomly, we went into Hooters – and I found the poster telling the girls how to dress bizarre – hair must be “down and styled glamorously”, and tattoos must be covered with opaque makeup and there’s quite a lot of instruction about how the tank top and hotpants should be worn…
Next post – Stax Soul Museum and on to Nashville 😀
