Eager to care for her brand new granddaughter, Barbara Heilman’s first order of business was to shop for a car seat. She couldn’t operate the model her daughter, Becca Davison, owned, and she wanted something easy to use. However, when Barb and Becca returned from their shopping trip, Barb was frustrated and slightly panicked. She didn’t have the strength to unbuckle any of the car seats in the stores. When
Thirteen years ago, Hayley William’s hair stylist was out on leave, and Brian O’Connor was her next available option. Making small talk as she sat in his chair, Brian asked Hayley the basic questions about what she was doing and where she was working. Laughing now, as he recalls their initial conversation, Brian said he secretly rolled his eyes when Hayley told him she wrote and sang songs. Of course
Showing me around her meticulously organized and overflowing art studio, I have a hard time keeping up with Xima Lee Hulings. Amidst pens and paints and textiles and even a blow torch, she talks about her life and paintings and projects in her rapid-fire, exuberant way. Inspiring and educational, she motivates me to make a mess and create something. Because, as Xima laughs out loud and says, “Life is an
I recently accompanied a friend to the hospital for a routine, albeit still unsettling, outpatient procedure. Sitting in the waiting area, I noticed a gentleman staff member, dressed in scrubs, who escorted patients to their assigned medical spaces. As he greeted and directed a constant flow of patients, I continued to watch and listen to him. He captured my attention by being an exception. In this world of instant gratification
I have talked about my mid-life move to Nashville—no friends or family here, kids grown and gone. Arriving in town, I read everything I could get my hands on about happenings in our new city. I searched for ways to meet people and create a sense of belonging. Now it is two years later. Mary Hance agrees to meet with me, and I feel like I already know her. Unbeknownst to Mary, she was
On a gloomy Monday in October, this Nashville treasure swarms with activity. Despite the misty morning, a crew works to put finishing touches on transforming the 55-acre botanical garden into a magical, holiday wonderland. As we stroll around the Cheekwood estate and grounds, built with the Maxwell House coffee fortune, Jade Roser gives me a behind-the-scenes look into how Holiday Lights comes together. With his easy going, infectious enthusiasm, Jade
The sergeant-in-command directs me to the room where roll call is about to start. Reminiscent of police tv shows, the two sergeants discuss the priorities for the day to the 30 or so police officers gathered. A murder suspect was apprehended overnight, so locating him is no longer a high priority item for these day shift officers. As I sit at my table and look around at the quiet and
If at first you don’t succeed…His first American Idol tryout was a bust. A few years later, Tim Halperin borrowed a buddy’s laptop, pulled up a seat, and sang a cappella for a webcam audition. This time around, he ended up in Los Angeles on a wild, musical ride. As we discuss Tim’s 2011 American Idol adventure, his strong faith is evident. A finalist during season 10, Tim believes he
As I meet with people, I continue to hear the same message over and over. To expand personally, we must seek challenges and bring novelty into our lives. Making an effort to learn and do new things enriches our world and creates excitement. Always willing to explore new territory, Charles Curtis stumbled upon an engaging and lucrative career because he gave something different a try. About 50 years ago,
I became of age in a Heineken, Budweiser, Michelob world – and Coors, brewed with “Rocky Mountain spring water,” was something a little more special. Admittedly, ordering a beer used to be a simple task. Nowadays, deciphering choices in the craft beer world can be complicated and overwhelming. Lager, ale, IPA, hops, barley, amber, abv, malt, mash – I just want something I actually like to drink. In a city
We downsized significantly when making our move from Houston to Nashville two years ago. Sorting through piles and years of stuff, we boxed up those things we truly loved. Not only is it emotionally difficult to part with your belongings, but it can also be physically challenging. We had a tough time finding organizations and people willing to inherit all the beautiful, in our opinion, things we chose to leave
We sit in her backyard on this lovely, balmy September day in Dallas, Texas. As I devour my beautifully presented lunch, we talk about how much The Defined Dish has grown since it began at the start of this year. Alex Snodgrass is the perfect example of finding what you love to do and turning it into a livelihood. With a huge smile, she laughs and says, “I am sharing
While gathering nectar for food, honey bees carry pollen between flowers, shrubs, and plants. In turn, these crops thrive and reproduce and keep our food cycle going. Without the honey bee’s continual pollination, our food crops – and nourishment for our livestock and other animals – will die off. Several weeks ago, I spoke with Roger Senechal about what I might expect to see during last month’s total solar eclipse.
In today’s world, with our steady stream of negative news, self-promotion, and verbal and physical attacks, it is heartening to meet a man like Lee Estes. Humble and unassuming, he is an example of good deeds rewarded. As he stands in his driveway and shakes his head and smiles, it is clear he’s still not used to seeing his 15-story likeness a few blocks away. The Nations is fast becoming a neighborhood
On August 21, 2017, the first coast to coast total solar eclipse in 99 years will sweep across the country. Most people will see only a partial eclipse – the moon will appear to take a bite out of the sun – an amazing show on its own. The twelve million people lucky enough to be situated along the 50-70 mile band of totality will view, according to Roger Senechal,
I am trying to imagine this striking young woman hiding inside a Jimmy the Gourd costume. As a cast member of Veggie Tales, the animated show offering kind and helpful lessons to children, Katie Talbot pulled on a large orange suit with a backpack connected to it. Depressing a button on the backpack, the suit expanded many times, much like a hoop skirt. While singing and dancing to the
According to Jennifer Puryear, books compete with television like never before. With Netflix and Amazon and HBO, excellent and artistic television shows are more common these days. We get caught up in one series after another – Game of Thrones to This Is Us to The Crown. Many folks need a good reason to sit down with a book. Several years ago, Jennifer wrote an occasional book column for a
Daily dose of gelato in hand, I meander through the back alleys and narrow streets of Florence’s Oltrarno quarter. A few blocks from the Arno River, away from tourists and crowds, lies a quiet neighborhood of Florentine artists. Peering into the artisan workshops and studios, you discover a rich part of Florence’s culture and history. Bookbinders, silversmiths, paper marblers, sculptors, marble craftsmen, perfume makers, potters, shoemakers, metal workers. Some of these craftspersons apprenticed under a master or studied with an instructor. Many are members of artisan families, and the skills and practices were handed down through the generations.
Adam Schallau greeted me with more cheeriness than I could muster at 4:45 AM. “You get up and moving and a story unfolds,” he smiled. As we headed down dark trails to a ledge a mile above the Colorado River, I realized how much I would learn from one of the Southwest’s premier landscape photographers. I watched Adam track the moon and the clouds, and he saw changes in the
“You have no chance of scoring if you don’t take the shot.” Operating on the premise that you have to start somewhere, Victoria Kopyar almost seems to welcome mistakes and problems. Known as someone who relishes the chance to reimagine or reinvent, Victoria “jumped in with both hands and feet” to improve the look of her golf game. Growing up in Ohio, Victoria loved pretty clothes and couldn’t always afford
Concord grape ice cream, topped with a homemade and torched cinnamon marshmallow sauce, nestled between two homemade, and very special, graham crackers
Sweet corn ice cream, spread with a black currant jam, on savory jalapeño corn meal cookies
Fresh mint ice cream, covered with a velvety mixture of white chocolate and crunchy wasabi peas, sandwiched between two extraordinary sugar cookies
-Mary Wells Lawrence, 88, advertising executive and first female CEO of a NYSE company
Susan McVicker and Katie Gilliam describe their chance meeting as a God thing. With a mother-daughter age difference, they both marvel at the timing of their worlds coming together and the adventure that unfolded. Susan says she “couldn’t possibly have imagined that her art would someday help women on the other side of the world.” Four years ago Susan came across a dilapidated shoe box filled with her late grandfather’s
Around the world, we discard one million plastic bags every single minute. We use, on the average, a bag for 25 minutes, and it takes 100-500 years for the bag to decompose. Our plastic trash, disposed of on land, flows from streams to rivers to the oceans. An ocean gyre is a system of ocean and wind currents, swirling like a whirlpool. The trash is drawn into the calm center
A few years ago, I gave my husband a simple and inexpensive valentine—a small, red notebook. Inside the front cover, I wrote a message to my sweetheart. I proposed, with this notebook in hand, we sit down a few times a year and talk about our marriage. My concept was to document our hopes and dreams for the coming months and what we’d like to work on, as a couple,
A personal goal for 2016 – and one I plan to carry into this new year— take more time to play. Play with no purpose in mind. Let go of my to-do list, turn off my phone, stop worrying about what needs to be done. Play by myself, play with my friends, play with my husband – play and have fun.
Give Lynn Lesher a challenge and she’s happy. Problems delight her and routines bore her to tears. She describes herself as “a domestic AND an intellect.” She has figured out a way to employ both tendencies while working alongside some of Nashville’s biggest country music stars. Twenty years ago, Lynn decided she was tired of offices and the corporate world. “I literally just quit one day,” she says, sounding like
I hesitate, wondering if I am headed in the right direction. Following my instructions, I turn down a deserted alley, made more gloomy and lonely by the heavy San Francisco rain and gray January morning. The alley consists of back doors and fire escapes and garbage dumpsters and Chinese signs. I come upon one tiny English sign and smile – I am in the right place. The Golden Gate Fortune
