vacation excursion #3 :: artsy asheville

Velvet and fringe steering wheel covers! Squeee! If they only had one that would match the red Zoom Zoom...

Day three in Asheville was spent downtown exploring some of the art galleries and artsy-fartsy boutiques. Oh Em Gee, it was pure heaven! Even the Turkey, the non-shopper he is, was in a happy zone as we wandered through store after store after store after store. (Maybe this was due to our stop at the Chocolate Lounge -- more on that later -- but who cares?! He was having fun!)

Fun sculptures made of recycled metal were in many of the stores. This flying pig with the pink wings was one of my favorites. Not favorite enough to plop down the cashola, but the kid had sass coming out of his porky non-existent pores! (Amazon has a better picture here but no pink wings.)  

The floral arrangements at one gallery had me swooning. The Turkey about crawled under a chair when I found the proprietor and asked her if I could purchase some of her displays, though. They were THAT cool! She didn't let me leave the store with any of her display flowers but I was permitted to take photos, and she did give me some tips on making the flowers. Stay tuned for the bloom-making shindig soon.

Chocolate Lounge alert! That's the pot de creme we shared at French Broad Chocolate Lounge. They should change their name to Yummyville.

 

 This is what chocolate does.  

There are no words. 

Just giggle fits. 

 

These fishy critters almost found a new home in my kitchen. 

(And why did Blogger suddenly change from flush left to centered? Must check this out.) 

But the artsy piece de resistance was at Kress: 

Button bouquets! The size, the texture, the creativity, the use of felt, and the pure whimsy was just loveloveloveloveloveloveloveLOVE!  She built each flower and then tied them together like bouquets, using buttons that were artistic in their own right. Beautimous! 

Even the single strands were cool all bunched together. 

But it was the bouquets that brought me my wallet to its knees. Seriously, peeps. $30 each per bouquet? (To give you an idea, there are five individual bouquets in the photo above.) I looked at them, mentally deconstructed each flower and bloom, and calculated it might be beneficial to make one myself. How hard could it be, right? 

Again, stay tuned...