Make A Stop At The Thistle Stop Cafe

One of the greatest things about Nashville, TN, is that it is filled with locally owned, one-of-a-kind music venues, boutiques, cafes and restaurants. Tonight the Little Black Dress Club found a gem that was all of the above and more!

 

The Thistle Stop Cafe is not just a coffee shop. It’s a life-changing experience, literally. Located in West Nashville on Charlotte Pike, this cafe features dozens of tea cups from all around the world, each with its own special story. The 150-year-old coffee-stained floor came from Al Gore Sr’s tobacco warehouse. There have been more than 100 volunteers who have supplied the walls, deck, furnishings and all the other special things which make this coffee shop so special!

 

 

The story began in 1997 when an Episcopal priest named Becca Stevens, from Vanderbilt University, created Magdalene. Magdalene is a residential program for women looking to overcome lives spent on the streets filled with trafficking, addictions and prostitution. After two years in a program that offers housing, food, therapy, education and more, all based on the 24 spiritual principles of Magdalene, graduates can find work at the Thistle Stop Cafe. Offering a healthy, nourishing menu and delicious teas and coffee, all served by Magdalene graduates, this cafe invites guests to embrace generosity, compassion, understanding and support. The walls are adorned with photos and stories of women from all walks of life. Handmade soaps, lotions and more, all made at Thistle Farms by these extraordinary women, are on display and available for purchase, and the freshly handmade sandwiches and soups are some of the best you will experience. Take time to read more about Becca by purchasing her book titled “Snake Oil, The Art of Healing and Truth-Telling.”

Thistle Thursdays is a monthly music series hosted at the cafe. The lineups feature some of the best intimate performances you will find, and half of the ticket proceeds benefit the women of Magdalene. I have been very excited to grab a coffee and a meal at this cafe after hearing what a great experience my coworkers had there. The only thing that made it even more exciting was finding out that one of my childhood idols, Tiffany and friends, were going to be performing on Thistle Thursday.

Little Black Dress Club members lined up on the sidewalk 45 minutes before the doors opened. Standing in the cold and blustery weather, we anxiously awaited our chance to be 12 years old again. Getting to the cafe early paid off, as we had first dibs on the open seating and managed to score a table stage side. The women of Magdalene who staffed the cafe tonight were welcoming, helpful and genuinely happy to be there. We all ordered sandwiches, soups and coffees from the menu and then patiently waited for Tiffany to make her appearance. She did not disappoint. Taking the stage with the chorus to “I Think We’re Alone Now” I was immediately thrown back to 1989, wishing I had worn blue eye shadow and a denim mini skirt.

Not only was her voice amazing, Tiffany looks great! Wearing her fringed out, open sweater, her self-described ode to her favorite, singer Stevie Nicks, along with knee-high red boots, she immediately rose to “girl crush status.” Her song list included all the 80’s favorites, plus newer selections coming out this fall and several songs she wrote herself and even a couple of covers.

 

Open My Eyes

I Will Not Break Down

Just Me

Bobby McGee

Autumn Leaves

Love You Good

Could’ve Been

All This Time
                      I Think We're Alone Now - which in my opinion, was just as great a hit as when the Beatles recorded it in 1963. 
Click here to see our live recording of her final song of the night, "I Think We're Alone Now."

 

Tiffany had some fun friends singing on stage with her including a rockin back up singer  who we thought looked like Pink with big hair! She told stories and made jokes between each song. She danced through the cafe, entertained us at our table, and made us all feel like we were teenagers again - at least for a couple of hours! When the show was over she was in no hurry to rush off stage. She greeted us at our table, shared hugs and jokes and even posed for a few selfies.

 

Meeting childhood idols is risky for me. I fear that they won’t live up to my 12-year-old memories and I will be left with the feeling that the last 30 years were a lie - not unlike what happened with Tommy Lee of Motley Crue when I met him in my 20s, but that’s a whole new blog post....

Tiffany was everything I thought she would be when I first saw her perform in a shopping mall and again when she opened for NKOTB in 1989. Knowing she had agreed to come and perform such an intimate performance at the Thistle Stop Cafe and hearing her speak about empowerment, overcoming addictions and showing such support and love for the women of Thistle Farms is reason enough to sing her praises. Much to the chagrin of my coworkers, I will be singing “Could’ve Been” for the next three weeks!

I feel our LBDC girls would agree, Thistle Stop Cafe is a gem and Thistle Thursday with Tiffany was a blast! Click here to view more pictures from our night with Tiffany at the cafe and help show them your support by stopping in today!

 

~Shay Ashcraft, National Director

 

Tiffany and the women of Magdalene

 



 





 

LBDC East Bay is Shining Their Member Spotlight

 

 

It has been too long since we shined a spotlight on one of our members! Gwen Brady from our East Bay, CA chapter has chosen to honor Donna Barnett as our most recent member spotlight.

 

Donna is happily married and enjoying the blessings of a long lasting friendship with the man she chose for her husband. Together they share four awesome children; a 25 year old daughter and three sons ages 23, 21 and 13.

 

Donna works in the marketing department of the University of CA, Davis Extension offering continuing and professional education. She is involved in outreach events, student supervision, direct mail, research and selecting merchandise for outreach events. 

  

While she considers San Francisco as her hometown, Donna was born in Owensboro, KY and moved to the Western Addition of California known as Fillmore at just 5 years old. Her hobbies include making arts and crafts whenever time permits.  She loves to make diaper cakes, and party favors among other pretty and crafty items. Donna says she has a strong interest in health and community involvement. “I am an active member of the Parent Teacher club at my son’s middle school where I serve on the board and I am passionate about our children and making sure they have access to a good education. My favorite things include traveling, dancing, hosting family gatherings, and going for long walks.” Sounds like Donna knows how to stay busy, but she still makes time for fun. She is looking forward to several upcoming vacations such as weekend trips to Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Pismo Beach. Her family is also planning their annual camping trip and a visit to NYC.

 

Donna joined the LBDC one year ago in order to step outside of her box! “I’m at a place in my life where I can let my hair down a bit without feeling like my home life is being neglected. I wanted to enjoy the company of quality women, outside of my comfortable and familiar circle”, she says.  “The thing I love most about LBDC is the many different personalities and events that I have access to.”

 

She likes having fun, maintaining a positive attitude and trying to be in the moment. Donna enjoys giving back to others, even if it means being a light to those I come in contact with.  “How I treat others is very important to me,” said Donna. Quote by May Angelou- “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

 

LBDC East Bay Director, Gwen Brady, had this to say: “Donna Barnett was one of the very first people that I told about LBDC.  She showed as much excitement as I did so I knew she was an example of the kind of women I wanted to be associated with.  Donna was in on the ground floor.  She helped me to get the word out about the club and has been gem ever since!  Donna is extremely reliable; she played an integral role in East Bay's launch party.  She immediately took the initiative to get things done.

 

Last year, Donna organized a bowling event!  She negotiated every aspect of the event and it was very, very successful. By popular demand, she organized another one in February.  It was SO popular, we had to reserve more lanes and open more RSVP spots.  It was one of our most well attended events thus far!!

 

She always has a happy, bubbly disposition.  She is one of those people that you KNOW you'll get a smile from without fail, every single time.  She's warm, thoughtful, outgoing, fun loving and beautiful...inside and out.  She is also an amazing mom! 

 

I'm ecstatic to see that she has renewed her membership and will be with us for another year! I am truly honored to have Donna as a member of the East Bay Chapter.”

 

 

We are all proud to have Donna as part of the Little Black Dress Club family. Thanks for supporting our organization, Donna!

 

~Shay Ashcraft

National Director

 

 

LBDC Is Better Than Ever!

The creative offices of LBDC have been busy the past couple of months, and we’ve got some exciting news to share with our members!

 

After several months of gathering feedback, suggestions and creative ideas from our Directors, members and trusted consultants, the Little Black Dress Club website has undergone a complete overhaul and is almost ready for its big debut!

From the dynamic new home page to the customizable chapter pages and the new event calendar, the new and improved LBDC site is sure to offer a more user friendly, interactive experience for our current members and Directors.

Why? The Little Black Dress Club was founded on the ideas of two women, but it grows on the ideas of many. Our Directors and members spoke up with ideas on a new and improved website and our leadership has worked hard to make it happen. User feedback indicated that our current site needed some major changes in functionality. We needed a home page that was as dynamic as our membership and we wanted site visitors to automatically see and feel the benefit of being part of the LBDC.

 

Here are just a few of the new and improved sections of our new site:

Navigation: With the LBDC website redesign, gone are the days of error messages, delayed page loading, or searching too many pages before finding what you are looking for. Users can expect clean content in easy to find sections, without all the background noise.

 

Content: Our Directors work hard to promote and manage their chapters. Why not show off their hard work while attracting new and potential members and sponsors? We will be showcasing bolder, more current photos from LBDC events and excursions, explaining all the benefits of membership while updating live feeds from our additional social media outlets and blog. These are just to name a few!

 

Segmentation: We have over a dozen active chapters with LBDC – Each chapter will have it’s own customizable page. Event calendars and registration will be clearly defined and easy for users to find what they are looking for.

Here are a few other new additions that you can expect:

 

Live news feeds: Live feeds from the LBDC blog and social media

 

Chapter Pages: A customizable page for each LBDC chapter

 

Video/Picture Sliders: Dynamic, current pictures and videos showcasing some of our most popular LBDC events and featuring some of the perks of membership 

 

The fun won’t stop there. We have lots in store for the new look of LBDC. Expect the first round of changes to happen in early 2014. The Leadership Team of the Little Black Dress Club has listened to what our members want and we aim to give it to you!

Have ideas, comments or other suggestions? Feel free to email us at info@lbdclub.com. We look forward to sharing the new website with you!

Cheers!

The Leadership Team, LBDC

Christine, Jen and Shay

Nashville Girls Night Out

 On September 4^th, the ladies of the NashvilleChapter put on their little black dresses for a Girl’s Night Out at local restaurant Cabana located in the Hillsboro Village. Cabana has regular Girl’s Night Out specials for drinks and appetizers on Wednesday nights, and the ladies of the Nashville Chapter were excited to take part.
 

While the group was too large to take part in one of the private cabana experiences, they did enjoy the nice summer breeze from the open veranda. August was very busy in everyone’s lives with work and back to school, so there weren’t many opportunities for LBDC members to get together. The conversations around the table involved everyone catching up on what they had done for the summer and the excitement of upcoming events like the Sumner Crest Wine Tasting later in September and Glamping Part Deux in October.

Conversation with our group is always very lively. A few quotes overheard around the table were:
 

“If you need a picture of myself to go in that, let me know.” – Shay, when talking to the raffle winners upon opening their gift of a photo frame.

“I feel like I smell like bleu cheese and grit balls.” – Amy

“Kim does not work for ones.” – Kim

 

 The raffle winners of the evening were Niki and Belinda. Congratulations!
 

After a fun evening of laughing, conversations and photos, the ladies went home to their regular evenings with big smiles and a great Girl’s Night Out.
 

 

~ Tonya Overstreet
Nashville Chapter Member, LBDC

In The Spotlight ~ Kelli Miles

Our member spotlights have become so popular! Thanks for all the support our readers have shown to some of our awesome members.

This time we are giving a shout out to Kelli Miles from our Washington, DC chapter!

While Kelli says she feels 30 years old on most of her good days, she is actually a fun spirited 38 year old with a young soul living inside! Unmarried but always willing to consider applications for “boyfriendry”, Kelli works as a paralegal while weaving her dreams of being physically fit and just a little bit rich!

She has a plethora of hobbies and interests such as scrapbooking, reading, movies and writing about pop culture. Kelli would love to have her own version of the show Fashion Police. Her version would be titled “Fashion Cops” and would include several of her friends and family members.

Kelli is looking forward to her upcoming “staycation” where her mother and sister will be coming to visit. These three plan on enjoying their own special brand of loud, girly fun. Most of our LBDC events are filled with the same special brand of fun! Maybe she should recruit her mom and sister!

All though Kelli is a new member of the Little Black Dress Club, she joined the club to have fun and make new girlfriends. She loves the different types of events and being able to sport a variety of her wardrobe at each one.

Kelli is the perfect addition to LBDC. She is intelligent and easy going and has a great sense of humor. She reminds us all that we don’t have to be famous to be a superstar.

Thanks for being in our spotlight, Kelli. We are so glad you joined our club!

 

~Shay Ashcraft

National Director, LBDC

 

 

 

 

 

LBDC Has Arrived In Metropolitan Detroit!

The Little Black Dress Club is rapidly growing across the US. With chapters in California, Nashville, Chicago, Columbus, Alabama and more, our national club is getting noticed! We are so happy to introduce Michelle Barrett from Detroit, Michigan to our family of LBDC Directors.

Energetic and very enthusiastic, we think Michelle is going to do a terrific job in bringing our women’s social club to the Metropolitan Detroit area.  In her spare time Michelle enjoys reading, comedy shows, shopping, funny movies, getting pampered, just about anything near big body of water, learning new things, her family and cats!

Michelle believes in working hard so she can play hard and laugh until it hurts! Read on to learn more about Michelle, learn what she has in store for her new chapter and then take time to welcome her!

~Shay Ashcraft

National Director, LBDC

 

I heard about LBDC from one of my best friends, Bridget Flowers.  She grew up in the Detroit area, but relocated to Nashville where she learned about and joined the Little Black Dress Club.  Bridget knows that I enjoy being around fun loving, positive and purposeful women and thought it would be a good thing for me to look into.  She shared a lot of information about the Nashville chapter and what she knew about the organization and I really liked what I heard.  We knew there wasn’t an active chapter in the Detroit area, so after many lengthy conversations & hours on the national website I decided to pursue becoming a director.

I decided to become a LBDC director because I am surrounded by amazing women.  I know some of the women from my children’s school activities, from work, from my neighborhood, church, etc.  One of the common threads we all share is the fact that there are very few of us who feel as though we have enough time for ourselves; we certainly do not take time for ourselves on a regular basis.  I find it interesting that this seems to be a common thread amongst many of us whether we are married with children or single with or without children, and so on.  With that being said, becoming a LBDC director was a good way for me to take a more proactive approach to finding time for myself, while encouraging other women to do the same.  Sometimes a simple happy hour with friends is just what we need to relax & unwind in order to be at our best when we get home.

Our first event will likely be a happy hour in either Ferndale or Royal Oak since those cities are pretty central and accessible from major highways & freeways.  We are in the process of planning the first event now.

Our goal is to have at least two activities each month.  One would take place during the week (i.e. a Happy Hour) and one on the weekend (i.e. brunch, or something cultural like going to the Detroit Institute of Arts).

Some of the other ideas I have for us are:

·       High Tea at The Townsend Hotel

·       Dinner & a movie

·       Wine Tastings

·       Cooking Class

·       Something fitness oriented like a Self Defense Class, a Zumba Class or walking along Detroit’s beautiful riverfront.

I love the people here.  I am originally from Cleveland, Ohio and also lived in Oak Park, IL and miss both of those areas.  I have lived here for almost 13 years and can honestly say I have met some truly amazing people here.  Living in the Midwest part of the country is great because we get to truly experience each of the four seasons!  With that in mind, I hope to plan activities that are season appropriate.  The Detroit area has a ton of rich & cultural history like Motown, all things automotive and architectural.   As a result, the options for us to play and learn are numerous!

I survived a very serious and scary car accident in December 2012 that changed a lot of my perceptions about myself and my life.  I came across this quote shortly after the accident “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” ~Denis Waitley  I love this quote because it is a reminder that we should live in and appreciate each moment.  The past moments are over, and future moments have not presented themselves.  Life these days is often filled with a variety of actions that require multi-tasking.  Doing what we can to be consciously aware of each moment is essential to being a happy and grounded individual.

I think women have the amazing ability to be supportive and protective of one another.  We see this all of the time when a woman is expecting a baby.  I recently read an article in Prevention Magazine that discusses the eight (8) different friendships that every woman should have.  Here they are:

1.     A Childhood  Friend

2.     A New Friend

3.     A Work Out Friend

4.     A Younger Friend

5.     Your partner’s Friend

6.     Your Mom

7.     Your Self

8.     A Spiritual Friend

 

It is my hope that the Detroit Metro Area Chapter of LBDC will be a great tool to help our members establish and nurture at least one of these eight types of friendships! Click here to email me for more information on joining our club!

~Michelle Barrett

Metro Detroit Director, LBDC