These Are Some of Our Favorite Things

This year marks the second time that the Nashville Chapter hosted a Favorite Things Brunch. With the success of the 2012 event, everyone was looking forward to this year's brunch on Saturday, September 7th at Darfons in Donelson.

Darfon's had a special brunch menu to choose from, in addition to their regular menu and wide selection of cocktails. The event had a large turn out of 21 ladies dressed in their Little Black Dresses and cute shoes (we can't forget the shoes)!

The idea behind the "Favorite Things" theme is that everyone brings a wrapped gift of their favorite thing, then we have a gift exchange using the same rules as Dirty Santa or White Elephant. At first, the ladies were incredibly nice to each other and not stealing anyone's gift, but there's always a few in every crowd who will break the mold and steal someone's treasure! It was all in good fun, and everyone left with new favorite things. A few of the gifts in the exchange were; Little Black Dress coffee mugs, a baking set, several wine-themed gifts, as well as several beauty product gifts.

 

In addition to the regular gift exchange, Shay and Amy each put together a basket loaded with their favorite things. Nancy and LaDonna were the lucky recipients of the loaded baskets.

A special shout out goes to one of Nashville's long-time members, LaDonna Gaines, who will be moving back to Birmingham to be closer to her family. We're all going to miss LaDonna and hope that she travels back to Nashville for as many events as she can attend.

~ Tonya Overstreet
Nashville Chapter Member, LBDC

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

The Windy City

You think you know someone pretty well, but then you spend two 9-hour bus rides, two nights in a hostel and walk 20 miles with them, and you see a whole other side of that person…the good, the bad, the ugly and the fabulous. For three days in June, the Nashville, Columbus and Detroit Chapters traveled to Chicago for a multi chapter event with the Little Black Dress Club ladies of the Chicago Southland Chapter to explore The Windy City.

For the Nashville sisters, the trip started late Thursday night when they boarded the Megabus for an overnight excursion through Louisville and Indianapolis before the final destination of Chicago. I’m pretty sure that time paused on that trip, and the trip was much longer than 9 hours. If customer service is a high priority for your experience, then Megabus is not for you!

 

Since the trip seemed to be all about new experiences, the Nashville ladies didn’t go for just any regular hotel experience, they took a chance on a hostel experience (not to be confused with a hostile experience) and stayed at Hostelling International Chicago. It was like summer camp all over again with 8 girls stacked in bunk beds in one room. There may or may not have been some falling out of bunk beds, some indiscriminate videos and snoring. We all took the Full Moon Vow again, so we’ll never tell!

Just about every mode of transportation was used when traveling the city, including bus, cab, train and trolley. The ladies quickly discovered that there are many interesting characters that can be encountered when using public transportation, which usually lead to humor more so than fear. Of course, there is usually safety in numbers.

Friday and Saturday included lots of shopping on Michigan Avenue and State Street, including visits to Water Tower Place and Marshall Field & Company, the second largest department store in the world with 12 stories, including the 5 story Tiffany & Co. mosaic-capped ceiling.

 

Our sightseeing adventures included visiting The Cloud Gate (better known as The Bean) and Crown Fountain in Millennium Park, a walk along Lake Michigan to Lincoln Park and the Lincoln Park Zoo, a Chicago Architecture Cruise on the Chicago River, a trip to see Wrigley Field and an evening of ferris wheels (not carousels) and fireworks at Navy Pier. There was also much walking done on the weekend, and by the time the Nashville ladies arrived home Sunday night, they had taken over 47,000 steps, which is about 20 miles. Several of the ladies had well-deserved pedicures and massages the following day.

 

The weekend was not without lots of great food. We dined at Ed Debevics, where the servers are over the top and rude…on purpose. We also shared delicious Chicago-style pizza with the other chapters at Lou Malnati’s in the historic Gold Coast district. Saturday evening we got our Cajun fix at Heaven on Seven where several sampled some of the most delicious grits on earth. Our last meal together in Chicago was at the Grand Lux Cafe and included sharing Mimosas, Bellinis and some very large portions of French Toast.

 

Shortly after brunch on Sunday, the chapters bid farewell to each other and went back to their respective cities. It was a fabulous weekend spent making new friends, experiencing new adventures and capturing great memories. Plans were already discussed for future gatherings of the chapters, and I know I am looking forward to more trips together!

~ Tonya Overstreet
Nashville Chapter Member, LBDC



Here’s what a few others had to say about the Chicago trip with The Little Black Dress Club:

"After the Columbus chapter did Pilates in Millennium Park they went to the bean. Who did they run into but Nashville ladies! Columbus was very into shopping and collectively got 6 pairs of shoes, 5 purses, and too many dresses to count!"
~ Suzy Hicks, Columbus Chapter Co-Director

“I loved seeing Chicago for the first time and what a wonderful group of ladies to do it with. I'm ready for our next LBDC adventure!”
~ Beth Holt, Nashville Chapter Member

"I loved having LBDC members from Nashville, Ohio and Detroit join us in the Windy City for an amazing weekend! LBDC provides us with these unique opportunities to meet fabulous ladies, who we may otherwise never cross paths with. I'm already looking forward to our next road trip."
~ Richelle Schneider, Chicago Southland Chapter Director

"Meeting lots of great new people, sightseeing, EATING and shopping shopping shopping!! What a blast!"
~ Jenny Smith, Columbus Chapter Member

“Spending 4 days with these women really gave me a chance to get to know them all a little bit better. I can't imagine my first trip to Chicago being with anyone else. Laughing, trying new things and making memories; that's what LBDC is all about."
~ Shay Ashcraft, Nashville Chapter Co-Director and National Director

“Seeing my city, the city I was born & raised in, through the eyes of tourists was an incredible event for me. I was amazed at how well all of these ladies were able to navigate our great city of Chicago. This is a testament to what kind of women LBDC women are; independent & fun loving adventurers!! I would love to visit their cities next!!
~ Peg Donnellan, Chicago Southland Chapter Member

"This was a wonderful way to be introduced to the LBDC! It was a great trip!"
~ Renee Jackson, Detroit Metro Chapter Member

LBDC Directors - Chicago, Detroit, Nashville and Columbus

 

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir

I discovered Jenny Lawson the way many of her fans discovered her: through her blog post about a giant metal chicken named Beyoncé (Blog Post Titled: And that’s why you should learn to pick your battles.). That single blog post turned me into a Bloggess fan, and I patiently waited several months for the release of her first book. Luckily she blogs regularly, so there was rarely a dull moment in the land of The Bloggess. I read her book in just a couple of days, with laughter and tears.

The book reads like her blog and contains a few of her blog posts (the infamous post about Beyoncé is included) but only a small part of the book is from her blog. You get all sorts of childhood and early year’s stories that make you see how Jenny turned out to be the woman she is today.  You also get more of a glimpse into the life that she shares with her husband, Victor, the only man in this world who could ever be her husband.

Through Jenny’s battle with anxiety and depression, you learn that hiding behind your illnesses benefits no one and that there are some days that you have to hit them head on and other days that you just need to withdraw for a while. I have also learned that humor and sarcasm are both much needed forms of art that can turn a bad situation into something better and that ethical taxidermy could possibly brighten your day.

Rarely do I read books more than once, but this one is definitely one that I will probably read annually. Jenny has a second book in the works for 2014, and I am already looking forward to reading it. For now, you can find her at http://thebloggess.com.

~Reviewed by Tonya Overstreet

Nashville Member, LBDC

How to Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran

Through the mighty powers of related suggestions on my Kindle, I discovered How to Be a Woman, or at least I discovered the book and not the answer. My Kindle is usually pretty good with suggestions, and it was right about this one, as well.

Overall I enjoyed the book as long as I don't pick apart each chapter. There were some chapters that I liked more than others, and a couple of chapters I didn't like at all. Admittedly, I skimmed or skipped through the couple of chapters that didn't do much for me, such as the chapter on Abortion and Role Models. Her views on Abortion don't match mine, and while I respect that we are both allowed to have different views, I felt like she was "poking fun" at people who don't have her same view. The Role Models chapter seemed to be there to solely put into words her high disdain for Katie Price.

With those two chapters out and a few soapbox moments in some other chapters, the book was pretty spot on for what I enjoy reading in a book about what women like and really bonded with Caitlin through her words. Caitlin is a mother and has a chapter on being a mother, followed by a really awesome chapter on why women shouldn't feel that they have to be mothers. Being a Not Mom myself, I gained tremendous respect for Caitlin for addressing the issue and pointing out that women who are childless (by choice or not) are not less of a woman. Caitlin was truly and properly speaking for me as a childfree woman by saying things like, "But deciding not to have children is a very, very hard decision for a woman to make: the atmosphere is worryingly inconducive to saying, “I choose not to,” or “It all sounds a bit vile, tbh.” We call these women “selfish.” The inference of the word “childless” is negative: one of lack, and loss. We think of nonmothers as rangy lone wolves—rattling around, as dangerous as teenage boys or men. We make women feel that their narrative has ground to a halt in their thirties if they don’t “finish things” properly and have children."

Caitlin presents herself well as this woman that most women would enjoy spending time with. She's like an 'every woman' representative for women who aren't and never have been perfect and perhaps identify closely with their weird side.

"How to Be a Woman"  is recommended for people who lean more left than right and understand that there are way too many facets of womanhood to attempt to explain fully in a novel. However, reading this book can help you gain a better understanding of why you are who you are and why society views you in certain ways.

~Reviewed By Tonya Overstreet

Nashville Member, LBDC