Jack Daniel's Distillery

The Jack Daniel's Distillery is in Lynchburg, Tennessee. We hadn't planned on stopping there on our way to Nashville but that's the beauty of traveling without an itinerary. I have to admit that I wasn't entirely on board when Todd mentioned he would like to take a tour of the distillery. He suckered me in when he told me the story of when he had been by ten years ago when he and one of his fraternity brothers had ventured into "deliverance country" on the way to a fraternity conference but ran out of time before they could do the tour. Whiskey isn't really my cup of tea but once we got there, I really enjoyed it. The drive to the distillery is beautiful. The rolling hills, red barns, white fences...I could get used to that!

Christmas in July!

We are pretty big fans of Christmas ornaments. Shortly after we met, we were putting up Nic's tree and I made a comment about how I didn't care for her white tree and all teal ornaments. And that prompted a discussion on our views of Christmas trees.

I know that it isn't uncommon for families to have multiple trees if a house has the space to support it. And despite living in a two bedroom apartment Nicole found a way to have a second tree devoted to ornaments from our two schools in a second room where it wouldn't clash with her main tree.

My family only had one tree growing up and it was a true hodge-podge of ornaments that tracked back through the years to when my parents got married. There were ornaments from when I was a kid and also ornaments we had picked up during our travels.

The result of our discussion was that we both agreed that every home should have a "Family Tree" that follows the growth of the family and that grows every year as the family grows. There should be ornaments that can be tracked back to specific events and will stir up memories every time you look at your tree.

The white key is from the town of Senoia where we visited the Southern Living Idea House.  We found it at a local antique store where Southern Living got a lot of their decor.  The sand dollar ornament is from St. Simon's Island/Jekyll Island where we've spent several weekends.  And the little wooden ornament is from The Farmhouse at Serenbe.

Two of these are from our most recent trip to Tennessee and the other is from Callaway Gardens...one of our favorite places to go on the weekend.

Since that day we've made a point to pick up ornaments every time we visit a new location. We write the date on the back of the ornament if we think we might need help remembering where or when we picked it up.

We also decided that we wanted a collegiate tree.  Since I'm an Auburn man and she's a Gator, it is easy for our ornaments to fit on the same tree without disrupting her delicate eye for color combinations.

Two of our favorite companies for collegiate ornaments are Kitty Keller Designs and Coton Colors Pottery.

Most people are familiar with Coton Colors products even though they may not realize it. They make all kinds of painted trays and dishes that are popular with the tailgate crowd. Their ornaments are just as great and fit on any tree.

Kitty Keller focuses on a unique metal working process called Cloisonné. I'm not an expert on the process but I do know the results are awesome!

What are some of your favorite ornaments?  Do you have any Christmas ornament traditions?

Weekend in Alabama

Tour of Auburn's greenhouses...

Pepper Place Farmer's Market in Birmingham...

Birmingham Botanical Gardens...

Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance

Nic and I had an opportunity to attend the 2011 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance a few weeks back. It was an absolutely amazing experience.

A little back story:

Callaway Gardens- First Day of Spring

We kicked off the first day of Spring by driving up to Callaway Gardens this weekend. We spend a lot of Sundays driving through the gardens...It's a great place to work on our photography. We have probably been 10 times in the past few months whether it was to see the fall color, their famous Fantasy In Lights, or the Christmas snow fall. We purchased a yearly pass this weekend and judging by the number of visits we've made in the past, the pass will more than pay for itself after a few visits. Plus, annual pass holders receive discounts on different events and lodging. Callaway has fun events all year- in fact, this coming weekend they're have a plant fair and a wine and dine event that should be a lot of fun.

There are so many different things to do at Callaway Gardens- fly fishing, photography workshops, bike trails, water sports in the summer, you rent a cabin, stay in the lodge, go on wildlife hikes, or visit one of the many educational centers they have. My favorite is the Sibley Agriculture Center.

Sweetwater Brewery: Brew Your Cask Off

As you know from our last post, we were pretty upset about not being able to make it to Sweetwater Brewery's 'Brew Your Cask Off'' a couple of weekends ago. Having already bought our tickets, it only seemed right to do something fun with them and reward one of our readers - with a catch.

We've finally gotten around to posting the guest post that was required as payment from the ticket winner, Kathleen. She had a blast as was our intention for the winner.

Brew Your Cask Off - Giveaway

Brew Your Cask Off is one of the upcoming events that I was really looking forward to this year. The guys at Sweetwater did such a good job last year and I was expecting this year to be even better. I went ahead and purchased my tickets well in advance, without checking with Nic. Turns out she has a meeting for work, and now something has come up and I can't go.

The problem is that I still have two tickets. And I don't want to see them go to waste.

I have decided to give our tickets away but there's a little catch. I want to see pictures of the event and a [little] review as a guest post on this blog. If you feel like you want to go and can provide a few pictures and a short write-up, send us an email or @ us on twitter (any of our accounts).

Follow BYCO on Twitter @BrewYourCaskOff for news and previews.

*I reserve the right to make the most unfair choice in picking the winner of these tickets. Special consideration will be given to people that we know in some way or that make the best plea. If you win I will personally hold you responsible for upholding the requirements of this post-unless I feel that your pictures stink and you have the writing skills of a third grader. Deadline for entry is 8pm est, 3/3/11. Winner will be notified via email or direct message(make sure you are following @SeasonallySthrn)