Saturday: Eating, Shopping & FestivALL

After a false start (Husband forgot his cell phone) and a stop at his work place, we eventually made it to O'Charley's for cedar plank seafood goodness (Husband likes the salmon, I like the tilapia).  We hadn't been there for awhile and it seemed particularly good today.  Our waiter must have had too many tables or something because he didn't come around very much two other waiters assisted us with drink refills and the bill.  I hope he splits his tip with them.

We then stopped in Circuit City so I could get a thumb drive type card reader for me to carry around and get pics off my cell phone.  I wish I'd waited and gotten one online and looked to see what kind of memory card my camera had because it doesn't work with my camera memory card.  Not a big deal though, I use a cord and just hook the camera up, and it would have just been an extra bonus. But if I'd waited and looked around I'm sure I could have found one online and it probably would have been cheaper too.  At any rate, I have it now and it works great and now I don't have to ask Husband to get the pics off my cell phone anymore.

Speaking of cell phones and memory cards, whose bright idea was it to put the Razr's memory card UNDERNEATH the battery??  It makes no sense.

Anyway.  FestivALL started yesterday. It's a 10-day arts festival in Charleston. There are tons of things going on at different locations, all of them art related in some way:  art exhibits, music, plays.  This is the first time I've really attended any of the events. I'm not sure why. I think it's such a great thing for Charleston to have, and I really want to support it, so I'm trying to attend at least some things year.  So after we left CC, I drug (dragged?) Husband downtown.

We parked at Husband's office and walked down the boulevard to the the Smoke on the Water chili cookoff.

They have a good sized part of the boulevard blocked off.  Since we had just eaten, we didn't sample any of the chili, but it sure smelled good. However, it was a little too hot and wasn't that pleasant walking around. We stopped and talked to some of Husband's coworkers. They had two stages with music, and when we were there Julie Adams was performing on one of them.



We left the boulvard and walked down to Davis Park, where they were having "Art on a Stick." I don't know why they call it that. But it was a great place for it, nice and shady. This park is one of my favorite areas of downtown. I used to work across the street from it and had lunch there a lot. Now if I have time I try to walk through it in the morning.



There was live music




and local artists offering their art for sale.




I enjoyed looking at everything. There I am walking around, in the blue shirt toward the left.



There was a nice variety of different types of art. I purchased this cat picture by Andrea Anderson and framed it when I got home. I wasn't able to get a picture of it without the reflection, I'll have to work on that later.



Andrea seemed very sweet and she had some beautiful drawings of figures that I thought were just amazing. One was a large one she did entirely with her left hand when her right was injured. I felt drawn to her for some reason and that's why I chose her art to purchase. I googled her after I got home and found several mentions of her. I didn't find any of her art online but I did discover she's also in a band called The Buttonflies out of Huntington. She plays banjo! But it's not a bluegrass band, It's an alternative kind of thing. Neat sound, check them out at the link. Maybe I'll be able to catch them live some day.

There were also exhibits around the park, like this one.  They are tiles. I don't know what it's called. I only had my camera phone so I couldn't get a closeup.




We left the park and headed back toward the car. Along the way I saw some art hanging in the alley behind my office but I didn't know why.  After looking at the schedule, I realize it was a drive thru exhibit!  Very cool. I wish I'd known, we would have driven through.

Along the way we stopped at Art Emporium.  I frequently walk by this shop in the mornings and there is a collection of pottery in one of the windows with this wonderful tree design (she calls it Tree of Life) and I have been wanting a piece. So I took this opportunity to buy one.  The artist's name isn't on it and now I have forgotten it. I think it might be Susan Greg but maybe not. I've emailed them to ask. I know she is a native of Charleston but lives out of state now.  I would love to have more of these pieces. There are mugs and plates and vases and even a gorgeous table with the design on top.  I really like trees.



We arrived at Husband's office hot and sweaty and went inside for a bathroom break. Then we enjoyed a cool cup of spring water in the green room before heading home.




Looking forward to attending more FestivALL activities later in the week!

FestivALL 2008 Schedule

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