Long Live the King

The summer before we were Seniors in college, I flew back to see my super fun friend, S and her family in Maryland and then drove back to college with her in LA. If you have never done a massive road trip like that, I highly recommend it. It's one of the best memories of my life. S and I will always be close because of that trip. We ate, we sang, we laughed, we talked, we found every state's license plate, we pulled over just for Diet Cokes and we stopped at Graceland.

Now, I will admit, I was not interested in stopping to see Elvis' home in Memphis. This was all S's crazy idea! I thought, the man is dead, his music was ages ago and his outfits were insane. Well, I'm here to tell you I think differently now. The man has got to be alive somewhere, his music is still magic and his outfits are inspirational! Thank you S for enlightening me!

The tour of Graceland was fabulous! You see all the funky rooms in his house (an interior designer's dream!) and hear background stories on him, his family and his home. I can still picture the family room, formally called The Jungle Room with all this hand carved, rustic furniture. It looked like it should have been in a 70s A-frame cabin! I remember that he saw it in a window of some store and went in and bought the whole set! There were also very formal rooms with white carpeting and garish drapes and some of his costumes were on display at the end of the tour. It all sounds hokey I know, but really it was darn good fun.

Jungle Room 

Dining Room

all photos courtesy of graceland.elvis.com.au

 I was reminded of all this fun I had with S when I stopped in Lowe's yesterday and saw this:

You know my feelings about bad Christmas decor but this was in a whole different category. This hit a soft spot in my heart. In fact, I'm still thinking about it. It's a singing, light up Graceland accessory good for any shelf or magical spot in your home. Oh, I fell in love with Elvis all over again just seeing this.

Guess it's time to plan my trip to DollyWood now . . . !!!