Thursday, June 05, 2008

Hometown Tourist

Have you heard about towns trying to generate revenue by creating "hometown tourists?" I know quite a few that have done this and my small town has been one too. They've had this thing they call "Hometown Vacation Fridays" where you meet up on Fridays and find something new in the town you hadn't seen/learned about before. SUCH a cool idea.

And so it relates to me. I've been in quite a funk lately and having a hard time being inspired to create anything - a terrible predicament when you do what I do for a living. So my sweet husband gave me an assignment last night to try and break me out of my rut. He told me to go be a tourist in our town and to take at least 10 pictures of cool things I saw.

You know what? It worked! I had such a fun time wandering around and snapping pics here and there. I know some people thought I was strange, but I didn't care! I think i took close to 100 pictures in only a 2 mile radius (LITERALLY!) from my house...including one OF my house and all the infinate boy items there seems to be laying around now that school is out for the summer! ;)

In any case, I strongly recommend it! Go - be a tourist. Enjoy all the wonderful things about your own city! You'll be glad you did! (And if you do, email me or link me here - I'd LOVE to see!)

So with that said, I'm going to tag a few people to get it started (you girls can kill me later ;)):

Nic Howard, Kelly Purkey, Molly Peckham (I wanna see Hawaii, girl!), Suzy Plantamura, Stephanie Howell and Shannon Zickel (and anyone else who wants to play along ;)).

Here are what the images are starting with the top left going clockwise, then center:
1. Andrew Carnegie Library (one of the first Carnegie Libraries and it also has an 19th Century cemetary in the front yard), 2. Statue of Santana Lass. (Shelbyville is the Saddlebred Capitol of the World and we take our horses very seriously. This statue sits at a prominent spot where Main Street splits with Washington.), 3. Antique Clock at 5th & Main. Not sure what's special about it but I think it's cool!, 4. Columns at the stunning Wakefield-Scearce Gallery (My mom was best friends with CiCi Scearce growing up), 5. Beautiful Knockout Roses, 6. The plaque marking the historical meaning of the Shelbyville Fountain (also at 5th & Main), 7. Fountain in front of Shannon's Funeral Home. Alot of my family have been buried out of here, including my grandmother., 8. A House on Main that I want one day. It will be mine (or one alot like it!), 9. Shelby County Courthouse, 10. Antique Stores on Main Street (and yes, I stood in the middle of the road to get this!), 11. Shelbyville Fountain created commemorating the Public Works., 12. Historic Home on Clay Street (one of my favorites in town. I just love the ivy!), 13.(Center) A gorgeous Southern Magnolia Bud.

And a huge thank you to KP for her guidance in showing me where to create this awesome mosaic at www.bighugelabs.com. AMAZING!

9 comments:

Jaime Lynne said...

Oooh, I so wish I lived in your town. Las Vegas just doesn't have any of that hometown charm. I'll have to look extra hard. Thanks for the idea!

Anonymous said...

UH WOW!! This is so inspiring!! I might take off today and go do this!! (Hubs got us working outside :)...and I need a break later!) What a GREAT idea, Kelly! You are so creative, girl...and your town is beautiful. Mine...maybe harder, but I'll find the goods! jw

Katie Nelson said...

LOVE this idea! I blogged about it at http://scrapbooklady.typepad.com/katie_the_scrapbook_lady/2008/06/hometown-tourist.html

Anonymous said...

Kelly! I just played tourist to my family visiting this week and your photos look much like ours! I live in Madison, MS now. I lovvvvve my little town too! Hope you get "workin" again soon! Hugs!

suzyplant said...

Hi Kelly. You are cute - thanks for tagging me girl. I will actually enjoy this as it gives me an excuse to walk around my town with a camera. Your photos are all so beautiful and now I want to come visit you! Suzy

Faye said...

Wow you have a pretty amazing looking town. I saw that you had tagged Nic and loved the idea of being a hometown tourist so took a walk around my small village today then created a layout. Thanks for the great idea.
http://fayegregory.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Kelly - your pics of our town are beautiful. If you're willing to share them, I'd love it! Stacy and I are making a "Shelbyville" album for Dena (who's now in Iowa)!! --Ange

pakosta said...

that sounds FUN kelly!
i moved here 2 years ago and still don't know much about our little town, but they are remodeling, so when they are done, i will go do this!!! i may go do chicago though!!!! how have you been? how old are your boys now?!

tara

amour_girl said...

I also live in Shelbyville and I just adore that house on Main! Every time I drive by, I always point it out to anyone else in the car. But they seem to think otherwise.