Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Living Life Fearlessly

I don’t know if anyone else is like me, but sometimes my greatest ideas and realizations come to me in the shower. That’s exactly what happened this week. As I was halfway through the lather cycle of my shampoo/condition/soaping routine, I was thinking about a conversation I’d had that day with a friend who asked […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Valentine’s Day for One

It’s once again the most lovable holiday of the year. Everywhere you look, Hallmark is taking it’s giant red and pink fist and cramming heart shaped boxes of Russell Stover chocolates and stuffed animals down the throats of the masses. If you’re not one half of a happy partnership, February 14th can easily be considered […]

 

One Tank Weekend Getaways

Being a true-blue Tri-Cities gal, I’ve spent my whole life exploring every nook and cranny of our fair region, especially Johnson City and Elizabethton. I graduated high school alongside basically the same people with whom I graduated kindergarten. Throughout my 20s I bartended and mingled at all the JC hotspots and began noticing the same […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Walking the Line Between Pleasure & Pain

Last weekend I sped to Pal’s first thing to get my once-a-month cheddar round fix. The cashier hadn’t even shut the window before I was digging my grubby hands into the bag, searching for my first hit of deep fried, cheddar and potato filled goodness. I could feel the heat blistering my fingers as I […]

 

Making and Keeping Healthy Resolutions

We are now well into January, and like many people I am really struggling to stick to my “healthy” New Years resolutions. Putting my mental health above everything else, I first resolved to think with my head and not my heart this year, and while that has proven to be tougher than anything, it has […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Love Me Tinder

In my quest for pushing myself forward and out of my 2018 funk, I finally decided it’s time to get back on the horse and start dating. While I don’t yet feel quite comfortable pursuing a “relationship,” I don’t think getting to know new and interesting people is the worst idea in the world. This […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Happily Appalachian

On a recent weekend away to Atlanta I did something I consider to be shameful. After several cocktails in a smoky dive, the first fiddle strains of “Wagon Wheel” hit my ears. I instinctively groaned and yelled “NOOOO!!!” due to spending almost 4 years of my life behind the bar at Tipton Street Pub, where […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot…

Hearing the beginning strains of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ as the clock strikes midnight never fails to conjure up a reaction in me. Basking in the last twinkling of Christmas lights, surrounded by couples kissing, confetti and noise makers, it should be a song that evokes feelings of joy and excitement, but it’s always quite bittersweet. […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

How to Live a Champagne Life on a High Life Budget

This time of year is always hard on the wallet and if you’re like me, this year you’re REALLY feeling the pinch. Unfortunately for my bank account, I am a woman who enjoys some of the finer things in life. Also unfortunate- I do not have the monetary assets to afford myself most of these […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

The Trouble With Expectations

Human beings are faced with a tremendous amount of pressure to do “stuff.” Whether it is self-imposed simply based on what we see on social media or put on us by the people in our lives, a great deal of the things we do is based on the idea that at a certain point in […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Aging and the Art of Maintenance

There’s hardly a thing that scares me more in life than getting older, and with my birthday just a few weeks away I’m even more anxious about it than normal.  After a certain point, birthdays become less and less of a celebration and more of just an uncomfortable reminder that time is whizzing by and […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Starting Over… and Over and Over…

If you’re anything like me, you’ve made a mistake or two in your life. Come to think of it, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t screw something up. This leads to a constant cycle of restarting things that I do to correct my mistakes and try to get back on the […]