Asheville: Marquee // French Broad Chocolate // Rhubarb // Ashley Gavin

Dress: Zola Velvet Maxi Dress by Hutch via Nuuly

Tights: Snag

Shoes: Chie Mihara 

Earring: etXarte

Necklace: Green Goddess Vintage

Bracelet: Vintage

Stats: 5'7" 38-32-42

I adore these Hutch velvet wrap dresses...I've had several of them in both same & different styles & they are always so luscious. I seem to have this boob problem every time though, I'm always busting out of the top even after I pin it & I'm only a C cup...otherwise the fit is fantastic. And could the colors be more perfect for me?! It was difficult not to buy this one.

I love how the seam in back is framing my butt. Also, I realized I never mentioned it here...but right before leaving for Asheville, I had to have 3 drains put in...one in my abdomen & the other 2 in each thigh. I had a lot of excess fluid building up & I absolutely did NOT want to go on vacation with drains...but my friend & lymphatic massage person, Courtney, convinced me that if I didn't, it would dehisce...& drains would be preferable to my thighs bursting open. I agreed. But it is difficult to feel pretty while lugging around drains...but I think most of the time they didn't show too badly...but I see a slight bulge in the photo below. 

My first time wearing these Chie Mihara shoes I found on Poshmark...

Also my first time wearing this bracelet that we bought on this day at Marquee...

I wore this outfit for our first full day in Asheville. Every morning started with delicious coffee from various amazing places that David went out to get while I got ready. We began this day with a trip to Marquee which is in the River Arts District where we were staying...out of all the places, it looked most like us...& we were right. Check out the front desk that greeted us...

This huge space was filled with art, clothing, & antiques...it was just a feast for the eyes. 

It's not the clothing, but the colorful chippy door I'm taking a picture of here...& predictably...we were drawn to light fixtures. 

There was a rather large NA section in the middle of the store that made me think of Kate. 

Fun chairs! And my favorite booth, The 3 Graces...so many vintage clothing pieces reimagined in a maximalist way.

I was especially smitten with this coat...

There is a snake on the shoulder of this dress...so many pretties. 

This whole booth was just marvelously magnificent...it is a collaboration of 3 Asheville artists. Alligator lady with an alligator purse bench...don't you just want to sit down next to her?!

The Marquee was fabulous...I bought the vintage bracelet I'm wearing in these outfit shots...& David sneakily bought me a rhinestone bird bracelet. 

We checked out some other artist's studios in the area...I really liked these stained glass pieces attached to these old window frames with lights behind them...I might get around to copying that idea some day. Then we headed back downtown to the area we'd been in the night before...we saw so many cute closed shops we wanted to check out. We started at Hazel Twenty...they also had a men's boutique in the basement. Everyone in Asheville was SO nice to us...except in this store. There were several dresses I would have tried on & bought...but they couldn't be bothered. They offered all the other shoppers champagne, but barely acknowledged us...not sure why.

They did have an adorable dog though. After so much browsing around...we needed lunch. We wandered into the first place that looked appealing...Farm Burger. We had andouille corn pups & burgers. 

It was fine, but nothing special. I should have consulted my list of places to try. After lunch...we walked over to French Broad Chocolate Lounge. The line was ridiculous, but we waited. 

David got a cup of Liquid Truffle & a Truffle Torte...while I nommed on a Triple Chocolate Mousse & we bought a box of dark chocolate bonbons (which I just now learned were vegan while looking at their website). It was very nice, but we are spoiled in Madison with extremely talented chocolatiers (Gail Ambrosius & Madison Chocolate Co). 

After this, we took outfit photos & wandered around some more before heading back to our Airbnb for a bit. Later that evening, we parked in the same area & on our stroll to the restaurant, popped into a few places. Just look at these spectacular...aquariums? Not sure what to call them, but they bubbled away in the window of this closed gallery. They were dazzling & delightfully calming. We meant to go back when they were open, but it never happened. We guessed they were $4-5,000, but in looking it up online, I see my favorite one (green) has a price of $40,000. They are by the artist Alison Sigethy & she calls them Sea Cores (which I never would have known had I not looked it up to write about here). If our art budget were that high, Deep Sea Garden would be in our living room right now. I am happy knowing these exist. 

Since we were passing by, we darted into Fine Arts Theatre to inquire about tickets to Napoleon, which we wanted to see when it came out in a few days. Olive This! A charming store filled with olive oils & vinegars...we walked out with several bottles, including the one I enjoyed most, Blackberry Ginger. 

Dinner at Rhubarb. As always, cocktails first...David had a Fig Gold (dark rum, Carolina Gold horchata, fig, ginger, cranberry bitters) & I had to have a Ginger Rodgers (The Chemist (local) gin, pomegranate-ginger molasses, lemon, ginger beer, candied ginger). I loved this drink so much. 

Lovely mood lighting leads to terribly dark food photos. Our parade of food begins with Chicken Liver Mousse (persimmon, house pickles, lavash), Pimiento Cheese Hushpuppies with Comeback Sauce, & Carolina Bison Short Rib (field pea & peanut cassoulet, Alabama white BBQ sauce, collard green kimchi, crispy onions). 

Our second round...David, Rye Not? (toasted pecan rye whiskey, mulled port wine, cherry, allspice dram, chocolate bitters, smoke) & for me, R-Bar Collins (Social House vodka (local), draft strawberry-rhubarb soda, lemon). 

Our mains: Seared Sunburst Farms Trout Fillet (Gaining Ground pumpkin purée, Kilt hearty greens, Appalachian blue barley, brown butter roasted pumpkin seeds) & Apple Brandy Brisket Bourguignon (peanut whipped Gaining Ground potatoes, feta-caper relish, Bordelaise sauce, GG baby beets & their greens). All the food was delicious & our server was friendly & charming. Dessert...I can never pass up a Carrot Cake (Chai ice cream, salted caramel, cream cheese, nut & seed dukkah).

We took an after dinner jaunt over to The Orange Peel where we had tickets to the late show of comedian Ashley Gavin. Lots of great shows have taken place here...

We lined up early to get a good seat, but when we sat front row center...we were told that was the VIP section...so David went & exchanged our tickets which turned out to be an excellent call. Ashley is a lesbian & the majority of the audience was women...so her thing is to pick a token straight man & use him to talk to all night...which made it even funnier for us. She couldn't figure out our relationship...she asked him, is this your queer daughter?! At the end of the show, she asked him to come up on stage & video her while she did crowd work with the audience. She asked David what he did & when he replied pyschotherapist, the crowd cheered loudly. Ashley then went looking for some funny clips to put up on TikTok...but this audience didn't have it in them. So she asked if anyone had any questions for her...the first person she picked said, I have a question for David...will you be my therapist? To which David had to say no since we are only licensed in Wisconsin. We had an excellent day & completely fell in love with Asheville.