Jacqueline Wolven

Chasing After Stars Hollow

My daughter and I started watching Gilmore Girls in 2000, along with every other preteen girl in America. What was different is that we not only fell in love with Lorelei and Rory, but we searched out the US for our own Stars Hollow. You know, the cute little town that was one of the main characters of the show. It had Luke's diner, a town square and the charming town troubadour. Who doesn't want a town troubadour?

That was 2000. In 2003 we made the leap to leave San Francisco in search of our own Stars Hollow. We used FindYourSpot.com to find a town that had four seasons, a private independent school, a Unitarian Church, and was a tourist destination. (Note, I just did it again and Eureka Springs is on my top 10 list still. I guess it was meant to be. Leave a comment with one of your top 10!)

I remember it kept showing us Taos, some small town in Idaho, and Eureka Springs. We had lived for a year in the Ozarks and knew we liked the region, but had never actually been to Arkansas. That meant that my husband needed to drive out and do a little scouting. He spent 3 days in town. He met with the private school head master, he went to church, he wandered around looking for a place to rent, and he found our new home.

We chased after our own Stars Hollow after watching a TV show, using a website, and one weekend trip by my husband. Crazy. Brilliant, but crazy.

The question, after almost 10 years, is did we find it? When I think about it long and hard, discard some of the stuff that could happen anywhere, and really consider the joy that a fictional town like Stars Hollow had and the real town we live in I would say yes. Yes, we found it. People know my name, they reach out when bad things happen, they celebrate when good things arrive, they gather in the town park, they fight off big industry together, and the town is packed with charm year round.

We just need the troubadour!

Do you want to take a leap? Connect, let's see where you could land to make your dreams, however crazy, come true.

Safe

We are safe. We had the top of one of our oaks crack off and hit the porch, a cedar shred in half, and the power was out for 16 hours. We are safe and I am grateful. We spent the evening reading and listening to the howling wind. In the morning, we cracked out the camp stove and made breakfast on the porch.

Being from California, storms aren't in our repertoire of common occurrences. They are just plain scary. We are under a flash flood warning now until 7PM and our low water bridge often floods, leaving us stranded on our little Ozark hill. Still, we are safe and I am grateful.

Around Here

Life has been lovely since spring actually started to happen. Those in Arkansas understand. We had snow on May 1st, which is unheard of. 

Today I had the most lovely lunch on the porch of a new cafe in our little town. It isn't in my Main Street district, but I so want it to be successful. It has chosen to be a breakfast and lunch location with changing specialties. The food was fresh, the ambiance lovely and the owners are charming. One a legacy of two of our very famous restaurants in town, Ermillio's and Bubba's, and the wife is a British chef who is so sweet. Something new in our little haven to get excited about! Oscar's Cafe at 17 White Street. I was dining with the ever amazing French culinary teacher, Karen Gros, at treat unto itself. If you haven't gone to one of Karen's cooking classes, make a date to sign up. She is soon off for seven weeks touring with her groups in France and Europe, but she will be back and her classes fill up quickly! Reserve now!

Our daughter came over to go to one of her, cross your fingers, last dental implant appointments and in the meantime worked on the tent she is sewing to take to Wakarusa, a large music festival in the Ozarks. It is the cutes thing. Dad made the frame from scrap lumber and then she is sewing the side panels. Really quite adorable. They are all over Etsy for little kids, but this one is full size!

We planted our gutter garden with a plethora of lettuces. Last year I was not GREAT at watering them and the lettuce just bolted. My promise, to myself this year, is that I will tend them like they are little lovelies. Hoping for greens all summer and fall out of this fun little garden wall!

My husband gets a little sentimental when I talk about this project... about legacy and such stuff. Our Main Street team is working directly with our local high school Future Business Leaders of America to start a downtown team. They six chosen are an amazing group of leaders already and I am delighted to have them be part of our downtown project. I am going to be working with them to develop six pop up businesses to run during our downtown events. Talk about fun! That's our future folks, these amazing teens. I am totally honored to get this opportunity. My partner in crime is Jack Moyer, GM of the 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa, he inspires me daily to be better at what I do. Good stuff. Good stuff.

Last Saturday, before Mother's Day, I went to the table reading of Listen to Your Mother, the show that is being produced in Northwest Arkansas by the totally amazing Stephanie Mc Cratic from EvolvedMommy.com and Lela Davidson, the award winning author. The stories shared by the women and one brave guy were funny, sweet, heartbreaking, and so honest they make you remember how important all of our stories are. Me, oh, I couldn't get through three sentences of my story without bawling. Yep. I have to try to get THAT under control before I read at the Walton Arts Center on May 3oth at the sold out show. Sold. Out. Show. No pressure.

Lastly, Mother's Day. It was, quite possibly, one of the best I have ever had. My only wish was that my family help me clean up the outside. We had stuff just cluttered around and it needed to be tidied. My daughter helped me clean out the recycling area, restack our wood pile, make a potting center, and pile up a huge amount of trash that my husband took the next day. There was the awkward moment when he didn't like some of the wood we had deemed only worth burning. Those, instead, were moved to a "super scrap" pile for the just in case moments of life. Oh well, trash is gone, things are organized and the property looks much nicer. We even made a delicious strawberry rhubarb pie with gluten free crust. Sometime during the day, he left for a moment and went and picked up the stainless steel measuring cups that I had spotted at Tummy Tickler's Kitchen Store. Love them!

Life is good, simple and filled with wonderful projects around here. I wouldn't have it any other way.