Summer Adventure: Graceland

Outside Graceland with some lovely gals: Emma of The Fiercest Lilliputian and Quincy from Q's Daydream.

I have this thing. 

I love to look inside of peoples homes.

As a kid, if my neighbors left their heavy plaid curtains open, I would crane my neck to catch a glimpse of their patriotic-themed wallpaper, the macrame owl with the wooden bead eyes and the green globe light fixture that hung above the dining room table by a chain strung across the ceiling.

Yeah. I know. I sound a little like a crazy person. Neighbors must have thought so too because they had a chat with my mom...and started closing their curtains.

Upon entering Graceland, on your immediate right is the formal living room. Photos of a young Lisa Marie can still be seen on the end table on the right.

But I don't mean any harm. I just love to see how people live. How they decorate. What goes on inside of a home with a macrame owl with wooden bead eyes.

So when the opportunity to see what the inside of The King of Rock 'n' Roll's home looked like, I jumped at the chance. Especially with two of the sweetest vintage-lifestyle bloggers I've come to know.

It's a three hour drive from Nashville to Memphis but with the aid of Starbursts, Starbucks and great conversation, the trip flew by in no time. Quincy, our awesome navigator, leading us straight to Graceland, a place she has visited countless times.

Our adventure began even before setting foot onto The King's property. As we cruised down Elvis Presley Boulevard, we passed by a convertible full of well-tanned -n- topless dudes. They could have easily been mistaken as stunt doubles for the Jersey Shore crew had they not had a British flag flapping from their trunk. We had a couple laughs over their too-tanned-bare-chested silliness and promptly forgot about them.

That is until the unmistakable smell of Abercombie and Finch cologne washed over us as we were standing in line to board the bus to Graceland. Low and behold, our friends were right behind us. Thankfully, they'd found out that Graceland has a strict No Shirt, No Shoes, No Elvis rule and had donned wife-beaters. Which can pretty much pass as church clothes in most Walmarts in the south.

But I'm just being harsh on the guys. They turned out to be a friendly bunch who were excited to be exploring "the states" in their convertible and cologne. And how can you not like that? Especially since they had placed Graceland on their list of Must-Sees.

The television room in the basement of Graceland.

Speaking of Graceland, after we had explored the living, dining room and kitchen, we took the mirrored ceiling stairs down to the television room. We all agreed that the wrap-around blue suede couch was sheer decorating genius.

That's right, I did say "mirrored ceiling". We're having one installed next week.

Across the hall from the t.v. room was the pool room, complete with wall to wall to ceiling drapes. We all placed our bets on the amount of yardage used to complete the room.

Up the stairs from the basement, you enter the famous Jungle Room. My favorite part in this room, aside from the green shag carpeted ceiling not shown, was the fur covered lamp shade on the far left.

Apart of our tour, we were able to see Elvis' vast car, golf cart, and motorcycle collection. My personal fave is this bubblegum pink Caddy. Just need a vintage Airstream Trailer hitched to the back and I'd be in heaven.

After a tour of the mansion, we took in the huge grounds surrounding Graceland. Across the street, a building housed his vast car collection, famous pant suits and his plane The Lisa Marie.

Don't you love Quincy's top? It's actually a swimsuit! And I have a feeling that one day this suit will swim in that pool.

Elvis' famous suits designed by the name that knew how to put a beadazzler to good use, Nudie.

Elvis is buried alongside his mother, father and grandmother right on the property.

With all of this Elvis-excitement, we worked up quite the appetite. We met some lovely friends of Quincy's (also from England, like our Jersey-Shore-wannabe friends) and had the most delightful lunch.

Our day ended with a surprise photo shoot outside of Graceland. We were snapping photos of each other when a journalist began to do the same. And look what appeared in the Memphis paper the following morning! Our happy memories in print.

Eat your heart out, Jersey-Shore Brits. 

Thanks for reading! And if you happen to see some oddly dressed lady sneaking a peak at your dining room furniture on her drive by your house, pop out and say hello!

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