Sister City at AVA

This exploration of Icelandic moods still, quiet and spare by Covenant alumna Elizabeth Tubergen opened Friday. Her installation of photography, textiles, video and a wax chandelier are the souvenirs of a place both newly discovered and a homecoming.

Elea Blake

In a window of the Elea Blake studio at 133 Frazier Avenue are three arm sculptures, fingers elegantly splayed upward. Darin Wright's aesthetics practice is one of many small gestures, nuances that blend art, and science to complement one's natural complexion. After cleansing her client's face, Wright searches for a foundation match. "Skin tones are different in different places," she explains, and complements her client's well coordinated outfit of soft pinks, and beiges. Empathy matters because these ladies will be spending most of an afternoon together. "If eyes are the window to your soul, brows are the drapes," Wright continues. Like an energetic painter of canvas, her face is a fierce mask of concentration as the brush stokes are applied. Then, with hands apart, she steps away to gauge their effect. Smiling, bantering, mixing, and applying color, her dance continues. "We are mixologists creating on skin," she says. The powders are mineral-based, and not tested on animals. Blending may follow one of three schemes. The monochromatic results in shading. Analogous colors harmonize in their proximity on a color wheel while complements reach across the wheel to balance each other. As time passes, her working surface comes to resemble a painter's palette, and like that portrait artist's, the colors are unique, be they applied with a stipple brush, or molded into a lipstick. Wright's clientele will leave the studio refreshed, and empowered, knowing that they look their best.

The Picky Pair

More than word play, these boots represent one half of

{The Picky Pair}, an "exceptional event planning & creative design" team right here in Chattanooga. From gracious interiors to festive ways of populating them, the ladies are on a blogging quest to bring you their finds both chic and unique. Her rain boots are a biker classic updated by Aldo. Grandmother's sapphire necklace is a treasure, indeed.

Bone Appetite

There were no reliable witnesses at the birth of our dog. The adoption papers do cite October 2000 and his happy go lucky ways are consistent with a natal sun in Libra. Just don't let your special friend's anniversary pass without notice. Joan Nash of Bone Appetite on Frazier Avenue has just the commemorative treat, a custom cake worthy of that unconditional love.

"It isn't anything you wouldn't eat yourself," she says of her recipe. Unbleached flour, baking powder, shortening and an egg all look quite familiar. To those wary of sugar rushes, she emphasises that half a cup of honey is all the sweetening required.

In an expert twist new to this honey lover, she first coated the measuring cup with oil for faster pouring and quicker clean-up. Decide for yourselves whether licking the spoon is preferable at home.

While our terrier would gladly partake of cabernet sauvignon and 70% cacao, his kind must savor the delights of carob. Customers tell Nash that her baking is palatable and they might be forgiven a lapse when presented with this array. After all, birthdays come but once a year.

Bone Appetite is located at 103 Frazier Avenue and may be reached at (423) 756-2663.

Girl's Night Out

The Hunter Museum found a perfect recipe for a Girl's Night Out Thursday by mixing Elea Blake Cosmetics with fashions from Frankie & Julian's. To see more of the fun, please click on the image.

Latté Art

The lattés are lovely at Stone Cup on Frazier Avenue. Robin Meadowcroft modestly cites advice from other barristas, YouTube, and plenty of practice in the creation of such foamy art, but her effortless, fluid style makes it look easy. Follow along as she gives this tutorial.

No jet noise here. She dips the wand into whole milk and opens the steam valve just enough for the stretching phase. Small bubbles are the goal as the temperature rises to 145f, a value known by sight and touch. Next comes the swirling of the foam in preparation for pouring.

Gently introducing the foamed milk, she wobbles the pitcher to and fro. This action displaces the initial, rounded pool, which now embraces the resulting zigzag pattern. Still with us? There is one more step.

With a flourish, she reverses direction to finish the pattern symetrically. While most of this resulted from pouring, tipping the cup offers another dimension of control. Her sure touch is born of experience. Like getting to Carnegie Hall, the way lies in practice.

It is a performance to be savored, Stone Cup's Le Rêve espresso roast artfully wed to a silky milk foam. A bit sweet, yes, but it is underpinned by a dense, earthiness. ¡Tango!

LEED Platinum Certification in Chattanooga

Snow falls upon white lace Friday at 2 Northshore. Congratulations to greenspaces for receiving the first LEED Platinum certification in Tennessee. To learn more about Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and what efforts went into this achievement, please follow this link.