Gone Country in Nashville!

Since we were headed to Nashville for Ross's wedding, we decided to make a weekend out of it. The last time I went to Nashville was sometime in elementary school. Dad was some sort of Officer in the Optimist Club and Nashville was the location of the national convention. I remember that they messed up our reservations and we got a really fancy room for the cheaper rate at the Opryland Hotel. It was pretty cool. The only other thing I remember about that trip was going to Opryland and riding my first roller coaster that went upside down. Well, I think I rode it. I know my brother and dad rode it and I have this memory that I rode it too. Mom?? Dad??? James??? anyone want to verify?

As we planned the trip, I was pretty sad to find out that Opryland doesn't exist anymore. It has been torn down and replaced by a mall I think. So sad.

I had to come up with alternate plans. What do you do in Nashville? We aren't big country music fans so we were a little worried. I was so busy at work the weeks before our trip that I didn't have much time to plan like I normally do. For me, that means stalking Tripadvisor, reading all the reviews on the hotels, restaurants, events, etc. All I did for this trip was to book a hotel with good reviews and a good price and rent a car on Priceline for $20 a day -- full size!!

Okay, I knew a FEW things about Nashville. I knew there were a couple of breweries and that there was a street in downtown that was lined with bars that almost always had live music. So, here are some places we visited....

First... the Big River Brewing Company. We each enjoyed a flight of their beers... 8 samples in all and I drank all 8 of mine, including the darkest, nastiest one. :) Ha, I'm not much a beer drinker. Surprisingly enough (okay, not surprising at all), my favorite was the Sweet Magnolia. I am sure part of it was because of the name but the other part was that it had similiar flavor to my favorites Southern Pecan, Shiner Bock and Amber Bock. Good Food, Good Beer. Good start.

We then hit Broadway to see the "Honky Tonks". Our first two stops were great. We learned that you should go in and see if you like the music before you buy a beer. It took us a couple of places to learn this as we suffered through our beers with some "just okay" music on the stage.

Legends Corner -- Good band though the more the guy drank the worse he got. :(

Tootsies... per recommendation of my friend Barb. The band was really good and the singer really put on a show. It was 3pm on a Friday afternoon and the bar was packed and he was working the crowd...up on the bar... just fun.

On Saturday we decided to try the Country Music Hall of Fame. We walked over, took our picture...

...walked inside and learned it was $20 EACH to go in. We decided against $40 and headed back to Broadway for more honky-tonkin'. :)

The Stage (also recommended by Barb) and Second Fiddle were cool bars but the music was just okay that afternoon. I guess this is really when we learned the "don't buy a beer first" rule.

We made a quick stop into Hatch Show Print. This is where all the cool concert posters and such are made. They still do everything old school style. It was neat to go in and see it.

Sunday afternoon our friends Brad and Rachel met us in Nashville. They live in Knoxville and came for the weekend to see us and some of their other friends that recently moved to Nashville. I somehow convinced everyone to go to Arrington Vineyard for the afternoon. Ryan was giving me a little grief about it but I love wine and didn't want to pass it up. Plus, my mom called to tell me that my cousin (Mom's cousin's son) Tyler worked there. So off we went, about a 30 minute drive from Nashville but well worth it. Good Wine. Awesome Scenery. Just a really cool place.

Tasting with Brad and Rachel.
Cousin Tyler and me. So fun to see family!
Opening the cheese and crackers we bought to go with our wine.
Beautiful view!

Sunday night we hit downtown with Brad and Rachel. We also met up with our friend Emily but I don't have a good picture with her. We hit the dueling piano bar and The Stage for a second time.

The band at The Stage on Sunday was super fun and the singer (Chris Weaver) was pretty darn good.

We headed home on Monday/Memorial Day/Ryan's Birthday. It was a fun weekend of friends, family, music, beer and wine! :)

Planning to bake...

This will be my next baking challenge. Ryan and his brothers are all pretty big cheesecake fans. I think I'll make some for Eric's graduation weekend and hope they survive the plane ride.

Cheesecake Pops

It felt like home

Over Memorial Day weekend, Ryan and I flew to Nashville for my dear friend Ross's wedding.
The wedding was beautiful and the reception was a blast. It was great to have the gang from Murrah back together again. Not much had changed!

As I left the reception tears welled up in my eyes. I exchanged hugs and "I Love You's" with Ross, his parents, Ann and Taylor. Something just hit me about how much I do love those people, how much we had been through together and how hard it was to leave them all again. We don't see each other much since we all live in different cities but when we do, its just like old times. They are my family. The friends I was always myself with, the friends that always made me laugh. Their families opened their homes to me on soooo many occasions (as my family did for them.) And oh, the stories we have shared. I think it just hit me how hard it is to "grow up", to move away from home, to leave the people who lived through the events of my life that made me ... me. Its part of life... we move away, we get jobs, we get married... but man, do I miss you guys. Ah... I'm crying again.

Back to the wedding... Here are the few pictures I did take. As I said, it was a beautiful wedding. The food was great. The cake was awesome and the band played all night.


Ryan and Ann at the Kids Table. He really fit in that chair! :)
Ross playing a couple of songs (with his band, Telephant)
Congratulations Ross and Mandy!

Trim Work Has Started

The trim carpenter has been in the house for almost a week now hanging doors, installing baseboards, and most recently building cabinets. Ryan just sent me this picture of the built in for the Family Room.

PS: Jennifer H... Hope this is update makes you happy! Thanks for reading!

Garage Doors

My awesome husband just sent me this picture!  EEK!  How pretty??!!!??. 

All the wood on the house (columns, corbels, shutters, garage doors) will be stained a darker color.

Staging for sell...

One of the blogs I like to read is The Nesting Place. The Nester writes about all kinds of home decorating related things. Recently she said something that really struck a chord with me and I have said it several times.

"Staging, every home for sale can benefit from being staged. And before you think you'll skip this series because your home isn't for sale, think again. The one complaint heard after people stage their home for sale is, "Why didn't I do some of this stuff years ago so I could enjoy it?" Yes, there are some things that you might do only when you put your house on the market but, for the most part, if you keep your home up over time, you will enjoy it more and it will be market ready just in case you ever need to sell." - The Nester's Staging Series

This question in bold has been my mantra lately. Our house is for sale since we are building the new one. Ryan bought our current house his first year out of college and the house was already completed, so he didn't get to pick any of the finishings. Over the years, we have done some upgrades. Ryan had the whole house painted so it's not longer "builder beige". Most of the house is Sherwin Williams "Tony Taupe" which is a great all over wall color. He had some cabinets built in the living room and master bath to add some much needed storage. And, of course the floor upgrades (Carpet and Laminate) we were forced to do when the AC leaked.

The biggest complaint we have had has been about the Kitchen. It's very functional but it's the one place in the house that we have done no work and it shows. White tile floors, white counter tops, white appliances, light wood cabinets. OK, I take back that nothing was done to the kitchen... Ryan did add lovely nickel hardware to all the doors. Anyway, I've never loved all the white and especially hate the white counters. Everything stains them and any crumb shows up.

If you read this blog regularly, you know I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. So, after seeing the complaints (that we agree with) about the kitchen, we considered offering some upgrades in the kitchen... new granite, new appliances, etc... with an acceptable offer. As we put this package together, I was just kicking myself for not doing these sort of upgrades the day I moved in this house. How much I would have enjoyed a Gas Range and Granite Counters. Sigh. "Why didn't I do some of this stuff years ago so I could enjoy it?"

We have not actually done any upgrades to the kitchen, but we have been doing some staging. The extra desk was removed from the study and replaced with an old couch we borrowed from Ryan's parents. This was in hopes to show the study off as more of a flex room that could be a study, sitting room, nursery, exercise room, etc.

This couch has great shape and is pretty comfy....
It just needed a little face lift. We got a cheap slip cover and some pillows from Target. I am now considering how much it would cost for a professional to re-upholster the couch and add some cute little feet to the bottom for use in our game room or media room. Ryan's parents have another one just like it.
We also did a little bit of work in the backyard. Okay, by "we" I mean Ryan called his landscaper and he brought some guys to fix things up. Spending all day in the yard in this heat is just not on my agenda. We only had the one tree in the back corner and now we have this. It looks great and again... "Why didn't I do some of this stuff years ago so I could enjoy it?"


I guess all this is just to say that I have learned that I shouldn't wait to fix things up around my house. I regret not fixing up the kitchen and now that I see how pretty the yard is, wish we had done something there too (of course, Admiral would have destroyed the yard as a puppy). So, as The Nester reminds us, don't wait until you are selling to get your house like you always wanted it!

Stone and Stucco

Ryan just sent me these pictures, what a good husband! I'm testing out the blog email updater to post these. If you are reading this, I guess it worked.

You can see the stucco color on some of the window trims and then, of course, the progress on the stone!