Nashville, TN

So I'm finally getting around to the Nashville post.....

A little over a month ago, I went with Jill (a friend from grad school) and 2 of her co-workers, Leanne and Kelly, to Nashville for fun-filled weekend that also doubled as a "bachelorette" weekend.

 

We had a EARLY morning flight and arrived in Nashville around 7:30 am (that was 6:30 am "our time" because we gained an hour).

We left our luggage at our hotel and hopped in a cab to eat breakfast at Pancake Pantry.

We were really starving and somehow we managed to get lucky. Normally, there is a line wrapped around the building but when we arrived there was maybe 6 people in line. We still had to wait about 15 minutes but it was definitely worth it!

 

We left from there and went to the Grand Ole Opry and looked around the Gaylord Opryland Resort  as well as the Grand Ole Opry.

Next time, I would LOVE to stay at the Gaylord Resort. It's amazing inside.

Entrance to Grand Ole Opry

Jill standing in front of the Grand Ole Opry House

We then ventured across the street to Opry Mills which is a huge outlet mall and shopped!

There were tons of cowboy hats and boots everywhere. I'm not a fan of either.

 

We ate a late lunch/early dinner at the Claim Jumper then left to return to our hotel and attempted to nap because we were tired (most of us had been up since 3:30 am). We weren't successful.... Why is it, when your SO tired, you can't seem to nap?

 

We showered and headed downtown to the Wild Horse Saloon. Side note: The Wildhorse Saloon is owned by Gaylord Entertainment so if you stay at the Opryland Resort, you get in here free!

We did a little line dancing and ate some delicious fried pickles. They were horses everywhere... hanging from the ceiling, around every corner, etc. So naturally, we had to have some photos with the horses.

 

 

 

(Sorry the 3 pics above are cell phone pics)

 

Jill and Kelly

 

Jill, Kelly and Leanne 

Jill and I

 

Acting crazy



Group Shot

Saturday, I have no pictures because I was in bed sick all day (I feel like it was from the salad I ate at Claim Jumper). I was finally able to hold something down around 8pm that night. It pretty much sucked. Our hotel didn't even have Lifetime or Bravo so I watched HGTV most of the day which was okay until they started showing reruns.

 

Sunday, I felt much better and luckily our flight didn't leave until 4 so we had time to explore around. Jill, Kelly and I went to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

 

It was very neat to see the detail of their outfits.

This was a Roy Rogers dispaly.

 

I forget whose car this was but I thought all the guns on it were cool (like seriously they were a lot of guns).

 

This was Elvis Presley's 24 carat gold plated Cadillac

Complete with a tv and 8 disc changer

 

Jill with the Hee Haw costumes



 

My biggest problem is that they have Taylor Swift listed in the hall of fame. They even had her iMac where she supposedly like recorded or wrote her first songs. Really?!? That's not history and she's not country!!!!

 

After that, we met Leanne and did a walking tour of Downtown Nashville. Our tour guide was awesome. The last stop on the tour was Ryman Auditorium. Our tour guide was SO friendly and  knowledgeable. I learned a lot and gained more appreciation for country music (by that I mean OLD country music and not Taylor Swift or Scotty McCreery) and Nashville.

 



 

Known in Nashville as the "Batman building"

 

Group pic at the Ryman

 

Sidenote: Gaylord Entertainment saved the Ryman (aka the Original Opryhouse) from being torn down. They paid millions for it to be restored.... SO I'm thinking these Gaylord people are rich and I wanna marry one!

We left downtown and went to Antique Archaeology. This is the store where they sell finds from "American Pickers" (the show on the History channel).

 

 

Now, I like antiques and good finds but you would really have to LOVE or APPRECIATE the items in the store because basically it was "old" junk that was priced outrageously. Most of the items were broken, rusted, etc. They say Mike stops in once or twice a month.

 

After that, it was time to bid our farewell.

We had a fabulous time and I would love to go back someday because there is a lot I wasn't able to see.

 

 

 

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

-jen

Dirty Girl Mud Run and More......

This past weekend, I signed up to do the Dirty Girl Mud Run 5k with my friend and co-worker, Briana.

Briana was on a team with some of her friends but they graciously allowed me to join them and what fun we had. Here are some pictures from the race.

Briana and I (Before)

Makin' Dirty Look Purty Team Picture (Before)

 First Obstacle

 Team Picture (After)

Briana and I (After)

It was a lot of fun and we definitely got muddy even though they drained 2 of the 4 mud pits due to the weather. Everything was pretty much like I had envisioned it except the changing/rinsing station. I felt like I was at a concentration camp. A big white tent with a few water hoses (basically) lined down the center and hundreds of girls/women stripping everywhere was just not what I had in mind. I'm not a prude but I like a little privacy when stripping and cleaning mud off of every body part imaginable........

Saturday evening, I showered, dressed-up and headed BACK to Raleigh for Jill's Bachelorette.

I ordered these cute cupcakes from Cupcake Dream in Wilson. She did a great job and they were delicious!!!! The detail on the lingerie cupcakes was amazing.

We all met at Raleigh Times for dinner and then ventured around downtown.

This is the only picture I have from the evening.

The bride-to-be and me!

Happy Monday!

I'm excited about a short work week, Easter Sunday, spring break and warmer weather!

Growing old....

As I am approaching the big 30, there are certain moments when you start to feel OLD.

Yesterday, I decided to run/walk outside to try to "train" for the approaching half-marathon.

Ben and I went to Cavalier (a soccer field with a half mile track).

My goal was to 26 laps....... Really who was I kidding.....

2 laps in, my right hip starts hurting.

*This happened about 2 weeks ago when I was on the treadmill. I happened to go into one of my prn/side jobs at the nursing home the next day and a lovely PTA happened to realign it. She said it was half an inch off. It only took literally like 3 minutes. It was amazing. The relief was instantaneous.

Anyway, I pushed through the pain and managed to run/walk a total of 6 miles.

I won't share my time. I mean I finished, that's all that matters right?!?

However, last night, I tossed and turned in AGONY all night. My hip really was hurting.

So this morning, I called Susan, the PTA (who is also like my distant cousin) and asked if I could come in for another realignment. She said sure. This time my hip was an inch off. Luckily, she gave me some isometric exercises to help strengthen my muscles so that maybe I can avoid this in the future.

I really hope they do because all this is scary when you know you have 13.1 miles to run/walk in about 5 weeks.

I think this quote sums it up.........

Have a good weekend!

-jen

What's been going on.....

Well apparently I have neglected this blog like I have the gym......

Which is not good when I have a half marathon less than 2 months away.

Life has been a little busy lately with crafting, wedding showers and hanging with friends.

Here's what I have been up to.

Saturday, March 2, Ben and I went to see our friend's band, Bombadil, play at Cat's Cradle.

It was an awesome show as always and a girl got proposed to on stage which was pretty neat to witness.

The next week I was busy making things for "my customers." (aka: my friends)

Tumblers for a bachelorette trip... 

 St. Patrick's onesie for sweet Colin

 Easter onesie for Colin

 

 Easter onesie and t-shirt for Mama Meg's precious kiddos

 Monogrammed sweatshirt

 

One Monday, we had a special visitor at school.

Anthony Atkinson from the Harlem Globetrotters came to visit.

He is from Wilson and attended Barton College, which is located in Wilson.

It was neat and the kids loved seeing him perform his tricks.

I had to take sweet Ginger to the vet for her yearly visit.

She loved the low windows.

This past weekend Jill had a kitchen shower.

The theme was purple and gold since she and her husband-to-be both attended ECU.

I was responsible for a centerpiece.

This is what I came up with. I added ribbon around the vase but forgot to take a picture of it.

FYI, Harris Teeter has the BEST flowers for the money. They keep a long time too.

I got these tulips 3 for $12.

I also made her some cute gifts..... all monogrammed of course.

This was an etched casserole dish.

I gave her a cute casserole carrier also that was monogrammed.

I also "whipped" up this little gift set which included a personalized mixing bowl, measuring cups, measuring spoons, a spatula, cookie mix and an apron with her new initials.



My friend Angeline was visiting from France. Her boyfriend, Daniel, is in the band I mentioned earlier.

We all went out to Fuji because everyone BUT me wanted sushi.

I tried an avocado roll because I thought since it did not have fish in it, it would be decent.

However, I was WRONG.

It tasted SO FISHY. More fishy than other sushi I have tried with raw fish in it.

Needless to say, I stuck with hibachi chicken and steamed edamame.

Ben ordered this octopus salad.

It was basically baby octopi (plural for octopus - I made it up, I hope it's right)

served on seaweed (VOMIT).

It looked so gross but he and Daniel ate it and said it was delicious.

Basically, that's what I have been up to the past 2 weeks.

I still plan to post on my trip to Nashville......

Here's one of the 2 group pictures from the trip.

(Not a good picture of myself - I felt odd since I didn't have an instrument to hold.

Have a great week!

-jen