Friday Favorites on Tuesday: Nashville Edition

It's time for my Friday link up with A Little Bit of Everything, Grace and Love, and Momfessionals. 

Well, it's really not Friday. It's Tuesday. I missed Friday Favorites two weeks in a row because summer time has been less than chill around here. Two Fridays ago Steve and I left for Nashville early in the morning. We had the best time so I thought I'd make last Friday's Favorites a Nashville Edition. Then last Friday, I ended up deciding at the last minute to go to Pittsburgh for Drew's baseball tournament, so I never finished up the post and now it's Tuesday and I've told you way too many unnecessary details about my life.

Anyway, here is a little story about our trip to Nashville and some of my favorite things in one of my new favorite cities.

The food in Nashville was ridiculously good. Oddly, we ended up eating a lot of sushi and a lot of nachos.

Not at the same time, of course. We're not animals.

Although this thing once was an animal who ended up part of our Sunday brunch buffet at an amazing restaurant called Adele's. The label next to him just says, "Pig".

Bless him. I guess Charlotte and her web were taking the day off when this guy needed a friend.

When we arrived on Friday we went straight to the town of Franklin which I had heard from various people who I follow on Instagram has some really cute shops and restaurants. Instagram tells the truth.

https://ebpresents.blog/2017/10/20/restaurant-review-of-pucketts-in-franklin/

We ate lunch at Puckett's Grocery & Restaurant in Downtown Franklin where I struggled to decide between something called a Redneck Burrito and a Fried Green Tomato BLT.  It was basically like Sophie's Choice. I chose the BLT and they brought my diet Coke in a Mason Jar which gave me no end of delight, so we purchased a couple of them to bring home.

I would like to point out that we have grown up so much in that regard because I do recall being dared to slip a cool beer mug into my purse on the way out of an establishment about ten years ago when I was a full blown adult and all I can say is that peer pressure is real at any age.

Dear Sports Bar in Allentown, PA, I owe you a few bucks. I am heartily sorry for these my misdoings.  

After lunch, we went to a few absolutely precious shops including one called Heylee B.'s and another called Finnley's . 

To be clear,  I don't think Steve ever used any descriptive language that included the word "precious" in regard to these shops. I feel sure he would want me to point that out.

I bought some cute earrings and for a moment considered this shirt.

I decided maybe that wasn't a vibe that would be appreciated at our next family gathering, so I just stuck with the earrings which were only 12 American dollars and I thought this was quite a steal. 

As Steve was still recovering from his knee surgery we had to figure out a way to get around town to explore that didn't involve using our legs. There was this awesome guy named Matt who drove us around town on a golf cart with a company called Joy Ride.

There were a couple of times in addition to the JoyRide situation that made us realize that the mean age of tourists in this fair city was a touch below ours. One was when I was in the elevator alone making my way down to join my hobbling husband on the golf cart, and about 12 girls squeezed in holding beer cans at 10:00 am and wearing matching t-shirts that said something like "Madison's Last Bash in the Nash". Okay, maybe it wasn't Madison. Maybe it was Caitlin. Or Katelyn. Or Catelynn. Suffice it to say that every bachelorette party in America is happening in Nashville.

I can also tell you for a fact there was not another Jennifer to be found in that elevator. No Lisa either. All the Jennifers and Lisas and Michelles were likely hoping on golf carts with their Steves or Mikes or Jeffs and their Costco water bottles (because you can get a whole case for NOTHING!) so that they could get around town without busting up their joints.

Another was the time when we were trying to figure out where we wanted to sit at a rooftop bar and one of us said something about finding the best place for "people watching."

Anyway Matt loaded up Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw in his nifty golf cart and drove us wherever we wanted to go. He took us to Music Row and down by the Cumberland River and through a shopping area called the Gulch. He shared all kinds of facts about Nashville and told us he would stop wherever we would like. 

Perhaps the best part of Nashville is that it has literally all the things for all the people. For example, I think Matt was rather amused when I about lost my mind with excitement over seeing both the Johnny Cash Museum and LifeWay Ministries' new headquarters. When I asked him if we could stop for a bit so that I could go into their huge Christian bookstore, he was really sweet and said he'd be more than happy to wait for me while I went in. I'm guessing this was a bit of a contrast to when he had dropped off a crew of about 7 guys at a strip club last week which he had told us about earlier that day. 

We actually really loved this aspect of the city. One minute we were cheering and laughing, watching a guy in a Budweiser tank top singing "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" on the top of a bar while his friend played the guitar behind his back. 

And later that night we were praising Jesus with a bunch of fellow concert goers at the Third Day concert singing "Show me Your Glory, Lord"

Mac Powell-Third Day

I mean when we went to the Johnny Cash museum there was a very brief, fleeting moment I felt like maybe I should buy the t-shirt with Cash holding his guitar in one hand and shooting the finger with the other.

What?

I don't know what to tell you, y'all. It was weird. I didn't buy the t-shirt. I promise. Instead we just got our photo taken in front this guitar with his face on it.

The Third Day concert was, as usual, an amazing experience. They played in the historic Ryman Auditorium which has hosted all kinds of famous and important singers and bands. We had wonderful seats and I sang my lungs out to all of my favorite songs because really there is not one song that I don't love. 

I could write about Third Day all day long. Their music has been so instrumental in the strengthening of my faith. I could never have imagined how the Lord would use their songs to get me through some of the times in my life when I most needed to feel the comfort of His presence and was struggling to believe He heard my prayers. Every single song they sing reminded me of His love and faithfulness every time I needed it. God uses everything to get to our hearts and this band has been the brightest of lights when I needed to be assured that weeping will last for awhile, but joy comes in the morning.

We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel and this was the view.

Also, I want to point out that the lighting in the bathroom in our room was SPECTACULAR. I'm wondering if this is an intentional move by the hotel to show compassion and grace to women in their 40s. Maybe they just set that room aside for us so that I wouldn't feel as bad about my face when I jumped in the elevator with Madison, Caitlin, and Katelyn. Either way, I could have stared at myself in that bathroom mirror for awhile. It was like magic.

In fact, the whole city was like magic. We cannot wait to go back. There are so many more nachos to eat and so many more songs to sing and so many more places to see.

Also, don't forget how much Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw love to people-watch. 

Y'all have a great 4th of July! I wish you many blessings and happy, safe celebrations. And if you need some decorating ideas, the Redneck Riviera in Nashville might not have a Pinterest board, but they do have this.

 God bless America!