Sunday, August 28, 2016

Red Bicycle Crepes and Coffee

Bailey and I went to church at CrossPoint in Nashville today and it was a really intense service. The whole message was about getting out of debt (as if I wasn't already stressed out enough about my student loans...) I can honestly say however that I did come home and re-look at my budget (unfortunately my income did not magically increase and my bills did not magically decrease) in hopes to magically squeeze another penny or two into my savings.

But I digress. My intention for this post was to share the new (to us) restaurant that we tried in Germantown today: Red Bicycle Crepes and Coffee. I had a savory BBQ chicken crepe with chicken, cheese, bacon, and barbecue sauce, and Bailey had the maple bacon crepe.  They were pretty big, I had to being half of it home for lunch tomorrow, and they were worth the $9 they cost. My only complaint was that there was so much BBQ on mine that I could barely taste the rest of the ingredients. 

The atmosphere was hip and trendy. It's a pretty small little cafe, so we had decided to sit outside. Despite the increasing temperatures we stayed cool under the shade of the trees around their little terrace. It was dog friendly (which I think led to the increase of flies around the outdoor area) with bowls of water for them and everything! 

 

4/5 ⭐️

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Summer Salute: Hopkinsville, KY

Finally, a free concert to go to!!

I have been in serious live music withdrawals the last few weeks, more specifically, FREE live music withdrawals. I mean hello, I'm 30 miles from Nashville, and the last free concert I attended was in May. 

I was scrolling through my concert app this morning, pouting about my lack of recent adventures, when low and behold I found I had somehow missed the fact that Diamond Rio would be up in Kentucky tonight. Bailey and I decided to take a break from our never-ending work lives to venture across the border. 

We decided to leave a little early to do some exploring around Hopkinsville prior to the 7PM performance. Unfortunately, it started raining at about 5 on our way there and didn't stop for nearly two hours. 

Since the rain interfered with our plans to explore, we grabbed a funnel cake from a food truck and sat under the farmers' market pavilion and people watched. Kentuckians, man. They're some interesting folk. The type of people at free concerts in KY are a whole different sort from the ones that turn up in MN, I'll just leave it at that. 

Luckily the rain stopped just in time for the concert to start only 45-minutes late and left us with a beautiful rainbow.




Some Nashville recording artists I had never heard of before named Adam Hall opened. He was pretty good, but I would have appreciated him more if I wasn't wet and cold from the rain. (Still hard to believe we were cold after the 100 degree heat index during the day). Just as every band has done at every concert I've been to since Prince's death, he played Purple Rain.


It was pretty exciting to see Diamond Rio again. It's been years since I've seen them last. I feel like they're a band that flies under the radar, but then you see them and realize how many great songs they have.  We made a few friends as we sat in the front section of chairs that (I think) we were supposed to pay to sit in (we didn't). The lady behind me told me about her leg problems and needed us to help her with her phone problems, and the (toothless) guy next to us was not too shy to express his disappointment in our early departure. It was late, we were tired, but the music was great! There's something about 90s country that never gets old! 


Sunday, August 21, 2016

The Great Tennessean Adventure (Since April)

Since clearly I’m too busy adventuring to remember to update this, here are some snip-its of the last 4 months…

April 12, 2016 – All for the Hall Concert
Great night at Bridgestone Arena with some of my best girls!  All for the Hall is a concert fundraiser to raise money for the Country Music Hall of Fame.  It is hosted by Keith Urban and Vince Gill (who play in the band throughout the whole show as the other artists perform).  Each artist only performs a few songs, but it was great to get to see so many artists, especially because there were a few I hadn’t ever seen before!  To make it even better, it was Vince Gill’s birthday.  Bet you never got to sing happy birthday to a country music star before, have you? ;)  We got to see: Vince Gill, Keith Urban, Chris Janson, Tracy Lawrence, Maren Morris, Sam Hunt, FGL, Luke Bryan, Emmy Lou Harris, Peter Frampton, Jason Isbell, and Maddie & Tae.


April 16, 2016 – Rivers and Spires
The next concert was Kellie Pickler at Rivers and Spires festival in Clarksville!



April 17, 2016 – Bicentennial Mall State Park

My next adventure was to Bicentennial Mall State Park.  It’s right next to the Farmer’s Market in Nashville so I got to check that out too! 


And randomly venturing around Nashville…



May 26, 2016 – Last Day of Second Grade
Then came a bittersweet day- the last day of school.  As excited as I was for a summer full of adventures, it was hard to say goodbye to my second graders and my first real class of kiddos.



May 28, 2016 – Randy Houser
And another to add to the concert list- Randy Houser in Oak Grove, KY.



May 30, 2016 – Camp NASH
For Memorial Day there was a concert called Camp NASH at the Fontanel Mansion stage.  Artists that performed were: Raelynn, Chuck Wicks, Parmalee, Thompson Square, Cowboy Troy, and Big & Rich.



June 21-26 Besties Take on Tennessee!
One of my favorite weeks of summer!! I was in MN for most of my summer break, but I did get to bring my best friend down to see my new home for a week!  We started our trip off leaving WI around 7:30AM and deciding before we hit IL that we wanted to see Cassadee Pope at the Grand Ole Opry that night so with minimal potty breaks and getting ready in the Opry Mills parking lot, we made it in time!  We also got to see William Michael Morgan, The Whites, The Del McCoury Band, Bill Anderson, Tracy Lawrence, Chuck Wicks, and the Charlie Daniels Band.



Country Music Hall of Fame
We ventured down to Broadway and went to the Country Music Hall of Fame where I just so happened to come across Chris Janson standing by his exhibit!

 


Cheekwood Botanical Garden
After our big night out on Broadway, we went to explore the botanical gardens.  (In hindsight our timing wasn’t great.  We should have spent our day out in the sun BEFORE we hit Broadway, but I digress).  The flowers were really neat.  I’m not photographer, but I got a few snaps.

 


July 19, 2016 – MY2K
By far the best concert of the year, maybe even ever.  Ashleigh, Bailey and I went to the MY2K concert at Ryman Auditorium ft. Dream, Ryan Cabrera, O-Town, and 98 Degrees.  It was like my childhood came to life right before my eyes. I swear there is nothing better than watching a boy band dancing to the same choreography.  Well, unless Nick Lachey is one of those boys… (Seriously, I could not grasp how I could be standing in the same room as someone so hot.  Like it didn’t seem real that a person that attractive even existed in real life).  EXCEPT that it did get better.  We got to meet O-Town after the show!! Also, for the record, there are no bad seats at the Ryman.  I can’t wait to go back again!





July 22, 2016 – Bridgestone Behind the Scenes
I went to an open skate at Bridgestone Arena.  Luckily I got there early because the line was wrapped out the door and they had to stop letting people in.  They also had a behind the scenes tour to go see the locker rooms so that was pretty neat!



August
And now a new adventure begins- the adventure of teaching 5th grade.  I spent so much of my undergrad time working with 2nd graders that this is a big jump for me, but one I am excited to partake in!  I’ve been swamped between work and my Master’s program, but I am hoping to schedule in some adventure time soon!