wknd

We hung out like crazy and had so much fun, I forgot to take any pictures. I'm okay with that.

Honky Tonkin'

On Saturday, Miles and I went honky tonkin' for the first time together. I've been a few times over the years, but Miles had never been. Now, to clarify, we only went to one real honky tonk bar...but I'm still going to count it.

Before our big night out, we took a nap. Yep. And really, the nap was only so we could last through a midnight movie showing...and we didn't last. I know, we're a little bit lame, but we tried! (And we're totally okay with being homebodies 95% of the time)

We started out our night at The Flying Saucer, where they were celebrating John Lennon's birthday with a fantastic Beatles cover band. I'm not a huge beer drinker, but it was a lot of fun, and I had the best pretzel of my life. Then we went to Robert's, squeezed through everyone to get to the balcony in the back, and ended up getting the best seats in the house. 

Sometimes you just gotta give in to the fact that you live in Nashville and go listen to some twangy country music. Robert's is probably my favorite honky tonk though...the few times that I've been there, the house band (or whoever is playing...) is actually really fun and great to listen to. We had ourselves a country/surf band to enjoy on Saturday night, and Miles has heard great things about some guy who plays on Thursdays, so I'm sure we'll be find ourselves back on lower Broadway again very soon.

Coffee, Books, Husband

This week, we went to Crema for our Sunday coffee. This little coffee shop quickly rose to number one on our list of visited shops so far. I wish I would've felt a little better to try their coffee, but my sore throat and groggy head needed tea, ginseng ginger to be exact. Miles went with a bagel (my head was too groggy to register which kind) & his regular black coffee, which he thoroughly enjoyed. And I had the most incredible roasted tomato and three cheese quiche. If I can remember through the grog, I think I said "woah" loud enough for everyone in the building to hear. Oops.

Miles has this rule that I've had to learn to live by: wherever we go, if at all possible, he likes to have the seat facing the door. To better people watch with, my dear. Alas, to every rule there is an exception, and I learned the exception to this particular rule on Sunday. Miles took our mugs to the table and placed mine at the seat facing the door, I questioned this, to which he replied, "I do always need to sit facing the door...unless I can sit facing downtown". So there you have it. Downtown beats doors. Bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica.

Coffee, Books, Husband

We went to Dose last Sunday for our weekly coffee shop exploration (we got up late and just went to Bongo the Sunday before that, old habits die hard). I loved the atmosphere, and that we snagged one of the booths before it got too busy. Miles got a cinnamon raisin bagel and I had toast with Amish apricot jam and both were delicious. I'm surprised I got a picture in before Miles inhaled his bagel.

Although Miles isn't the best "sit at a table forever" kind of guy--he's pretty much dying to go after 45 minutes tops, I am really enjoying these Sunday mornings with him. Even if I could always stay for hours longer.

He's so handsome. Like all the time, gah. And after I saw the pictures he took of me that morning, I got it in my head that I wanted to chop all my hair off again. We'll see, I've been growing it out forever--with not as much as I'd hoped to show for it.

Chick Flick Night

I (unintentionally) tricked Miles into a chick flick night last week. Unintentionally, because he was unaware of the difference between a romantic comedy and a chick flick. The movie we watched was not even remotely funny. It was a still fair trade, we didn't laugh...but more importantly to Miles, I didn't cry. Why do I even try anything else--The Notebook is all I need. But the couch was cozy, my drink was delicious, and my boys were cuddly.

Miles fell asleep at one point, but Ro stuck with me through the end.

I love evenings in with these two guys, its centering, calming and slowly helping this house feel like our home. 

Coffee, Books, Husband

In an effort to experience more of this city we love, we've started making lists of restaurants & coffee shops that we want to try. I've lived here five years and am ashamed to say that I (we) tend to stick to our favorite places whenever we go out. I've also only ever lived in the Belmont/Hillsboro area, so most of our favorite places were within walking distance from where we lived. Moving to a different part of town was a conscious effort to branch out from what we knew and to get out of our little bubble. We've already found our new favorite Thai place right down the street from our house.

We are hoping to go to a different coffee shop/cafe every Sunday morning, instead of always going to Bongo. Bongo got me through school, but there are way too many coffee shops around town that we've never set foot in, so we're going to change that. Yesterday, Miles and I went to Sam & Zoe's and so enjoyed  the beautiful weather and having the deck mostly to ourselves. With our books in tow, we hope to create a new Sunday tradition. There's just something about being intentional with where you go, venturing away from what you know, and taking time to sit and enjoy company without the distractions of everything in our house. 

Mountainous Anniversary

For our anniversary, we decided to hole up in a cabin in the mountains, eat, drink, catch up on tv shows, read, and talk a whole lot. And thats exactly what we did. And for the most part, it was wonderful. But I learned that I am just not a mountain vacation kind of gal. At least not in the summer when there are thousands of bugs everywhere and its way too hot outside to sit on the deck and enjoy the view. I think it would be ah-mazing to be in the mountains in the Fall. Something about being in a cabin and being able to use the fireplace, and fire pit, and sit outside in the cool, crisp air...that sounds way more appealing that when we were there. I need to plan more season-appropriate vacations. Beaches for Summer, mountains for Fall. Check.

Also, I really enjoy the whole...being waited on at resorts/hotels and not having to clean up after yourself. How lazy am I? To me, it just feels like less of a vacation when you're washing dishes every night. I'm so posh, y'all. All that to say, Miles loved it, so I'm 100% content with our vacay since he really was able to relax and leave work behind.

We woke up late every morning, Miles made pancakes (since we're waffle people at home, we started out with a few burnt crispies, but by the end of the week, he was a pro. The MOST delicious pancakes I've ever eaten). Then we read. All day. I didn't even bring my makeup, and I wore the same thing everyday. We took naps if we wanted, read some more, started making dinner at sunset, ate together, then watched True Blood and drank all our wine. For four days. That part was wonderful.

Aaaand photo overload:

We're so thankful Miles' mom let us borrow her suv, there was no way we could've 1) fit our Ikea spoils into my car (and Boo's truck is the worst to travel in) 2) made it up the mountain in my car. Really.

And for our next anniversary celebration--it will not be near our anniversary. Getting married July 2nd was kind of the earliest date we could make work, but it makes for busy, expensive vacations right around the 4th when everyone is going...everywhere. Humph.

Hotlanta Before The Mountains

I finally got my new USB cord for my camera and uploaded 700 photos from the past month and a half. Here are some photos from our afternoon in Atlanta before we went to the mountains for our anniversary getaway. We mainly went there to go to Ikea, and boy did we go to Ikea... (? better joke in my head)

And we didn't even buy everything on our shopping list. We didn't have enough room in our car.

Part of me (most of me) longs for an Ikea in Nashville. But dang, that would be really dangerous for our bank account.

After spending way too much money at Ikea, we ate at The Vortex. I got so many good recommendations on where to eat, but when Boo sees "Atlanta's best burger" as an option, theres no turning back.

I couldn't get a good picture of the food since it was so dark in there, I had shaky, hungry hands, and Miles wouldn't allow me to turn my flash on and "draw everyone's attention". But it was deeelicious! My favorite part was the fried plantains as my side. It was like...dessert...as my side.

And then we went to Trader Joe's and filled our cart with an equal parts food for the week:wine, wine & wine. I still can't understand why Tennessee is so lame, with its wine-less grocery stores. 

Next up: the mountains! Oh...mountain vacation...oh, you...

One Year

I can't believe that our wedding was one year ago. I remember everything so well. People say you won't remember, that it will all be a blur, but I remember. I remember how incredibly nervous and weird I was all weekend. It was overwhelming! Miles and I are kind of background people and a whole day centered around us was definitely a lot to take in. Sometimes I wish I would've had a different dress, or done my hair another way, or made Miles cut his hair before the big day, or that the a/c worked at our reception... But in reality, none of those things matter. I married my very best friend and have had the very best year of my life.  I can't imagine my life without Miles--don't make me, I'll cry.

Oh, June

Thinking about this month and all that it holds is pretty overwhelming, thankfully in a good way. 

We begin with Miles' birthday on the 5th. My husband's birthday. Thinking about it in those terms, "my husband's", makes me feel butterfly-ey all over again, almost a year later.

The day after his birthday, we head down to the burbs for a dog-sitting stint. Hopefully we won't be working too much to be able to enjoy the pool and actually enjoy being outside in the heat. While we're dog-sitting, we are also scheduled to close on a house!!! Yep. June 12th, if all goes well, we will become home owners. Two weeks from yesterday. Phew, thinking about it in that time frame makes my stomach turn. Really, with the dog-sitting, we only have a week left in our tiny apartment. Our first little home. And that thought fills me with excitement and a little sadness at the same time. 

So we finish dog-sitting and are planning on moving in Father's day weekend. I love the house and can't wait to start unpacking and finding a place for everything, but I think that will be a looong process. Since we know we'll be in this house for a while, we can really settle down and find things that are specific to the spaces we want to create. And we'll have some small bedrooms to work with--so imma have to get super creative. We're so excited to make this house our home; to eventually turn all our talk into reality, to have a backyard and a deck, a washer, dryer and a dishwasher (!!!). And we'll of course be so happy to be done with house hunting, offer making and contract reading. Fourth times a charm?

At some point during this month I will get to see my mom for the first time since August! I can't wait to just sit down and have a face to face conversation with her. Maybe in our new home? Probably. Which just makes it all the more special. 

Then at the end of the month we will be skipping town, and probably leaving a very cluttered un-organized house, to celebrate our one year anniversary! How has it been a year already? I remember last June and all the wedding build up so well, I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by--and how much has happened within it. So June will be full of moving forward to new, exciting, scary grown-up things, and looking back on an amazing year (or 26, for Miles).

This was a wordy post. But June is going to be ridic!! I'll have to relish in the (imagined) peacefulness of the last day and a half of May.

Fireflies

I'm not trying to be annoying or attempting to make our life seem bad day-less, but from the moment Miles came home Saturday afternoon, until we went to sleep Sunday night, I was beside myself with happiness and in love-ness. We really didn't even do anything special. We used an old gift card to Olive Garden--where Miles asked if the salad that came with his meal was a caesar. At Olive Garden. I guess its been a while? We watched 15 minutes of a DVD that we had been super excited about (zombies v. vampires, hello!), until we realized it was possibly the worst thing we've ever seen, as in, so bad even I couldn't make fun of it. So bad that it just makes you mad? We caught up on Parks and Rec, clapped after Leslie's speech, went to bed and talked for hours.

Sunday, we woke up at went to church, had a wonderful lunch with Miles' mom and sister, and showed up so late to see a movie that they were no longer selling tickets for it. Oops. So we went home and did all the chores that we had been putting off forever. I also collected all my current reads and stacked them up by the bed. Another oops.

But what really makes me feel bad is that I really just want to go to the used book store and buy some more to start reading... We listened to Fleet Foxes, sang, folded, put away, washed, dried, made up, wiped down and then wanted to pass out. Miles so wisely commented on how much more fun and quickly done these chores were when we did them together. Uh, chyah dude. 

We finished the evening by walking up to Brown's Diner (recognized and spoken of in my head at "Fred's" for some reason) to hear one of Miles' co-workers play bossa nova jazz. We sat in the small, hot, retired train car, shared some salty, delicious fries, drank beer and enjoyed the remaining moments of our weekend. 

As we were walking home, kind of sad that our day and a half of full on togetherness was over, a little floating light appeared and disappeared right in front of us. We stopped in our tracks, threw our hands up in the air, and cheered for our first firefly sighting of the year. Miles even danced. Right there on the 21st Avenue sidewalk with people staring at us as they drove by. We walked the rest of the way home, attached at the hip, with the biggest grins plastered on our face.

So I'm not trying to say that we don't have moments or days where we feel bummed or completely drained, or totally boring...But it just seems like lately, we've been given other moments and days that are filled with the absolute best things where we're reminded of how blessed we are to have each other and everything else in our lives.