Nashville...Oh how I love thee.

I spent the Independence Day Weekend with one of my favorite people in Nashville, TN--my friend Sarah! Sarah and I met in December when we traveled to Africa together on a Mocha Club Trip. I'm so thankful for the friendship that God has given me. I've been truly blessed. The long weekend was so wonderful. We did a lot of fun stuff throughout the weekend (including eating a TON of delicious food!!), but the best parts of the weekend were just good conversation.

So here's the recap of our fun weekend. And yes, I did fall in love with Nashville while I was there. Such a fabulous city.

Thursday Night:

I arrived in Nashville at 9:30 and we headed straight to the movies to see Eclipse. You see, I was adamantly against all things Twilight related until Sarah came to visit me in April. We spent 2 of the nights during her visit watching the Twilight movies. After that, I was hooked. And it worked out perfectly that I was going to visit Sarah just days after Eclipse came out in theaters. So, loaded down with Sour Patch Kids, Fruit Gems, Reeses Pieces, Popcorn, and Diet Coke, we hit the theater. It was great!

Friday:

Sarah had to nanny in the morning so I tagged along. It was great having coffee and conversation and catching up on life. I really think that every Friday morning (heck, every morning, in general!) should start with conversation and coffee with a best friend. For lunch we headed to a place called Barbara's Home Cookin' in Franklin. Seriously, this place was amazing. The homemade rolls were delicious. The sweet tea was AMAZING. And the food was so, so, so good! Barbara's is the most unassuming place ever. It's a little house alongside the road, but dang is it good!


Next, we went grocery shopping because Sarah (Langiappe Personal Catering...check it out, good stuff!!!) had a catering job that weekend for a church. After that, a much needed nap was in order. And then we hit the town. We ate dinner at a place called The Local Taco. It was delicious. Seriously, so good! Then we drove around Nashville for a bit when I spotted...LIGHTENING BUGS!! So of course, I made Sarah stop so I could try to catch some. We stopped at a really cute park in Nashville and I took these fun pictures. And then we met up with one of Sarah's friends and hung out in Nashville.



















Saturday:

We ran to Alan Jackson's house. Yep, that's right. Alan Jackson lives 2 miles from Sarah so we went for a morning run and ran to his house and back. And let me just say that Franklin, TN is so incredibly beautiful. And the weather during our run was so wonderful. Then we cleaned up and headed to downtown Franklin for brunch and shopping. We ate at Meridee's Bread Basket which once again was delicious. Then we went to lots of fun shops in Franklin. (Apparently T.Swift was there 2 days after we were. Darn it.). Pictures of Downtown Franklin and bricks in the sidewalk from the Judds. Cool!















Then we headed to the church to do the baking and prepping for their event that they were having on Sunday. It was so much fun working with Sarah. She's an amazing culinary artist. Seriously. In the time it took me to make my cookie recipe, she had made her cookies, cut up all the fruit, put nuts and mints in bowls, made punch, made a cheese ball, plated the cheese ball and cheese cubes, and cleaned up. She's pretty much awesome at what she does. So if you need a caterer for an event or just want a nice home-cooked dinner sometime, check out her website, www.lagniappepersonalcatering.com. Here are some quick pics I took of our finished product. Sorry, they aren't great pics...I took them while we were rushing out the door.

The spread:

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies (major YUM!!):

Peaches 'n Cream Cookies:

And more of the spread. Check out those fruit baskets that Sarah made!! So cool. Oh, and those cheese balls were pineapple cheese balls. Your mouth is watering, right?:


And this is a picture of the cross outside the church. I just couldn't resist because it was so beautiful!!
Saturday night Sarah's parents made dinner and it was DELISH! Then we put our boots on (well, I did!) and headed out with Sarah's sister Claire and her friend Hannah for some line dancing at Wildhorse Saloon. So. Much. Fun. And Sarah and I stopped at Paradise Park for a short bit, too. It's a bar themed after a Trailer Park. Awesome. Ha!

Claire, Hannah, Sarah, and me at Wildhorse:

Yes! It is definitely Nashvegas! Table at Paradise Park:
Sarah and I at Paradise Park:

Why thanks Nashville, I'm glad I'm here too!

Sunday morning we got up bright and early to run a 10k in downtown Nashville. SO MUCH FUN!! I got to take fun pictures of Nashville and Sarah ran her very first 10k ever! She did GREAT! It's so much more fun to run with friends than by myself. Pics from our race:

Getting ready to run:
Sarah's a bit nervous:
Downtown Nashville. Beautiful:
After the race. Yay we did it!!

Then we slept. A lot. Which is what Sunday afternoons are meant for anyway! And then we headed downtown for the 4th of July festivities. We were planning to watch the free Trace Adkins concert, but it was so crowded that we ended up leaving and going to eat dinner at SATCO (San Antonio Taco Company) which we both believe was a good decision.

Picture of me with a cool guitar downtown Nashville. Yes, sometimes I act like a tourist. And pics of SATCO. Yum. Seriously, yum.



















Then when we were leaving SATCO, Sarah got a hold of my camera. And things got a little crazy...hahahaha. Love these pictures.

And then Monday we ate a delicious breakfast at Pancake Pantry which is a MUST if you visit Nashville. And did some shopping around Hillsboro Village. We went shopping at Pangea which is officially my new favorite store, plus a bunch of other cool shops.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat (yes, I told you we ate A LOT) at Bread & Company before heading back downtown to meet up with a group of people who collectively make up People Loving Nashville. Every Monday night, they gather together to cook dinner and serve it to the homeless community of Nashville. I'm not going to lie, this was by far my favorite part of the entire weekend. It was so great to be part of the greater good, to see God's hand at work in the community, and to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. I really believe this is what Christ has called of us...to love and serve others in need without passing judgment or condemnation on them. I really really really hope to have the opportunity to serve with them again and to love the people of Nashville again.

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. God is good and I am so blessed...even when times are hard...I know I'm blessed, loved, claimed.

One last picture of me and my best friend! Thanks Sarah for a great weekend!

Oh, and be sure to check out Volunteer Traditions and Suineg Consulting. Both are great Nashville companies that I give a thumbs up to.

Mailbox Surprise

My friend Sarah came to visit recently. We were checking my mail while she was at my house and found a...well...surprise, I guess you could say. And here was our reaction:




Oh and don't you worry....I'll likely be posting more videos of our adventures.

Good Friend, Good Weekend

One of my absolute favorite people came into town this past weekend for some much needed friend time. I don't really have the energy to go through everything we did, but I'll hit the highlights. Regardless of the rain, Katie and I still had a great time and I always enjoy conversation with her.

So, our weekend highlights included:

• Rented Slumdog Millionaire. AMAZING movie.
  
• Shopping spree at Ann Taylor Loft Outlet. I always spend far too much money when I'm shopping with her. And typically it ends up being at Ann Taylor Loft. And this time, it started POURING rain right after we walked in, so we figured we might as well hang out for a while in the store. Bad move :)
• DisneyQuest. It was raining on Friday night still and I had free tickets to DisneyQuest so Katie, Ryan, and I hit up DisneyQuest. The pirate game was really fun!!
• BEACH!!! We took a chance and headed towards the Gulf on Saturday for some beach time. It rained on the way there and on the way home, but not while we were at the beach for about 3 1/2 hours. It was perfect. We went to Caladesi Island State Park which was absolutely gorgeous. You have to pay to take a ferry to the island, but it was totally worth it. We saw a bunch of dolphin even!!
• American Idol Experience Finale Show. After we got back Saturday night from the beach we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios to see the AIE Finale Show. I had seen some of the other shows and liked it but hadn't seen the Finale show. The Finale show is soooo much fun. 7 people sang and we got to vote on our favorite! It was really fun. But when we came out of the show it was DOWNPOURING....AGAIN!! Luckily, we had umbrellas and were able to make our way to the car more dry than others.
• Bike riding in Celebration! We rode bikes around Celebration twice and saw sooo many animals. We saw gators, a snake, a bunch of random birds, squirrels, ducks, turtles, etc. (Of course, it wasn't until after Katie left on Monday when I was out riding bikes again that I saw THREE otters!!!)

Really it was just nice to have one of my best friends around for a few days. Of course I was sad when she left. It's always hard for me when an Ohio friend leaves. I wish I could just call and meet up for dinner, but I suppose the occasional weekend trip will have to suffice. I'm blessed and thankful to have such great friends both in Ohio and here (and of course many other places, too!!!).

While Katie was here, though, we started talking about our trip to Ireland next summer. We came up with the idea about a year ago that we would go to Ireland after Katie finished her Masters degree. I'm so excited!!! We also decided that next time instead of Katie coming to visit me, we would meet up in a cool city and do some exploring. I do believe that Austin or Nasvhille is at the top of our list. What can I say, we like music a bit :) In the meantime, I'm looking forward to my trip to Columbus over Labor Day Weekend--just in time for the first Ohio State Football game of the season. GO BUCKEYES!

GainesVegas Baby!

Yesterday I went to my second Gator game at THE SWAMP! First, I really really really love getting out of Orlando on the weekends. Maybe because I really don't like Orlando that much (have ya'll caught on to that yet?). So my friend Matt and I headed up to Gainesville yesterday morning to go to the UF/Citadel game. Obviously, we knew it was going to be an incredibly easy win for the Gators, but it was still a ton of fun! We stopped at Jess's apartment first and walked with Jess and Paisley (awww Paisels) to go get some lunch before Matt and I headed down to the stadium. Jess had to work on some homework so she met up with us at halftime. We left a little early from the game (in hopes to beat the crowd. ha, that didn't work) and then headed to Gators Dockside so Matt (a diehard Penn State Fan and Alum) could watch the rest of the PSU/MSU game. Of course, the Lions dominated that game too so it looks like they're Rose Bowl bound. Which hopefully means my Buckeyes are Capital One Bound...right here in ORLANDO!! Yes, I will be going and I will proudly be wearing Scarlet and Gray and my super awesome Buckeye necklace. Then, because I'm a great friend, Matt and I went to Burrito Brothers to get Ryan a burrito because he's obsessed with them. And then it was time to head home. I was exhausted after a great day.

Enjoy these lovely pictures from our fun day:

The super awesome Graffiti Wall.


Gator Chomp!!!



Matt's first game at The Swamp!!!

Now I'm trying to motivate myself to clean my apartment for my parents arrival in 3 days!!! (And let's hear it for 3 day work weeks!!).

Longest Vacation Recap Ever

For all of you (how many readers do I have now? 2?) who have anxiously been awaiting the day-by-day recap of my most fabulous vacation to Ohio. Indulge yourselves.

Wednesday, July 2

Katie picked me up from the Dayton airport and we began our trek back to the city I love--Columbus. It was a late night so we pretty much hit the hay when we got back to the 'Burg and the Koebel residence--but only after I met Sloopy, one of the coolest dogs ever. We became pals.

Thursday, July 3

We had every intention to hit up the water park on Thursday, but the cold rainy weather put a damper on that. Instead, we headed to the gym and then ventured on to Clintonville to the photography store. Then we met up with Katie's sister Amy and headed to my favorite restaurant in all of Columbus, Northstar Cafe. The Northstar is an organic restaurant in the Short North (and now Clintonville, too) area of downtown Columbus that gets all of its ingredients from local farms. They have a great variety of salads, flatbreads, sandwiches, and baked goods. I love the food and the atmosphere. After lunch, Katie and I headed over to Easton Town Center to do some shopping. I did some hardcore shopping and found some fabulous deals. I got a pair of shoes, a pair of navy blue pants, a pair of plaid shorts, a short navy blue jacket, a pink and purple sundress, and an umbrella all for only $100. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Katie talked me into the navy blue jacket at Ann Taylor Loft and it was a definite good buy. I also met up with my dad at the mall and got my SLR camera from him. So excited to be taking pictures again.

After we wore ourselves out with shopping we headed back to Katie's house. I cleaned up and got ready to go out with Adam. Adam and I headed to Cap City Diner in Gahanna. It's a Cameron Mitchell restaurant and soooo delicious. We enjoyed dinner and caught up for a while before heading back to Easton to pick out my new Mac at the Apple store!!!! I haven't bought the Mac yet, but know exactly what I'm getting. Adam had superb advice and we also had a bit of time left to play with the iPhones. When we realized we were the last people left in the Apple store we headed out and realized we still had time to make it to the fireworks. We met up with Adam's parents at a golf course on the west side of Columbus and attempted to enjoy the fireworks although the smoke was hanging in the air and we couldn't really see them. But it was fun talking to Adam's parents and hanging out. Adam made fun of me most of the night because I had jeans and a jacket on and I was still cold.

After the fireworks we headed to ODU's campus so he could show me all the changes that are going on around campus. It's crazy what happens when you're gone for a year. I definitely miss the place!! Adam and I ran into Nicole and Chrissy and then we explored campus a bit more. It was almost like we were on rounds like our old RA days. Eventually, Adam took me back to Katie's house after a super fun night.

Friday, July 4--Happy Independence Day

It was still kind of chilly and rainy so we didn't go to the water park on Friday either. Katie and I headed to the gym again and afterwards I met up with my friend Phil for lunch. We headed to Phil's favorite Greek restaurant (not mine...I still argue that the Happy Greek is slightly better!), The Mad Greek. We enjoyed a delicious lunch and were finally able to catch up after not seeing eachother for 11 months!!! Ridiculous. I made it very clear that we shouldn't go that long in between seeing each other again. After lunch Phil took me to his new house and we played some indoor soccer in which I completely and totally dominated!! Our visit ended all too soon as I had to meet up with Katie to go to Juan's house. At Juan's we assisted in making a Jello Stapler (reference The Office). Mostly Katie and Juan did the making and I did a bit of picture taking and some sleeping on the couch. After Jello Stapler creation was completed Katie and I headed back to her house to relax. Later in the evening we got a game of Bourre going with Katie, Amy, Scott, Emily, Eric, and myself. Bourre is kind of a mix between poker and euchre. I won $20...some call it beginners luck. I call it skill. Ha.

Saturday, June 5

I got up bright and early and met up with Laura and Blacklick Woods Metropark. We used to run there a lot in college for cross country and so it was fun to go on a run again there together. We did a lot of catching up before I had to go back to Katies. Katies parents made us a fantastic 5th of July breakfast and then Katie and I hung out for a while before heading to Old Navy in search of flip flops with a detour at 1/2 Priced Books (I bought a photography book, Katie bought an Amish book). Saturday night we went to Katie's uncle's house for the annual Independence Day Party (a day late) complete with Ladder Golf , homemade Sangria (sooooo good), cookout, quality music (played on a record player...cannot beat that), and of course, Reynoldsburg fireworks--Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y.

Sunday, June 6

It was FINALLY warm enough and not raining!! We got up early and headed to Mass at St. Pious and then to Zoombezi Bay! We went into the Columbus Zoo first to check out the Aquariuam and Manatees before heading over to the water slides. The slides were pretty cool (minus the lazy river that you had to pay to rent tubes for. Lame). We even enjoyed our nice tropical drinks on the adults-only lazy river. Good times. After we were competely sun-soaked and waterlogged, we headed back to the 'Burg. I cleaned up quickly and my sister and her boyfriend picked me up so we could go to dinner at On The Border (yes, I ate out a lot...). After dinner we headed back downtown to Goodale Park so I could take pictures and show them around the Short North. After walking all over Victorian Village and the Short North, we headed back to the 'Burg and Kal and Jordan headed back to Lancaster. Katie, Scott, and I enjoyed watching some episodes of the Office and hanging out.

Monday, July 7

Katie and I hit up the gym for the last time during my visit. Then we went to German Village where Scott met up with us at The Old Mohawk. They are apparently known for their Turtle Soup, so yes, I ordered it. And ate turtle. Does that make me a bad person? After lunch Katie and I did a toooonnn of walking around German Village. I took pictures at Schiller Park and around German Village. We went to the Book Loft, the absolute cooooolest book store EVER. And then we drove around downtown a bit more before heading back to ODU to say hi to a few people. We saw Juan again and I stopped by the Alumni office to say hi to my friend Jen.

Back at the Koebel house we hung out for a bit and played a rousing game of Scrabble. (Don't mock us. It was intense!!). Then Adam picked me up again so we could hang out one more time before I had to return home. We never get to hang out enough so I was excited I got to see him twice while I was home. Adam and I went for ice cream at Graeters and sat talking for well over an hour. Then when the place was closing down Adam took me to see where he'll be working before heading back to Reynoldsburg. It was really hard saying bye to him. Adam and I spent a lot of time together in college both as friends and fellow RAs. We have some ridiculous stories from doing rounds together and some really crazy adventures too. I'm so lucky to have such a great friend and I was excited he promised he'd visit at least once before the end of the year.

Today

I got up at 4:00 A.M. after only about 3 1/2 hours of sleep to return back to Florida. It was a really great visit. I have amazing friends. It was hard saying goodbye to Katie this morning too. It made it much easier knowing that she'll be here to visit me in just a few weeks. But it was also hard not knowing when I'll get to see Phil next either. Like Adam, Phil's been a great friend for over 5 years now. We joke around that we don't even know how we're friends because we have absolutely nothing in common. But I wouldn't trade my friendships with Katie, Adam, Phil, Juan, Laura, and all of my other amazing friends for anything in the world. I wish I could have seen everyone while I was home, but the visit was much too short. Luckily, Liz will be here in a few weeks as well so I'll see her soon and I'm crossing my fingers that Molli will make it down here soon too. I feel very incredibly and amazingly blessed.

And now...it's back to work. The craziness never ends. True story. It really doesn't. So there's the recap. Major props if you made it all the way through!!