Unrelated Events: DCFC & A Whale of a Time

So first off, we just got back from Lowe's with supplies for a new project! It's really going to pull the living room together. And per usual, I wanted to go ahead and start on it, but 1.) it rained today so the porch is wet and 2.) it's ten o'clock at night. I guess it will have to wait until next week.... I hate waiting. 

Story time:

We have to wait because are going home this weekend to visit family, YAY! Want to know what's NOT "yay"? We planned on going home this weekend for my nephew's 2nd birthday party... 

(Pic form my sister's fb)

It was last weekend. I still don't know how this oversight occurred. I had it in my mind that his party was the 20th because his birthday is the 22nd. Well, somewhere along the way it got moved up a week because my brother-in-law has a game that weekend (as a band director). Even though the invitation (which was adorably hand-painted by my middle sister) had the correct date, I didn't even process that it was a week earlier! Geez! So imagine my surprise last week when my mom asked if we were staying at their house or the Myers'. I was devastated when it all hit me that I was too far away to just pop on down for the afternoon. I cried. No, literally. I went into the bathroom at work and cried. This was the first time that we had to miss something because of distance. That was a difficult blow to bear.

But we are still going home, party or not, because we had planned on it and we were looking forward to it.

And onto the purpose of the blog:

Death Cab for Cutie concert and a Playground.

Last Wednesday this married couple went wild and crazy. We stayed out late on a school night! (in all actuality we were still home by midnight. That is late for me.)

We got tickets to see our all time favorite band, Death Cab for Cutie, because hey... that's part of why we moved to Smashville. Music. Live Music. 

Quick note on Death Cab. Is it cheesy to say that this band is a significant portion of why Josh and I fell in love? Well, truth be told, it is. When we first started dating, the album Narrow Stairs had recently been released. That was probably one of the first big "things we have in common" conversations. DCFC was a huge influence on Josh's musical taste and style, and I just loved them. 

Sappy Anecdote:

One time (after a couple months of "courting") Josh and I were going somewhere and took my car. I had been blaring the aforementioned album, specifically the song "Cath...", and I heard Josh say "God, this is why I love you!" It took about 2 seconds too long to realize what he'd (accidentally) said, and I was already in the middle of saying "I know! This album gets better each time I listen to it." Then it sank in what he had said, and I think he realized what he said, and we both got all flustered and silly and changed the subject because the relationship was still new and he really didn't even realize it came out til it did. 

So yeah.... The first time Josh told me he loved me was because I was so equally enthused about his favorite band.

Have I bored you all to death yet? Here is a story in pictures:

The band that opened was called Frightened Rabbit. They are from Scotland. And they are amazing. Go support them and buy a CD. Please.

Then came the main event. The crowd went berserk. This is Ben Gibbard. Hey Ben.

These are all from by phone, by the way. We had pretty good spots (general admission, which meant we stood in line for an hour and a half to get in a good spot... after I got of work from standing all day... Totally worth it)

Another You-Just-Had-To-Be-There pic of a concert.

yay

I took a video of my favorite song, but I can't figure out how to upload it (server won't allow it) and I don't feel like creating a youtube account or anything... 

So after the show, on the walk back to the car (paying to park downtown is still something we are getting used to), we walked through a courtyard area and the grass was so squishy and soft I just plopped down. Josh realized I was no longer my his side and plopped down next to me.

"Ahhhh my poor tired feet are soooooo happy!"

Instagram effect of the happy couple in the squishy grass

Onward to the playground adventure.

Josh and I do a lot of driving around just looking at houses (for our future home-buying purposes). We stumbled upon this historic area near the Harpeth River:

Which led to some pretty incredible plantation style homes and eventually the Natchez Trace

We saw some deer

And after getting effectively lost in some residential area, we saw this! I went straight for the merry-go-round but it was in some serious need of oil. So I resorted to the whale. It was a good choice.

Josh wasn't cut out for it.

I eventually got his tail to touch the ground too though

Then these guys wandered out and we were like... uh, what?

Ended up that at least 3 were hanging out. "Oh don't mind us"

"Helloooo down there"

(turkey shots taken from this see-saw) 

Briefly airborne 

I had forgotten how fun see-saws are.

obviously exuberant 

Probably the funnest playground slide ever! Makes your stomach drop.

I did this and slid down the slide. Josh isn't as flexible, so he had to work for it.

One of the ladders beat me up.

pasty leg returns

Oh hey rock wall!

Conquered. Take that child-toy!

Easy as one...

two...

three...

tah-dah!

And I had to squeeze in one more session with the whale before we left.

So all in all, rich people can afford playgrounds in their side yard and open it to the public.

And we sure are glad they did.

Because we had a WHALE of a time.

yesssss. (pun victory)

Stay tuned for our upcoming DIY projects!

Haley

{wishing I had a blue whale ride in my side yard}

Weekend Adventures: August

A weekend in review as recounted by out iPhone photos.

This weekend included movie date night, lazy mornings, tax free weekend, live music, new church, and a hidden trail.

Friday after work we had movie-night. 

Um... SO good. Funny (hysterical even) while maintaining a quality that most romantic-comedy movies don't. Touching, cute, insightful, and cinematographically lovely. I highly recommend it.

We also want to see Beginners. Watch the trailer. Love me some Ewan McGregor. 

Saturday we had a lazy morning. I made some peach pecan muffins from scratch. I had planned to make blueberry muffins again, but the blueberries got gobbled up before Saturday, so I used allrecipes.com to find an alternative utilizing what we had. (Love that site! You can create a virtual recipe box and save the recipes you want to try.)  

After lunch we took advantage of tax free weekend.

Be bought Josh a couple of these:

Shirts, not boy toys

Black fitted button-downs from Express. I'm pretty proud of our savings, so I'll share. 

Normally $60 each (meaning we would normally never purchase them)

+ tax free (10% savings)

+ Express sale: Buy one get one for $20 ($40 savings)

+ a coupon from Josh's mom: Save $30 off a purchase of $75 or more

= Total spent: $50 for TWO Express shirts.

Total savings: $70 (not including the tax we saved).

Why did we opt for such fancy shirts for Josh? Because he has joined The Tennessee Three. He will be the new touring drummer for the legendary Johnny Cash band. Bob Wootton was Cash's guitar player from 1968 on, after Luther Perkins died (the original guitarist). 

This is Johnny cash in 1974 (you can hear Bob's guitar solo at about the one minute mark)

He still tours playing Cash/Carter songs with his family and maintains the name "The Tennessee Three" {It used to be Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Three}.  We are beyond excited. Since Johnny Cash's signature look was all-black, we decided to get some fancy black clothing.

We were planning on utilizing tax free weekend to buy the Mrs. some new clothes as well, but if you know me, you know that crowds stress me out. It's the chaos and the in-my-bubble-ness. I don't like strangers bumping into me. Or dodging rude people who don't gently move out of the way. 

So we moved on to coffee from Bread and Company before dinner at Demos' Steak and Spaghetti House. Yum! It is our current Nashvillain favorite restaurant.  

If you come visit us, we WILL take you here. Delicious and affordable. Josh applied to work here and got the job, but we would have had to shave his beard, so I vetoed that job. I'm protective of my man's beard.

Speaking of:

I love my husband! Especially his beard.

After dinner we chose a bench in the Batman Building courtyard to relax before the Decemberists show. 

 No instagram effects :(

After we felt our food was sufficiently settled, we walked across the street to the Ryman to find our seats.

We learned our lesson the hard way: always opt for the balcony at the Ryman Auditorium!

This column was not conveniently placed.

And the lights were often right on us... 

But the show was so great. Colin Meloy has such a dynamic stage presence. I love it when musicians interact with the crowd.

Sunday we got up and went to church. Thus the church-seeking process begins. This week we tried Journey of Franklin by recommendation of one of my co-workers. 

We definitely could see ourselves there... because they had us at "Welcome, help yourself to some coffee"

 But really because it had a modern service and a young crowd. Not to mention it is located inside The Factory, which is one of the places that makes Franklin such a cool place. 

It is actually set up a lot like First Hattiesburg (which we miss dearly) but a lot smaller. We are going to try it on for size for a few weeks since this week wasn't a "usual" service (guest speaker). 

Since we love Franklin and hope to someday buy a home there, we decided to drive around and get a feel for the residential areas. Um... can't quite afford, well anything we saw. But I'm convinced a perfect, cozy little home is out there for us. 

Whilst exploring and marveling, I saw a sign for an "overlook" and we pulled over. At the overlook was a little trail. I freaked out a little. 

This is the view from the overlook... foothills of Franklin

The aforementioned little path

I wasn't exactly anticipating a walk through the woods when I got dressed this morning. But I made due.

We had a lot of fun fantasizing about living on a parcel of land in the mountains where our future little ones can play in the woods.

... UNTIL ...

A fallen tree blocked the path. We actually did jump over it (which was an ordeal in my pretty dress) but the path kinda ended about 100 ft past it. 

Apparently it didn't lead to any big scenic view. Sad. But we still had a good time.

Well that's all from this weekend's adventures. This week I get CRP and First Aid certified. Til next time! Stay tuned, 

Haley