The Nash--Girl's Weekend

Some years it seems like we take five hundred vacations in one summer. That was definitely true last year, with our trip to Europe and everything. I love to blog about new places to travel and new sights to see; but sometimes you're missing out the sites in your own backyard. This summer is a bit different for us, because it seems like everyone is traveling here--which is great! I almost feel like hosting is a new calling for me, and I literally have to clean up and wash sheets immediately when my guests leave to prepare for the next set.

All of our friends coming here has truly allowed for some great exploration in our wonderful city of Nashville. Being newcomers ourselves, many of these experiences with our guests were enjoyed for the first time. I would like to do a little series on Nashville, being that it is such a full and rich city, and we have barely tapped into what is the beauty that makes this place attract people from all over the world. 

I hope this post is helpful for those of you who may find yourselves traveling through Nashville with a few spare minutes. For those of you who live here; get out and enjoy this great city!

 For my first Nashville review; I'll review this past weekend, which I spent with my girlfriends, celebrating my belated 25th birthday! (My birthday was actually May 11, but you know how that goes!!)

My girls got into town around 2:30 on a Friday afternoon--I should be truthful and interject right here that they were positively way earlier than I thought...and I was shocked and so humiliated by the sight of my unruly house. In fact, I wasn't even home. I was on my way home from the grocery store, and they just had to wait in my driveway.

When I finally got there, we said our hellos and after they cleaned up a bit, we made our way to downtown Franklin. I recommend downtown Franklin, TN, to anyone who visits the Nashville area. It has a quaint small-town Southern charm, and is a haven for antique-collectors and window-shoppers alike. 

Some of my favorite places to shop downtown are The Iron Gate (about which one of my friends said, "I'm pretty sure that this place is what the inside of my heart looks like."), LuLu's, and Savory Spice Shop. There are many more, but those three are right on Main Street, and I like to hit them up every time I go downtown, even if its just a quick peek.

Another neat thing about downtown Franklin, is their historical movie theater.. They always have something going on; from cheap movies, to concerts, to comedy shows, to Monty Python Quote-alongs; there are so many fun things to discover there. You have to check everyday, because you don't want to miss anything!

After our excursion downtown, we attempted to find a place to have dinner. I had heard about Puckett's Grocery & Restaurant which is an old grocery store turned into a hot spot for Southern music and Southern cuisine. We hit up the Franklin location, only to discover that they have a whopping cover charge of $12. We still aren't sure if it was because the band was supposedly awesome, or if their charge is always that high--but being the bargain hunters that we are, we opted for a slightly less pricey venue. Daniel and I have vowed to return at some point though, and I promise to give you an honest review at that time!

We ended up at Mellow Mushroom, which is a Pizza Chain, but still very delicious. Being that it was getting pretty late; we scarfed it down like nobody's business.

It also happened to be National Donut Day! So this is us, after our trip through the Krispy Kreme Drive Thru.

When we got home we had this amazing idea to make these totes adorbs DIY bleach shirts. As with many, many, many DIY pinterest activities, they ended up being a complete disaster. We discovered later that it was because we were supposed to use shirts that were as close to 100% cotton as possible--and ours were only like 50%. Go figure. 

Still, because we were all together, and these are the girls I abso-toot-ly love; then we just laughed hysterically about it and talked until the wee hours before finally making our way to bed.

Saturday morning we woke up low and slow and wandered out of our bed caves and sipped coffee while chatting. I love mornings to be like that; so I didn't have anything planned until the afternoon.

Our reservation for tea was at 2:00pm at a the Savannah Tea Company. The website of this place does not do it justice whatsoever. I would highly recommend having tea here the next time you're in Nashville for a special occasion.

While it was a little pricey, they fulfilled all of my childhood hopes and dreams of what High Tea would be like. It is held in this gorgeous Victorian house complete with porch and hard-wood floors. When you walk inside, you feel as though your stepping back in time.

They direct you to a wall full of tiny china tea-cups, from which you can choose your cup for the day. Of course, I am all over things like that! You then go and pick out the tea that you would like to have brewed. I choose one called, "Arctic Raspberry" and maybe the fact that it was pink and some of the most beautiful tea that I had ever seen influenced my decision greatly.

My girlfriends definitely do not disappoint when it comes to situations like that; and my friend Rainelle was even so prepared as to wear a hat! She was definitely not the only one; and Savannah's even had a couple of baskets of vintage hats for those who felt so inclined. 

I must comment on the food at Savannah's because we definitely had not eaten lunch and were hoping to be decently full when we left. I believe that they exceeded our expectations in this department. The food was not only spectacular to look at, but it tasted absolutely amazing.

We had nothing short of a full-length photo-shoot at this location (one of the perks of having a photographer for one of your closest friends!!). The inside was beautiful with its rich hard-wood, huge windows, and of course, teacups! The outside was beautiful as well, with the great porch, yellow front door, and beautiful Victorian style. I'm sure the wait staff checked more than once for a peek to see if we were still there. 

It would not be an honest review without mentioning that while they claimed to take cash; they didn't end up having change and so they asked us to pay with cards. Which was a little odd, but it might have just been that we caught them on a bad day. 

After our tea, we drove around that area which is known to Nashvillians as "Germantown." Many of the historic Victorian homes have been turned into little vintage shops, antique stores, and restaurants. It is an artistic area with tons of eye-catching architecture and home design.

We had planned to go back downtown Nashville for the evening; but we were all so exhausted that we decided to chill out at home for a while. Due to popular demand we hit up Chik-Fil-A for dinner. My poor friends don't have one anywhere near where they live.

On our way home, we stopped at GiGi's Cupcakes, which was started right here in Nashville. I decided to try the Peach Raspberry, a peach cupcake, mounded with raspberry buttercream. Daniel got my all-time favorite; which is the Kentucky Bourbon Cupcake. The cake itself is full of nuts and is so dense and moist and delicious on its own; but what blows this cupcake out of the water is the to-die-for Bourbon flavored buttercream!

We went back to the apartment and--no lie--tried to remedy our ruined shirts. Unfortunately due to the glitter glue sticky substance that we ended up buying; that didn't go over quite so well either.

Sunday morning we contemplated going to the pool. For once it was actually pretty sunny and we had been wanting to go to the pool all weekend. But my friends, knowing the long drive that was ahead of them, decided we should go ahead and go to lunch, and come back for a swim later if we had time.

I had my heart set on taking my girls to the retro and Southern as they come,  Loveless Café. I had heard so much about it, and I felt like all of my vintage-loving pals would totally appreciate the 1950s road trip vibe that this cutie café/hotel turned tourist attraction would give.

Its a good thing we decided to go when we did; because the wait time was 1hr and 45 minutes. This is common because the restaurant is not that big. I had read online that it is sometimes smarter to visit during weekdays to significantly lower your wait times. I'm kind of glad that we had a bit of a wait though, because there were so many fun things to do while you wait. 

The buzzer they give you can be taken anywhere on the grounds of the restaurant. The location is very country and almost gives-off a family picnic feel. There are corn hole games spread out all over the grounds that guests are invited to play for free. They also provide free sweet and unsweet peach cobbler iced tea to sip on warm days while you play. The little gift shops that surround the restaurant are so cute and sell merchandise similar to what you can find inside the diner itself. 

Once we were actually seated, the real test began. We wanted to know if the food truly lived up to all of the hype; and oh it did! They start you off with a plate of warm, buttery Southern biscuits (named best biscuits of the South by Southern Living magazine) accompanied by three of their sweet and fruity homemade preserves (Blackberry, Strawberry, and Peach).

As if we weren't already won over by the biscuits; we were absolutely blown away by the delicious home-cooked meals. Between my friends and I, we were able to sample the fried chicken, the beef brisket, the country ham, the pulled-pork BBQ, and some of the most amazing southern side dishes I have ever had. My favorites were probably the hashbrown casserole (which knocked my socks off with its rich and creamy cheese) and the fried green tomatoes. 

A southern meal wouldn't be complete without pie, and the coconut cream is a dream and a half! I had to wait until later to eat my pie; but when I did, I was so glad I had ordered it. These people are not messing around when it comes to food; no sireee! 

Since it does take a good while to eat at Loveless; I definitely suggest planning your day around eating there. The plus side was that while we were easily entertained for a good 3 or 4 hours, we didn't end up spending that much money; because the meals themselves were relatively inexpensive ($10-20 for an entrée) and everything else was virtually free. There is just this overall sense of family while you are there; and the wait staff makes you feel so at home. I highly recommend Loveless on your next visit to Nashville.

Because my husband is an adventurer and a navigator, he took us through some very scenic roadways, one of the most well known is the Natchez Trace Parkway, which I highly recommend if you are looking for a beautiful road that shows off Tennessee and all her glory. Daniel and I have plans to drive the whole thing this summer; and so I'm sure I'll post more about it when the time comes.

In conclusion, my girls and I had an awesome weekend. We were exhausted with the endless talking and laughing, but also fueled up for the next few weeks until we see each other again.