Nashville - Day 1

We are back in the swing of things after a long weekend.  I just so happened to be off yesterday as well because my company was closed for Columbus Day, and it was nice because I was able to get everything unpacked and washed from Nashville only to turn around and pack it all up again for the mountains!

Anyhoo, today I’m recapping day one of our trip and I’m so excited to share it with all of you.  If you followed along on Insta Stories, you have probably seen a lot of this, but for those of you who didn’t, here’s the recap!

My parents kept the kids at our house all weekend but Friday they did have school, so B and I got them off to school and then we headed out bright and early for Nashville.  We grabbed a couple of donuts and a PSL for the ride, cranked up the Ed Sheeran tunes, and we were off!  We only had to make two stops and we made good time, arriving fairly early in the afternoon.  Since we couldn’t check into our Airbnb right away, we immediately headed to The Gulch to do a little bit of sight-seeing.  In all honesty the top thing on my list to see in Nashville (besides Ed Sheeran) was the What Lifts You street art by Kelsey Montague. 

I have seen the pictures many, many times and I was dying to see it in person.  Apparently I wasn’t the only one who had that one near the top of my list because when we arrived there was a line to take pictures with it.  Eek!  There were probably 20 people in front of us, but we only waited about 20 minutes so it wasn’t too bad.  The painting is absolutely gorgeous in person, though.  I wish I had had more time to actually look at it and take it in, but since there were lots of people waiting in line behind us we had to hurry along. 

Across the street were two more wall murals, so being the good blogger that I am, I told B we obviously had to visit one of the others!  This one was awesome because it was so colorful!  You guys know how much I love color!  

After walking around for a bit, we hopped back in the car and headed to the 12th Ave South area, which ended up being my favorite area of Nash.  It was right near our Airbnb and it was the cutest little area with lots of great restaurants and coffee shops with outdoor patios and twinkle lights, more wall murals, and lots of cute shops.

We found commuting and parking to be pretty easy the whole trip, and we quickly found a public lot that only cost a few bucks, and we were on our way!  First stop, another wall mural, and then it was on to Draper James, another place on my list to go!  For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Draper James is Reese Witherspoon’s clothing boutique, and the one in Nashville is her flagship store. 

When you walk in you are promptly greeted by one of the employees handing out sweet tea in cups with the cutest little paper straws that matched the store.  Everything in there was just darling and there were plenty of things that I would have loved to buy, but holy wow on the prices!  Y’all know that I’m a bargain shopper, so I just couldn’t bring myself to buy anything.  To give you an idea of the kind of pricing we’re talking, a keychain was the smallest/cheapest thing in the store and it was $48.  I KNOW.  #CantDoIt

It was definitely worth the visit, though, and it was located in the cutest little area of Nashville.  After we left the store I, of course, had to take a picture by the outdoor façade and the wall with the stripes.  The famous “I Believe in Nashville” sign is also right there so I snapped a picture with it as well, and then we were off to see more sights. 

Just up the street was a little pop-up pumpkin patch and it was about the cutest little thing I ever did see!  They had loads of pumpkins and gourds and huge blooming mums and the whole place was covered in twinkle lights.  I just knew that we’d have to go back to visit at night so I could see it with the lights on!  We also passed by Amelia’s Flower Truck as well.  Is Nashville not the cutest??

By that time it was time to check in to our Airbnb so we made the two minute drive to the house.  We stayed in The Gulch and it was seriously the best area of Nashville to stay… we were right in the heart of all of the great things and were only a two minute drive to most of the things that we wanted to see and do. 

The place we stayed was actually an apartment over the garage of the cutest little house.  The apartment must have been updated recently because it was so trendy with its hardwood floors, white kitchen cabinets, and gleaming subway tiles.  I loved every single thing about it!  If you’re planning on staying in Nashville and want the info for where we stayed just shoot me an email and I’ll send you the info!

By that time B and I were all ready to change and get ready for our big evening ahead, so we unpacked (check out Brian's wardrobe for the weekend below... LOL), relaxed for a few, and then got ready to head out for a night on the town.  We made the five minute drive to downtown Nashville where all of the main attractions are, and we walked the streets soaking in all of the sights and the sounds of live music literally everywhere you turned.  After walking for a bit, we headed to the infamous Tootsies to hang out for a bit before the concert.  Tootsie’s has been around since 1960 and it is world famous because so many famous people have frequented it throughout the years – Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Charley Pride, and Patsy Cline to name a few – and it has been in many movies as well.

We made our way to the rooftop bar which was no easy feat.  It was barely 4:30 when we got there the place was INSANE.  We had to squeeze our way through hundreds of people to get through each level, but we finally made our way to the fourth floor?  Fifth floor?  I honestly lost count because there were so many levels, but when we got to the top, the views of Nashville were amazing!

After hanging out on the roof at Tootsie’s for a bit, we headed over to Bridgestone Arena to go ahead and get in line for the Ed Sheeran concert.  While we were waiting, my Mom and Dad sent us some pictures of the kids at the homecoming social and game that they were attending back home.  I was so sad that we had to miss it, but I have to say, I would have rather been where I was! 

Security was tight at the venue as you can probably imagine, so it took a while to get through the line.  I didn’t complain once, though, because I was just relived to see they were taking security seriously after what happened in Vegas earlier in the week.  Once B and I got in, we grabbed a quick bite to eat, grabbed some beers and headed to our seats.  Somehow – and I have no idea how – we managed to snag fourth row seats for the show AND THEY WERE AMAZING.  Our row just so happened to be the first row that went all the way across the front of the stage (rows 1-3 were only on the sides), so our seats were freaking incredible. 

James Blunt opened for Ed and he ended up being really great, too.  I typically don’t get too excited about opening bands, but he was hilarious, he had some great songs, he knew how to work the audience, and he ended up getting probably the biggest applause for an opening band that I’ve ever seen.

I checked my phone during the break between artists and found this:

Ladies and gentlemen, my Daddy.  Haha.

Ed Sheeran came out next, and y’all, the first word that comes to mind when I think about this concert is PHENOMENAL.  I’ve been to a lot of concerts in my day (like probably close to 50?  Maybe more?) and this one is easily in my top five.  If you ever have the chance to go see him, DO IT. 

He played 17 songs (although two were combined into one and then two more were combined into one so technically it was 19 of his songs), but man oh man I didn’t want it to end.  And since we were so close to the stage he was right there in front of us. 

He told lots of little stories in between songs and he was really good about getting the audience involved.  When he played “The A-Team” he asked everyone to turn on their phone flashlights so it made the prettiest glow all around the arena.  He also had us throw our hands up and down in the air to help him drop the beat when he played “Bloodstream” and he also had the crowd sing along to his most popular hits.  Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that – HE’S LITERALLY A ONE-MAN BAND, Y’ALL.  He has nobody playing drums, nobody playing bass, nobody singing back-up behind him.  Before every song he would record himself doing each sound that he needed for the song (drums, harmonies, etc.), and then he used pedals to play back the loops during the performance.  So he would play the guitar and sing live while the loops he had just created played behind him so it sounded like an entire band was playing.  Does that make sense?  At the end of the concert he literally dropped the mic and was out!  It was really, really great and I just cannot gush about him and his talent enough.

Oh, and Chris Daughtry was sitting about three rows behind us!  

The concert let out around midnight our time, but B and I were ready to party since we were kidless for the weekend, so we walked the strip for a bit and let me tell you, Broadway is WILD, y’all.  It made me miss Vegas even more!

I had wanted to check out Acme Feed and Seed, but the line to get in was outrageously long, so we ended up at Rock Bottom Brewery to start.  B got one of their specialty beers brewed there and I had a Moscow Mule.  We shared some chips and guac, and then got a second round of drinks, a Blueberry Lemonade cocktail for me this time.  Once our tummies were happy we headed back to Tootsie’s and made our way up to the roof again.  It was JUMPIN’ as you can probably imagine, and it was so neat seeing the city at night from the rooftop like that.

By that time it was nearly 2 AM our time so we headed back to the house and pretty much passed out.  We were positively exhausted!

I’ll be back tomorrow to recap Day 2… it was the day that we did all the touristy stuff!  

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