Is Winter Over Yet?? We miss our pool.

Tuesday, February 1 - We started the month (and kind of the year) out right with an afternoon 5K walk from our house today.  We are vowing to get more exercise this year.  

Saturday, February 5 - Thank God for the gas fireplace!  Right, Doris?  Our gas logs are truly a Godsend.  They keep the entire house pretty warm during these frigid nights that we've been having lately that are well below freezing when the heat-pump is useless and expensive. 

Sunday, March 6 - It got to a "sweltering" 50 degrees today, so we thought we'd do a little walking in the glades, cedar glades that is.  We went first to the fairly new Vesta Cedar Glade State Natural Area here in southwest Wilson County for a nice mile loop.  Next, we tackled the longer-established Couchville Cedar Glad State Natural Area for another (muddier) mile loop.  While they aren't the prettiest hikes around, it is nice to have them fairly close to home for a quick jaunt into Mother Nature. 

We headed over to West Nashville after our hikes to do a little shopping at Costco and Trader Joe's and wound up eating an early dinner with our libations at Tailgate Brewing out on Charlotte Pike.  What a fun place! And the beer and food are awesome!  Too bad it isn't closer.  

Monday, February 7 - We are really enjoying the new series from the makers of "Downton Abbey" called "The Gilded Age."  It's kind of like a "Downton Abby -American Style" with new money vs. old money in turn of the century New York.  Oh, the drama!! 

Tuesday, February 8 - The first one of these we snuck off to Jackson to see, so we wouldn't see anyone we knew.  Now, we are proud fans and couldn't wait to see the new Jackass Forever film at our local Roxy Theaters (recliners!) tonight.  These idiots are getting old like us, but they are still idiots, and we still love to watch them and laugh our butts off.  This one was no exception.  Crude, rude and hilarious. 

Saturday, February 12 - Wait, are we really in Lebanon?  These shops seem way too cool for this town.   Ashlee took me and our friend, Bethany, to two very cool relatively new shops that the girls had been to before on the backside of The Square on College Street.  One was Public Square Market, and the other is Demeter's Common (photo above).  Unique and stylish inventory and friendly shopkeepers.  Another great couple of additions to our ever-improving town square! Also on The Square, we stopped by Seven Cedars Butcher Block for some yummy and fresh eats as well.   So nice to have real enjoyable local shopping! 

Sunday, February 13 - Looks like the album cover for the new record by Zippy and the Butt-Sniffers.  Fun photo by Ashlee.  

Monday, February 14 - After such a fun time at Christmas, we came back to The Pearl Diver in East Nashville for Valentine's Day dinner tonight along with our friends, Wendy and Charly.   We had great food once again and the flaming Banana! Banana! cocktail (photo above) was everybody's favorite.  

Wednesday, February 16 - We decided to check out the weekly bingo game at The Cedar Tap up on The Square tonight.  Ashlee loves bingo, but we both kinda stink at it despite it being pure luck.  We also had a few craft beers as well.   We actually broke tradition and won the first game with our combined sheets to grab a $5 gift certificate!   I guess we will be back for more! 

Saturday, February 19 - Ashlee hired a professional pet photographer who was running kind of a moving sale to snap some pics of our OG cat, Zippy, today.    He wasn't having much of it, but the photographer did get a few good shots of the old grouch.  The photographer was nice enough to get a few shots of our other little darlings too. 

Glamour puss, Byron 

The hottest new country music duo, Dudley and Doris! 

We had a belated Valetine's treat tonight as well as we broke open this large candy heart that Ashlee bought at one of the little novelty shops mentioned above on the Lebanon Square recently.  We popped a bottle of champagne with colorful, edible sparkles added to it as well.  Cheers, baby!  

Sunday, February 20 - We took a nice long walk today back up to The Cedar Tap and back (a little over two miles) and enjoyed a few libations and the warm weather for late February. 

Tuesday, February 22 - We went to see the new film, Dog, tonight at The Roxy Theaters (recliners!) here in town on Discount Tuesday.  We thought it wasn't as much a "comedy" as advertised, but actually tackled some pretty heavy subjects, but in a very good way.  Wonderful film!  Glad we saw it! 

Well, Jersey Mike's has got some stiff competition now with a new Penn Station Sub Shop opening up very close to our home...and they've got fries...very, very good fries!! 

Saturday, February 26 - We went to see one of our favorite performers, Brett Dennen, tonight at The Basement East in East Nashville.  It was a late starting show with an opener which we weren't thrilled about, but we had dinner beforehand at Hawker's Asian Street Food just up the street and it was fantastic despite the long wait to get a table.  The opening band was The Heavy Hours and they were pretty good actually.  We only stayed for about a half hour of Brett since it was getting very late and we've seen him a bunch of times.  The place was packed which was good for him and good for everyone as the world seems to be coming out of the Covid funk hopefully.   

Sunday, March 6 - We were lucky enough to be given two extra tickets to see the hit Broadway musical "Dear Evan Hansen" tonight at TPAC in downtown Nashville, by our good friends, Danny and Brenda.  Beforehand, we had a great dinner at Stateside Kitchen which is located nearby in the new Dream Hotel. The show was fantastic, and our seats were great.  

Friday, March 11 - Well, the incoming snowstorm got us a concert cancellation unfortunately as the front was to hit us right about show time.  We feel we made the right call as we heard about lots of auto accidents had happened overnight.   See ya next time, Kevin Griffin! 

Saturday, March 12 - We attended the Farm to Tap Festival at Tailgate Brewing in West Nashville today which was a mostly outdoor event, so why is this the coldest day in the last month???  I mean a high of 34 degrees, really??   BRRRRR!!  Despite the weather, we had fun and tried a lot of different beers made solely from Tennessee-grown products from several members of the state Craft Brewers Guild.  It was a crowded event, but the sample lines weren't bad and we got a table to stand at during the event.  Our friend, Emily, joined us as well for the last hour or so. 

We did get about 4 inches of snow overnight which you can see in the photo above using Dudley's tail for scale. 

Sunday, March 30 - We zipped down to Chattanooga today to celebrate our niece, Ella, for her 16th birthday (hard to believe!).  We had a fun time with her and some of her friends and family at the (new to us) Dave and Buster's over at Hamilton Place.  The highlight had to be the sit-down Hungry, Hungry Hippos game!!  Ashlee won, but her hippo was definitely a ringer! 

Friday, March 25 - We went to opening night of the new comedy film, The Lost City, at the Regal Hollywood 24 Theaters (recliners!) in Nashville tonight.   It was goofy, silly and hilarious.  And just what we were looking for!  

After the movie, we also checked out the SOLD OUT Alice in Wonderland Themed Pop-Up Bar called "The Alice" in the Penthouse of The Fairlane Hotel in downtown Nashville. It was very cool and our cocktails were good.  My whiskey-based libation was even served up in a dainty teacup.

The outdoor part of The Fairlane Hotel Penthouse was pretty exquisite as well.  Not sure there's anywhere else you can look DOWN on The Bobby Hotel's own fabulous rooftop across the street. Despite a bit of chilly temps, it was a beautiful night in downtown Nashville. 

Wednesday, March 30 - Another pair of concert tickets bit the dust tonight as we had to abandon hope of going to see The Airborne Toxic Event in East Nashville tonight due to nasty weather moving through the area with tornado warnings as well.  We waited almost two years to see this show with delays due to Covid-19 and still didn't get there.   Disappointing.

April 1 - POOL'S OPEN!! (no foolin'!)