A Stay-cation Anniversary and an Embrace of Summer

Friday, May 17 - We decided to have a 23rd wedding anniversary stay-cation in East Nashville this weekend while catching a couple of concerts in town as well.  We rented a sweet little AirBnb in a great spot just off Gallatin Road.  It was clean, quiet and roomy for just us two.   We were in walking distance of Tailgate Brewery and had a couple of beers along with an excellent street corn and chicken pizza for dinner tonight. 

Our first of two shows was Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors on the first of a two-night stand for them at The Ryman Auditorium.  We had good aisle seats in the balcony and Drew even came up to our section and most of the balcony during his beautiful cover of Adele's "When We Were Young."  He had some special guests join him on stage including his wife, Ellie, and Josiah Leming of Josiah and the Bonnevilles.  Their opener, Abraham Alexander, was terrific as well. 

After the show, we ambled down to Broadway to check out the new Garth Brooks honky-tonk, Friends in Low Places.   After watching an interesting documentary recently on its creation by Garth and his wife, Trisha Yearwood, it was fun to see it in real life.  With no cover charge, we were surprised how easy it was to move around inside, and really enjoyed our visit there.

Above is a fish-eye panoramic view of Broadway from "The Oasis" on the roof of Friends in Low Places. We like the way they are closing off portions of Broadway now on busy nights. 

Saturday, May 18 - Our anniversary staycation continued today.  After a nice sleep-in at our comfy Airbnb, we grabbed a tasty breakfast and some excellent chai tea lattes at the Ugly Mug Coffee Cafe nearby as well as a half-dozen delectable doughnuts from Five Daughters Bakery  we brought back to enjoy throughout our stay here in East Nashville. 

Pedicure time!!  We had to run back home today to check on our cats (regulars and fosters) since our usual cat-sitter was out of town.  On the way back to Nashville, we met up with our friends, Kate and Curtis, for pedicures in Mt. Juliet at No.1 Nail Bar.  It was my first pedicure in quite a while, but I enjoyed it and we all had a fun time.  

Back in East Nashville with some time to kill before our dinner reservation, so we Ubered over to the new-to-us Tiger Bar, a very cool speakeasy with a circus/carnival theme.  We had a ball here with some excellent cocktails and finger foods including a flavored popcorn flight.  

Another quick Lyft ride got us to dinner at Noko, a unique wood-fired Japanese restaurant.  We surprisingly came to realize that this is where one of our old favorites, Pomodoro East, used to be.  Well, it's an upgrade in my opinion.  The food here was fantastic.  Their wood-fired edamame is insanely good!    The staff was excellent as well with the owner coming by to ask about our experience and even a free appetizer and dessert when we mentioned it was our anniversary tomorrow.  We will definitely be back here ASAP!! 

Tonight's show was with one of our favorite bands of all time, Augustana, at The Basement East.  Lead singer and band founder, Day Layus,  has put together a great new group around him for the first record in ten years.  They sounded great live, and we were just a few feet from the stage to enjoy it all.  Their opener, Very Gently, is a relatively new band of seasoned, talented performers who had some great three-part harmony.   We also got a signed limited-edition print of the tour poster pictured above.  

Sunday, May 19 - Happy 23rd Anniversary to us!!  Has it really been that long ago?  Wow!  We started our anniversary day with a sleep in at our Airbnb and then a delicious breakfast at Snooze before leaving East Nashville.   We spent the rest of the day enjoying our pool, our pets and our home with some friends.  

Check out the numerous cicada flashes in this tree in our yard as the sun was setting behind it.  The number (and sound) of them is just amazing this year.

Thursday, May 23 - Man, we got us some cute foster kittens this year.  This one's "Boonie" and he's about the sweetest little boy in the world. 

Here's the whole gang in an extraordinary picture made by Ashlee.  How she got them to all sit still and look toward her is amazing.   Clockwise from the top we have the aforementioned Boone, Rosalind, Nelly, Hedy and Meri.  All named after regional pioneers.  

Sunday, May 26 - We drove down to attend the high school graduation party of our niece today on Mowbray Mountain in Soddy-Daisy.  It was also a house-warming party since Ella and her parents just moved into this great house and property.  A fun time was had by all including a dip in their new pool as well.   Ella is following in our footsteps and attending UT-Chattanoga this fall. 

Monday, May 27 - We had a fun Memorial Day Dog Party at the pool today when our friend, Adrianna, brought over her dogs, her boyfriend's dog, and another one she was sitting for over the weekend for Sunny to have plenty of companions in and out of the pool.  We grilled out and enjoyed time with friends while soaking up some sun after a lot of rain lately. 

Sunday, June 2 - We had tickets to see legendary rocker, Michael McDonald, and comedian, Paul Reiser, recently talking about McDonald's new autobiography called What A Fool Believes that Reiser helped write also, but we had to forgo seeing it in downtown Nashville due to bad weather.  I did pick up our books signed by both authors from Parnassus Books over in Green Hills who sponsored the event.   We sold our extra copy today via Facebook Marketplace to a very grateful young man in the music business who says he's a big fan of McDonald.

Tuesday, June 4 - We went to our local Roxy Theaters (recliners!) tonight to catch a showing of the action/romantic-comedy, The Fall Guy.  It's been out a while and I actually already saw it and liked it a lot, so I knew Ashlee would enjoy it as well especially with eye-candy, Ryan Gosling, in it.   She loved it, as did I for a second time.  So clever and funny.  

Friday, June 7 - We had our first dinner at the Cumberland University Cafeteria tonight since I started working there.  One of the perks of the job are $5-flat all-you-can-eat meals there as an employee (and guest).  

Tonight's entree was beef tacos and they were pretty darn good as was the banana pudding desert.  All-you-can-drink sodas too!  Looks like we will be coming here pretty darn often in the future!  Photo credit to Ashlee.  

Sunday, June 16 - Our pool day/home-made Indian food day got cut short today due to thunderstorms and heavy rain that just wouldn't let up.   An Indian student/friend I recently made at Cumberland U, Apurva, offered to make us some authentic Indian food in exchange for a ride to the airport and back that I offered him next month.  I invited him to come enjoy the pool with us and his food along with his friend, Sachin.  The food was excellent, but the weather turned nasty just after we finished eating which cut our pool time short.  Still, it was a great chance to meet these fine young men and show them a good time (minus the rain) here in Lebanon which they seemed to appreciate. 

Sunday, June 23 - Ashlee had to rush our sweet baby boy, Byron, to the pet emergency hospital in Murfreesboro today.  He was vomiting a lot and very lethargic.  He's being given fluids and evidently his blood sugar had severely spiked.  We are very worried about him.

Monday, June 24 - We went to visit Byron who remains very lethargic.