Ashlee and I are traveling for work a ton this fall, but we managed to slip in a few fun things as well.  |
Friday, August 21 - We are finally seeing a show at the world-famous Blue Bird Cafe together tonight! Ashlee's been before with some friends long ago, but I've never been. We saw Sean McConnell tonight for one of his two shows there. Sean will also be on our upcoming music cruise in November. We chose the early show to get us home at a reasonable hour to our melee of pets. He was awesome with this intimate acoustic set. Such a great local talent! And the cheese sticks here are boss!! |
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Friday, August 28 - We went to see one of our favorite live bands, O/A/R, tonight at the FirstBank Amphitheater in Franklin. This was a great $30 flat deal, or we might have just passed. We've not had good luck with this place since being stormed out of a Harry Connick, Jr. show there almost 5 years ago to the day. It's also just so far away and it's just not that easy to get in and out either. The openers were pretty big names in KT Tunstall who we caught the last few minutes off as we arrive, and then a rockin' set by Gavin DeGraw. The place is very cool and there's definitely been a lot of money put into it, but the sound is just not great at least where we were sitting up high in the cheap seats. It may be echoing off the former quarry walls in not a great way. We stayed for 2/3 of O/A/R's show and then headed out to beat the traffic and take care of pets. Not a bad night, but not a good enough one for us to probably ever come back out here to a show. |
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Saturday, August 29 - Tonight's show with Mat Kearney at The Pinnacle was a complete 180 from last night's O/A/R show. First, we were on the front row for this one (thanks, Ashlee!). Second, the sound was exquisite. And lastly, Mat had a great opener, The Lone Bellow, and then he put on an excellent show himself celebrating the 20th anniversary of his debut album, "Nothing Left to Lose" here in his hometown. We've been with Mat for 17 of those 20 years and can't wait to see him (and The Lone Bellow) again soon on the music cruise we've got booked for early November. Before the show, we had a nice, tasty dinner at Sweet Paris Creperie and Cafe in the same Nashville Yards complex as The Pinnacle. We even got a discount on the very convenient onsite parking. |
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Before tonight's show, we did an awesome behind-the-scenes tour at The Nashville Zoo with a sloth encounter as an early birthday present for Ashlee. Our trip to Costa Rica earlier this year piqued our interest in these fascinating creatures. We got to meet Fern, the two-toed sloth ambassador for the zoo. Getting to hand feed sweet Fern was a lot of fun. We learned a lot about her and her species who are pretty amazing. We can't wait to do another encounter here. So, what's next: rhino? anteater? tiger? |
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Sweet Fern in an up-close shot showing off her pretty face and her amazing claws. |
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Tuesday, September 8 - We drafted tonight for the 27th season of the BFFFL. This season is dedicated to the 26-year veteran of our virtual gridiron, JD Franklin, who sadly passed away last year. We're going to miss you, bud, RIP. |
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Sunday, September 6 - Today was the unofficial start of Ashlee's Birthday Week Extravaganza! We headed over to Stoke Haus BBQ and Brewing in East Nashville for lunch and it did not disappoint in regard to food or beer! |
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Monday, September 7 - Nothing wrong with nice, quiet and peaceful Labor Day at home at our lovely pool with just our silly pets. |
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Friday, September 11 - We decided to brave the Friday night downtown Nashville traffic to catch a free show by one of our all-time favorite bands, Augustana, as they closed tonight's line-up for Musicians Corner at Centennial Park. This was our first time attending this annual event that's been going on for a few years now. It was spitting rain when we met our friends, Todd and Kelly, while parking near the Parthenon. It seemed to clear and we walked to the show without getting wet, but third song in by the boys got the set cancelled due to lightning in the area. Too bad, but better safe than sorry. It looks like a fun little event and while the sound wasn't the best, hey, it was free. |
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We decided to head back to Lebanon after the stormed-out show and finally got to go up together on the roof at Town Square Social with its great view of the Lebanon Square. The weather was fine here, so we had a drink to close out the night with Todd and Kelly. What a cool spot! It won't be our last trip up all those stairs! |
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Saturday, September 12 - Happy Birthday, Ashlee (and Paige!)! We drove down to Chattanooga today to celebrate the big 54 for the girls. Our first stop was the awesome little Bleu Fox Cheese Shop in the revitalized Main Street area. How's this place been here nine years without us knowing about it? I bought Ashlee ELEVEN different kinds of blue cheese and we had three of them while at the store along with some wine and a beer for me. That were all fantastic! Can't wait to indulge on the rest of them! |
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I had a custom strawberry birthday cake ordered from Rembrandt's - yes, they did our wedding cake long, long ago - that we enjoyed after a wonderful dinner at Tony's Pasta next door. |
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It was an incredibly pleasant evening despite the warm days we've been having, so we decided to take a stroll thru The Art District after dinner along with our friend, Mollie. |
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We wound up at an outside table at the very nice Edwin Hotel and their bar/restaurant, White Bird, for a drink to close out the night. The staff were very nice and when they learned of Ashlee's birthday, they gave us complimentary sparkling wine that was very good and this beautiful (and delicious!) small dessert board as well. We had to get home for pets and couldn't stay overnight, but we really enjoyed our quick trip back to our beloved ol' Nooga. |
brunch at Inglewood Lounge with their locally famous patio cat, Penny
Friday, October 23 - Andrew McMahon SOLD-OUT solo at City Winery in Nashville (concert poster pic on phone at 6/9) and VIP meet-n-greet beforehand
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