An escape to Nashville.

First of all, thank you so much to those of you who reached out after my emotional outburst yesterday. Your kind words and concern mean the absolute world to me and I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have people that care. xoxo Now, on to some good things...

Our whirlwind weekend trip to Nashville was just that: an absolute whirlwind. Fortunately, it was also a lot of other things - fun, tiring, a wonderful change of pace, and above all else, a great time with our friends. We stayed in a charming, little farmhouse about 15 minutes outside of the city and I absolutely loved it. Although we didn't have nearly as much time there as I would have liked, it was lovely to sit on the front porch, hear the crickets and roosters outside the window, and take a shower in something a bit more luxurious than a hotel shower. Also, our sweet hosts baked us a fresh loaf of bread and rolls for the stay!

After checking out the digs for the weekend, we headed straight downtown to see Broadway in all of its Friday night, touristy glory. We walked the street, dodging drunken bachelorette parties, catching little snippets of live bands, and deciding if they were worth the wait for a table. Ultimately, we settled on a great, cozy place called Benchmark on 2nd Avenue. The band (and the guitarist in particular) was excellent, so we settled into a corner booth, ordered drinks, and soaked in the atmosphere for a couple hours.

The next morning, it didn't take much convincing to get the crew to Pancake Pantry for breakfast. Like last time, it was completely worth the wait in line. Wheat and I split the Georgia peach and Parisienne (cooled strawberry compote) pancakes and I avoided the temptation to melt into my seat. Seriously, if you do one thing when you're in Nashville, brave the line and eat here.

After breakfast, we checked out the Parthenon before heading back downtown for a trip through the new Johnny Cash Museum.

The museum itself was entertaining. The space was a bit too small for my taste, but the content and paraphernalia was interesting. I wish they had staggered entry to the museum a little more because I felt like I couldn't really read all the information, but it was fun to see the old guitars, clothes, and other mementos from throughout his career.

We enjoyed delicious Mike's Ice Cream, admired the Cumberland River, and scoped out some ridiculously overpriced cowboy boots before heading back to our place for some dunk contests much-needed rest on the rooster farm.

That night, we checked out the trendy 12 South neighborhood for dinner. After foregoing the limited options at a cute food truck festival in Sevier Park, we decided on Edley's Bar-B-Que. I simply can't go to Tennessee without eating barbeque, so I didn't complain.

After dinner, we decided to take it easy and went to a late showing of Get On Up, the new James Brown biopic. Although the story felt a bit disjointed and I was left with a ton of unanswered questions about Brown, the movie was really entertaining and the performances were excellent, especially those from Chadwick Boseman and Nelsan Ellis. Seriously, that funk music is timeless.

...and just like that, our time in Nashville was over. I'm already planning our next trip because I can't go longer than six months without seeing the Batman building.