nashville

i love going on vacation. i love exploring new cities and being among new people. here's a recap of my long weekend (with my mom) in nashville, visiting my cousin, stevie. 

i flew out a day earlier than my mom so that i could see this man perform at the famous ryman theater:

he's still one of the best r&b singers.. ever! ("thanks stevie!")

day 2

then i roamed the streets of nashville by myself for a day, while steve worked and my mom flew out from LA. 

i had my first lunch at arnold's (beef brisket with mac & cheese, fried green tomatoes and banana bread pudding-- how do people eat like this everyday??). i ended up befriending the people next to me and was invited to eat lunch with them, so that i didn't have to eat alone! tennesseans are so nice! =) 

a guy fieri tag:

then my mom arrived from LA. we checked into our awesome hotel:

the sink and shower were so nice. i really love nice hotels. =) 

 then we decided to get drinks to celebrate the beginning of our vacation: 

we spent the evening in "honky tonk" land: jack's bbq (finger-licking goooooood ribs! sorry, there aren't any pictures of food. i'm not really a foodographer.) and some honky tonk bars 

day 3 

we walked through "taste of music city" but couldn't really enjoy it because it was so insanely hot and humid.  

after regrouping, we headed to f. scott's for some live jazz and a yummy dinner:

 then after-dinner drinks at the patterson house. this is a cool "speaky-easy" style bar. all the bartenders do not have formal bartending experience because the patterson house wants to train them in a specific way. the drinks are delish and the atmosphere is super cool. even their ice-cubes are shaped really cool! it's a must-do spot in nashville. (btw- order the donuts. even if you're insanely full from dinner.. it's a MUST. so, do it. *drooool)

 hee hee, the last rule is funny: 

 

day 4

cute little coffeeshop / ice creamery that saved us from the heat:

we had a mini scoop of gravel road and brambleberry crisp.. considering we hadn't even had breakfast yet. i love being on vacation where there is no judgment for eating ice cream in the morning. gravel road is salted caramel ice cream with crunchy almonds and brambleberry crisp is blackberries and raspberries mixed with black currants and oven-toasted oat streusel, layered throughout honey vanilla bean ice cream. they were both YUMMMMMY! (no judgment!)

and then off to southern bred for THE BEST COUNTRY-FRIED STEAK ever!!!!!!! it's not fancy, but it's done oh-so-right.

after lunch, steve gave us a tour of the nissan headquarters and the gorgeous estate homes in nashville. it's unbelievable how cheap it is to live in nashville. but then again, you'd have to deal with NUUTTTTY/CRAZZZY weather like we did... 

the morning/early afternoon of day 4 was soooo hot and humid. the temp read 99 degrees when we walked into southern bred. then we came out of the restaurant an hour later, and it was pouring rain. i mean, DOWNPOUR. but then within 15 minutes, the temp dropped 25 degrees. SOOO weird. 

then we headed to bluebird cafe for some live acoustic music. in the past, famous musicians have stopped by this cafe to perform an unexpected set... was hoping for someone famous, but ended up really enjoying the couple that drove from minnesota in their "vegetable van" singing with their kazoos.  

then we headed to dinner to celebrate stevie's 30th birthday and our last night: 

 had a wonderful trip spending time with family. 

my cousin went out of his way to make sure we had the best nashville experience ever. =)