Welcome to the Quarter Club!

Welp, it's official kiddos. I'm old.

25 years old. I actually feel pretty good where I'm at in life for being in my mid-twenties. I've got a great job, where I'm traveling the country and experiencing so many amazing things. I've got a great maaan in my life and I have some amazing friends and a sweet family! What more could I ask for?

Thank you so much to everyone who was involved in my birthday extravaganza. It was actually pretty mild compared to years past but it was so much fun!

On Friday, Gregg and I set out to cross off a few things from my Nashville Bucket list. Would you believe that I used to live RIGHT beside the Nashville Sounds stadium and I have never been to a Sounds game?? FYI, here's my Nashville To-Do List:

• Patterson House
• Kayne Prime
• Sounds Game
• Yazoo Brewery
• Zanie's Comedy Club

Before we went to the game, we went to another hot spot that was on my list, Yazoo Brewery!

We tried 6 different beers and Gregg got a big gulp of Hefeweizen. Is that how you spell that?

MMMM Gregg the Pegg loves HOPS!!!

Then we went to the Sounds Game!

A GUITAR shaped score board. Could it get any cuter??

Enjoying an adult bev at the game

Gregg is a Nashville fan! Drinking Yazoo and a Sounds hat ;)

Beautiful fireworks after our win over Las Vegas... 11 to 3! SUCK IT LOSERS!

My birthday started with KC making me breakfast and mimosas! Then, the Leo girls left for BG for a wedding and I started experimenting with my latest craving, Strawberry Mint Mojitos! 

Sweet Dani came over to lay out on my birthday... we ended up ordering pizza, watching movies and napping. I think Gregg, Dani and I actually enjoyed ourselves more than you would expect. We're all old.

We had 14 people at dinner at the wonderful Taco Mamacita! Love that place :)

Here is the sweet man that bought me Patron shots... along with many other shots. 

Mandy Sue! So glad we pow wowed about this shindig at Shan's party!

Some of the ladies!

D. Bruno... love this broad!

Where's Waldo was out... We are DOING THIS next year! Waldo Bar Crawl!

Jello Shots!

Thanks friends for showing up! I felt very loved on my bday weekend :)

The next morning, I pulled myself together for some much needed family time. And in the tradition of broken homes, I went to lunch with my mom and dinner with my dad. 

I had such a great time at both meals and am lucky to have such loving parents! We went to lunch at Jackson's and ended up getting our lunch for free because we had to wait for an hour. My mom bought me a TV for my room and if that wasn't enough, she got me these cute little decorated wine glasses [not exactly like the one below but you get the picture]

Then, I had dinner with my dad at an asian place right by my house called Fulin's. I heard it was overpriced but I loved it! Although, I wasn't exactly buying..... hmm I might need to reevaluate. My dad got me a really cool painting from New Orleans and this bracelet that my Aunt has been designing for years now [along with legend Quincy Jones.. isn't that nuts?!]

Welp, that's a LOT of birthday fun to take in... another year older, not sure if I'm any the wiser. Happy Birthday to all my other Leos and a special Happy Birthday to Ali T-Bone Tracy today!! Love you!

Dining Out For Life!

Dining Out For Life is an international dining fundraiser event that aims to raise money and awareness for AIDS service organizations. Restaurants in certain cities have teamed up with DOFL and have decided which percentage of proceeds they would like to donate... then people choose which restaurant they'd like to go to and BOOM, they've contributed to a great cause!

I wish every meal or happy hour I went to raised money for a good cause. The amount I spend on eating and drinking could save a third world country.

Restaurant: Miel
Cuisine: French
Wine: Umm, we brought our own. Picked some up from La Frugal de MacDoogal.
Guests: Ali, Lisa, Ethan and Leigh

 The Menu that was created just for this event!

 Ethan and Ali!

 Me and Lisa :)

 Duck Confit Salad - my first time with duck! SO GOOD!

 I have two pictures of this but I wish I had more.. I wish you could taste it through my blog...  

 ...Maine Diver Scallops, pan-seared with Miel Bacon and Apple Gastrique. YUM :)

 Everyone was wearing the Dining Out For Life stickers!

 Ali and I got the Risotto...

 ... and Lisa got the Wild Alaskan Cod.. both meals were so great! Forgot to get a picture of Ethan's steak but you get it, it was steak. 

Dessert platter :) I was stuffed by this point... it didn't stop me from eating all of it though.

We weren't given the tiny spoons but our neighbors were! Apparently, the spoons have honey and bee pollen on them? Interesting....

This is my second year of participating in Dining Out For Life and I highly recommend it. A great way to make a contribution to a great charity and side note: you'll get an amazing dinner and great drinks out of it!

Nashville's was last night but there are still cities that are participating on different nights for the rest of the week! Check out the site and see if there's a city near you that's contributing - Dining Out For Life!

Happy Music Monday...er..Tuesday!

Trista Mabry is not just my former roommate (holla holla Hillmeade) but she's also an amazing singer/songwriter/kick-ass broad. We moved to Nashville in August 2008 and I had the pleasure of watching Trista find inspiration for some of her amazing songs. It's so cool know exactly where a song came from. Her song "Keeping Him Around" was literally about a guy that she kept around because she liked the way he sang but he was a mooch. He had no money and ate all of her food and drank all of her beer.... and that's exactly what the song is about and it's hilarious.

I've been to tons of her shows and I've watched her transform into such an amazing performer. Tonight, she played at 8 off 8th at Mercy Lounge and she was the perfect performance to kick off the night - so incredibly proud of you Trista!

Short Clip of "Too Nice"

Short Clip of "Stolen Souls"

I had a full version of Mangos in the Morning but it will not upload. Let me tell you though that it was my favorite version of that song!

 Jammin' with her new band!

 Musical Friends: Kendra, Trista and Rebecca

Woooo!!! Trista, you're a rockstar :)

Fantastic Nashville Weekend!

What a weekend in Nashville! My roommate and I had some upsetting news on Monday. Our beautiful, gorgeous, FANTASTIC condo is no more. Our landlord emailed us Monday afternoon and told us that we had until May 22nd to be here. Well, Ali found us a great place on Thursday so we were able to relax and enjoy our weekend! Shanny Springbreak made her way back home on Friday so we had a much needed girls night. I don't know if men truly understand how important girls nights are... They are imperative to my happiness!

 Teaching us how to dougie...

 D.Bruno!!

 So glad Shannon came back home!!

 Love you girls :)

 The Rooster had a busted foot just like Dan!

GOSSIP TIIIIME

We all woke up in pretty rough shape. Surprisingly though, Ali and I pulled ourselves together and decided to head out for lunch. Noodles and Company was having a grand opening in Green Hills so we checked it out. When we got there, we saw a sign that said "Open in 2 days" but there were people sitting outside eating. We found out that they were having a VIP event that you had to be invited to. It's probably because we're so attractive but we got the invite and had lunch for free! And it was amaaaazing [and not just because it was free].

 Can't remember what Ali got but it was yum. 

I got the veggie med and the tomato bisque... to die.

Next, we tried out a new nail spa place that had just opened [secretly hoping to have free pedicures due to the opening... no such luck]. Either way, it was fun and super relaxing :)

After our pedis, we ventured out to the mall and did some damage. Ali and I really wanted to see Water for Elephants so we had a couple of hours to kill before it started. Soooo we went shopping and had our second lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. No judgement pleeease, our first lunch was free and our second lunch was just a shared salad... 

and an appetizer... 

OKAY AND CHEESECAKE!

Water for Elephants was SOOOO GOOOD!!! I wish I would have read the book.. well, I take that back. I might have been disappointed if read the book and I was not disappointed. Rob seriously needs to ditch the Edward look and stay tan forever. YUM, add him to my list! And I could just put Reese Witherspoon in my pocket. Love her!

We rounded out the night by running to Kroger and grabbing snacks, wine and movies. Ali and I do this thing every so often where we stay in, drink wine and watching the MOST depressing movies. You should have seen us after a big bottle of wine and Nights in Rodanthe. It was a mess. 

We must be CRAZY to watch Rabbit Hole. I literally cried throughout the ENTIRE movie. It's about a couple whose 4 year old son dies in an accident and they're trying to cope. Great movie but do yourself a favor and have kleenexes close by. Oh and if you've lost a great friend, family member, etc in the past 2 or so years, do not watch. Maybe don't watch ever, now that I think about it. It was rough. Beautiful, but rough.

We watched Salt immediately after, just to erase the memory of Rabbit Hole. So great and a fun movie to round out our fun Saturday Day Date!

As if we didn't eat enough during the day... at least it was semi-healthy food :)

We woke up and headed to church this morning and ran into a few people we haven't seen in a while - one of them being Trista! We caught up and then made our way to brunch at Bosco's. 

What a fantastic weekend! Nashville, I love you :)