NashVegas, Baby!

Nathan and I went to Nashville for the weekend. We needed a little getaway, and Nate had never been to NashVegas, so I thought, "Perfect! We'll have some fun and maybe I can convince Nathan that we need to move there." We've been eye-balling houses in and around Nashville for a couple of months, found our dream home with the hopes of checking it out while we were there, and, whaddaya know- it sold last week. Apparently it wasn't meant to be. I'm confident that God has a plan for us, and if His plan is for us to end up in Nashville, a home that's even more perfect for us will come along. When I began praying about where we are supposed to be, I begged God for an obvious answer. Shortly thereafter, we looked up information about Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and discovered that the chief of surgery there is a cardiothoracic surgeon who graduated medical school at Vandy just a couple of years after Nathan's previous boss. The chief also did his a fellowship under Nate's previous boss. Connection #1 (well, connection numbers 1 and 2 if ya count other Vanderbilt connections through Dr. H.) Then, I Facebooked an acquaintance from high school who lives in Nashville. She told me all of these wonderful things and that she and her husband would probably never leave the area. Then she proceeds to tell me that her husband is a real estate agent in Nashville, so "if there's anything we can help you with, let me know." Hmmm...is God telling me something here? I still struggle with determining that. I want to say that that's my sign, but then a second-guess it.

Anyway, Saturday morning Nate and I checked out 4 or 5 houses in an eastern suburb of Nashville. No luck. Then we headed downtown to shop and bar-hop for 4 hours (yet only had one drink each). Basically we missed all the different shows the city has to offer, but didn't just want to hang out in our room, so we checked out the Opryland Hotel. It's unreal that, besides Bass Pro and another store, the Opryland mall is still closed from the damage from the flood of May 2010.

I can't wait to go back. Next time we'll stay in the suburbs south of Nashville to check them out. Maybe then we'll see celebs! How fun would it be to run into Carrie Underwood or Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman out shopping?

I still need to get my pictures uploaded, but this "draft" has been ready since Monday, so I wanted to go ahead and get it up.

Gulf Shores Vacation

We recently went to Gulf Shores for a short vacation. By "we" I mean Nathan, Natalie, and myself, as well as my parents, my sister, and my in-laws. All in one condo. Am I crazy? Yes. Could it have been much worse? Absolutely. We all got along surprisingly well, especially considering we had to spend much of our time inside the condo, thanks to Tropical Storm Lee (that jerk).
We left home Wednesday evening. Nathan and I had an hour drive to my parents' house, where we all met. Even though we both took off work early, we still were late. It didn't help that my car wouldn't start when we were ready to leave. We drove to Tunica, MS, Wednesday evening and crashed immediately. FYI, it's kinda scary driving through Memphis at night. If you don't have to do it, don't.
We arrived to Gulf Shores on a Thursday, and the weather was amazing the whole way, until we got to southern Mississippi. The clouds hovered, but didn't start raining on us right away. My sister and I went to the store get buy the perishables that we didn't take with us in the cooler, and we cooked chicken fettucine alfredo for dinner that night. Friday morning I got up early and worked out. For some reason I am better about working out when I'm on vacation than I am at home. I wanted to shower before I went to the beach to meet Natalie and her grandparents, because after the 8 hour drive on Thursday and an hour of gym time, I sure didn't want my picture taken. I quickly showered and gathered up my beach goodies. I was about 10 steps away from the sand when a downpour came without warning. Everyone scooped up their things, tried to rinse off their feet, and ran to shelter.


I wish I could say we were wet from swimming.





I wish this picture did the waves justice. There were times when they had to be almost 10ft high. Friday night, the chairs were removed from the beach and the water level was past where the chairs were.



The rain never did chill out that day, so we all showered and went to the always-amazing Tanger Outlet Mall. Nathan got some more school clothes, I got some great deals at the Tommy store (thanks, MIL!!), and Natalie....well, she shouldn't have to wear the same thing twice for awhile! There are perks to being an only grandchild on both sides. Ha! Friday night we dined at Wentzell's Oyster House. Boy, oh boy, was it good! And so much fun! There were hilarious phrases printed on brightly-colored paper and stapled all.over.the.walls. Most of us went to bed early that night, after getting our bellies full!

Saturday we went to the beach a couple of times, but never got to stay more than 10 minutes. We were in and out between the rain showers. Natalie got her sandcastle, which was our goal for the entire trip. Nathan, the ILs, and I went shopping again, because there wasn't much else to do. My car got wonky again on Saturday, and we had trouble getting it to start. My family went to church, and when we got out, we had to call the ILs to jump us in the rain so we could go eat at Jake's. After dinner, we just chilled again, and watched the waves cover most of the beach.

Sunday morning, Nathan, my dad, and my FIL went to Wal-Mart to get a new battery for my car while we girls all went to the beach. It was the prettiest it had been since we got there, and we had to be out of our condo by 10:00. WTH!?! Oh well, we knew we had a long drive home, so we needed to get on the road. It rained on us pretty much the whole way, and by the time we got to Mobile, AL, and crossed the Mobile Bay, this big guy tried to get close to us:



Retracting back into the clouds as we're driving away. Darn me for not having my camera in reach at all times!

This bridge seems so much longer when there's a tornado on the water. Yep, it actually touched down and created a HUGE water spout! I'm so thankful we all made it through safely! We made it to my parents' house around 9:00pm, so Nathan and I decided we'd just stay the night. An extra day in Gulf Shores would've been nice had the weather cooperated, but it felt so good to be home!

Natalie with her only true Aunt

My monkey didn't want a picture with me.

Natalie with her Mimi, my mom



We spent the weekend in Springfield at my cousin's wedding. I left work early Friday so we could make it to Springfield before 10pm (it's about a 4.5 hour drive), since I still had to get a gift (talk about waiting till the last minute!), get my oil changed, and pack my suitcase. Natalie and I left town around 3:00. Guess what time we got to Springfield? 10 o'clock. My parents, Natalie, and I stayed at the same hotel as two of my aunts, who informed us that evening that our hotel was going to shut down the pool on Saturday. What?! Close a hotel pool on a weekend? Who made that decision?! Obviously we didn't want to be at a hotel that had no pool, so we cancelled our Saturday reservation and found a different, but comparable, hotel just a few miles away.

The wedding was at 1:30 Saturday afternoon. We made it there at 1:35. Apparently this weekend was all about running late! We had every intention of getting there early, but didn't realize the church was 20 minutes away; and it didn't help that our Garmin had us going in the opposite direction. At 1:30 my aunt, the mother of the groom, called to find out where we were. They held up the wedding for us. Whoops! It was a little embarrassing walking into the church when everyone was expecting to see the wedding party walking up the aisle. The priest, who has known my family forever and ever amen, said he was not starting that wedding until we were there. So sweet, right? The groom had no idea, and the sweet bride was cool with whatever.



The reception was at The Fox and Hound Bar & Grill where the couple met.







Who wouldn't want a pool table at their wedding reception?



A pool table and big screen tv's? What a lucky fella to have such a cool wifey!



Since we were all together, we reinacted a photo from 22-ish years ago.



Annnd the original :) Cute, right?

It was so great to see my dad's family. Since my grandparents have been gone, we don't get together like we used to.

Happy Monday!!









Show Us Your Life- Vacation Spots

Friday = Kelly's Korner "Show Us Your Life" series. This week's topic is "favorite vacation spots".

I love warm weather. Nathan and I went to Cancun for our honeymoon 3.5 years ago, which was a blast. We got married in May, but didn't go on our honeymoon until December (so happy we made that decision). We've decided that winter is the best time of the year to go to Mexico, so this past December we went back to Mexico; this time to the Riviera Maya. Our resort was beautiful! When we went to Cancun for our honeymoon, we went on excursions, but this time, the only time we left our resort and beach area was when we went parasailing.

Garden area off our patio

Our view every day, while our families back home were iced in.

Our beach had hammocks all over