Nashville, TN

This year for our birthdays, one of my best friends Maria and I wanted to celebrate with an experience rather than material goods. So we packed our bags and headed to Nashville, TN for Memorial Day weekend. 

This definitely was one of the most fun weekends I've had in a while. I don't think I've ever laughed so much in my life. Here are a few highlights of our favorite things we did in the city. 

Taking pics by one of the I Believe in Nashville murals at Marathon Music Works.

The Nashville What Lifts You Wings by Kelsey Montague Art. 

Exploring the Gulch neighborhood area

Went to see the Parthenon, Nashville's little slice of Ancient Greece. 

Maria and I had both been wanting another tattoo for a while now and decided that our trip would be the perfect time to get them (no photo proof yet of Maria's tat). 
Flash City Tattoo was the bomb.com. Rawn was an incredible artist and dude and really wanted to make sure we loved the tats we were getting. 
My tattoo: XXI:XXV = Proverbs 31:25 "Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come." 
Maria's tattoo: "Speak Friend and Enter", a quote from Lord of the Rings. Plus some cute little Harry Potter stars on either side. 

Saturday evening, Maria and I forced ourselves not to be grandmas and got ready for an evening out on the town. 
First, we stopped at the super cool Up Rooftop Lounge that had incredible views of the Nashville Downtown skyline. 
Next was Party Fowl, for one of the city's specialities, Nashville Hot Chicken. 
After a lot of encouragement (I'm not used to staying up this late lol), the last stop of the night was the Florida Georgia Line House, right in the heart of Broadway. So much cool live music and awesome people (we actually ran into so fellow JMU Dukes!). 

It's safe to say we were pretty exhausted after everything we did on Saturday, so Sunday was definitely a lot more relaxed. 
​We started off the day by going to the Nashville Farmers Market and Market House. So many fresh, and tasty treats as well as cuisine from all around the world!

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We completely forgot to take photos, but we also looked around the Hillsboro Village and checked out some local boutiques and shops. 

Some of our favorites: 
Pangaea
​Native + Nomad 
​Hey Rooster General Store 
Revelator Coffee 

Maria and I also stopped by the Grand Ole Opry but only stayed for about 10 minutes after realizing it cost over $40 to get in and being overwhelmed by crazy tourists. 

That night we stopped by Pinewood Social, a restaurant with a bowling alley, bocce ball, a swimming pool and so many other fun, aesthetically-pleasing features. So fun just hanging out and feeling like a 20-something Nashville native. 

Maria and I ended the trip by walking the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge to see this incredible view of the city. A great way to end the trip and ring in our 23rd year.