Valentine's Day Weekend

Michael and I had a great Valentine's Day weekend.  Last Saturday afternoon, we experienced the Nashville Antiques and Garden show for the first time, then headed to the mall for some present buying, then had dinner at our friends, Lindsey and Jay's house.  So often we spend Saturdays running errands around town that we forget to just enjoy our time together.  Last Saturday was one of those rare exceptions.  Oh, and as to the present buying...

Michael being the wonderful husband that he is - and knowing the way to this woman's heart - purchased a lovely present for me... Can you guess what it is?

Tada!!!

Me = Lucky Girl. :)

Sunday we decided to dine a la Valentine's day (rather than Monday) and went to one of our favorite restaurants in town, Sperry's.  Someone from Michael's work had given him a very nice bottle of wine that we decided to take with us.  Opus One - and it was good.  I don't know if I would necessarily buy it at the wine store or anything (bit pricey if you know what I mean) but nice to know what it tasted to like.

Of course, Sperry's was absolutely delicious. 

All in all a perfect weekend.  Hope you and your loved one had a wonderful Valentine's day!

Last Wednesday and Thursday

I'm sure everyone and their brother has posted something about the ginormous snow storm Nashville received last Wednesday (February 9th).  Well, I got caught in it too.  About 3 o'clock I'm sitting in a meeting room with no windows listening to a woman speak about our next round of employee evaluations.  I'm pretty sure that when I went into that meeting there was no snow anywhere in sight - not on the ground, not falling and I don't even think it was cloudy.  But, of course, everyone had been talking about it ALL DAY LONG.  Me, I'm oblivous.  Just going about my business.  At 4 o'clock when my meeting was over, I happened to glance outside and HOLY MOLY.  Snow was everywhere!  I got back to my desk, checked my email and there's one from Michael telling me to head home right then and there.  So I pack up my things (grab my laptop just in case we get a snow day the next day) and jump in the car. 

Most of you know that my office is located in B.F.E. = almost Mt Juliet, way past the airport, in an area of town called Donelson/Hermitage.  What?  You've never heard of it?  Well, neither had I until my work decided to relocate 20 miles outside of Nashville several years ago.  If you haven't heard me complain about it yet, I'm sure you will.  It's the bain of my existence right now.  But, I digress.

Even though it's been several years, I still have not gotten used to the commute.  Yes, it's against traffic - blah, blah, blah.  It's still way far out and it takes me on average 30 minutes to get to work everyday then 30 minutes to get home in the evening.  Yep, that's an hour each day of my life I'll never get back. 

So last Wednesday, I'm in the car and I'm surprised that traffic is actually moving.  Until I get to the Briley Parkway underpass (which is still far away from my house) and this is what I see:

Bumper to bumper cars.  Yep, that's right.  The snow had fallen so fast, and everyone in Nashville decided to hit the roads at the same time.  Nashville had created the biggest, most monstrous traffic jam EVER.  I don't want to rehash the fact that it took me two hours to get home that night, was low on gas, had to use the restroom in a major way, and like everyone else in their cars was sliding all over the place.  Don't want to rehash it at all.  Just want to remember that should weathermen ever forecast this type of downfall again, I'm going to be working from home.  Period. 

And that's what I did.  The next morning I lounged in bed with a snuggled up Winston, tv on and laptop running.  This was my view:

Much better than the night before.  And even Eleanor Roosevelt got to come over: 

  

And play:

Or, are they making out?  I'm not so sure.  Regardless, Winston later told me that it was "the best day ever."  Just kidding, I made that part up - but I'm sure if he could talk he would have said that.

You know the funny thing is about all this is that on Saturday we had 60 degree weather.  And this week, it's been 70 degrees.  I'm thinking someone up there knew Nashville was in need of some warmer weather and sunshine in a bad way after last week's madness.

New Restaurant :: Tavern

Last Friday, we headed to a new restaurant, Tavern, with the Neals.  Tavern replaced Lime on Broadway.  Being a Friday night and a brand new restaurant, we waited over an hour and a half for dinner; it was completely packed!  While I thought it was pretty good up-scale bar food, I would never recommend someone wait that long to eat there.  One would expect that after a while the new buzz will die down but it's owned by the same guy/team as Virago and Whiskey Kitchen and those two restaurants are always busy. 

While we were waiting, we tried interesting cocktails and shared the nachos - all were delish.  For dinner, I had the Parmesan and Kale salad which I loved.  The last time I had a kale salad was in Aspen - and have never been able to find something similar in Nashville.  All in all, I would suggest you try Tavern - just get there early or go for lunch...

Here's a picture of Michael and I at dinner:

 

Serena & Lily

Have you heard of Serena & Lily? No, I'm not talking about the Van der Woodson mother/daughter duo on Gossip Girl...  We got a catalog in the mail last night for a line called Serena & Lily.  I had never heard of it before.  The catalog has a lot of nursery and little kid decor in it so I'm thinking they started out in that field.  But, it seems they're branching out into the adult world - and I love it!!

Their furniture is beautiful and the fabrics are wonderful - so light and serene - and they also sell paint! 

Check out this headboard:

And this tufted chair:



And this bench (which I think needs to go in my bedroom now):

  

This bed just looks so inviting:

And this nursery for a baby boy is too adorable:

  

Am I the only one who was in the dark about this company?

What a difference drapes make

This post is a long time coming!  I had some drapes made for the den area back in November.

Before:

After:



In order to look more symmetrical, I hung both sets at the same height, which also makes the ceiling look taller (I think).  Just need a new set of side tables next to the couch and a matching table lamp (like the one to the left of the couch in the pictures) then this room is done!

Snow Day!

My office is closed today!  Woo hoo!  Even though I still have to work, it is so much nicer to work on the couch with Winston snuggled next to me.  Although, he is extremely bothered that all the kids in the neighborhood are using the Craighead hill to go sledding on...

 and keeps jumping off the couch to bark at them through the front door.

New Dishwasher!

I think it's a little sad that I am this excited about our new dishwaser.  But, after at least a month of the old dishwasher just not cleaning, it was time to say buh-bye.  After spending an hour in the A1 Appliance store and multiple hours researching all the different types of dishwashers online, we decided to branch out of our GE Profile streak and buy a Kitchenaid.  It was purchased last Thursday with a quick phone call then installed on Monday during my lunch break.  Here's the end result - tada!

And even though it's a different brand than our fridge, microwave and oven, I think it blends nicely in terms of look & feel with the other appliances.