In Need of Nashville

This week, Eric and I were in need of a "get-away-now" kind of weekend, so Thursday night we got out the map and decided which BIG city we would be traveling to. Yes, big.... being children of suburbia we needed to find a place where we could relax and where no one would know who we were and also wouldn't care. We looked south- there were storms, so turning our eyes north, we saw Birmingham, Atlanta, and Nashville. Birmingham was too Alabama and what's in Atlanta (???), so Nashville it was. After work on Friday, we headed out with one goal in mind- Relaxation. We stopped in Nashville at Panera Bread (mmm) and arrived late into our nice hotel in Nashville. On Saturday, we saw the Parthenon replica and enjoyed absolutely gorgeous weather in a beautiful park (this may have been the best part to me)! We also made a stop at the country music hall of fame, which was actually quite interesting with lots of neat replicas and enjoyed some time downtown. After an early dinner, we headed back since Eric has to work on Sundays, feeling very relaxed. Thanks, Nashville.

Memoirs of my College-esque Road Trip

This past week I went on a grand tour of Arkansas. It all started when I mentioned to Eric on Sunday afternoon that I had actually thought about going to surprise my college friend Megan who was returning from a year in China at the Little Rock airport but had decided it was too far to go. Eric, however, enthusiastically encouraged me to go, so about noon on Monday I headed towards the Little Rock airport to meet Megan at her late night flight. A couple- well actually 3- wrong turns later, I surprised her at the airport along with her parents and 3 other college friends. We had a great time helping her get over her 1/2 day difference in jet lag and mostly it was just such a wonderful time to hang out with friends who know you so well! I was in the process of deciding to return home on Wednesday when I decided to make a detour up to East Arkansas to visit my relatives in Jonesboro. This was most random of all as I was not very close to them growing up, but I had a wonderful day and a half visiting my aunt, uncle, and cousin and her family. Her kids were particularly cute- and helped make the trip even better as I could spend my whole life playing with kids! I returned home on Friday night.... tired, happy, and very much missing Eric! As a side note- I did not get lost on the way home!