A weekend to remember

What felt like months of planning, our girls weekend to Nashville finally arrived.  The week leading up to this I think we were all holding our breath and praying for no sick kids or husbands.  God must have been on our side because it all went down without a hitch.  Tracey and I headed down to Bowling Green shortly after lunch and soon after arrival we loaded up in Brittany's van and heading to Nashville.  Not before a quick picture, of course.

 We stayed downtown Friday night.  Not too much on our agenda but food and a little shopping.  And lots and lots of fun pictures and laughter.

 As a disclaimer, I did not buy the blue sunglasses. 

 If you are in Nashville, you really need to embrace it.  That of course means cowboy hats and boots.  Tracey walked away with a hat and got me a pair of boots.  I just couldn't help myself, Brittany had on a pair and they were oh so cute.  I found some for a good price and went with it. 

 Can you believe we had tip a bad Elvis to get our picture taken with him? 

 Here is the really fun part of the weekend, we met Grass Stains!   Here's the story, back when we were in the planning stages of this trip I took a shot and asked Grass Stains how far she lived from Nashville.  I told her about our trip and lo and behold she was in.  Of course she brought a friend, I mean we really could be stalkers.  Her and Melanie, someone we have come to know on Twitter, along with Grass Stains's 8 month old daughter made the trip up from Alabama.  Our plans were to meet up for lunch and shopping on Saturday.   We heard they were downtown for dinner on Friday so we stalked found them to say hello.   They both couldn't be more sweeter in person than they are on the Internet.  

 One other fun part of the night, we were walking through a restaurant and I saw this.  Those that don't know, Peyton Manning went to college in Tennessee.  They love him down there.

 After a late night hanging out and laughing we were up bright and early for a fun day of shopping.  We went to Opry Mills outlets.  This place was heaven.  It's huge!   We could have easily spent two entire days here. 

 Before meeting for lunch we had two missions; find me something to wear with my boots and find Tracey a purse.  Mission was accomplished.  I found a cute dress and this sweet little plaid shirt.  I took it straight to the bathroom to change into it.  I was channeling my inner cowgirl this weekend.

 The Coach outlet was calling Tracey's name.  It was down to these two precious items.  She ultimately decided on the one with the shoulder strap.  That is of course after two visits to the store.  Purses are important, you need to make the right decision.

 Grass Stains, who I will now call Katherine, and Melanie must have decided we weren't too scary and still met us for lunch.  We had lunch at the Aquarium restaurant.  It was neat.  We even saw a scuba diver feeding the fish.  We had great conversations throughout the entire meal and not a single awkward moment.   Katherine came bearing gifts as well.

 This is now proudly displayed next to my bed.

 Not to be outdone, Gretchen also came with gifts.  Everyone of us, with the exception of Gretchen, has a May birthday.  She bought a variety of GiGi's cupcakes for us to share.  They were yummy! 

 After lunch we did a bit more shopping before it was sadly time to say goodbye to our new friends.

I am so happy I took a shot and invited Katherine down to meet us.  Her and Melanie were such a delight to meet in person.  Hope to do it again one day.  I am thankful for Steve for taking such good care of our boys while I was away.  The house was even clean upon return.  Beyond thankful for a night away with my girls.  We fit a lot into 24 hours, yet it turned out to be the most refreshing thing I've done in a while.  Can't wait for the next one.