family fun

Also this past summer, jonathan and i made our way south to the great state of Arkansas for some time with my family and friends, and to celebrate America! 

On the drive we stopped in Nashville, one of favorite cities I've decided, and explored some neighborhoods and offerings for the night.  

Of course, we had to go to Prince's and get some Hot Chicken.  

If you don't know Hot Chicken, you haven't lived -- it's fried chicken that has marinated in a cayenne bath and then has a cayenne breading too.  Served over white toast with pickles. 

 

Per the usual it was delicious. This skin was hot and crunchy and the meat was tender and juicy.  Incredible. 

But that was just first dinner.  After a bar with a delicious porter (yes it's july, yes we don't care), we had second dinner at Chuy's my favorite maker of tortillas. Seriously, I don't know what they put in their tortillas, (though I have a guess I just don't want to confirm it) but they are the best. So of course, I ordered a side of them. And I'm super pumped that Raleigh is getting their own location in October!

 

We headed to the lake the next day and hung out with the family for a few days and enjoyed all the usual fun - swimming, eating, playing cards, and more eating.

Then we went to Little Rock to meet up with the gang and take over Jake's house.  Emmy was pleased.

 

We celebrated the Fourth and America at Jake's parent's house with some solid pool time and grilling. 

It was a lovely vacation with my people and time away from work for a whole week!

xoxo

p.s. did you see this American can? epic. 

nashvegas for the win

So, we finished the core exam and needed to hit the road, so Ashley, Shira and I set out for the lovely, Nashville.  

It's actually a good eight hour drive for us and unfortunately we couldn't take that much time off, so we had a short adventure.  After getting in we set out for the main point of our adventure: 

hot chicken at Prince's. 

Hot chicken you ask? oh yeah.  basically really spicy fried chicken. No really spicy. And so delicious. 

After being overwhelmed with joy we had a fancy drink at patterson house. It was pretty awesome after a we got passed the snooty host.  The service was awesome and the drinks were delicious and fancy.  A recommended location for an intimate cocktail experience.

And who doesn't love a spherical ice cube??

We rested up and then took Nashville by storm on Sunday, starting with brunch at Mad Donna's, which was filled with delicious food and the best bloody mary bar ever.  ever, people.

Post brunch, we headed back to the center of town and to the country music hall of fame and museum.  It's not a cheap way to spend an afternoon, but a pretty excellent one. If you enjoy some bluegrass and/or country music, it's a must-see.

Some of the awesome posters from Hatch Show Print:  

And some love for Dolly, of course:

As well as a little bit of everything else:

Really, it's awesome.  You should check it out. 

After a few hours of soaking it all in, we explored the rest of Nashville, including the Historic East End with records, vintage shops, and ice cream.

Yeah, some old bike pedals, if you need them:

And of course, a butter lamb mold!!! I can't handle it.  This is our thing apparently...

Unfortunately, it was only half of a mold, so we passed it up.  I'm pretty sure we will run across another one soon enough.

Some of the fun flare of Nashvegas:

And awesome ice cream of course:

After the afternoon fun, we stumbled into a good old townie bar and happend onto some good live bluegrass.

We then headed to a fabulous bar, no. 308. 

We loved it here.  Way too much.  Five hours with great new bartender friends, two-for-one drinks, shots (i know), and some food, because that seemed like a good idea...

Oh yeah, just look at this place:

I could kind of live here.

Oh and then we decided we had to leave while we still could and headed to find some more music at the station inn.  A good old local bar where people just play some great music, in a straight-forward bar:

Monday we grabbed some coffee and hung out at Hatch Show Print before driving home. I want a job here, fyi.

Yes, it was a lovely brief getaway and introduced us to the lovely city of nashville.  

xoxo

ps. see you soon nashville, very soon please.