Restaurant Review: Cantina Laredo

Due to paling around with some somewhat-swanky people, I’ve had the opportunity to go to the Gulch’s most trendy Mexican hot spot a few times, Cantina Laredo.  For the non-Nashvillians, who may not even know what “the Gulch” is, it’s a trendy spot in downtown Nashville with lots of condos, restaurants, and bars. 

Here’s my short and sweet restaurant review:  This place is way over-hyped.  Their home made salsa is quite good, but their guacamole, which is what they are supposedly known for, is bland, and their food is too.  I’ve eaten there twice, and both times I was seriously underwhelmed.  The group I ate with the last time all came out complaining about how bland their entrees were, so I was glad that it wasn’t just me who felt this way.

 

I’m not one to be downtown at the see-and-be-seen times these days, so I’ve heard that Cantina Laredo is one of those places that trendy hipsters and downtown dwellers go, so I would guess if you stick to the chips and salsa and margaritas you might be alright, although when I went this summer, I tried one of their signature margaritas, and it was nothing special either.

So if you’re around the area looking for great Mexican food, skip Cantina Laredo.  Try Rosepepper Cantina, or TacoMamacita.  Nashvillians, help me out, what other legitimately good Mexican food is out there?

Too Much T.V.?

I have been on a TV binge for the last month and a half.  Ever since I took the LSAT, I have been playing catch up on all the fall TV shows I neglected, and let me tell you, I am Loving it!  Every night after I put Bradley to bed, it's like a whole new world!  2 episodes of Grey's Anatomy here, an episode of Glee there, a season's worth of Nashville;  I could really get used to this!  My current shows, in alphabetical order, are:

• Downton Abbey
• Glee
• Grey's Anatomy
• Nashville
• New Girl
• Parenthood

If Nashville weren't my hometown I wouldn't waste my time on this one, but I love the shots of the city and the fact that the show centers around country music.  New Girl makes me laugh out loud every single week.  Grey's has gotten good again and keeps me hooked every week with cliffhangers.  Parenthood makes me cry every week, and Glee is the guilty pleasure I just can't give up.  The big group numbers just take me to my happy place of singing in choirs.  Downton Abbey I'm watching on Hulu and catching up (currently started season two) so that eventually I will be able to watch the current season three on TV.  Lately I dream in British accents, and being a maid seems like such a glamorous lifestyle. 

And of course, whenever the Wildcats are on I'm glued to the tube as well.  It sounds like a lot when it's all written down like that, but my television habit is not an addiction or anything.  I can quit anytime I want to.  No big deal.  Anyway, why haven't there been any new Tori & Deans?  Seems like it's been forever since the last season.  I must nurture my love for Tori, and it's hard to do that with no new shows.  I've had several other recommendations by people, but there literally aren't enough hours in the day for me to add any more, but here they are, in no particular order:

• Big Bang Theory
• Modern Family
• Suits
• Game of Thrones (thanks to Ari, I will forever think of this as Game of Thongs)
• Portlandia
• Justified
• Breaking Bad
• Boardwalk Empire
• Some show that's supposed to be the modern-day FRIENDS?  Can't remember the name.

What else am I missing that I absolutely must watch?  What should I bump to make room for any of the above?  What are you watching?  Yes, you.  

Repti-conned into Going

Saturday I took Bradley to this really cool, interactive, hands on, totally geared for kids reptile exhibit at the Factory.  No wait.  No I didn't.  That's what I thought I was taking Bradley to.

The Living Social deal I got the week before touted this Repticon exhibit as being a family event, and then later last week, an email was sent out saying Williamson County school employees were allowed in free to take their families to this family-friendly event.  Okay, so I'm not a WCS employee myself, but I am related to one.  And kids under 5 get in free, so Repticon, here we came!

The first thing I noticed when entering Jamison Hall in the factory, a place many brides and grooms hold their wedding receptions in (my sister included), was the overwhelming reptile stench.  I could not have told you what this smelled like before Saturday, but you walked into the place and this odor just knocked you back a second- not so gross that you'd want to breathe through your mouth, but enough to cause you pause and say "ohhh, so that's what a room full of reptiles smells like."

And then we stepped inside.  At 5 minutes till 12, we timed our entrance to the exhibit to make the 12 o'clock "show."  I was envisioning a goofy guy in a lab coat, or dressed like a zookeeper, a stage, and bleachers, where the emcee would show a group of fascinated kids different kinds of frogs, snakes, spiders, and teach the kids fun facts about the animals and at the end I would get some great photo ops of Bradley petting a snake which I would then show to my mother who is terrified of snakes, and snicker.

But instead I walked willingly into my mother's worst nightmare.  Let me just toot my own horn and say that I am good mom.  Because I took one look at the first table we came to, with one clear circular container after another, stacked on top of one another, with a live snakes in them, all of them moving around and hissing, because, well, they're alive, probably 30 on each table, and I didn't turn around and leave.  

I took a deep breath, and thought, okay, I can do this.  They're just snakes.  And we pushed through the people to find the "show" that would be starting soon.  When we found it, I realized this whole thing was a gross misunderstanding.  The interactive show was about chameleons, 4 of them to be specific, and Bradley was able to touch exactly one of them.  This was not an educational show for the kiddies.  This was a sales pitch to get you to buy a chameleon.  In fact the whole exhibit was a haven for reptile buyers and sellers; crazy reptile lovers with piercings, tattoos, and wearing black t-shirts.  People were buying snakes right and left.  Not me.  The guy trying to sell us chameleons ignored the fact that most of his audience was under 12 (hey, at least I was not the only fool in Franklin who thought this was a great Saturday activity for her child) and did his best to yell over the noise in the large open room in the little area where a few rows of chairs were set up, because he was too lazy to wear his head mike, while he educated us on how to keep a chameleon's tank humid.  

After the sales demonstration, I took Bradley firmly by the hand and led him through the exhibit hall.  "If we're here, we might as well see some snakes," I thought to myself.  We saw tank after tank of giant snakes (think Nagini), every kind of lizard, tarantula, giant cockroach, tiny frogs, all sizes of scorpions, and container after container of snakes.  I had a small humanitarian moment and felt sorry for the animals confined in such small containers, and then I started over-thinking things and watching them writhe and twist, and the longer we were in there, the more freaked out I got.  I envisioned Snakes on a Plane, but instead saw tables tipping over with snakes slithering all over the floor, and people panicking and running everywhere.  I held Bradley's hand tightly as he was mildly interested in looking at the different animals and asked to touch a few snakes.  And yes I let him, but it was not quite the cheery photo op I had hoped for.  Instead I never let go of his hand, calculating how fast I could whip him towards me if the snake he was petting decided to lunge at us.  It was all I could do to see a furry tarantula leg poking out of a small clear container, and silently curse the day my mother let me see Arachnophobia in the movie theater.

But I was a good sport, and we managed to stay in Jamison Hall a good 30 or 40 minutes when I was able to tell Bradley happily, that it was time to go.  And go we did, where we promptly scrubbed our hands with soap and water when we got home, and I tried to shake the willies for the rest of the day.  

Brentwood Busts

Here's your public service blog for any local readers.

The "live nativity" that Brenthaven Christian Church on Franklin Road is not what you might think, and definitely not worth your time.  I told Bradley we would get to see live animals with baby Jesus, counting on some cows and sheep, and hoping for a donkey and a camel.  What we got instead was a group of well- meaning church members dressed in Nikes and shepherds' robes, telling the story of the birth of Jesus in three stations, with wooden stand up animals, a fake fire pit for the shepherds, and a baby doll lying in a kid's crib as the manger.  "Where are the real animals?" Bradley asked.  "I don't know," I answered, thinking that perhaps at the final manger scene there would be the live farm animals.  Alas, it was not to be.

Some of the participants didn't even have their lines memorized, and the whole presentation lasted about 15 or 20 minutes.  I expected more out of a church in Brentwood.  So if any locals know of any live nativities that might be a little more realistic, I'm all ears.

The second Brentwood bust is the upscale Mexican restaurant Sopapilla's.  We went there last night for the first time to get together with some friends for Christmas, and while the food was excellent (albeit spicy) for the adults, this is NOT a kid-friendly restaurant.  The kid's bean & cheese burrito I ordered for Bradley was so spicy it brought him to tears, and after trying it myself, I can see why.  I pointed this out to the server at the end of the meal and told him that this was in no way acceptable for a child's menu item, and he remarked that another family had complained recently that the rice was too spicy, but that it must have been the beans after all.  This place needs to get with the program and alter their recipes if they are even going to bother to offer a children's menu.

Halloween 2011

Bradley is "super" proud of his awesome Halloween costume, complete with muscles!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's....

SuperMom and SuperMan

After reading an article in the paper yesterday about the trick-or-treating in downtown Franklin in the historic district, we decided to give that a try this year.  It was phenomenal, and we will be going back.  We parked in the lot behind Starbucks at Five Points, and walked a block up to West Main Street, and instantly it felt like we were in a movie.  Everything from the the mild weather, clear sky, bright moon, walking the sidewalk-lined streets, shuffling through the leaves up to each historic home was absolutely picturesque.  There were trick-or-treaters Everywhere; it was amazing.  Houses were decorated, and I mean Seriously decorated, and the herds of people moved slowly down the sidewalk of West Main Street, waiting patiently for their turn to go up to the house. 

This house not only had this great display on their front porch, but they offered a really cool haunted house through their garage.

Slowly making our way from house to house

However, THIS house is the one Bradley will be talking about for the next year.  They decorated their front yard using a Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" theme.  The lady giving out the candy was the Queen of Hearts.  Well B was right in front of her when she decided to let out a festive, in-character cackle, which I happened to snap a picture of... which prompted B to burst out into tears!!!  The Queen felt so bad she gave us extra candy, but all B would talk about for the rest of the evening was that he didn't like the Wonderland Queen.

This house was pretty incredible, too.  I thought B might be scared of some of the decorations, but he seemed to get that all this "spooky" stuff was just pretend, and just for fun... except for that mean Wonderland Queen!  He was paticularly excited to see, and speak to, an adult dressed like Darth Vader.

Trick or treat!

Our Scary jack-o-lanterns

He did all the hard work, and then the adults helped themselves to the spoils!  This trick-or-treat thing is a great idea!  B got lots of Twix- one of my faves- but no Tootsie Rolls, Grandma B's favorite. 

Eating some skulls and bones Sweet Tarts

Showing off his candy

We probably only made it up and back a few blocks on West Main and didn't even venture off to other side streets before Superman was tired and ready to come home.  Plus, just minutes before we arivved home, the caped crusader had to pee, so it was great timing.  If you ask Bradley if he had fun trick or treating, he will say "no."  If you ask "why not?" he will tell you "because of the Mean Wonderland Queen."  But deep down, I know he had a good time tonight.  Come one, come all with us, to downtown Franklin next year!

Peter Piper did not pick a pumpkin today

It was a busy day for us today:  9 a.m. Honeybadgers game, followed by a quick trip to Target to change clothes, and then we headed to Gentry's Farm in Franklin to pick pumpkins.  After a brief stop at home, which was meant to be for a nap time that didn't happen, we left again to go to a family friend's 1st birthday party in Murfreesboro, and by the time we came home, Bradley was sufficiently worn out and ready for bed.

What a difference a week makes, too.  Last Saturday, it got in the 30's overnight.  Today it was, dare I say, almost too warm to be outside, gorgeous and sunny in the low 80's.

We have been to Gentry's every year since Bradley was a year old, but this year we paid the $6 to go into the activity area of the farm, and I am so glad we did!  The activity area was nothing like I was envisioning, and was actually geared more towards preschoolers rather than older kids like I had assumed.

The little log cabin- B loved playing "house" in here

How Tall This Fall

Bradley measured at 37 inches- just over 3 feet tall this year.  I hope we can keep coming back every year and take this same picture to see how much he's grown.

A table of pumpkins

Riding the kiddie tractors

As far as farm animals go, we saw sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, horses, and cows.

Gentry's advertises hayrides, but that's misleading.  Really, it's a tractor ride.  They have this route down to a science, and it wasn't what I was expecting at all.  One big tractor pulls 2 large trailers behind with wooden benches where everyone politely sits one right next to the other.  The 6th generation owner of the farm gives you a little bit of history about the place, and away you go.  We did get to see cows up close, and Bradley was just tickled to be pulled by a tractor, so I'd say the ride was still a success even though the rest of the historic houses on the tour were more appropriate for the adults.

Papa pushing B on the tire swing

I'm so happy playing with corn

Under one open air barn were rows of troughs with dry corn in them, with funnels, and containers of different shapes and sizes.  You wouldn't think pouring corn from a funnel into a plastic bottle was the most fun activity ever invented, but Bradley would have stayed there all day if I'd let him.  It was nice and shaded, plus there were bales of straw for the parents to sit on and rest while the kiddos played.  I caught sight of some amazing That Ain't Right Inspiration, so hop on over here to see a lady with her back barn door wide open.  I also had a conversation with a lady sitting next to me about what the difference is between hay and straw.  According to her, hay is what the animals eat, and straw is what they put down on the ground.  I'm still not sure what the difference is though.

Bradley with Grandma & Grandpa B

Bradley & Mommy

The quintessential Gentry's pictures on the truck- I have to get them every year!

Bradley's favorite part of the farm when I asked him was all the slides, and there were several.  

Not scared to sit in the tree this year

showing off his baby pumpkin

Our last activity at Gentry's for the afternoon was to head out to the pumpkin patch and pick our own pumpkin.  Last year, the Tennessee heat ruined the pumpkin crops, so there were none to be had.  This year, we came too early.  Even though Gentry's baited the field with orange pumpkins placed artfully by the edges of the rows, all the pumpkins still on the vine were green.  I took Bradley by the hand and lead him dutifully into the middle of the pumpkin patch, cautiously watching every place my foot touched.  The serpentine vines covering the ground only served to fuel my fears that we would catch sight of a snake, and be stuck out in the middle of a field!  Bradley, I said calmly, now if Mommy tells you to run, you Run Now, okay?  Luckily there were no reptiles seen on this venture.  But if there had been, man, I was ready!

Our Peter Piper who did not pick a pumpkin

So alas, my dreams of picking our own pumpkin today were shattered.  Oh well.  It was fun to look, and hands down, the activity section of the farm was well worth the $6.  It was a great way to spend this beautiful fall day.

The shoe sagas aka What the Heel?

At the recomendation of a friend at work, I took some shoes to Tony, the shoe repair guy in the Arcade.  One pair needed some new heels, and the other were my beloved snakeskin heels that I have had forever, but the soles were really worn out on them.  I figured it would be a wiser investment to fix the shoes I already had than to go buy new ones.

I knew I was in for an interesting experience when I dropped off the shoes when through his very thick accent, a smiling Tony told me my shoes would be ready "one of these days."  "Okay," I said, a little unsure at what I was getting myself into.

Fast forward a few days.  I pick the shoes up.  Fast forward again.  I wear the snakeskin heels to church.

I made it through one hour of Sunday school in my newly-repaired shoes when all of a sudden, while walking into church, the top of my shoe completely detached from the bottom!  These are heels, people.  There is no faking it.  Either the shoe is in tact, or it is unwearable.  And so, with no other option, I sat through church with my broken "recently fixed" shoe, and walked out of church barefoot.

The next day I took both shoes back to the shoe shop, only to find that- curses!- they closed at 3:30, and it was 3:31 according to my phone.  So the NEXT business day, I hesitantly brought my shoes back to a smiling Tony.  Once I explained my predicament, he was no longer smiling.  I couldn't understand him entirely, but what I gathered was that he was not claiming responsibility for the broken shoe.  He begrudingly took only the broken shoe, and told me it wasn't his fault, but that he would fix it just this once.

I tried to be as polite as I could have been, but really, I have had these shoes for maybe 6 years, and I've never had a pair of shoes break on me, and this one just happened to come apart after he ripped out the insole and applied a new one.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Fast forward a few days (I was too chicken to go in there the very next day, for fear that he would take it as a presumption on my part that it was be ready that quickly).  I pick up my heel from a none-too-pleased Tony.  Fast forward again.

I decide to wear my snakeskin heels to work.  And THIS time, I will not be made a fool.  I will bring a spare pair of shoes with me just in case...

Good thing I did, because you guessed it, about halfway through my morning, the OTHER shoe came apart!  Now I was 100% sure my shoe repair man had somehow compromised the integrity of my formerly well-made, long-lasting shoes!  Tony was definitely not happy to see me, and although I had prepared myself for fireworks, and he was much more subdued this time.

A few days later (yep, I waited again... too scared to face the man 2 days in a row!).  This time, I took a posse with me.  On our way back from lunch, 4 of us from work went into the shoe repair shop.  One guy, a regular, chatted up Tony for a few minutes before he looked over and gave me a dirty look once he recognized me.  He gave me my shoe which I quickly stashed in my purse, and motioned for the others to get out of there now!  It was beyond awkward.  But at least now I had both of my fixed-broken-fixed-again-heels.

Now I'm at a crossroads.  Was this all for naught?  Can I ever wear these heels again without having to pack a back-up pair?  What if I let down my guard after wearing them for a few times, and don't have any extra on me, and the glue breaks down, and my shoes come apart again?!  So as of now, I haven't worn them again, meaning that perhaps instead of saving money by having them fixed, I actually wasted it.  What the heel?

2011 Williamson County Fair

Sunday, we took advantage of senior day, and went to the Williamson County Fair. 

The "Seniors"

It was extremely hot, so we alternated doing indoor and outdoor activities.  Indoors, we looked at, and got to pet some of the animals.  One man let us pet his prize chicken.  "What's his name?"  I asked encouragingly, as Bradley pet the bird.  The man hesitated, looking at me, and then answered, "Buffalo Wild Wings!"  This would not be the first time I asked a stupefied male the name of his accompanying animal.  Minutes earlier, I paid $5.00 to let Bradley have a pony ride.  Really, I felt sorry for the ponies.  They're hitched together and only get to walk around in a circle under a tent.  Bradley and I walked up to a sweet looking pony, but for some reason, Bradley did not want to ride.  I tried to ease him into the situation, talking to him, and letting him pet the pony.  "What's her name?"  I asked the Hispanic man who took our money.  All I got in return was a blank stare, and a glance over to another carnie.  Ahh.  No habla Englais.  Okey dokey.  Even after making up a name for the pony ("Lady") and offering to stand right next to him while he just sat on the horse, Bradley was having nothing to do with it.  So the non-English speaking carnie sadly gave us back my 5 bucks, and we walked over to ride the Nemo Ride.

Now Bradley has been talking about the Nemo Ride for days- ever since I started pumping him up about the fair, and showing him This Video from last year, I warned him that we didn't want another repeat incident!  I explained that if he didn't want to ride any rides, and if he didn't think they were fun, then he didn't have to ride them!

Luckily, B was a little more into the rides this year.  The exceptions were the roller coaster- maybe a bit too brave on my part- and the panda bear ride, which was his last one for the night, and I think he was just exhausted.

Mom and I rode the Tilt-a-Whirl again.  Standing in line for the ride, I realized it was us, and a bunch of teenage boys!  We didn't care, and the ride operator got a kick out of us.  We spun our stomach in knots and screamed with childlike glee.



A repeat shot from last year

A group shot of the six of us

So what does a vegetarian eat at the fair?  Well I had a jumbo pretzel and a large lemonade.  Not the most complete meal, but really, we were just sort of snacking.  Bradley ate a cherry Italian ice, and sported a red mouth the rest of the night!

The kids exhibit was the same as last year, but it's really educational and fun.  The kids go from station to station, gathering "fresh produce" and ultimately selling it at the market to buy a treat of their choosing.  Pictured left is Bradley getting an egg from the chicken coop, brushing a sheep to collect wool, posing with Mommy in front of the corn, feeding the cow some corn kernels, milking the cow, and proudly displaying his ice cream sandwich, his purchase at the general store. 

Another indoor activity we stumbled upon, while looking for the Native American exhibit, that ended up being a bust, was this animated clown show.  She was corny, and not at all scary as some clowns often are.  She asked for volunteers, and to my shock, Bradley raised his hand to come up and participate.  Even more hilarious was that minutes after walking to the front, he remained in the "volunteer" position with his hand in the air!  It was precious.  Two teams of kids unrolled toilet paper rolls as fast as they could while the audience cheered them on. 

 

An evening treat of cotton candy amidst the lights of the midway



After our tickets ran out, we sat and listened to a mediocre bluegrass band play several songs.  How can anyone now enjoy live bluegrass music, I wonder?  It's a toe-tapping warm fuzzy of stringed instruments, and tight harmonies. 

Next year, we plan on going later so we can stay for the fireworks.  Our last ride of the evening was a speedy Gator ride back to our car, thanks to the volunteers driving guests to and from the parking lots.

Once home, Bradley proudly displayed his fair prizes.  He won 2 of the animals, picking up ducks, and popping balloons with darts, and Laura won him the snake playing a different game.  The snake he has named "Ott" which is what he names every single toy these days.  The others he named, Orange Dog, and Pig.  Very original, right?

After a long sweaty evening at the fair, the end of the night showers were a refreshing treat.

All up in the Mustard

That's right.  I'm all up in the mustard, and I can't catch up!  So here is my catch-all summer blog with some pictures to document the events that will never get talked about otherwise:

During our trip to Lawrenceburg at the end of May, I sprang for a Coke in a glass bottle at Argo's family's fruit market.  It's amazing to me how much better the beverage tastes in a bottle!

A Coke & a smile

Buzz Lightyear and "Woody" watching tv together one morning... and yep, Bradley has the same, sleepy wonky eyes as I do before he fully wakes up :)

This kid could have run around and played at the play place, but all he wanted to do was sit on Ronald McDonald's lap.  I've had to rescue Bradley from the tops of indoor play spaces on more than one occasion, so if all he wants to do is chat up RM, I'm fine with that.

I took Bradley to my work picnic, a Sounds game, at the beginning of June.  We watched none of the game.  He talked to a few of the baseball players, had me chasing him all over the stadium, and picked out this foam finger from the gift shop.

Proof that we were actually there, even though we saw no baseball game!

Did I mention it's been blazing hot this summer?  To cool off, Bradley plays in his slip-and-slide.

My porcelain-skinned smiling boy

Ah yes, the classic "Roar!!!!!"

The Touch-A-Truck event at Pinkerton Park in Franklin.  Bradley enjoyed seeing the semi truck, and climbing into the fire truck.  He did not enjoy the garbage truck that honked its horn and made loud noises.  Actually, to be honest, he cried.  I thought boys were supposed to like trucks- what the heck??

Eating the Fruit By the Foot that Aunt Missy sent home with him.  B was asleep on the way home, and the second we woke up when pulling in the driveway, Bradley asked if he could have his FBTF that he knew she had sent back for him!  Bradley, of course, had never had FBTF, and so he tried to put the entire thing in his mouth, wrapper and all, when we were in Evansville.  He also consumed massive quantities of cheese balls.  Thanks, M&M for remembering how much he enjoyed the cheese balls last summer, and for personally making it your quest to introduce him to every junk food known to man :)

Throwing his new football, a belated birthday present from M&M.  He's also wearing the adorable T-shirt I got for Bradley on Etsy for his birthday party.

Getting braver with the water on the slip-and-slide.  Seriously- when we began our S&S adventures this summer, I could only have the water spraying up about 2 inches.  For the most part, Bradley is an extremely cautious child.  It takes him a while to warm up to new things, and while it can be a little off-putting at times, I'm praying that cautious nature continues through the teenage years.

Finally, I was able to convince him that getting wet is fun!  Yay, we finally like the slip & slide!

More to come... and one of these days, I'll get back to blogging on a regular basis.

Thirty, Flirty & Thriving

A couple of my favorite gal pals turned 30 this past spring, and they also happen to be some of the best party planners I know.  These fabulous ladies threw themselves the most amazing 30th birthday parties, and I'm just glad I got to celebrate with them, especially considering I was vomiting with food poisoning on the night I was supposed to celebrate my 30th 21st birthday!

Miss Mary Anna Brown, aka Queen MAB turned 30 on April 12th.  That weekend, she hosted a group of friends by booking us a hotel suite in Midtown.  We noshed on appetizers and wine while we got all dolled up, and then had an excellent dinner at Sunset Grille.  After dinner we frequented a few bars including the Tavern, and Broadway Brewhouse  (mmmm, Bushwackers!).  If only the tattoo parlor had been open just a wee bit later, someone might have got a new piercing that night!  It was funny trying to explain to the cabbie who took us home why we were from Nashville but staying in a hotel.  He was a different ethnic background, and so I feel some of it was just lost in translation!  You would think that was the end of the night, but wait, there's more!  Our hostess with the mostess thought of everything.  We put on our jammies, and MA opened her gifts, then we capped off the evening with champagne and cupcakes. 

the birthday celebrating night-owls

Former roommate Stephanie turned 30 on May 21st.  Steph planned a spectacular visit to Nashvegas to celebrate her big birthday.  She came into town on a Friday afternoon where she picked me up, and we drove south to Lawrenceburg, Tennessee to spend the night with Argo.  I made Steph an awesome mix cd, titled "Steph & Da:  the UK years" with all of our favorite songs from college, so we jammed to that with the convertible top down on our drive.  I was fascinated to learn that the horrible cicadas that plagued Middle Tennessee at this time did not inhabit Lawrenceburg, and so we were able to enjoy a festive cookout at the house that night with several new friends. 

A funny street sign in Lawrenceburg- the corner of First and First

The Nexus of the Universe (you fellow Seinfeld fans will love this.)

Me, Steph & Argo with our "mascot," Dozier

On Saturday we drove downtown to yet another Nashville hotel to celebrate Steph's birthday. Likewise, this birthday hostess provided beverages for us to sip as we got dressed and ready before the limo picked us up. That's right, a limo. We had champagne during our ride around Nashville until it was time to make our dinner reservation at Sambuca. 

Here's to being "thirty, flirty, & thriving"

 "29 Until Further Notice"

Steph had these amazing cocktail napkins for us

One of the funniest things I thought about our dinner at Sambuca was that every single one of us ordered a pizza (except for Steph who got some kind of sea bass- not the mutated kind, though).  I wondered why we bothered to go to a swanky restaurant if all we wanted was pizza!  The live band sang happy birthday to Steph, and we obligingly sang along, much to the dissatisfaction of the other diners, I'm sure.

The former Sugar Shack Girls reunite

After dinner, we hit The Big Bang piano bar, and then Paradise Park on the LoBro strip.  (I love how two different weekends going out in Nashville can be two totally different scenes.)  As much fun as the evening was, I was ready to call it a night, and ready to see my little guy the next day.

These two ladies are as smart and witty as they come.  I guess that's why they were wise to befriend yours truly.  We sassy ladies tend to move in packs, you know.  MA and Steph are each well-versed in planning spectacular shindigs, and so I am thankful to have taken part in two amazing weekends celebrating their fabulosity.