Since I had a four day weekend this week (I’m always free on Fridays, and I don’t have my field placement on Monday since it’s Columbus Day and the schools are out), James and I decided to book a last minute trip to celebrate our wedding anniversary (it will be 2 years on Tuesday!). It was a toss up between Gatlinburg, TN and Nashville, TN, and we decided to choose Nashville because it requires less driving time and we’ve been to Gatlinburg many more times. We left Friday morning, and arrived here around noon (and gained an hour since they are in a different time zone). I forgot my camera, which made me totally angry with myself!

We first visited the Belmont Mansion, a plantation mansion owned by a wealthy woman in the 1800’s. It is now in the middle of Belmont College, and the house holds a lot of history. It was a beautiful home. It began raining as we finished our tour, so we had to run to the car. By the time we reached downtown, it had luckily stopped. We had lunch at B.B. King’s Blues Cafe. James had wanted to eat there last year but we never found the time. It was delicious, and very reasonably priced. After lunch, we headed to check into our hotel, the Holiday Inn. It’s really nice, and we have a whirlpool tub in our room. The rest of the evening included a run to Target, dinner at KFC, and lounging in the room.

Saturday, we got up bright and early to get on the bus for the “Homes of the Stars” tour. We also did this tour last year, but we had a different driver this time, and saw a few different homes. I didn’t know Reese Witherspoon had a townhouse here in Nashville until yesterday! While on the tour, we passed by Riverfront Park where workers were putting together a stage on the water. Someone on the tour mentioned the stage was for Dierks Bentley’s performance taking place the following day. When we made it back to our hotel, I googled the concert and found out that for $20 a ticket, I could see Dierks, Eric Church, Darius Rucker, Heidi Newfield, Michelle Branch, and Wynonna Judd live!! We jumped on that deal! Plus, the performance is part of Dierks’ Miles & Music for Kids charity tour, so I’m glad that the proceeds go to the Children’s Miracle Network. We also made another Target run (I’m getting my fill since there’s no Target close to home ) for a blanket (grass seating) and a rain jacket (just in case). We also had a late lunch at Corky’s, an excellent BBQ place.

The rest of the evening was a repeated of Friday, with a lot lounging and watching TV.This is my weekend to take it easy, and I didn’t want to spend the entire time running around. Plus, I have discovered a lot of new shoes that I would like to continue watching, namely “The Biggest Loser” (yeah, this was my first time every watching this show…) and “The Last 10 Pounds”. This morning, we are relaxing a bit more before checking out and heading downtown for the concert, then it’s back to Georgia for us.

My vacation was very fun, but as always, way too short. I managed to enjoy the beach without getting sunburned so that’s always a plus. Even with dealing with taking antibiotics for a urinary tract infection (that caused nausea for about an hour each time I took it), I still had a lot of fun.

I want to blog about various things that happened while we were there, so here’s a easy to read, bulleted list!

• Saturday consisted of driving the 7 hours or so to get there. We arrived around 12:30pm, and checked into our condo. It was fairly nice, and was well equipped with a nice view from the balcony. The only complaint I have about the resort was the crappy elevators that messed up about 3 times in the 5 days we were there. That evening was mainly us resting in the condo, walking the beach, and scoping out the amenities. We had dinner from the pool side cafe there at the resort.
• Sunday was mostly a beach and pool day. We ate dinner in at the condo, as my parents found a great deal on seafood at the local Publix. We had crab legs, shrimp, crab cakes, and fries. It was SO yummy. We also played a couple rounds of Phase 10, and went out to play a couple rounds of mini-golf, which I lost horribly (at both Phase 10 and the golf!).
• Monday we went snorkeling over at Shell Island. We left from St. Andrews State Park by bus, and was taken to the dock where we loaded the boat to take us to the island. The water was crystal clear and free of seaweed there. My sister and I took underwater disposable cameras, and I hope we got some good shots of the random fish and sea urchins.
• Monday night, James and I took my brother and sister with us so my parents could have a “date night.” We had dinner at Sharky’s, which wasn’t that great and was a bit overpriced. We were tracked down by the waiter while in the gift shop, as he wanted to let us know he was offended by the low tip we left him. Yes, it was low ($4), but we didn’t receive that good of service! He took our order, brought of a pitcher of water (which everyone but my brother was drinking, and he didn’t get a refill), and brought us our check. Other than that, we never saw him. We spoke to the manager about the confrontation, and he apologized several times, told us that was unacceptable behavior, and didn’t seem surprised when we gave him the name of our waiter. After dinner, we hit up some various gift shops and stores, then went to Pineapple Willy’s to listen to a live reggae band.
• Tuesday, James and I went to Pier Park for some shopping. I got a few new outfits for my student teaching from Old Navy, as well as a new pair of dressy shoes from Famous Footwear. James got a hat from Aeropostale, and some running shoes at Famous Footwear. We had lunch at Guy Harvey’s Island Grill, which was good until I found a pink piece of chicken in my Caesar salad. I didn’t eat much more of it, and instead helped James finish his fries.
• Today we got up and went with my mom and sister to a couple of stores. We then loaded the car and headed out around 1pm (CST), stopping by Mellow Mushroom on the way out for lunch. It seemed to take so much longer to get home than it did to get down there! We made another stop in Atlanta for dinner at Panera Bread. Finally made it home around 9:30pm (EST).

I took a few photos while we were there, though not as many as I thought. You can view the entire set on Flickr.

It would be so much cooler if it were a jet plane! Getting there in 1-2 hours by plane sounds much better than 7-8 hours by car. But, hey, I’m headed to the beach, so I’m not complaining! I am hoping to be able to fit another blog post in before we leave, but with so many things to do in the next two days, I am not sure if that will happen. I’ll be taking my trusty laptop with me, so expect photos to be uploaded to my Flickr, and maybe even a post while we are vacationing.

Speaking of the rest of the week, it’s basically going to be filled with finishing up writing assignments before the pay deadline, laundry, straightening up the house, and packing. I’m hoping to fit in a pedicure before we leave, because I am horrible at painting my own toes.  Since I’ll be wearing flip flops every day next week, I want them to look cute. Plus, it feels good when they massage your feet!

I’ve been giving some thought to going back to school in August, and right now I’m still on the fence. I have reasons for wanting to go back, and reasons not to go back. I need to just weigh the pros and cons, and figure out which will best benefit me in the long run. I have a problem about thinking more about the present than the future, which led me to taking 7 years to get a 2 year Associate’s degree. I still have a month before classes start, so I’ve got some time to think about it. I may blog it all out in the future, but for now…I’m hitting the sack!