Friday, April 19, 2013

foodie friday.

Guys, I have a new restaurant list. I was reading a Nashville magazine article about their favorite places to eat, and of course, now I need to try most, if not all, of them. Here are the new additions to the list:

1. City House
2. Margot Cafe
3. Anatolia Turkish Restaurant
4. Eastland Cafe
5. Firefly Grille
6. Marche
7. Mad Platter
8. Lockeland Table Community
9. Silo  CHECK! April 18, 2013
10. Urban Grub
11. Tin Angel
12. The Yellow Porch
13. Mack and Kate's
14. Martin's BBQ

As you can see, I already checked Silo off the list. Noms. I had their risotto and shared some buttercream mac and cheese with hot sauce. Oh my word is all I can say.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

end it movement.

I meant to share this on Tuesday because it was the END IT movement's big awareness day, but there were more than a few things going on with my family, so it slipped my mind. But because I think this is so important, I'll post it today.


27 million is 27 million too many. Share this. Spread the word. Help end modern day slavery.

Monday, April 8, 2013

music monday.

Happy Monday, guys! I hope you all are enjoying sunshine and warm weather like we've been having here lately. I have been listening to k.s. rhoads nonstop for the past few days driving around town. He just released a new album about a month ago, and it is GREAT. Give this song a listen and just try not to dance. Pretty much impossible. 


Monday, April 1, 2013

music monday.

Some music after a long break from posts. I'm kind of loving Josh Ritter and this is a song they've been playing on the radio here lately. Enjoy!


Monday, March 18, 2013

music monday.

A little happiness for this rainy, stormy Nashville day.


I got to see Jason Isbell at Mercy Lounge a few months ago, and I'm going to see Drive By Truckers at the ShakyKnees Festival in Atlanta in May!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

sunday, lazy sunday.


Some bits of this past week.


Ivey Cake cupcakes to cure some Monday blues. 


Random spurts of needing to be creative. 


Indian food at work for lunch. 


k.s. rhoads show on Friday. Most amazing thing ever. 


Serving Saturday painting the Dream Center with my favorite people in the world. 


Sunday morning chai tea. 


And pancakes. 


Encouragement for the week. Happy Sunday! 

sweet treats.

Some tasty treats for a foodie friday post. These the noms I've been snacking on for the past week.







Monday, February 25, 2013

music monday.

So I feel like the past music mondays have kind of a trend about them, but wait until I throw you this curveball.

Gospel choir music. I didn't grow up in the church, much less a church that sang gospel, so I had never even considered it until roomz played a song that got stuck in my head for an entire week. Nonstop. Warning: Don't press play unless you like rapping preachers.


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

small joys.

Here's what I've been up to lately!


Mimi, Caroline and I went to Silly Goose for lunch today. 


It was probably the most delicious thing I've had in awhile. Citrus Mint Ginger Green Tea is AMAZING. Looking for a copycat recipe right now. 


It was Dad's birthday on Monday, and I celebrated by posting one of my favorite photos ever. 





He is celebrating his birthday in Hawaii with Andrea and keeps sending me gorgeous pictures of sunsets and the ocean. I'm a little bit jealous.

I got to visit my sister and mom this weekend for Hannah's sorority's moms weekend. We painted pottery and did all sorts of fun things like shopping. =) 


Took this picture on the way back to Nashville on Sunday. Love those winter trees. 





Friday, February 15, 2013

nashville restaurant bucket list.

A couple of weeks ago, I made a list of all of the restaurants in Nashville I had never been to before but that came highly recommended by all of the foodies of the internets. I've actually managed to cross a few off the list since making it, and I have yet to be disappointed. So without further ado...

1. Nana Rosa
2. Monell's
3. Smiling Elephant
4. Taco Mamacita
5. Thai Phooket
6. Burger Up
7. Arnold's Country Kitchen
8. Jack's BBQ - CHECK! 2.5.13
9. Silly Goose - CHECK! 2.20.13
10. M.L. Rose - CHECK! 2.17.13
11. Patterson House
12. Gabby's Burgers - CHECK! 2.8.13
13. Kalamata's
14. Sky Blue Cafe
15. Athens Family Restaurant - CHECK! 2.25.13
16. Mas Tacos
17. Bombay Palace - CHECK! 2.15.13
18. I Dream of Weenie

Thursday, February 14, 2013

things i'm loving lately.

In no particular order...

1. The Phantom Tollbooth. Just finished reading it again for the first time since elementary school, and I loved loved loved it. Such a great book.

2. Volunteering with my small group. They are seriously some of the most amazing people in the whole world, and I love all the time I get to spend with them.

3. My sweet roomz. She is pretty much the greatest for about a billion reasons.

4. Phone chats with my little seester, HannahBanana. We've been talking every other day for the past few weeks, and I am loving it. We've gotten so much closer in the past couple of years, and I can't wait to spend some time with her this weekend!

5. Donuts. Seriously, I need to get my life and pump the brakes on this one. But they are so cute with the pink and red sprinkles for Valentine's Day!

6. Something Corporate. It's been playing in my car for the past week, and it brings back some pretty great junior high memories. Konstantine was on repeat one day this week the whole way to work.

a little love.



Monday, February 11, 2013

music monday.

Guys, I love this guy. He goes by Mashup-Germany, but his real name is Ben Stilller. That's right, just like the actor but with three L's. Haha.

Here's my favorite mashup of his. It's an older one, but so, so good.



Here's another great one:



Go listen to all of his others. I promise you won't be disappointed.




Wednesday, February 6, 2013

bits of happiness.

I've been slacking on the posts, but I thought I'd share some of the pieces of my life from this past week.


Some Valentine's Day love in donut form. 


The most amazing smelling candle ever from Serendipity Emporium.


On/Off the Wall exhibit at Cumberland Art Gallery.


Charlie came to visit this weekend (yay!) and we had a wine and paint night at the apartment.


The Zooperbowl was on Sunday! I love frogs. 


Love these people more than words can say. 


Charlie and I went back to our favorite Vanderbilt dining option, The Pub! I've missed you, Southern Chicken Wrap and PubFries. Noms. 

I hope you all are having an amazing week! 

Monday, January 28, 2013

music monday.

I've been obsessed with this song. All day, every day. Three different versions and they are all amazing.




Enjoy!

Friday, January 25, 2013

paper heart DIY.

I needed something crafty to do tonight, so when I came upon these cute paper hearts, I knew it had to happen. I got the tutorial from Chalk White Arrow and used magazine paper instead of newspaper.

Here's how it turned out!



They are currently on the wall in my bedroom. Still trying to decide whether they need to be hanging or if I like them enough just up on the wall. What do you guys think? 

foodie friday - i love donuts.

My love affair with donuts has always been out in the open. Nashville has spoiled me with Fox's Donut Den (where coincidentally I just was last night with a friend), but I had no idea what was in store for me at a little place called Peace, Love, and Little Donuts when I stumbled upon it earlier this week.

Pure heaven, that's what. It's in the Arcade off of 4th downtown, and I am in love. Apparently they have a few other locations around the country, but it was a whole new world of donut goodness for me.

I ended up getting the Tree Hugger donut and a chocolate pretzel donut. The friend I was with got a Maple Bacon and an M&M donut. They were all delicious. I was nervous about bacon on a donut, but whoa, it blew my mind. My sweet tooth was verrrrry happy, needless to say.





Monday, January 21, 2013

late january resolutions.

1. More reading, less internet time.
2. More letter writing, less facebook messaging.
3. More telephone calls, fewer text messages.

Also, a few bits of happiness for today.


Nostalgia with Charlie, wishing we could go back to Italy and eat some delicious food. 


I am loving my TOMS today. And how much they clash with everything. 

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Friday, January 18, 2013

foodie friday.

Happy Friday! Everyone's favorite day of the week. Roomz and I send each other a fridayface snapchat  on Fridays and they are usually pretty fantastic.

I thought I'd start doing something food related on Fridays because let's face it, I'm a pretty big fan of food. I also want to start trying out new recipes and cooking/baking more at home. So hopefully this will turn into a regular thing with recipes, restaurant recommendations, etc.

So to start, I'm going to be completely unoriginal and do a green smoothie post. Woo woo! I'll admit, the color sometimes throws me off, but they are pretty dang delicious. Here's one I threw together this morning.


Grab some strawberries, a banana, a big handful of spinach, and some oats. Chop them up and throw them into the blender. 


I also added a drizzle of honey because I'm obsessed with it. It goes in everything these days. Blend it all up and...


Ta-da! 

I've experimented with a few different fruits and greens and they've pretty much all been delicious, except for one fluke with peanut butter that I didn't love. Try 'em out! 

Have a fantastic Friday!




Wednesday, January 16, 2013

tiny blessings.

It was an incredibly good Wednesday. Normally, Wednesdays kind of get on my nerves. You're halfway through the week and you're tired and just wanting it to be Friday. But today was good in so many unexpected ways.
I've started volunteering at Sophia's Heart on Monday and Wednesday mornings, which means waking up early but also getting to cuddle sweet babies. Sophia's Heart is an organization that is in both Milwaukee and Nashville. The Nashville branch serves as a homeless shelter for single women and families and offers a transitional housing program as well as different classes to help prepare the residents for life after they leave the shelter. My favorite thing about it is that there are so many adorable kids who are living here. And I get to go play with them and watch movies and color twice a week!



These sweet sisters were the only ones today, and we watched The Little Mermaid and played with my phone camera. 


She loves taking selfies. 

After hanging out with these cuties for a few hours, I went home and got to take a short nap before heading to work. I love naps. It turns out that the 11 year old I nanny (we'll call him A) was going to be at a friend's house until 6, so I spent the afternoon at their home chopping vegetables, doing laundry, ironing, and taking down Christmas decorations. I never used to like doing any of these things before this year, but something about being able to zone out and just complete repetitive tasks is so relaxing. I was in such a good mood when I went to pick A up. On the way home, he was singing along to the radio, which always melts my heart a little. One of my favorite things about him is that he knows all the words to every rap that comes on...we're kindred spirits that way. 

I headed home shortly after and decided I needed a run. I hadn't been running at all since being home for Christmas, and it felt so good! And now I'm cuddled up in bed about to read for a bit. I got a chance to visit the library on the way home and picked up a few new books and some that I've read before but wanted to read again. So pumped.  

"A heart at peace gives life to the body."
- Proverbs 14:30



Tuesday, January 15, 2013

ice, ice, baby.

Oh, weathermen. I'm kind of sad your predictions didn't actually come true. Nashville was supposed to be a sheet of ice by this time, but so far, we've only seen rain. However, the supposed ice-pocalypse had quite a few positive aspects to it. First and foremost, I didn't have to work today! My boss called right before all the craziness was supposed to begin and said she'd feel safer if I stayed at home, so I climbed back into bed and waited for Mimi to get home from work. And then we made a supply run, which included curly fries, soda, cookies, and candy, of course. Everything two girls need to ride out an ice storm. Never mind the fact that we had absolutely no groceries in the apartment.


Jeff Wyler sent me thank you cookies for leasing my car. They were chilling at the post office, so of course we had to go pick them up. 

Then we watched a movie with the worst character development I've probably ever seen in my life. Thank you, Netflix. Then we jammed...to this:


So thankful that roomz appreciates the finer aspects of music like I do. 


And then things got glittery. Which was about the only place things could go from there. 

So thank you, fake ice storm, for making my day as wonderful as it could have possibly been.

"This is the day that the Lord has made; 
Let us rejoice and be glad in it."
- Psalm 118:24


Monday, January 14, 2013

music monday.

I've been a fan of Matthew Perryman Jones for awhile, but his new song with Mindy Smith is UH-MAY-ZING. Mimi played it for me tonight as we drove to dinner and I fell in love instantly. Everything he does is pretty much incredible. Pure music genius. 


Sunday, January 13, 2013

a week full of joy.

I've been feeling more awake this week, and no, it's not the result of some crazy vitamin supplement or exercising more. It was simply a conscious decision to be more aware. To read more. To focus on all of the little blessings that come with being alive. So here's a summary of my week.


Winter trees. My roommate, Mimi, is obsessed with them, and ever since she mentioned her love of them to me, I have fallen in love too. There were a few blustery, winter days this week, and the trees were so perfect on those days. 


Draw on tattoos. Mimi and I have talked about getting tattoos forever. The permanency is a little scary, but she got this cute little kit from her parents for Christmas, and we decided to test out some ideas we had. 



Friday was absolutely beautiful. Certainly an unusually warm January day, but the winter blues were getting to me a little bit, so it was a very welcome surprise. 


Mexican food at Cantina Laredo. I went to dinner with my friends Alexis and Heather, mostly to try this skillet apple pie they were raving about. It was pretty delicious. And so was the guacamole. I'm a sucker for anything Mexican. 


After volunteering Saturday morning with my favorite small group in the world, I called Alexis and asked if I could nap at her house for a bit because I was exhausted. She is wonderful and said of course without even thinking I was weird. And then when I woke up, she had made double chocolate chip cookies. Talk about a great friend. 

I'm off to church in a bit, and I can't wait to see all of the amazing people there. I love, love, love my small group and am always so excited to get to spend Sunday evenings with them. I'm leading group this week because our fearless leaders, Greg and Katy, are both at a show tonight, so I'm a teensy bit nervous, but so glad for the opportunity. Wish me luck! 



"Be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18