Farewell Nashville

I keep saying it, but I just can’t believe how fast this summer has gone by!

I spent Sunday on a farewell tour with Anne Elizabeth, one of the sweetest people I have ever met.  She picked me up and we went to Urban Grub down in 12South for brunch.

French Toast @ Urban Grub

Then we were off to the Arrington Vineyards for a wine tasting.  The vineyard is owned by Kix Brooks!  The wine was fantastic, but nothing could beat the views.

Arrington Vineyards

Anne had seriously thought of everything that I couldn’t leave Nashville without seeing. Next we went to the Historic Downtown Franklin.  The homes were so gorgeous, I just love little areas that have been preserved like that and there seem to be a lot in Tennessee!

Downtown Franklin

Next stop was a master planned community, like Seaside near Destin, FL.  The community is built so that if you don’t want to you never have to leave.  They have doctors, dentists, grocery stores, a pool and clubhouse, and everything you could need right there!  Such a neat idea, and the homes were absolutely gorgeous!

Westhaven

So many people had told me about the Loveless cafe, but I knew it was a little ways out of Nashville, and everything I read talked about how long the wait was to dine there.  So I never ventured down there, until Sunday!  We saw the pretty Natchez Trace Bridge and then made a pitstop at the Loveless Cafe!

Loveless Cafe

We stayed busy, as I’m sure you are thinking right now…. Anne knows how much I love the show Nashville, so we went by the country club and she pointed out the house that is used as Rayna’s house on the show, and also her father’s house!  I just think it’s so awesome that the whole show is filmed in Nashville!

Rayna’s Gate

And as if the day hadn’t already been absolutely awesome, our next stop was a Jana Kramer concert.  I joked on our way over that I bet Brantley Gilbert would be there too, since they’re engaged.  We hadn’t been there ten minutes and were walking around… turned a corner and there they both were just talking!  It was so cute he sat right beside the stage just bobbing his head through her whole concert!

Jana Kramer

Jana Kramer concert

The perfect ending to the perfect farewell tour of Nashville was dinner at Virago.  The best view of the city with the sweetest Nashvillian ever!

Nashville

With Anne!

So thankful to have met her and spent this wonderful day saying goodbye to Nashville.  Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me on this journey, it’s definitely been a summer I will never forget!

For the last time….
From Nashville,
Shelby

Whirlwind

Saturday it hit me that this amazing experience is almost over.  I have 3 days left at my internship, a visit from my grandparents, a job shadow down in Alabama… then it’s all over.  How could this have happened so fast?  I took my workout outside to soak in every second of this city that I could.

Sunday morning was spent at Barry’s Bootcamp, I’m really going to miss that place.  It’s truly a workout like no other.  Then it was time to spiff up the apartment before my Mema and Pop arrived!  Once they got here we took a look around downtown and then it was off to bed early for me.

Monday after interning we went to the American Picker’s store, had lunch at The Pharmacy, and then to the country music hall of fame!

American Pickers

Boots, boots, boots

With another day of interning done, Tuesday I squeezed in another workout at Barry’s then met Mema and Pop for lunch at Demo’s.  Great italian downtown!  Then we walked around again downtown in some of the shops before relaxing at Tootsie’s for a while!

Mema & Pop

Our favorite, Nicole Rayne

Wednesday, was my last day at News 2 interning.  I can’t believe how fast it’s gone by! I’ll be sharing my video soon, so be watching my Facebook!  Mema, Pop, and I had lunch at Merchant’s mmmmmm and dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe.  I guess we do a lot of eating!

News 2 This Morning

Hard Rock Cafe

Thursday it was time for Mema and Pop to head to their next stop: Branson.  And for me to head to Birmingham!  I enjoyed having them in town so very much.  My drive was about 3 hours long and then it was time to explore!  I had lunch at Dreamland BBQ (ohhhh my goooodnes) did a little shopping, went to the botanical gardens, the Peanut depot, and the Vulcan all before heading downtown to my historic hotel, The Tutwiler. Everything was so gorgeous!

Dreamland BBQ

Botanical Gardens

View from the Vulcan

Downtown Birmingham

Maybe you’re wondering why I was in Birmingham… a really good reason, I promise.  Friday I job shadowed at ABC 33/40 with James Spann. It was the perfect day.  I arrived around 10:30 and got to meet the morning and the weekend meteorologists.  Watched the 11AM newscast, went out to lunch with one of the interns that was from Georgia, and then James arrived shortly after!  I had such a blast talking with him.  He was very much like my dad, playing pranks on people, cutting up and having a great time the whole evening.  He had some awesome advice for my future, as well as some of the most encouraging comments I have ever received.  I’m so thankful to have him as a reference, and am so looking forward to what the future holds.

The James Spann

From Nashville,
Shelby

America’s Birthday Week

At work this week I spent quite a bit of time running the prompter for our shows.  The guy who usually does it, Hunter, got married last week so he is honeymooning!  I also of course got to practice a lot.  Our morning anchor stayed late with me Tuesday morning and recorded some things with me for my tape which was a lot of fun.

I also found out that Ginger Zee (Good Morning America) and Stephanie Abrams (The Weather Channel) work out at the same bootcamp as I do!  This was pretty cool!

Barry’s Bootcamp Rocks

For the first half of the week, I worked in the mornings and worked out in the evenings then went to bed early… as usual!

Nashville is gorgeous

On the 4th of July I went into work for a little bit and recorded a few things.  Then I just drove around for a long time.  It was pouring down rain most of the day so I wasn’t real sure what to do.  I drove around admiring the gorgeous homes, did a little shopping (AKA splurged on some new workout gear) and then I went and saw a movie.  You get a few weird looks as a 20-something by yourself when you walk into Monsters University, but I LOVE Disney movies.  And as I sat watching the previews thinking about how everyone probably thought I was weird for being there, I realized why I love Disney movies.  They are always positive, uplifting, and have a wonderful message.  Monsters U was hilariously accurate about how college life is and was so encouraging.  I love movies that motivate you to believe in yourself.  That’s what our kiddos need to be watching (I’m still a kiddo, right?)

After the movie I came back to my apartment and could not figure out what to do.  The Nashville fireworks have been ranked one of the top shows in all of the U.S.A.  But it had been raining all day, who knew if it would stop long enough.  I finally ended up putting some jeans and a ball cap on and walked down to the riverfront just to see what was going on.  It was still slightly raining, but I mean it’s a once a year event… and I did not want to miss out.  Last week when my family was in town we met a wonderful girl who is very in touch in Nashville.  She had told me to call her and she might could get me into the VIP areas of the celebrations.  And she delivered!  I have no idea how many people were in downtown Nashville, thousands and thousands, it was amazing.  With her special passes we were able to stand front row (in front of the fence!) for The Band Perry’s performance.  And then have drinks/food/ and the best view of the firework display!  It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Thank you SO much Anne Elizabeth!

The Band Perry

Fireworks

So much fun!

Friday morning when I woke up it wasn’t raining!! That sounds silly, but I was so excited!  I went over to East Nashville to do a little exploring.  They claim it’s the “hipster” part of town. I had lunch at The Pharmacy, and man was it yummy.  The restaurant had tons of outdoor seating, which is where I opted to sit, the weather was amazing.  Cloudy, about 70 degrees and no wind.  All of the food was locally grown, including the beef.  To be honest, I don’t really know what “hipster” means, but if it means living in a part of town where there are lots of old restored homes and restaurants that serve all local foods…. count me in!

Creamsicle

Yummy Local Burger and Fries

Family Comes To Town!

Last week I was blessed to have family and friends visit me in Nashville.  My parents and brother and sis-in-law all flew in on Thursday!  After the conference wrapped up Thursday evening Olivia and I went to dinner with mom and dad at a lovely restaurant downtown, Merchant’s.  Then we hungout at Dad’s favorite Tootsie’s of course.

Merchant’s dessert is amazing.

Scott Collier

 

Friday, Olivia had to fly home… So we did a little drive thru around Vanderbilt and midtown then took her to the airport.  Once we got back to my apartment our friends, the Thompson’s had made it to town too!  I took all the girls down to the farmer’s market to show off what I talk about so much!  We got some fresh peaches and stocked back up on the amazing strawberry jelly!  We all had dinner at a little steakhouse downtown, Demo’s, and it was fantastic.  I had the lasagna… YUMM!

Well… My parents have been coming to Nashville for a long time, and they always griped because they said there was nowhere good to eat.  My dad is now in LOVE with Merchant’s we had it again on Saturday for lunch so Casey and Sara could join us!  We spent the majority of the day hanging out at Tootsie’s listening to the wonderful live music.  They truly do have the best music in town!

Love you, Brother!

Love you, Daddy!

Duck Tots at Merchant’s

Nicole is our favorite Tootsie’s girl!

Sunday was relaxing waking up to my dad cooking breakfast and then just hanging out at my apartment.  We drove out to Old Hickory Lake and looked around, it’s gorgeous.  The water is so clear.  Then it was off to bed early to get ready for the work week!

My parents flew home Monday morning.

So so thankful to have had visitors!  Loved it so much!

Nashville for a few more weeks,
Shelby

CMA Fest

What a week, what a week!

CMA Fest… One of the biggest weeks in country music.  And I live 2 blocks from it. What a dream come true.

Monday the city was already buzzing with excitement.  Stages were being set up all over downtown and streets were already blocked off.

Tuesday

When I got home from work at 10AM my boyfriend, Chance, was here waiting on me!  I was so excited to get to share this week with him!  We walked around downtown soaking in all of the scenes.  We got to see a friend play here in Nashville, The Chance Anderson Band.  Then when we left there I spontaneously asked a scalper how much tickets for the CMT awards show were.  After chatting with him for a while Chance and I were able to score tickets!!!  I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t even realize you could get tickets to that show to be honest.  Overwhelmed with excitement we continued walking around… what else could we find?  The free daytime concerts weren’t supposed to start until Wednesday afternoon from what we had found online.  But that was definitely wrong. We were able to see Josh Thompson and Jana Kramer play the very first night!

We got tickets!!!

Wednesday

After work, I had to have a nap.  But then it was back to Lower Broadway for more music.  Joe Diffie was scheduled to come on around 3:30, but the stage he was playing on was extremely behind.  While waiting for him to take the stage we did some exploring and ran into one of my favorite artists, Chase Rice.  We didn’t get to stay for all of Joe’s show because they were so behind we had to leave to get ready for the CMT Awards show.  The show was fantastic.  Seats were great and the music was phenomenal!  Still can’t believe we got to experience that. When we were walking out of the stadium we heard someone on a mic… we look up… and Ronnie Dunn is debuting his new single from the upstairs of Ripey’s performing for everyone walking out of the concert.  It was so cool!

Chase Rice

CMT Awards

Thursday

After work this morning we again went walking around downtown.  We were able to catch a David Lee Murphy concert… amazing.  But then I was needing yet another nap.  (Waking up for a morning show is tough work.)  As many of you know, I spend a lot of time on social media.  Well one of the radio stations here in Nashville had tweeted while we were out downtown saying “Who wants to see a private Gloriana concert?”  Me… being me… tweeted them back saying “Me!!!! #pickme”  Well when I woke up from my nap and checked my twitter… they had done just that!  I got VIP tickets to a private Gloriana concert with meet and greet passes!  It was so crazy.  Our seats were literally the closest chairs to the stage, and the band was very friendly!  Thanks WSIX!

WSIX

Gloriana

Friday

Last night our friends Jared and Allison got to town so today we had lots to show them!  We woke up relatively early and  went to Broadway for a Chase Rice performance… I think they’re all as big of fans as I am now.  PS if you haven’t heard of him, do a quick YouTube or iTunes search.  You won’t regret it!  After his concert we were just hanging around at the Bridgestone arena taking in the scene.  People were lining up for another private concert and we took a chance and asked one of the workers if they thought there would be any extra tickets.  It was our lucky day… again!  There just so happened to be exactly enough tickets for us to go to the Sirius XM Parmalee superfan concert!  Less than 50 people in the room and we somehow got to be in there!  It was fantastic, the boys quite possibly sound better live than they do on the radio!   After the concert we were all starving.  So we went down to the Gulch to Whiskey Kitchen for lunch.  They had all the windows in the restaurant open and while we were eating some light showers moved through the area.  It was gorgeous.  Then we did a little driving around to show my friends where I hangout in Nashville.  And of course went to Las Paletas for a popsicle.  YUM!  This evening we went to the Hard Rock Cafe and sat on the patio for dinner.  Soaking up all the live music and craziness of CMA Fest.  Then it was off to Tootsie’s.  It was a packed house, we snuck in the back door!  It was a fantastic day!

Chase Rice

Parmalee

Saturday

We grabbed breakfast at a local coffee shop called Dunn Brothers then it was back to the riverfront stage for more music.  We saw Eric Paslay, Sunny Sweeny (she’s hilarious), and Corey Smith!  It was another long day of music and today it was sunny.. and quite hot!  We went out for dinner at Honky Tonk Central for more music.  After dinner it was time to walk around… take in the scene from the Shelby St Bridge and explore the candy stores!  We ended up at The Stage for the rest of the night… which is where Luke Bryan performed at during the CMT Awards.  No celebrity sightings for us, however.

Riverfront Stage

Sweet friends

Nashville

Sunday

Chance left early early this morning to head back to Oklahoma.  Which left me to my normal workout routine and getting ready for the next week.  Jared and Allison spent the day exploring then headed home as well.

I guess it’s back to normal in Nashville!

From Tennessee,
Shelby