Week in Review

To say that “week in review” has taken a back seat lately is an understatement! I feel like I’m always saying this, but this has been the busiest few months. At what point will things settle down? I’m not sure, but as tired as I am, I don’t mind being busy! November is here and I’m already feeling like the holidays are slipping through my fingers, I do need to try and  take a few minutes to just sit an enjoy this season. 

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This past week was a wild one. The Alumni House is SO close to being done…and yet every time I say that I look at the lingering to-do list and feel like it might never get done. lol! John and I spent the weekend moving things in…I had too many big things to move that wouldn’t fit in the car. Thank goodness for quick Home Depot truck rentals!

While we moved stuff in, the kids had a fun time at Frightmares at Lagoon with friends. I seriously felt like I totally missed out on Halloween this year with all the craziness going on.

There were a few hiccups this week as I was hurrying to get things put back together at the house so the kids could stay there while John and I were traveling for work.

Appliances went in…well sort of, we may have to tear out a wall to get the fridge doors to open…awesome. Finish electrical got going, the fireplace was installed, touch up painting inside and exterior painting outside started. Finish plumbing went in, the stairs were worked on, gutter people were secured, a chimney cap was selected, stair railing is now being constructed, and a tree trimmer started work on cutting down the HUGE cypress in the backyard. Whoa.

A couple of the things that went awry seem like a big deal to me right now because I am tired and kind of having a hard time sleeping…but I have to keep reminding myself that they will get fixed, I know it in the long run, but right now I’m kind of at my wits end and feeling STRESSED!! I spent so much of the week at the house with no electricity, no heat (and it was 30 degrees inside!), no running water and an air mattress. Fun times!! Remodeling a house is so glamorous! 😉 Here’s how I was feeling on day 3 of little sleep, freezing and doing nothing but cleaning ALL Day Long! lol! This was my Halloween costume…zombie. 😉

Ash was working hard on Halloween, making 12 dozen cupcakes for John’s office party. She is such a hard worker! She stays up late and wakes up super early to get everything done and delivered. She amazes me with her dedication and work ethic at such a young age.  She even had time to dress up and make some extra special cupcakes. 😉

Stressed spelled backwards is desserts, and let’s just say I ate more than my fair share of dessert this week while John and I were away. Have you ever been to Nashville? I hadn’t and I’ve been dying to go check it out. Lucky for me, John’s work meetings were were there this past week (I REALLY needed a few days away from the house!) and let’s just say I may have found one of my favorite new cities.

Nashville is SO fun!!! And the food is to die for!!! Literally so much good food. On every corner. It’s crazy. The conference was at the Opryland Hotel and WOW! What a cool place! It was a sight to see for sure!

While John was in meetings I was with some of the women from work and visited Franklin, TN to check out their cute little downtown shopping district. It was darling. Along with tons of good food there is lots of great shopping in Nashville too!

Thursday night we were treated to a surprise concert by Dan and Shay for our group at Ole red, Blake Shelton’s place on Broadway which is the main drag downtown. That was really neat to have a concert for our relatively small group. 

Friday John had a few hours so we went with some fun friends from work to lunch in Brentwood and then over to the 12th South area. Another super fun shopping/dining district. 

Saturday we met with another couple from work for lunch at a cute place called Joyland…more biscuits!! YUM!

After lunch, we checked into The Conrad for the rest of the trip. It was SUCH a nice hotel in a GREAT location! After checking in we wandered over to Vanderbilt to check out the campus (always one of our favorite activities when we travel to cities with well known schools) and headed over to see the festivities at the Vandy/Auburn football game.

Let’s just say that Auburn fans travel well. You would have thought it was a home game in Auburn. 😉 We headed back to the hotel, had some sodas and then ended up staying in a lot of Saturday afternoon and watching football. It was nice to kind of decompress after several days of being in meetings and with lots of people. 

If you are looking for a place to stay in Nashville, I HIGHLY recommend The Conrad. It is very new, very beautiful and the service was impeccable. They are situated right on Broadway about a half mile from Vanderbilt and a little less than a mile from all the action on the wild end of Broadway. The convention center is a quick walk, as is Bridgestone arena. The hotel will happily shuttle you to any of those places too in a nice courtesy car. 

The lobby has live music in the evenings and yummy snacks and drinks. 

I don’t know if all rooms look like this or if we just lucked out, but our room was big with a sofa and seating area, along with a table, king bed, and HUGE bathroom. Super nice!!! We had great views too.

Saturday night we grabbed one last fantastic meal, this time BBQ at a cute place back in that 12th South District. It was SO good. 

While I was gone Ash had the opportunity to work at Pinner’s Conference with a friend of hers that does the cutest gingerbread houses. She had a booth and Ashley went to work for her. It was a great experience. She got to see how everything works, meet lots of new people and make connections to help grow her little business and just have a great time overall. It was a lot of hard work but she LOVED it. 

Whew. I am looking forward to another very full week getting as many more things wrapped up at the house as possible, hopefully fixing the things that need fixing without hurting too much stuff that has already been installed, and planning for guests for Thanksgiving, shopping and prepping for Thanksgiving dinner, a quick upcoming trip to Kansas City, and then…Christmas.

Ok, now I need to go to sleep. HA! Just typing that all out has me feeling the pressure! 😉

I hope you have a WONDERFUL week!! Enjoy this time!! So many fun things are coming up!

Tammy

xoxo