I'm not bashful, I'm from Nashville.

So even though I love Austin and proudly consider myself a true Texan, I decided to pack up my teasing combs and curling irons and head to Music City. (That's Nashville, TN for you non-natives.) Why Nashville? Well that's a story that begins in the Summer of 2010, my first summer of marriage and "The Road Trip" when my husband and I and our dog Shelby drove all around this great country to explore the sights and extend our honeymoon.

As we cruised down from West Virginia, we stopped over at Loretta Lynn's place for a bit of a souvenir overload. Then we barreled down the highway through a huge thunderstorm straight to Downtown Nashville. We stayed at the Hermitage, a historic hotel and probably the most beautiful place I've ever stayed, and enjoyed a few blissful nights on the town. Even then I think we knew that we were Nashville-bound.

It took about a year to make the arrangements, find a place, and say goodbye to our family, but it's been a beautiful transition. First off, Nashville and Austin are a lot alike. Besides the abundant music scene, there is a huge appreciation for local business and culture. Nashville keeps up with Austin's "weirdness" with its farmer's markets, local restaurants - sometimes known as "Meat 'N Threes (or Fours)" - and even local cultural phenomenon like "Hate Life Thursdays," a weekly meet-up at Dino's, home of Nashville's best burger and of a burgeoning hipster scene, where the classic tracks from Ben Swank of Third Man Records carry the crowd into another Friday hangover. These gatherings seem to act as the pulse of the city, and much like in Austin, it's where the lines between people become shorter and shorter, and it begins to feel like a small town.
 

Just like that we're home. Bring on the big hair and say it loud and proud: There's no such thing as natural beauty! I hope there will be some major overhaul on a mild mannered bridesmaid in the very near future. I'm thinking of something like this...