LP Field || Pure Awesomeness

**Read Part 1 Here** 

 

Later Thursday evening my dad and sister met up with Brett and me in Nashville for the best part of CMA - the LP Field concerts!  I had butterflies the whole walk over the bridge and up to our seats.  I was soooooo excited!

 

I can't remember how it happened, but I handed a complete stranger my new camera so we could have a group photo with all 4 of us.  Me.  Miss "I'm the only one allowed to touch this camera".  I have no clue why - blame the butterflies - but I'm really glad to have this photo!  One of the first things I learned from a photography instructor was that you need to learn how find balance between getting that "special photo" and the risk of not wanting to damage your camera.  Her example involved a rainy night in Italy, but mine seemed equally as important.  :)   Either way, our stranger did an awesome job taking this photo and my camera is still in one piece.

 

Oh Nashville... you are BEAUTIFUL!

 



 

 

It was a *very* last minute decision to go to CMA Fest.... and our seats say it all... we were WAYYY up high!   It was really hard to get good photos, so I'm glad the mega screen was there!

 



Taylor ended her set singing the first verse of her song "Tim McGraw".... then she called Tim McGraw out on stage with her to sing Highway Don't Care - The. Crowd. Went. Wild.!!!!  (Including me ;-) )  If you look reallllllly close you can see Tim on the stage...

 



And then she called out Keith Urban... annnnnd the crowd got even louder!  It was pretty EPIC!

 

Eric Church

 

 

Randy Travis

 

Ok, I have a confession - I didn't like Hunter Hayes before CMA.  To me he was just a country version of Justin Bieber.  Boy, was I wrong!  This guy is SUCH a true artist!  He put on a better show than Taylor and was one of my favorites from all 4 nights!  I'm definitely a fan now!

 



 

 

When Hunter sang "I Want Crazy" everyone stood up and started dancing.  The whole upper section started shaking and moving... fun? yes. scary? ohhh yes. ;-)



 

Lady Antebellum put on a very fun show!  It was really neat to be able to hear the "full versions" of the acoustic songs that we heard earlier at Fan Fair!



 

Don't forget to check back later this month for part 3!  Seriously... you won't want to miss it.

~~le

22

Saturday was my 22nd birthday, and yes, Taylor Swift's song "22" was on repeat until I couldn't possibly listen to it anymore. :)

 

The morning started off with a new tea blend called Paris (how perfect!!) that my sister brought back from her Indiana trip, and the best crepes I have ever tasted.

 



 

One of the hardest parts about being gluten intolerant is finding substitutes for old favorite recipes.  Crepes were always a favorite of mine but I never could find an *edible* gluten free recipe (they mostly tasted like cardboard).  That all changed when I made the Blackbird Bakery's recipe for the first time earlier this year - Best. Crepes. EVAH!  They are better than any crepe that I have have ever had.... seriously amazing.

 



My sister and I still kept up our old "sleep over" tradition.  Each of our birthdays we watch a favorite movie, eat a whole package of oreos (my all time favorite cookie), snack on extra birthday cake, and then paint our nails a "new crazy color" if we haven't fallen asleep yet.  This year we changed a few things up and had even more fun!

 

After throwing away several bottles of hideous nail polish from past sleepovers I decided to buy colors that I wouldn't mind using all throughout the year.  My whole world stopped when I found "my blue" color.  Scotch brand is tricky to put on, but you can't be picky with "natural" nail polish - it's just a little bit harder to work with.  Their colors are amazing though!

 



 

I have a confession to make - my cake didn't make it to my birthday.  The mistake was that I made it a week in advance.  Homemade coffee ice cream, gluten free chocolate cake and mocha frosting doesn't last long around here.  At all.



 

We ended up getting out an old exercise dance game, giving ourselves facials, painting our nails and totally pampering each other until about 2am.  Oh, and we couldn't stop laughing the whole time. :)



 

I have some AWESOME news that I can't wait to share later on this week!!

 

Happy Tuesday

~~ le

The One Thing To Do In Nashville

I had lived in San Antonio, TX my whole life - 18 years to be exact.  I didn't own a pair of cowgirl boots, didn't like country music (AT ALL - it was just a bunch of old, low-voiced guys yodeling... right?), and only had 1 dog - and as I later found out, he is a VERY city "sissy" dog.  My life was full of years of competitive tennis, lots of afternoons rollerblading (even after hours on the tennis court), Piano, Violin and Harp lessons, and I took several years of ballet when I was younger.  I wouldn't change any of it or have it any other way.

I'm still a complete computer geek, Pride and Prejudice reader (but you could tell that by the way I named my dog), old 1940's movie watcher, tea party attender.... and *finally* as of 3 years ago a COMPLETE COUNTRY FREAK.

It took me listening to a country song that had accidentally synced to my *pink* ipod for me to realize how much I loved it - it was on of Keith Urban's.  I don't know if it was because he is an Aussie, or just because it was a 14 hour car ride and I was bored, but I listened to that song allll the way through - and repeated it at least 5 times.

I can't say it was only because of that one song, or the move to TN, but since then, I've turned into a creek wading, stream splashing, chicken, duck, horse, cat and more dogs owning, and "can't get enough of country music" listening country gal.  So it's pretty obvious that other than the CMA Music Fest and the Grand Ol' Opry, the best thing to do in Nashville, TN is go to the Country Music Hall Of Fame Museum.  So I did.  ;-)

 

 

It starts wayyyyyyy back when with some really neat video footage.

 

They had a special Taylor Swift Speak Now exhibit when I went, and the costumes were so beautiful!

 

....they have loads of instruments including Elvis's golden piano...

 

Of course, my favorite Country artist...... Thanks Brett for pointing this out to me - I missed it the first time! :o

 



 

 

Right across the street from the Museum is the Walk Of Fame - I found two of my favorite artists' stars  :)  For those of you who don't know, Steven Curtis Chapman is the founder of Show Hope and an AHHHMAZING singer/songwriter!  He is definitely my favorite Christian singer - EVER.