Nashville Shopping Trip = Exhaustion

Okay faithful blog readers, I hope I don't disappoint you but I'm too tired to write much tonight. I've had a fun and crazy weekend. We're all tired here. Jason, the girls, and especially me.

I left on Friday morning with my playgroup mom friends, Deb, Holly, and Leslie for a 2 night shopping trip to Nashville, Tennessee. We met our friend Kate there since she now lives in Tennessee. So there were five of us gals livin' la vida loca in Nashville. We shopped and we shopped and we shopped. I got most of my Christmas shopping done now.

We stayed the first night at this super nice hotel in Franklin. It was such a nice area! We ate at some great restaurants there (J. Anderson's, Buca di Beppo's, and P.F. Chang's). Deee-lish!! We spent three hours in T.J. Maxx and found some great deals! It was just so much fun being with the girls and shopping without having to rush. Loved it! On Saturday we went the best mall EVER!!!! It was the Coolsprings Galleria in Franklin. I highly recommend it.

On Saturday evening we checked into our next hotel, the Hampton Inn and Suites Downtown Nashville. Oh my gosh!! It was fabulous! We had a junior suite and it was so nice. One of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed at. We decided to walk downtown and check out some live music and get something to eat next.

I was just sure that we were going to meet someone famous and WE DID!!! While we were out on the sidewalk on Broadway we ran into Gretchen Wilson and Cowboy Troy. They were sooo nice! We had our picture taken with them. That was the highlight of the trip for me. I told Gretchen that we were from Southern Illinois too. She was very friendly and just overall very cool. Cowboy Troy even took a pic of all of us together with his camera. I checked his twitter page today and he twitpic'd us! So if you're on twitter, become a fan of cowboytroy and check us out! I'll try to post some pics on the blog in the next few days but my camera battery went dead Saturday so I'll have to swipe some pics from Holly to put on here.

It was interesting how signs of home kept following us around Nashville. We were in a packed "honky-tonk" listening to this really awesome guy who will probably be on CMT one day and ran into my friend Mandy and her husband who were in town celebrating their 10th anniversary. I knew she was in the city but I never dreamed I would actually run into her. Then the next place we went to had "So. Ill" written on the bathroom toilet paper dispenser when I went to the ladies room. We left there and went dancing at the next place and there was this cool bluegrass-ish/old-fashioned band playing. They said "You've probably never heard of this song but it's about a place called Effingham". Then they sang the "Effingham Song" that they play on the Effingham radio station. I sang along and knew most of the words. The lead singer stopped and started talking to us and couldn't hardly believe that we were from that area. He said "this one goes out to the girls from Effingham!" What are the odds that we would be in that particular place at the same time that he sang that song? Then we saw Gretchen who is from Southern Illinois. And then at the last place we went to, there was this big sign on the wall that said "Alton Belle Casino". Strange. We had a lot of fun. That is for sure.

It was so good to see Jason and the girls when I got home though. I missed them! And they missed me! Carissa was a little standoffish when I got home but she got over it pretty quick. Maleah couldn't quit hugging and kissing me. She is a big time mama's girl and she needed me back. How blessed am I to have so much love in my life?

If I wasn't about to fall asleep I might have more to say. But my own bed and my own pillow are calling my name. Forgive any spelling and/or grammatical errors. I'm too tired to care. Pictures soon, I promise. : )