City | A Bit of Bees Knees

Dan and I hopped on a plane a few weeks ago to visit our friend Evan for his White Coat Ceremony. Evan just got into Pharmacy school and we’ve been dying to visit him…so this was our opportunity to support Ev and check out his new town. We had so much fun, eating, drinking and partying our way through the city!

^^^Taking-off from SNA our local John Wayne Airport. It had been raining all week – we flew above those grey clouds and burst into a gold n’ pink fluffy sunset. It’s fun to get a bird’s-eye view of your neighborhood. We even spotted our house!

We arrived in NASHVILLE! Poor Ev had to wait at the airport all evening…first picking up Dany and then us a few hours later. We all spent the night in his apartment and then woke up early the next day to explore the city, search for good coffee and peruse through antique shops.

Headquarters Coffee & Tea
4902 Charlotte Pike
Nashville, TN 37209
(615) 386-6757
It may be small, but this Charlotte Avenue shop acts as a caffeine oasis in the West Nashville coffee desert. It also offers baked goods from locals such as Dozen Bakery and Vegan Vee. The coffee is superb! Smooth as silk. I ordered a cortado and Dan got a honey latte. Both were fantastic.

Cool Stuff Weird Things
4900 Charlotte Pike
Nashville, TN 37209
(615) 460-1112
Coffee and antiquing…right up my alley! We stopped at Cool Stuff Weird Things to look at antiques and vintage items. They have lots of jewelry, signs, records and clothes. Dan found a funky plaid jacket. Score. It’s right next-door to Headquarters Coffee & Tea! You can grad a cup of joe and walk over to the vintage shop to be entertained while you sip.

Antique Archaeology
1300 Clinton St., Suite 130
(Marathon Village),
Nashville, TN 37203
Dan is obsessed with the American Picker’s TV show, so we had to stop at Antique Archaeology. Danny loves finding old things and making them useful again. You should see this man flip stuff on Craig’s List. It should be his job. Any who… this place is one of the locations where Mike Wolfe stores and sells some of his American Picker’s items. It’s located just a few blocks away from downtown Nashville, you can find them in the old Marathon Automobile car factory dated from the early 1900’s right along I-40.

The houses here are ri-dic-ul-ous. Huge, gorgeous houses on acres of land. Open lawns, friendly neighbors and trees for days! I would love to dig up this land and transplant it back at home. All of our friends and family can pick a house to live in 😉 wishful thinking. Ev drove us around a few beautiful neighborhoods so we could creep on the houses. Would it be weird if I knocked on a door and asked for a tour?

Later that evening we headed down to Broadway…because that’s what all the first timers in Nashville do. It’s like Vegas…but country themed and no gambling. Haha. The people watching is fantastic. At one point we saw a tractor pulling a trailer-full of boozed-up-bachelorettes and a few sidewalk squabbles between lovers. Perfect country music lyrics in the making…

Acme Feed & Seed
101 BROADWAY
NASHVILLE, TN 37201
615.915.0888
Way happenin’! It’s located towards the end of Boradway a 3 story – cocktail, culinary and music venue with an open rooftop bar. The first floor at Acme plays classic honkytonk. The second floor has a lounge and bar and the third floor is home to The Hatchery, the largest one-level event and music venue on Broadway. Their open-air rooftop bar overlooks the entire downtown area. I really liked the concept of a multi-level bar and music venue…if you don’t like the vibes on one level, head to the next. It was the perfect place to spend our night out with friends.

^^^These ones are classic too!

^^^Evan’s support team during his White Coat Ceremony – sitting quietly in the balcony. Go Bogard!

^^^The Next day we had lunch at The Pharmacy. It seemed most appropriate to celebrate the new pharmacist at The Pharmacy…we should have made him wear his jacket!

The Pharmacy
731 Mcferrin Ave
Nashville, TN 37206
The Pharmacy Burger Parlor & Beer Garden serves 100% Tennessee-raised beef for their legendary burgers. It’s located in a residential area 10 minutes from downtown. They have a fabulous selection of beers that you can enjoy while sitting in their beautiful biergarten.

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream
2312 12th Ave S
Nashville, TN 37204
I first heard of Jeni’s in Los Angeles (although I think it started in Ohio) and made it’s way to Nashville. Gawwwww this ice cream is the best. Dan and I ordered a scoop of Bangkok Peanut and Bramble Berry. I love their creative flavors. It’s by far my favorite ice cream shop. All natural, no synthetic flavorings, dyes, or off-the-shelf mixes, stabilizers and emulsifiers. Some of their fun flavors include gooey butter cake, sweet potato eclair, juniper and lemon curd, goat cheese with red cherries, brown butter almond brittle, whiskey and pecan, wildberry lavender, hot toddy and pink grapefruit buttermilk etc. the list goes on and on!

Urban Grub
2506 12th Ave S
Nashville, TN 37204
After Ev’s ceremony, we celebrated with a fancy dinner at the Urban Grub. Wowza this place is amazing! Their menu is a combination of southern traditions with a “flavored up tweak,” fresh fish, seafood and smoked meats.

^^^Miss Thor and I shared an order of their famous shrimp and grits with tasso cream and smoked gouda and Dan had a braised Andouille pork shank with celery root puree, smoked creamed mustard greens, chili butter. Their popover biscuits and strawberry honey butter were a crowd please too!

Home again home again. So much fun and so much foooood! OK roll me back to the gym 😉