Adios, Nash Bash..

We left Nashville today. I have to believe I wasn't the only one who was beyond exhausted as we prepared for our individual drives back from where we'd originated on this trip.

Before we left, we left one final stamp of ourselves to celebrate this weekend. Kalyn will fill in the picture later :).

 

The idea was tossed out to set up a camera on the mailbox to capture some group shots of us. It was only a couple thousand takes it seemed before we were able to get the ones we needed. We certainly looked more like normal humans than the dolled up specimens we were for the past two nights, and I think I loved this the most. 

And of course, the obligatory - and hilariously necessary - group jumping pic: 

The drive home was a laborious one, given that we were all spent from the weekend festivities. Kara, Kalyn and I stopped in Lexington for lunch at Cosi before parting ways again. Kalyn headed back to the Gorge, while Kara and I made the last leg of the trip back to Cincinnati. Once Kara was dropped off, it was home again for me, where I was greeted by my two loves that had spent the weekend on quests of their own - boats, pancakes and home videos of cows and horses. Haha.. 

Oh, and THIS! 

tooth #3 - gone!

I... am... crazy tired. Folks, see ya in the morning! 

xo | cmd

Saturday Shenanigans: Nash Bach Style

Saturday morning in Nashville, in a [gorgeous] rented house you're sharing with nine other women:

Yoga.
Coffee.
Breakfast.
A Barrage of Planning.
More Yoga.
More Coffee.
More Breakfast.

I was never in a sorority in college, nor did I ever spend time living in close quarters with more than 3 other women at a time for an extended period of time. The closest I think I ever came was sharing a bus and hotel rooms with other soccer girls, but when there's no practices, diet regulating and ice baths to top it off, it's a totally different experience. I'll admit I'm totally out of my element here, but I don't dislike it. It's a fun change of pace, and I found out today that I really appreciate it and them. 

The afternoon portion of our Saturday was dedicated to a Country Swagger dance class at Studio Goddess in Nashville. SG is cute little watering hole [dance studio] for weekend bachelorette parties to congregate and attempt to absorb basic choreography. 

And they give you champagne, just in case you need some fizzy courage to egg you into doing it. 

.... like so!
[back] kelsey. jess. jess. maddie. kara
[front] layla. dalia. britt. cori. kalyn

Okay, okay, okay. We, as a group are probably not in line to be the next slam dunk backup crew, but we didn't do half bad for whatever stunted focus we had on what our instructor was trying to show us. We're not awesome dancers, and that's ok. 

We are however, apt to nail a good pyramid at any given moment. Maybe not the first time... obviously.. but when we get it, we're good! 

hahahaha

Ladies, you're a riot. 

Dance class ended, so we made our way a few blocks down to Jackalope, a tap room that looked like The Eagle in Cincinnati blended with every other rustic-esque bar I saw in Phoenix. 

those 2 darling sisters!

We grabbed our brews from the bar and found ourselves a cubby spot on the stairs outside. Cheeeers to you, Britt!!

and the other sister! 

cheers to you, b!

random asics picture.. team tennis shoes here.. 

Before we left, we obliged a photo opportunity from a pretty wall on the other side of Jackalope, in the only way we knew how... 

layla. cori. kalyn. kelsey.

handstand practice

Back at the homestead, we tested Brittany's guessing abilities, something that I will never again underestimate! We each bought Britt a pair of underwear, and when it came down to guessing who purchased what, she was 6 for 10, and guessed the first 3 in a row correctly. Nailed it, B! 

brittany, the queen of guessing! 

And then.... came the prep for our second and final night out to celebrate Britt's final soiree as a single gal. 

had to snag some with this girl.. love you, kp! 

And the night out! 

the bridal party, minus mandy

kara. britt. dalia.

philippines & mexico here as the "brown girls" hahah

It wasn't as wild as last night, but it was just as late when we returned to our little house on Holley. Layla had the excellent idea before we left to do before & after mugshots, and I'm so glad she did - they came out great! 

Tomorrow we head back home, but not before what I'm sure will be a few more surprises and a little more laughing. For now, gooood night! 

xo | cmd

Nashvegas Bound: Britt's Bach!

'Tis the seaaaason! 

Okay, well not yet, but we're quickly approaching the wedding season, and there's no better way we figured to kick that off than with a Nashville bachelorette weekend to celebrate Brittany's last few weeks as a single woman.

britt & wayne | 4.1.16
can't wait! 

I started the morning off by dropping Sydni at school; I won't see her again until Sunday night [sad face], so it was fitting and fun that we were able to sleep in a little and head off to school together. From there, it was rental car pick-up, luggage loading and then leaving..... right?

Well, almost: 

thank you sasha..... 

^^ My perpetually-delayed everything dog, Sasha, managed to finagle her way off her tether in the backyard today, and in the course of the 7 minutes she was out there anyway, tumbled through some sort of mud and came back in to greet me looking like this. Typical Sasha. 

So after I cleaned up the dog and the trail of chaos she dragged in with her, I departed for the first leg of the journey: Pick up Kara and meet Kalyn in Lexington. The journey begins! 

Kara and I drove to Lexington, where we rendezvoused with Kalyn and continued on to Nashville: 

hello, super photoshopped nashville picture i pulled from google..... 

[^ the picture I took as we entered the city included the AT&T Batman tower, too, but looked more like it was taken from a 2001 digi cam, sooooo.... ]

We arrived at the house we'll be inhabiting for the course of this weekend, where Britt & Co. were already assembled. The cast was complete, and we readied ourselves for a full roster of bachelorette-based activities. 

It's awesome when a group is comprised of various - and very different - walks of life, personal interests, careers, political views and whatever else there is that can vary [so basically anything goes]. I met a few of these women for the first time, and realized very quickly that we come from the same planet, but from very different worlds. 

And ya know what? I loved it :). 

To my cousin Maricor, the Sephora manager & makeup artist extraordinaire: 

These women are your tribe, seriously. I don't know how ya'll do it, but I'm flat out impressed - and a little jealous - that ya'll can draw all over your faces for hours with this makeup stuff
& still manage to not look like you got attacked by a box of crayons. Ya'll are talented, and
I..... am lost. High five, you make-up queens!

look at those artists :p 

After Dalia, Layla, Kara and Brittany came to the rescue, Kalyn and I [the two with the least amount of makeup ability] managed to put on faces for the night and did so with minimal mistake. Success!

Some highlights from the pre-trip:

i didn't do too bad on my own :) 

i hardly ever get to see this girl anymore.. jess, you're such a beaut!

the bride getting her gear!

freakin' adorable!

love you b! happy bach!!

the sisters, aka the blonde kardashians.. haha
kalyn. brittany. kara.

And then it was off to Merchant's for dinner!

cheers to this girl haha :) 

yummmmm! 

with the lovely powell sisters
brittany. kalyn. cori 

kalyn. cori. jess ♥

oh, the antics.. 

[top left] britt. maddie. jess. 
[top right] dalia. jess. layla 
[bottom] cori. kalyn. layla. kelsey. britt

Our original plans [I thought] were to get dinner and then head home for the evening, but once we'd filled up on delicious food, we thought we'd take advantage of already being in the heart of downtown Nashville. So off we set...

the tribe! 

It was an interesting evening from the time we set foot outside of Merchant's, but still a fun experience. We retired to the house via Uber with sore feet and a few fun surprises still in store.

Kalyn's birthday is Thursday [my present to her is back in Lexington in the trunk of her car.. haha], but Brittany pulled some stops to do one gift before the night was over.

the almost birthday girl :p 

Pajamas were all around, which was a great way to phase out the night, in the company of 9 other hilarious women.

the "brown girls" here to represent the philippines & mexico! ;) 

And yes, this is a backdated entry... it got late, and we got tired.

bedtime! 

See you in the morning, for our Studio Goddess dance class!

xo | cmd

Cabrew Season Is Upon Us!

Rob and I planned on a trip to church, perhaps lunch afterwards, followed by a day of relaxation.

And then I got this:

welllllll.. okay, fine (:

Really, no begging needed. Rob was still in mellow mode, so he wasn't disappointed to stay back, especially when Kalyn, Jess and Brittany rolled into the driveway in Brittany's drop-top SUV to pick me up. Hah...

Off we were to meet up with Kelsey and her husband Ben at Scenic River. We checked in, grabbed our gear and paired up into our boats for the day.

hear us roar!

This is all too much of a flashback to mid-September 2011 when Kalyn, Becky, Brittany and the other Jess joined us for a canoe trip during what may as well had been a drought. This was a big improvement, both in weather and agenda, and there were no complaints.

We tied down about 15 minutes in along to eat lunch and check out a tiny waterfall spouting out of the hillside.

nature proving God's creative hand!

kalyn!

so.. refreshing!  

waterfall selfies. duh... ;)

Back on the water, about another hour into the experience, Kalyn and I started feeling brave. This meant that we'd reached a point of bravery that convinced us it was a good idea to do yoga in the middle of a canoe. Together.

the abridged version.

^ There were about 25 or so pictures of various stages of our yogi dedication happening - or more like not happening - on the canoe. In our defense, we did actually manage to get all the way up into those headstands at least once each before toppling over and/or out of the boat. ;)

kalyn. me. jess. kelsey. brittany.

I also failed to bring an actual camera for the outing. No good there. My last-minute preparedness was pretty weak today; I realized as soon as I took my shorts off that my bathing suit bottom was inside out. Clearly there was no time for camera-hunting. Haha. My phone battery [a spare of course also forgotten] managed to barely survive the entire outing, but it did its job for a little while.

brittany. jess. kelsey. ben.
hi guys!

There are no pictures of us stopping off at the rope swings. *Sad.
There are no pictures of Kalyn and I getting left in the dust when the other two boats paddled off down river, only to find ourselves making a handful of new friends out of the fellow floaters. *Silver Lining.

There are also no pictures of us in what I'll just call the aftermath of the day: sun-kissed [or beaten, depending on who you ask], exhausted, mildly inebriated and donning the hairdo's of drowned rats. *Probably a good thing.

We decided our last stop of the day would be for food, so we settled on Hahana Beach. Our scraggly water-logged selves fit right in with the sand and sweat-covered volleyball players, and with patio dining at our disposal, we settled in for some grub. Rob joined us, only to leave a short while later just before the sky busted open in one of those angry-looking rainstorms.

We're all home now, cleaned up and ready to call this one a good Sunday. (:
Two weekends in a row on water? I'm not mad. ♥

xo | cmd