Vision of Love

In middle school (or was it late elementary school?), Mariah Carey was one of my favorite singers.  You know, the old school natural Mariah.  The one who sang, "All I Want for Christmas is You" during the holidays and who was the shy girl next door type of rising star singing "Emotions" and "Dreamlover" on late night tv talk shows. 

One of my favorite songs of hers, back in the day, was "Vision of Love".  The video was simple with it's only downfall being that she is petting a cat rather than a puppy but hey, no one's perfect. 

I couldn't help but think of the lyrics to this song as I reflected on all the events from the last couple weeks, specifically while spending time with one of the most sincere men I have had the honor of meeting.  From being a complete gentleman to being up for adventure to rolling with the punches during last minute changes in plans to hanging out with my family, I knew Adam was one special guy and I was blessed.  I sure can't wait for the next visit and am thankful for technology such as Skype and Facebook that help to bridge the distance.

They say good things come to those who wait. 

They say nothing worth having comes easy.

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder (ha!).

They say love can stand the test of time.

Platitudes aside, I strongly believe God teaches us lessons and provides opportunities to grow in virtue (e.g., patience and humility) even if we don't want to be taught.  There is always something to be gained from what we are going through in life even if we don't immediately realize or recognize the lessons. 

In anticipation of the wedding Adam and I attended the other weekend, I got my nails done at a local beauty school.  When I said I wanted a reddish/neutral color to go with my bright red dress I planned to wear, the nail girl brought over a lovely hue of OPI nail polish.  The nail polish was called......wait for it............"Vision of Love".  The toenail polish was supposed to be a bright hot pink color called, "California Raspberry", but it was an old bottle and the polish was too dried up to be used.  That would have been a funny coincidence seeing as Adam is from California. 

Can you see my nail polish?  Hehe.

Ok, so nail polishes matching up with Mariah Carey songs may have been a stretch in terms of Godincidences, even for me.  However, just tonight, as I sealed an envelope in which I had placed a letter signed with, "Strange travel directions are dancing lessons from God", one of my best friends from high school had commented on a recent blog posting sharing that exact same statement.  Yes, indeed, God's plans that may seem like strange travel directions to us at the time, are indeed dancing lessons!  Would I have ever intentionally sought out a gentleman in California while living in North Carolina?  Nope. Would I have envisioned being in a relationship and building something with someone 101 days shy of graduation and destination afterwards unknown??  Heck no.  Money's tighter than ever (thanks to medical & dissertation bills, conference registration fees and travel expenses associated with presenting research, and of course upcoming graduation costs), no job is lined up for next year, and I don't know if I will be babysitting my family for the 7th consecutive summer yet.  I am so glad that circumstances evolved over the last three months the way they did though because I would never have had the chance of meeting this person.  In spite of these unknowns and the uncertainty, I'm going to keep dancing (Cupid Shuffle anyone??) and continue putting it all in God's hands.  I have faith in this vision of love and am savoring the dreams becoming reality part as of late; I also 100% trust in Jesus' timing and know God's plans are so much bigger than I can even try to dream up for my life! 

 I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm so incredibly grateful for what I've been given, thank goodness for second chances (and three minute speeches), & dare I say it.....impossibilities that become possibilities!

Pinnacle

Merriam-Webster defines the word, "pinnacle", as:

¹pin·na·cle

noun \ˈpi-ni-kəl\

: a high mountain top

: the best or most important part of something : the point of greatest success or achievement

: a tower on the roof of a building that comes to a narrow point at the top

 

When I think about the events of the last several days, I feel a sense of standing on top of the mountain.  I can imagine what it must look like from the top and almost feel the sense of dizziness that would surely accompany standing at such a height.  While exhilarating to be standing so close to the sky, it could also be a bit nerve wracking not knowing which path to take down off the mountain.  Which path should I choose?  How do I get back down to ground level?  Should I go for the most direct and straight route or do I take the longer more scenic path?

 

It was a long and arduous climb to get to the pinnacle in the first place but oh so worth every single second since starting the journey back in August 2010.  The regular readers of this blog can probably recall the postings in which I shared my frustrations (and joys) of creating & collecting the research that went into my dissertation study as well as all the steps it took to get to the point of conducting the pilot study last March, defending my portfolio (passing my school's version of Comps) in January 2013, and all the other milestones I had to reach before getting to this point.  Friday's defense was a culmination of many smaller steps that led to the 1pm meeting.

 

Looking back over the rugged terrain that leads to the pinnacle, I can see the valleys and the places where I nearly lost hope.  I can see the places where the jagged edges of the mountain give way and drop off with no warning.  Yet I also see the people and resources who helped and provided scaffolding; those who threw me a line and pulled me on up over the rough patches.  I also see the smooth path and clear footholds I used as I changed course during the climb.  Last week, as I engaged in last minute prep for the defense, I could feel the love and support from my family and friends.  I mean really feel it.  It was palpable and seemed to wrap around me like a warm and fuzzy winter coat on a snowy windy day.  For anyone else, the blinding snow and forceful wind could have pushed the person off the edge just as she was about to pull herself up to the climax of the mountain but not this gal.  The incredible belief in me and encouragement, via texts, emails, calls, and well wishes acted as a zip line that propelled me to the top and then some!  I thank everyone who thought of, prayed, reached out, and simply just supported me in his/her own way from the bottom of my heart for they surely worked as I successfully defended my dissertation on Friday afternoon!

 

Prior to Friday, I had practiced my defense in the same room with two other people and had practiced it alone in the bonus room twice.  I was ready as I was ever going to be walking into that room on Friday albeit I was a nervous wreck.  Adding to the nerves, the night before, when called down to dinner, I walked into the kitchen and was astounded to find my aunt, uncle, and cousin from Pittsburgh there.  They had driven all day to surprise me with their attendance at the defense the next day.  Later, I learned that my aunt and her friend from Boston were flying in as well. 

 

Mom snapped this photo as I came around the corner and found my Pittsburgh family in the kitchen.  Thursday had already been an emotional day and this "surprise" pushed me over the emotional edge...so much so that Uncle Bill asked if I was alright as I bawled my eyes out as I hugged Aunt Marie.  LOL!

I was excited my extended family was planning to attend but was also nervous about the sheer number of people who planned to attend the defense (since I was now up to a possible TEN folks) as my department typically holds small meetings with just the committee members and maybe one or two other folks attending.  I should have known my family would do something like this; in matters of the heart, we're always there for each other no matter the distance.  It was a bit surreal talking to both my committee members and my family as I explained in detail about my study and the results.  At one point, I had flashbacks to childhood memories of "playing school" with my brothers as I saw my brother sitting there and listening to what I had to say about my dissertation.  About midway through the defense, I began to focus only on my committee members though since I felt like I was taking too long by trying to include everyone in the room as I spoke.

I got to the room an hour before the start of the defense to set up; surprisingly I was calm and not as nervous as I thought I would be!

My family members ended up sitting in the chairs at the perimeter of the room by the windows while my committee members sat at the table.

 

Pre-defense and ready!!

I spoke for exactly one hour then underwent about twenty minutes of questions.  This was the portion of the defense I was most worried about since I had no way of knowing what sorts of questions they might ask.  There were some questions that I felt I answered better than others but none were so impossible that I was stumped.  The committee then left the room (usually it's the other way around but due to having so many folks in the room, they opted to leave) to deliberate.  As my four committee members exited the room, my family and I let out a big sigh.  Then I turned around and there was Father Vince!  He had been standing outside for the last half of my defense as the door had been shut and he didn't want to interrupt.  He said he had found a seat just outside the door and he could hear through it.  I joked this was like the opposite of confession having a priest sitting there with his ear pressed to the door.  ;)

 



Waiting for the committee to return to the room...

As Father circulated around the room greeting my family members, others came up to me to give me hugs and congratulate me but I remember thinking, "It's not over yet!".  Sheresa, my colleague from my cohort, and my sister-in-law, Alisha, shared comforting words with me.  Then, all too quickly, the committee members returned.  They had been out of the room for all of maybe five minutes.  The room quickly quieted down and everyone returned to their seats as I stood by the table.  Thinking back, I'm grateful I didn't have to leave the room as is standard procedure since the last time I underwent that process was during my proposal defense in April where I stood in the hallway for what seemed an eternity (it was really about 30 minutes) and it was not the most pleasant feeling.  This experience was completely different in terms of feeling lifted up by both my committee members and my family and close friends both in person and in spirit.  It is amazing what a difference one person, or absence of, can make in terms of positivity and support and I'm thankful for those who have been there every step of the way.

 

The committee rendered their decision upon their return to the room, which is a blur, but I do remember hearing the words, "Dr. Kemmery" and the room erupting into applause and cheers.  :)  The next twenty minutes involved more hugging, signing of forms, congratulations, laughter (with some tears), and the drawing of this on the whiteboard.  

 

I am not sure who all contributed to this picture as it was drawn by my silly family after the defense as I talked with folks and pictures were taken.  About a half hour later and after showing my family my office, it was time to get out of there and get some foooood.  I sure was hungry as I had not eaten since the night before due to nerves.  So we caravanned over to my favorite Irish pub in High Point, the Claddagh.  Ten of us feasted on Irish food as I began to relax.  My family surprised me with a balloon and beautiful red roses.  The restaurant surprised me with my two Long Island Iced Teas and a slice of chocolate cake complete with candle!  What a nice treat!!

 

After dinner, Mom, Dad, and I left the restaurant to go to my church to attend a mass of thanksgiving since there was a special mass being held due to it being the feast day of St. Francis de Sales.  My parents ended their day the way they started it for they had attended 9am children's mass that morning with my nephew and niece through their school.  Mom remarked that that morning she had prayed for a successful defense and now that evening, she was able to say a prayer of thanksgiving.  Pretty neat!

 

Mom took this photo right when the committee told me I passed and I was now DR.!!  :)

 

(Some of my) Pittsburgh Family!

My "roommates"  ;-)

 

What a relief!

Me and my posse..ha!

 

My advisor, chair, mentor, friend.  :)

Full time girls of the 2010 Cohort!

So thankful for supportive committee members and faculty to work with at UNCG!!

So much to take in on Friday afternoon...!

Just hanging out with my Irish family    :-)

 

 

It just occurred to me that as I blog about this experience today, on 01/28, it is the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, the patron saint of students and scholars!  That was also the saint room I stayed in when on retreat at the Young Adults Retreat in Malvern, PA last May.  At the conclusion of my meeting, one of my committee members commented that at that moment, I crossed over from student to scholar; that I was now a peer of my committee members and welcome to the club.  I still view them as my superiors and myself as a student though.  Perhaps it will seem more real after graduation (in 101 days)!! 

 

Speaking of which, for those of you who have been asking me about what's next and when will I return to PA....my answer is....I'm not sure! I have a couple conference presentations this semester (one is on Friday this week), am supervising student teachers, and have other research projects I'm involved with at the moment. I also am job hunting, which can be a full-time job in itself but strangely, I'm at peace with it all and it is exciting because it's anyone's guess where I will land.  Over Christmas, I have come to embrace (or am trying to) "letting go and letting God" since "I don't know what the future holds but I know who holds the future" and I must surrender to His Will.  I plan to tackle the job hunt mountain on February 1st so, yes, I'm about to descend this dissertation mountain but I'm in the middle of a mountain range and it's time to come down off this one so I can get started on the next climb!

 

  

I've learned so much during this PhD journey, both personally and academically, about not only myself but others in my life.  One of the things I've come to realize through my time in NC and much prayer is beautifully captured in the image below ~ I've been blessed beyond measure by the presence of family & love in my life and for that I'm eternally grateful.  Pax!

 

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible."-St. Thomas Aquinas

“I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.”

My friend, Kevin, shared with me an article the other day.  He knows of my affinity for "Godicidences" or signal graces and thought I would appreciate the signs the author writes of in her article.  He was right.  Take a look for yourself.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/01/23/it-was-god-thing-adventures-in-faith-on-way-to-concert-for-pope-benedict-his/?intcmp=latestnews

Happy reading!

Be Good to Each Other

I stumbled upon this link today.  I can't stop thinking about this girl, Amanda, and her story.  What a lesson we could all learn through watching the brief video on the link below....and let's try to treat one another with a little more compassion.

http://zchamu.com/2014/01/everything-we-leave-behind.html

Random date or no?

My Aunt Marie sent me this email this morning:

Hi Meg, 

Do you already know all this about St. Francis de Sales? Ask your mother about Sr. Francis de Sales. 

St. Francis de Sales is the patron of teachers, deaf people, Catholic press, confessors, educators and authors. He began his life as a scholar who earned a doctorate in both theology and law. St. Francis de Sales then received a call to the priesthood and, despite the disapproval of his family, was ordained and began his career as a prolific writer and preacher. He was blessed in his ability to return Calvinists to the faith through his simple and clear explanations of Catholic doctrine. Furthermore, he used sign language to convert the deaf and helped found the Order of the Visitation. Saint Francis de Sales is a Doctor of the Church for his writings. His feast day is January 24th. 

Love you, Aunt Marie



AND...Fr. Vince who wants to come to my defense (on JAN. 24th) is a priest at my church here in NC.  The order of priests at my church are the Oblates of St. Francis De Sales....Goodness Gracious!!!

I couldn't help but marvel at the coincidences here...!!  Somehow knowing this background information is giving me more confidence for my defense but please do keep me in your prayers during the upcoming week!  Pax!

Ten days and counting!

Only ten days remain until the big day.....my dissertation defense!

I could potentially walk out of the doors as Dr. Meg after working on this goal since August 2010.  Whew!!!

I submitted my 339 page dissertation to the committee on 01/03 so they have had it for 11 days now.  I did a quick practice run in the room yesterday morning with my advisor to check on the font and colors.  I also have to share with you how two sweet friends really came through for me regarding the dissertation and nerves that remain these last few days before the defense.  

Last week, I received this unexpected text from a friend: 

Good morning!  Thinking of you with your defense coming up.  Prayers for you!  If you want to pray together at Maryfield on any lunch break before your defense, just let me know. :)

How sweet and unexpected was this text was as I was in the middle of a work meeting dealing with a history project when I received this.  We set a date for today and met for 30 minutes and prayed at the chapel during our lunch breaks today.  What a peaceful encounter it was and I'm so thankful for Colleen's suggestion.

The other week, while still bedridden from being so sick, another friend emailed me saying if I needed to practice my defense that she would be more than willing to listen.  Really???  She was voluntarily signing up for an hour (or more) of listening to me ramble about research?  

I'm blessed beyond measure indeed.

So, last night, after Deb got off work, she met me at my work.  The room we needed wasn't available for another 30 minutes so what does Deb do?  She offers to help me with cutting of lamination.  SO sweet!  Then, shortly after 4, we let ourselves into the room where I will be defending in a little over 9 days (since only a couple hours remain of the tenth day).  Deb listened for 48 minutes as I went through the presentation and her thought-provoking questions at the end helped me to make my presentation stronger.  I felt relief at having been able to go through one round of the defense in the actual room so I feel better prepared.  Sure, I'll practice one or two more times in the next week but it won't be the same as when I was in the actual room thanks to Deb.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  They say it takes a village and indeed, no one can go it alone.  Thank goodness for the kindness of friends, and of course family, who help you through life's ups and downs.  

Let's hope I can remember all the information from the 339 page dissertation and over a year of researching and writing on the 24th when I defend!!

Nashville, what a FUN trip!

This past October, for my Fall Break, my little brother and I went to a place we had always wanted to go to....Nashville, TN!!!!

Obviously being a poor grad student, I had to do this trip on a very tight budget.  Throughout this posting, I'll share with you some of our penny-saving tips!!  We got awesome flight deals, through Southwest where we only paid $60 or so each way (what a DEAL!), and met out in Tennessee with him flying in from Baltimore and me flying in from Raleigh.  This trip was incredible for so many reasons from the friendly people to the generous drink specials to the fun places we saw and the historical facts we picked up along the way; Nashville is most definitely one of our favorite cities and I will happily go back for another visit any time!!

We arrived around lunch time on Tuesday and flew out super early on Saturday which gave us 4.5 days to explore and explore we did!

As we walked the several blocks from the bus station (we had taken a bus from the airport for under $2!!) to our hostel (this was the first time we were staying in one), we saw some pretty cool sights/sites.  This is Printers Alley.  More on that later in this posting.  :)

Just around the corner from our hostel, we stumbled upon an awesome candy shop.  From floor to ceiling there were all sorts of candy, soda, and old time memorabilia you could think of...don't forget to go upstairs for some neat vintage concert posters and lunch boxes.  There were even life-size cutouts of Disney princesses.  Yes, this store was very eclectic from candy bars that tried to kill me to yummy soda pop fizz candy from my childhood that I immediately scooped up and sucked on while in Nashville.  If you go, be sure to check in on Foursquare so you can obtain some free taffy!

Truth.

Grandma used to watch "People's Court"; she would have gotten a laugh out of this!

We weren't brave enough to try this.....peanut butter soda?!!

After a quick pit stop in the candy shop, we continued walking the block and a half to our "home away from home" while in Nashville:  "Nashville Downtown Hostel".  Neither Patrick nor I had stayed in a hostel before and we were curious as to what we were in for but the price was certainly right and we figured we would rather spend less on our sleeping quarters if it meant we would have more to explore the city with so on to the hostel we walked.

When I glimpsed the cool light in the doorway, I knew we were in for a treat in terms of sleeping quarters!

This was the view just outside the hostel but check out what was across the street....

The Titans Stadium was right across the river from us at the hostel...pretty cool view!

Cool decor outside the kitchen and common eating area in the hostel

My skill set instrument-wise encompassed the one on the left.  ;)

Every day the hostel listed specials and recommendations as well as inspirational quotes at the bottom of the message board. 

After dropping our things off in our room and meeting our roommates from Australia, we decided to go explore since it was early and we have a few hours to kill before our dinner reservations at a restaurant called, Aura, that was about 1.5 miles away on foot.  This was a view of the Titans Stadium outside the hostel along the Cumberland River.  Our hostel advertised itself as being in the "Heart of the District" and they weren't kidding!  Everything was within walking distance, which was great since we were without a car for the next several days.

 

We walked to the end of our street then turned right onto Broadway and what a sight that was with the lights and posters.  I also loved the sounds of Broadway for every bar we walked by had a live performer (it was the middle of the afternoon on a work day!) and each one was as good as the next...as Patrick said, "Even the homeless people are ridiculously talented in this city".  :)

Bridgestone Arena, home of the Nashville Predators' hockey team

Not only did we get to stand outside the legendary Ryman Auditorium but look over yonder to your left.  This was our first glimpse of one of our favorite buildings, one we dubbed the "Batman Building". 

I found out later that a friend from NC was in Nashville for work and she had been at the Ryman for a concert shortly after I walked by it this evening!  Small world!!

The architecture we saw was amazing.  This is Nashville's first public school with Patrick's head in the bottom of the picture (haha).  Teacher friends, could you imagine teaching in such a cool looking building?!

Directly across the street from the school was the Customs House ~ more incredible architecture!

We had to laugh as across the street from the elaborate and fancy Customs House was this rather plain structure....

This was the view if you were to leave the school and turn left.  You could hear some of the sounds from Broadway and the tall antenna-like looking building is Bridgestone Arena, the hockey venue.

This sign made me happy when I read it for a York, PA reference (Lafayette) as well as NC reference were mentioned!

I also happened to be wearing an NC shirt when I read the above sign..hehe.

This pup was 4 lbs. and ate two teaspoons of dog food a day...!!!

The Lifeway Christian stores headquarters was in the center of this photo.

It was so surreal being in the city where so many of the country singers I listen to call home.

Here is the BMI building! 

Here is the restaurant we ate at on our first night!  We had a restaurant.com certificate so got a good deal on our drinks and food during our first night in Nashville.  I highly recommend, when traveling, using restaurant.com certificates!  It worked out well in San Francisco for my friends and me and in Nashville for Patrick and me.

 

I had a delicious BBQ chicken flatbread and a pomegranate type of mixed drink.  I think Patrick had a pork chop of some sort.

Nashville at night as we made our way back to the district.

This was the art museum.  If I have the chance to go back to Nashville, I would love to come back here and see the interior.  Check out the roses.  Do you see anything else on the stems?

 

Again, it was so surreal to see names of places so prominent in country music!

Can you tell we were quite fascinated with the architecture?  This is the Customs House.

Nashville's first public school at night.

The lights of Broadway waiting for us as we walked down the hill back to the heart of the district.

This was a beautiful stained glass window on the side of the Methodist Church down the street from the Customs House.

I used to watch this show on CMT back in junior high!

Hands down, this was our favorite place in Nashville!  It's really a shame I can't post videos on here!  If you've been to Howl at the Moon in Baltimore or other cities, then you know what this place is like.  Basically super duper talented musicians play any style and genre of music using mainly just the piano!!  They play by request and can go from performing "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen to Miley Cyrus to the classic "Piano Man" by Billy Joel to 80s songs.  They ROCKED!!!

Look up Justin Nault on Youtube for some of his terrific covers and original singing!

 

After enjoying the music at Big Bang and stopping in a few more places on the way home, we rolled into bed around 2am.  The next morning was a cool and drizzly one but that did not deter us from doing our historical walking scavenger hunt tour.  Using Patrick's phone, we deciphered clues to figure out where we had to go next as we collected tidbits of information and history about some of the city's famous and not so famous places.  We had gotten this fun deal through a Groupon after I learned that there were scavenger hunts in most major cities!

First stop was directly across the street from the hostel at historic Fort Nashborough.  We couldn't have planned THAT better!

The red doors led to the hostel.  We had planned to go to the corner bar with a friend from back home but we never did connect her and never did make it into the bar...how ironic when it was just steps away from our "home away from home".

See where the guy was from before moving to Nashville???

One of our clues said to get a picture taken with the "dog" at the next stop.  Mission accomplished!

Even the trash cans were artistic in this creative city!

Printers Alley

Check out this tidbit about Printers Alley!

Methodist Church...I think this was the oldest one in Nashville but don't quote me on that....

The Library was one of my favorite stops on the historical walking tour. 

This is the view looking away from the Library to the Capitol Building

There were 26 books here.  This stood outside the Library and each book represented a letter of the alphabet.  Granite from 5 different continents went into the making of these books.

I felt like we were in a library shown in a movie.  I could be SO productive in a space like this!  Through the windows, you will see the Capitol Building.

Main entrance to the Library

I joked that this was my dissertation pile.

The artwork and historical maps were beautiful!

This counter is a recreation of the counters in the Woolworths to teach about the sit-ins (did you know the first one occurred in Greensboro, NC?!).

These timelines were fascinating to read.  I was also thankful for the stools to sit on considering I wore my cowboy boots this day and we were walking all around the city of Nashville....ouch!

LOVE this quote.

More art throughout the Library....at this point, my feet felt like they were in steel cowboy boots too.

Across the street from the awesome Library

The red brick building in the center was where Allison Krauss and Brad Paisley filmed some of their "Whiskey Lullaby" music video.  Rick Schroeder, of Silver Spoons fame, was the lead actor in the video.  

Another view of the Whiskey Lullaby music video location!

Billy Graham statue in front of the Lifeway Christian stores headquarters

 

Our historical walking tour concluded at the Ryman Auditorium!  Patrick and I decided to purchase (with military discount) tickets to see the inside of the Ryman Auditorium.  Oh, if you go shopping in the gift shop, be sure to check in on Foursquare so you can get a 10% discount.

The man on the stage in this photo controlled all the lights and the background you see in this picture by using his iPad...incredible!

We watched an information movie before the self guided tour using the map below...if you want your picture taken on stage by the microphone and even holding a guitar if you want, then you'll have to pay.  Patrick and I opted to just take a photo from afar instead.

I was thankful for the pews since I was still in my (wet) cowboy boots.

Check out all this technology!  This was only half of the desk area.

See Elvis singing from the rooftop??

Goofing off in the gift shop

After finishing our Ryman Auditorium Tour and realizing we had a couple of hours until our dinner reservations, Patrick asked if I wanted to go to the American Pickers store.  I had no idea what he was talking about so he filled me in on the show and the fact that they have a store in Nashville.  I figured when else would we be here so why not? 

We looked up the store location and figured it wasn't terribly far away so we set out on foot...just in time for the drizzling rain to pick up again.  By the time we got to the warehouse, we were soaked, tired, hungry, but curious about what was in this store.  We got to the Marathon Car Works Warehouse with an hour to spare before the store closed...I was shocked at the price tags on some of these old items and fun with some of the others.  ;)

This was SUCH a welcome sight as we made our way closer and closer to the American Pickers store after walking through puddles, rain, and MUCH further than we expected when we first set out from the Ryman Auditorium.

Look how far away we were from "home".  The Batman Building can be seen to the right of the center, see the ears?  That was how far we had walked and I admit, I was a bit grumpy at the thought of having to walk back to the middle of it all.  I mean I was in wet pointy hard cowboy boots y'all.

I should have gotten this signed jacket for Mom.  ;)

 

Maybe my game would improve if I got these clubs?

This seemed like a rather unusually long motorcycle!

Since we were so tired, hungry, and wet, Patrick and I opted to call for a taxi after we were done browsing the antiques.  We went in this cute little candy shoppe next door called, The Big Bang Candy shop.  Fortunately, I was able to order a yummy cookie and coffee that took the edge off the hunger as we waited for not one but two taxis.  Then the candy shop had to close and make us leave so we stood out on the porch area for another 45 minutes to an hour.  The problem was, at this point it was after work rush hour time and the taxis supposedly could not get out of the city area to come get us on the outskirts at a reasonable time, or so they said.  I recommend planning a visit to this cool area by taking the hop on hop off bus or renting a car so you don't get yourselves into our situation.

 The girls who worked at The Big Bang Candy shop were SO nice and let us stay in as long as they could before they had to lock the doors.  An hour after they had us leave, and an hour of waiting for the invisible taxis as night fell, Lydia, one of the super friendly workers there, saw us as she walked to her car.  She asked about our ride to which we explained we had called for two different taxis with no luck.  She offered to drive us to our dinner reservations after she got gas.  What a sweet gesture!  Plus, she drove the same exact kind of car I did. 

Our view as we wistfully looked out toward downtown Nashville where we were trying to get back to without much luck since it was getting too dark to walk and we were too tired at that point.

So, thanks to the kindness of Lydia, who after a long day of working and getting some gas, offered to drive us to our next location, we made it to BB King's House of Blues Restaurant in time.  We learned that Lydia had been born and raised in Nashville but she doesn't like country music all that much and she had just returned from living in Mississippi.  She's now a pastry chef at that awesome candy shop (go check out their Facebook page to see some of her creative culinary creations!).

 Once we arrived for our dinner reservations, we walked into a lively robust atmosphere as a BB King lookalike was already performing.  After I presented our restaurant.com certificate, I checked in on Foursquare and discovered we could have a free appetizer of fried pickles.  Neither Patrick nor I had eaten these (other than the time I had them at a Super Bowl party in Jan. 2013) so we shrugged and opted to get the appetizer.  It was free after all!  We both also ordered drinks in which we were able to keep the fun glasses.  It sure felt good to sit down and listen to the blues!

Free glass, free fried pickles, after a "free" ride to the restaurant....yay for friendly free things in Nashville!

Which celebrity does this dude remind you of....anyone?

After dinner and the music, Patrick and I walked back to the hostel since we were only about two blocks from it.  After talking with our roommates, we all fell into bed and were asleep by midnight.  What a day of WALKING but fun it had been!!

Our third day in Nashville was set aside to be our informational historical museum and government buildings day before embarking on a walking Pub Crawl Tour (more on that later).  All of the places we visited were free yet also shared a lot of history of Music City.  Fortunately, it was sunny and breezy so no rain on this day!  We took a shortcut through the Arcade and stopped briefly at the Catholic church where I saw a statue unlike any others I've seen of St. Francis in the basement.  This church also happened to be the oldest church in Nashville!  We then crossed the street to go to the museum to get our "learning" on before heading over to the government buildings just around the block.

Arcade

Where in the world is......

........is Patrick?

The Catholic church that was also the oldest church in Nashville...pretty cool!

Our roommates were from Perth, Australia...funny coincidence.

I've never seen this rather austere depiction of St. Francis!

 

Reading these words on a flyer I found in the basement of the church reminded me of some of the talks at the NCSC 2013!

We made our way across the street  to the TN State Museum after stopping in for the impromptu church visit.

Can you read who's bench this was?!

This is the fort that was right across the street from our hostel!

 Once a teacher, always a teacher!  I was drawn to the schooling exhibits of course.

After learning about the state's history, we continued on around the block to do a self-guided free tour of the state capitol building.  The grounds and the architecture were beautiful.  We did find some of the statue placements to be rather odd...can you guess why?

A soldier pointing a gun at...

...this building!

Funny visitors of the Governor's Office

Back in the day, when legislators didn't agree on a law or something like that, some of them tried to run away from the Capitol Building so they would not have to vote.  However, gunfire erupted to stop these folks from running away and this chunk was taken out of the railing by gunfire (see where program goes into indentation).  Who knew history could be so full of twists and turns (haha)?!  Disclaimer:  See Patrick for a more accurate portrayal of the story.

This is where the gunfire erupted a long time ago.  ;)

Another view of the railing

Patrick called this the DNA staircase...hehe.

I loved these fresh flowers on the second floor of the Capitol Building...so much so that this is my desktop background on my laptop!

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 Next we headed over to the Military Museum for a sobering look at some of the warfare history and learned about TN's role in the military.

This played snippets from history such as audio samples from Roosevelt's Fireside Chats and so forth.

Nuclear Bomb....yowza!!!

Next up, we walked back to the hostel (and made another stop at the candy shop!) and rested for about an hour before it was time to head back out for the pub crawl!  We also bid adieu to our Australian roommates as they continued their trip to Memphis.  They had already been to a bunch of other cool cities in the US and Patrick and I were thoroughly jealous of their travels!  Fortunately we've become Facebook buds so we can live vicariously through their photos and posts!  ;)

So, back to the Pub Crawl on our 3rd night in Nashville...We had been looking forward to this event as we were going to be entertained by our tour guide while trying out drinks at a couple bars and learning more about the honky tonk business.  We got to the establishment, Dick's Last Resort (a place I swore I would never return to after my first time there in Minneapolis in October 2012), which was the meeting place for the pub crawl in plenty of time.  We were there so early that I charged my phone while waiting for the others to arrive....but they never did.  After 45 minutes of waiting, one time of the manager asking if she could help us, and a voicemail for our no-show guide, we decided to leave and do our own pub crawl.  We knew of some of the stops from browsing the website so we left Dick's Last Resort in rather grumpy moods.  It wasn't until we got to the Brass Stables before I remembered I had accidentally left my phone charger plugged into the wall at Dick's Last Resort.  So we called the bar and asked if they could hold on to my charger at the bar.  They said yes and asked if we had ever connected with our guide to which we said no.  I checked in on Foursquare and found a drink special after hanging up with the other bar.  Pretty soon Patrick and I were feeling pretty happy at this laid back super loud but groovy place where some pretty good tunes were being played.  We explained to our server about the pub crawl falling through to which the manager came over and offered us more specials and even gave us a secret "sign" to get back in later to avoid paying the cover when we thanked her for her service on our way out....the secret sign was the sign for "beautiful" and what a beautiful time we had at Brass Stables indeed.  We would have liked to have gone back later had we had more time!

This was a fun little coffeeshop where we had lunch during one of our days in Nashville (got a restaurant.com certificate).  ;)

Patrick and I claimed the bottom bunks after our Australian roommates departed then we headed on out around 5:30pm knowing we might have new roommies upon our return....ah, hostel living! 

 

 

6 drinks (3 for each of us) for only $17!  Say what?!

A well worn itinerary is a sign of a fun-filled trip IMHO!  =P

Can you tell we were obsessed with the Batman Building?  Hehe.

I had Austin, TX flashbacks in this store but was unable to find a pair of boots as expensive as the $1,000+ ones I found down there!

We went back to Dick's Last Resort where we got not one but TWO drinks for free since they felt bad we never received our Pub Crawl Experience!  (Turns out the tour guide had emailed me saying she had to cancel.....oops).

Horse at Wild Horse Saloon

I ended up country line dancing ~ what fun!!  Too bad I didn't wear my cowboy boots this night!?

Can't take me anywhere I guess.

We ended up back at our favorite place!!!

Goodness gracious, the size of the "shots" are as big as regular drinks!

My Nashville crush ~ Andrew Varner  ; )

There were definitely more people here this night than on our first night.  The energy was amazing and the talent was just as great this night as the other night!!

After a great night of enjoying the nightlife, Patrick and I headed on home to the hostel where our new roommates were already asleep on the top bunks.  I think we fell asleep around 3:30am or so and we all got up around 7/8am.  It turns out our new roommates were from Seattle (the other city on Patrick's my and list!).  The Mom was taking her newly turned 21 year old to Martina McBride's ranch for the weekend and they stayed one night in the hostel.  We learned some fun facts about Seattle as we all checked out together.  Then, this friendly mother son duo offered to give us a ride to the airport where we were headed to get a rental car.  How kind of them!!!  We gladly accepted as we had all our luggage with us.

Once at the airport, we rented a car and were on our way to the Jack Daniels Distillery about an hour or so out of town in Lynchburg, TN.

I think we learned that all of the whiskey goes through this coal or something.  Mmm tasty!

This spring is the reason why the distillery is located here.

This statue was called "Jack on the Rocks".....loved it!

These are all the previous (and current) owners

Not to be confused with Lynchburg, VA...ahem.

After our tour, we headed back to Nashville since we wanted to try to make it to the Bluebird Cafe (made famous on the TV series, "Nashville").  On the way we stopped by a cute boutique to pick out a new charm for my Pandora bracelet.  Can you find it? 

We made it to the Bluebird Cafe in time to wait in line for an hour, make friends with Lucas and Cris while standing in line, AND to be granted access to the singer/songwriter jam session!  Score!!

Warming up!!

The blonde is Heather Morgan.  She had just written a song for Sara Evans that was recently released as well as a duet Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert sing!!

Each artist took turns singing songs and telling stories...it was AWESOME!!!

This was the line for the second show of the evening with different performers.

I was super excited to see this sign at the mall across the street after the show.

With our new friends!  ; )  Cris (green shirt) was visiting Lucas from Florida for the weekend AND we found out they had been at one of the bars we were at the previous night (at the same time)...Small world!!

After the Bluebird Cafe, we headed on over to a hotel near Vanderbilt University to enjoy dinner and more singer/songwriter showcases.  At midnight, we had had enough of the music and did some cooooold exploring of walking around Vanderbilt's campus and checking out the Parthenon replica (from the outside)!

Big steps!

I wouldn't mind coming back here to go inside this magnificent building!

 

 After exploring the Parthenon, from the outside, we ran back to the car to warm up and head to the cell phone parking lot at the airport where we slept for about 4 hours in the car before returning the rental car at 5:30am and hopping on our plane at 6am.  Once we landed in Baltimore, I hugged Patrick goodbye and told him I would see him at Thanksgiving, then a few hours later boarded my plane back to Raleigh.  I was home by 2pm and promptly fell asleep at 10pm that night!  What a FUN trip and yes, Nashville is definitely one of our favorite cities!!!  Can't wait until the next adventure!