Nashville - Round Two

This summer was the summer of Nashville. Besides NYC, this city is a close second on my favorite cities list. Everything about Nashville is easy. The distance to the airport, finding good food, finding good entertainment, location of hotels...everything!

In June I went there for the first time for my best friend's bachelorette party. We had SO. MUCH. FUN. So much so that when Katie text me asking if I wanted to go again in August, I instantly said yes!! 

Katie and I have known each other for years through blogging. But, we brought our relationship to a whole new level when I started Isagenix in June! (I STILL have two shakes a day; one for breakfast and one for lunch!) Katie and I started texting daily about Isagenix and then she told me the Isagenix World Convention was being held in Nashville in August. I was so excited to be going back!

This time in Nashville was a little different than when I went for a bachelorette party, although it was very similar, too. I was with a fun group of girls who love to have fun and eat good food...so basically the same. The only difference was that we got to attend info sessions and learn about the company we are all really passionate about!

As far as Nashville goes, here's what we did:

- Dinner at Pinewood Social: If you're ever in Nashville, you have to go here! My mouth is watering thinking about their French Onion Dip appetizer. So good! It is such a fun place with the most amazing Frosé I've ever had! They also have a pool and bowling alley, so this would be the perfect place for gatherings with friends. 

- Lunch at The Southern: This place came highly recommended. Once again, the appetizers were on point! The main meal was not life changing, but we all agreed that we were glad we went. 

- Party Wagon: We combined groups with some other girls and got on a huge trailer pulled by a tractor. This would be perfect for a bachelorette party!! When I went in June we did the Sprocket Rocket and I think I prefer that, but both were fun!

- Wild Horse Saloon: This place was hopping! We were treated to a dinner by our Isagenix leader, so we had the whole upstairs to ourselves. It was such a fun atmosphere and the music was great!

 

Needless to say, this will not be the last time I go back to Nashville! 

Have you ever been? What do I need to do next time?

Maui: Days 3 + 4

Happy Tuesday, friends! I am trying to crank out these Maui recap posts so I don't forget how amazing this trip was! I still haven't had time to download all our pictures, but I am making due with iPhone pictures!

Day 3:

Monday morning was our third morning in Maui and I had read all about these Brekkie bowls. I have had one acai bowl here in the Dallas area and it was to die for, so I was excited to try one in Maui. No one else in my family had had one before and we all agreed they were okay. Honestly, the one from The Juice Bar in my absolute favorite! 

After powering up on acai, the boys headed out to golf and the girls were on a walk on the boardwalk. My mother in law wanted to see the other resorts next to ours (The Grand Wailea) and the best way to see them is from the boardwalk.

The weather was still hit or miss, so after our walk we decided to go explore some towns around Wailea. I had a list of pie places we needed to try and Maui Pie did NOT disappoint. We tried four different flavors and they were all some of the best pie we have ever had! If you're in Maui, this is a must stop!

That night we stayed in, packed our bags, and prepared to move to a different resort on a different part of the island.

Day 4:

A few months before we left for Maui we all decided that, instead of staying in Wailea at the Grand Wailea the whole week (like we had originally planned), we should split it up to see another part of the island. Now that it is all said and done, we wish we would have stayed at the Grand Wailea the whole week, but we are glad we got to experience South and West Maui. 

Tuesday morning we woke up and walked down to the pool one more time. The weather was still not total pool weather, but we didn't care! We LOVED staying at Ho'olei at the Grand Wailea. If you're traveling with your family, this is the BEST place!

The flowers on the walk smelled amazing. WE wanted the best ocean views which meant we were the very back row of condos. We got our workout in just walking to and from the pool. 

The time came and we had to say goodbye to our beautiful condo! We all agreed that we WILL be coming back!

On the way up to Kaanapali and Lahaina we had to stop at the famous pie place, Leoda's. I am a banana cream pie lover and this was so good! And, yes, I did eat the entire thing in one sitting by myself :)

I spy with my little eye my spray tan rubbing off. Allll the heart eyes (not!). 

We stopped in Lahaina to check out the Banyan Trees and eat at Paia Fish Market. We did some shopping and killed some time before our check-in time at the next resort. 

We made it to our resort, Honua Kai, and were taken away with how beautiful the beach was. The beaches on this side of the island are definitely better, but NOTHING beats the Grand Wailea. 

We got settled in, went to the pool, and then decided to walk along the board walk before the sunset. 

 

We ended the night eating at Duke's, which has my most favorite dessert in the world, Hula Pie!

And that concludes days 3 + 4! Hopefully I can squeeze days 5 + 6 into one more post!

Tips For Traveling Abroad

Chris and I had an amazing opportunity to go to Germany for eight days in April. It was really unexpected as his work told him last minute that he needed to attend a conference. His company is the absolute best and always makes sure the wives/spouses feel included, so, lucky me, I got to tag along!

We had less than two weeks from the time we found out to the time we left. Neither of us had ever been to Europe, so we were as prepared as we could be after scrambling to find people to watch G and pack all the things you need to travel across the world!

Here are my tips for travelling abroad:

1. Get to your gate ASAP. Do not just get to the airport, but get to your GATE as soon as you can. We almost missed two flights because we didn’t realize there were additional passport checks AFTER you get through security, but before you get to your gate. Us and about 100 other people didn’t realize this leaving Germany and it almost made us miss our flight! We had been at an airport cafe for over an hour just drinking coffee and reading our books when we decided to go sit at our gate. Little did we know we had to wait in a HUGE line (that an hour before wasn’t there!) just to get to our gate!

2. All you need to pack is tennis shoes, jeans, and a tee shirts. Seriously. Europe is SO casual and they were tennis shoes with everything! Dress? Tennis shoes. Suit? Fancy tennis shoes. Hardly anyone does their hair and women wear very little makeup. It was so nice to be so casual, even though I feel like I am pretty casual anyways.
3. Always have cash (in their currency) on you. You never know when your card will be accepted and a lot of places only accept cash. Also, it is very common for your credit card to require a pin number, so if you know you’ll be traveling abroad, call your credit card company and request a card with a pin. We didn’t have time to do that before we left, so we kept cash on us.
4. Get an adapter plug, but don’t assume you can use everything! Yes, you can plug things in, but European wattages/Hertz and American wattages/Hertz are VERY different, so powering your American styling tools will burn them up over there! We travel with a fan and Chris plugged it in the first night. Right away it was HUMMING on low and we thought, “This is awesome! It is going so fast!” After about 30 seconds I started to smell something burning. Ya, the motor was not made to handle the wattage, so our fan was close to catching on fire! I didn't even bring my straightener to Europe because my MIL had told me it wouldn’t work. Plus, I didn’t care about my hair. I was in Europe! So, just be prepared to charge your small electronics and that is it.
5. Know that you may have to pay to use the restroom. In Amsterdam, you had to pay to use every public restroom. I didn't know this and I had walked about a quarter a mile to go to the bathroom and when I got there, I didn’t have any money on me! In London, you could use a bathroom in a pub or restaurant, but not every place had a restroom, so just don’t wait until the last second!
6. Don’t expect your meal to come with free water, or much water at all. You have to pay for water and you hardly ever get ice. Being from Texas, we LOVE our water and ice. Since I was paying for a drink I mostly ordered wine or Coke :) They drink sparkling water, so if you want “regular” water you have to as for flat, tap, or water with “no gas.” Every country and restaurant called “regular” water something different, so I would just go down the list to try to get some non-carbonated water!
7. Don’t bring any valuables and wear a backpack instead of a purse. We hardly saw anyone carrying a purse. Most girls and guys wear backpacks. If they were carrying a purse, it was as very small cross body worn at the very front of their body. I also left my wedding rings in Texas and we Brought nothing with us that had really any value. All around London there are signs about pickpockets, so we didn’t even take a chance.
8. Be open to trying new things! Since we planned this trip so quickly, I didn’t get to do my usual itinerary. Instead, we did everything on a whim and it was fun! One day we up and went to Amsterdam without a plan. Another day we explored Cologne without a plan. We were open to trying new foods and half the time we ordered off a menu and we didn’t know what we were ordering. Just keep an open mind and be flexible!
9. Make a copy of your passports and keep that copy on you. If, for some terrible reason something were to happen, at least you’d have that form of identification on you. Chris bought this necklace thing and kept our passports in that and tucked it under his shirt as we walked around.
10. Always have an external battery charger for your phone. Being in a foreign place, we relied heavily on our phones for directions and translations. If our phones died, it would have not been good. Luckily, we each could always recharge our phones while we were out and about.

Life Update!

HELLO! Call me a liar. I get it! I keep saying I'm going to be consistent then life gets in the way and the first thing to go is always this little space of mine. But, so much has happened since I last logged on here and I want to document it!

To catch you up:

- In March we spent a week in Maui.
- April 1st we celebrated Graham turning TWO!
- April 6th we went to San Diego, took Graham to the zoom and had the best little family getaway.
- In the middle of April, Chris and I spent EIGHT glorious days in Germany, Amsterdam, and London!

As I always say, I do hope to find a few minutes a day to jot down some thoughts because there are so many things that I want to remember forever. Graham changes daily and Chris and I are constantly looking at each other and thanking God that this is the life we get to live.

Time is precious, friends and I am just soaking it up!