Author Archives: Tonya

31 Days of Nashville – Festivals

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4 - Festivals

I don’t know about other cities, but it seems like there’s a festival of some sort in or around Nashville most weekends. With the weather being the most predictable around this time of year, several outdoor festivals are planned.

TACA Festival
This past weekend was the annual TACA Fall Craft Fair featuring the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists showing us all of the hard work and talent they put into their craft and art. I’ve been several years, and I think it gets bigger each time I attend. There is something there for just about everyone, and it’s quite the experience to see the variety of artists we have in the state who gather in Centennial Park.

Made in Nashville Festival
A couple of weekends ago, the 2nd Annual Made in Nashville Festival, also in Centennial Park. This festival was a bit smaller but featured only local artisans, whether their art be music, food or craft. Small didn’t necessarily mean that it wasn’t worth the time, because I love that it was small. Nashville has this sort of small feel considering it’s the state’s capital. The best part was being introduced to so many local companies that I can now support by purchasing local.

Oktoberfest
Also this month is Oktoberfest. I’m pretty sure that most cities with German residents has an Oktoberfest of some sort, and Nashville is no exception. This year is the 34th year for the event, and I can remember going as a kid. Oktoberfest in Nashville features live music, lots of German foods, tours of the historic churches in the Germantown neighborhood, and vendors. It’s also proud to be the city’s longest running cultural festival.

Celebrate Nashville Cultural Celebration
Speaking of cultural festivals, October is also when the Celebrate Nashville Cultural Celebration is held. Nashville seems to be a place that people just love to make home, so every year we come together and celebrate that diversity with performances, traditional food and many MANY crafts. This festival is also in Centennial Park, which just goes to show how lucky we are to have a park to house many events throughout the fall and the rest of the year.

Barktoberfest
Last but not least, I wanted to mention Barktoberfest. I have to admit that I have never been, and I won’t be able to attend this year because it’s the day after my Maggie’s “lady surgery,” but as a Dog Mom, I’m excited to see more and more events offered for those of us with fur kids. It looks like it will be a fun event, and I hope to be able to go next year!

Now Playing Nashville
I’ve focused mostly on the events going on this time of the year, but Now Playing Nashville is the best place to check to see what might be happening when you’re in Nashville any time of the year.

Have you been to any of the festivals I’ve listed? How about other festivals in Nashville?

This post is part of a series I am writing, 31 Days of Nashville, where I am introducing several awesome places that make Nashville a great place to live and visit. Each day of the week has a different theme, and I am trying to focus on those hidden gems that aren’t as well known but just as worthy. 

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31 Days of Nashville – Green Door Gourmet

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3 - Green Door Gourmet

If you’re visiting Nashville, getting fresh vegetables may not be high on your list of Things To Do, but Green Door Gourmet has much, much more than just fresh vegetables. They offer many items you’ll find in a grocery store, except all of the items are from local companies.

I discovered Green Door Gourmet a few years ago when I first heard of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). There are several CSAs offered to Nashville-area residents, but most require a multi-month commitment. Being a 2-person household, most CSA boxes offered way more food than we could eat each week or month. Luckily, I found Green Door Gourmet, who offers a CSA with no commitment, and I can decide week-to-week whether I want to order a box. They offer a small, couples box that is designed for two adults, so it works out great for David and me.

Green Door has grown and expanded a few times since I first discovered them. What started out as a small shed where we picked up our box, has turned into a decent-sized store that offers multiple items beyond vegetables, including chicken, beef and pork (all usually from grass fed an/or organic farms nearby), pasta, canned goods, snacks and even household items like soaps, lotions and shampoos from local companies.

The best part of Green Door is that I always feel welcomed when I am there. The staff are friendly, helpful and always there with a smile. The owner, Sylvia Ganier, is usually around to help with your selections, answer questions and give suggestions. The feel is definitely home grown all around.

This post is part of a series I am writing, 31 Days of Nashville, where I am introducing several awesome places that make Nashville a great place to live and visit. Each day of the week has a different theme, and I am trying to focus on those hidden gems that aren’t as well known but just as worthy.

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31 Days of Nashville – Love Circle

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2 - Love Circle

One of the best views of Nashville can be seen atop the hill at Love Circle. For years, I thought Love Circle got its name from the early days of “make out spots”, however it’s named after John H. Love, whom the city of Nashville bought the land.

Love Circle is located just off West End at Murphy Road, and is a popular place to visit in the early morning hours to watch the sunrise over the Nashville skyline, but the view is amazing any time of the day. Most residents of Nashville have probably visited Love Circle at least once, if not a dozen times.

The homes in and around Love Circle are both interesting and unique, including country musician, John Rich, whose boxy house can’t be missed, as the gates proudly announces it as Mt. Richmore. It’s also a popular spot for many, many photos.

This post is part of a series I am writing, 31 Days of Nashville, where I am introducing several awesome places that make Nashville a great place to live and visit. Each day of the week has a different theme, and I am trying to focus on those hidden gems that aren’t as well known but just as worthy. 

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31 Days of Nashville – Noshville

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1 - Noshville

Noshville is among one of my very favorite restaurants in Nashville. Yes, it’s Noshville with an O. Noshville is a New York-style delicatessen on Broadway in the area of town called Midtown, outside of the downtown loop. So yeah, maybe it’s a little weird to be recommending a Nashville restaurant with a New York theme, but it is a rather unique restaurant (for Nashville) with some really delicious food.

The most absolute best ever dessert is the cheesecake at Noshville. They get their cheesecake from the Carnegie Deli in New York, so it’s that thick cream cheese-consistency cheesecake and not the spongy-consistency cheesecake that you get at a certain restaurant with cheesecake in the name. Seriously, when you go to Noshville, you MUST try the cheesecake, even if you’re so full that you have to take it To Go, which is what we often do.

Cheesecake – YUM!

It’s not all about the dessert, though. The Matzah Ball soup is also a delicious choice on the menu. It’s chicken noodle soup with a giant ball of matzah in the middle. Another favorite for me is the Hot Ham and Cheese with Marble Rye.

If you’re visiting Nashville or already a resident, you’ll need to give Noshville a try. Don’t forget the cheesecake!

This post is part of a series I am writing, 31 Days of Nashville, where I am introducing several awesome places that make Nashville a great place to live and visit. Each day of the week has a different theme, and I am trying to focus on those hidden gems that aren’t as well known but just as worthy. 

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31 Days of Nashville

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31 Days of Nashville

Last year, I participated in The Nester’s 31 Day Challenge by writing on one topic for the month of October. Well, I had a really hard time coming up with a topic that I could write about in 31 different ways, so I ended up choosing 31 Days of Journaling Prompts. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about myself in those 31 days. I even continued on into November by writing every day that month for NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month). And then my blogging sort of fell to the side while life got busy.

So tomorrow is the first of October, and I’ve decided to do it again! This time I have decided to write about my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville is known for several things, mostly for its music, but there’s more to our city than just the music, so I’m not really going to write about the music much at all. I’m going to show you 31 other things that makes Nashville such a great place to visit that you might just want to live here.

Nashville is filled with people who are not originally from Nashville, so much so that I am often one of few natives when in a group of people. It’s pretty much a running joke with me that no one is originally from Nashville, even my husband is a Detroit to Nashville transplant. When I meet someone not originally from this area, I always ask what brought them here, and there’s always several reasons that bring people to Nashville, and it’s not always about the music. If you stick with me through the end of October, you’ll see what makes Nashville pretty awesome!

I’m going to write about something different every day, but I’m going to keep with a daily theme.

Tourist Favorites

Pancake PantryLoveless Cafe

Memories of Nashville

OprylandMall Memories

Local Favorites

Noshville

 Pied PiperCori's DogHouse

Historical Locations

Love CircleNashville City Cemetery

Centennial Park

Local Companies

Green Door Gourmet

Food TrucksAdventure Science Center

Local Events

FestivalsShrine CircusTheatres

Local Organizations

Little Black Dress Club

Nashville Rollergirls

 

 

 

 


I’ll link each day’s entry here, so bookmark this page and come back daily or subscribe by email at the bottom of this post.

31 Days of Nashville

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Five Minute Friday: Mercy

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The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, or over thinking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Mercy

A few days ago, I was standing in line to buy lunch at a fast food place. There were many people in line to order and just as many in line to receive their food. I was there for a few minutes doing what I often do in crowds – people watching.

I noticed someone also waiting, and I totally judged this person in my head without even thinking about how I consider myself a non-judgmental person. I did not judge her fairly at all and based her character solely on the way she presented herself. I played out a few scenarios in my head in the minute or two that I waited for my food, and then went about my day.

About 30 minutes later, I ended up having contact with that same person in another setting. I was flabbergasted at myself when I realized that she was the person I had not so positive thought about, and I probably flushed with embarrassment, even though she had no idea of the thoughts that raced through my head just 30 minutes earlier.

You know what? I was completely wrong about who I assumed she was, and I’m thankful for the lesson. I do try to consciously be a non-judgmental person and not fall into the trap of assuming or pre-judging a person before I know the true person. I can honestly say that I make a conscious effort not to be judgmental. I learned much about myself that day.

You know what else? It’s mercy that reminds me that I am human and far from perfect. While I may have not presented any actions against the woman through judging her before I knew her, in my heart I was not giving her a fair chance. Mercy is there to save me from negative behaviors and tell teach me that while it’s not okay to assume I know what kind of person someone is just by looking at them, it is human nature to do so. Mercy also reminds me that lessons like this should make it easier in the future not to fall into that trap again.

I also pray that Mercy comes along and reminds someone else that I am not the person I may appear to be when they judge me before knowing the real me.

Read other Five Minute Friday posts on the topic of ‘Mercy’.

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The Little Black Dress Club & The Windy City

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LBDC Chicago

 

You think you know someone pretty well, but then you spend two 9-hour bus rides, two nights in a hostel and walk 20 miles with them, and you see a whole other side of that person…the good, the bad, the ugly and the fabulous. For three days in June, the Nashville, Columbus and Detroit Chapters traveled to Chicago for a multi chapter event with the Little Black Dress Club ladies of the Chicago Southland Chapter to explore The Windy City.

To read more about my trip to Chicago with The Little Black Dress Club, read my post at The Little Black Dress Club Blog.

Memories of Shelton

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Mother's Day 2013

I’ve put off writing this post for nearly a week now. I wanted to write it when my emotions were still raw and on the surface so that I didn’t forget my feelings. That’s my biggest fear – forgetting how I felt when he was alive and when he died.

Warning: This could trigger some unwanted feelings if you’ve been through the death of a loved one. I am not responsible for any tears beyond this point…and it’s a really long entry!

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Memories All Alone

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 I’ve come to the realization that my memory has suffered a setback that doesn’t seem to be recoverable…and it’s incredibly depressing to me. I have long found pleasure in the thoughts, experiences, moments and people stored in the vast section of my memory. I’ve worked in customer service with pretty much every job I’ve had, and took pride in remembering my customers.

The first time I ever noticed that there were blank spots in my memory where it was once filled was in 2005 after I had back surgery. The area of my memory that was most affected was people’s names. I would know the person but couldn’t recall their name immediately, and this would be people I interacted with on a regular basis, though not daily. I had read that there are long term effects of anesthesia, and that I was probably experiencing a setback because of that. It was true, because my memory did bounce back about 6 months later. People laughed it off and told me that it was also due to getting older.

I had surgery again last year and anticipated that it would happen again, and it has, but it’s not coming back. It’s been 10 months, so maybe this round of anesthesia is taking longer to wear off. I really don’t know.

I am having a hard time remembering things that I should remember. Sure, some things might be minor details, but I feel that I NEED those details. I need to remember conversations and events and plans and whatnot. It’s important to me! There are some times where I don’t even remember any part of a conversation.

So to combat this, I am going to TRY to make the time to journal every day in my handwritten journal to remember the details of the day so that I always have them. I thought about the pros and cons of handwritten versus computer, and I’m hoping that actually writing it down will help my memory retain the events better. Of course, writing them on my computer or a phone app or whatever would make them easily searchable, so we’ll see how it all goes.

What I write will most likely be more about the day’s events and less about my feelings, which is what I usually use my handwritten journal for. I don’t want the idea of writing daily to be burdensome, so I’m going to come up with a few prompts to answer every day and plan for maybe 5 to 10 minutes of my time.

I also found someone who has 365 Daily Prompts to record every day for 5 years. I’m thinking about maybe answering that prompt every day, as well.

How is your memory? What do you do to help remember things? 

“Of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my mind the most.” – Mark Twain

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Five Minute Friday: Comfort

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The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, or over thinking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Comfort

START

Somehow I got out of the habit of not writing for Five Minute Friday. I actually missed the comfort of knowing that once a week I could just let the words spill out of me without over thinking what I was going to post and if it was going to be epic.

I don’t know about you, but I often find comfort in some of the smallest things. One area, in particular, is habit and continuity. I like having things planned out, so when something is already planned out for me, it’s (usually) even better! I also find comfort in familiarity. I’m probably not alone in these comforts.

Lately I’ve been reaching to food again for comfort and having a really hard time breaking that habit. I’m working on it, and I’m also looking at getting my medications adjusted, because I’m pretty sure that they are contributing to the increased appetite. I’m about halfway to my ultimate weight loss goal, so I don’t want something adding to the already difficult road that I am on.

So what do you find comfort in? Are your comforts positive, negative or a little bit of both. Obviously, I have a little bit of both. That’s probably normal, too.

STOP

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