If you are a frequent follower of our blog, you will notice that I've changed the background. No more
London red telephone boxes...makes me a little sad :) The last month
has been extremely busy for Josh and I. We spent the first weekend in
Nashville, Tennessee at a family friends wedding, Amanda arrived from
England for a visit, we closed on our house, Josh bought a truck, we
moved stuff out of my parents basement and our household goods arrived
from London.
I've been catching up with friends I
haven't had much time to talk to or hang out with since moving to
London. One night I went out with my friend Amanda, to a creperie here
in town called Aviary. It was delish! We ate, drank, talked and then
shopped! What a fun night :)
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| Sangria! |
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| Amanda loved her martini |
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| So fun to catch up with Amanda! |
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| Fresh berry and lemon curd crepe that we shared. Delish! |
We
arrived in Nashville (well, technically it was Franklin, a suburb of
Nashville) but for the sake of ease, I will call it Nashville, on the
Thursday before the wedding. We enjoyed some snacks and drinks at the
hotel before picking up Amanda from the airport. Sam was suppose to
join her, but a few weeks prior he had been sent to an "unidentified
location" for an Alpha alert. Unfortunately, the alert was still
ongoing when he was suppose to be flying to Nashville, so he wasn't able
to come to the wedding (he was suppose to be a groomsman!). It was
sooooooo good to see Amanda! She brought a little bit of England with
her when she landed, including some proper tea for me :) We had a fun
night catching up. The next morning, Amanda and I went to have
pedicures, which was wonderful. Afterwards, Josh and Dad picked us up
and we went to Carnton plantation, Carnton was built in 1826 and was the
site of one of the bloodiest battles in the civil war. Known as the
Battle of Franklin, it lasted only 5 hours but left up to 9,500 soldiers
killed, wounded, captured or dead. Of those, over 7,000 were
confederate soldiers. The Carnton plantation house served as a hospital
for the wounded for the better part of a year. There are still blood
stains on the floor that mark that terrible time in history. Carnton
has a cemetery dedicated to the soldiers who died there, it is a
sobering sight, especially the large number of graves that contain the
bones of unknown men.
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| "Reunited and it feels so good!" Amanda and I were so happy to see each other! This was post-pedicure :) |
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| Carnton Plantation |
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| Beautiful hydrangeas at the plantation |
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| The kitchen garden at the plantation |
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| Josh and I in the garden |
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| The biggest Osage orange tree we have ever seen! |
After
our tour through Carnton, we drove through Franklin downtown and found a
local place for lunch. It was great! Delicious food and good
atmosphere. We headed back to the hotel to reconnect with mom. That
evening, while mom, dad and Amanda were at the rehearsal and dinner,
Josh and I met up with a high school friend who happened to live in
Nashville, Sam and her husband Don. We had sushi at a freezing cold
restaurant. We had some good conversation and good food. It was so
nice to catch up! I hope they enjoyed it as much as we did!
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| Lunch time! |
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| The restaurant we ate at in downtown Franklin |
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| Beer tasting! |
On
Saturday we had a relaxing morning before the wedding. The ceremony
was beautiful and they had a fantastic bagpipe player which was fun and
unexpected. It reminded me of our visits to Scotland where bagpipe
players would be out in the streets playing for money. Loved it. The
reception was lovely, they had a limo shuttle from the hotel to the
reception which was great. We ate, we drank, we danced!
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| Dressed up and ready to go! |
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| Super packed limo on the way to reception |
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| The guys enjoying a celebratory cigar at the reception |
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| Sad that Sam couldn't make it :( |
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| The Bairdbrook's in their best! |
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| I love my SIL! |
The
Thursday after our trip to Nashville, Josh and I closed on our house.
It was a pretty smooth transition and it was great to get the keys and
start moving our stuff over. We decided, since Amanda was visiting and
our London stuff hadn't been released from customs yet, that we would
wait to move in. So a few nights a week we would head over the house
after work and bring a few things over and work on something - like
cleaning or clearing out the garden area. We spent the following
Saturday moving our stored items out of my parents basement, a big
thanks to my parents for the help on that one! Despite not having any
pots and pans, linens or utensils, Josh and I moved out to the new
house. We managed for a few days before our London stuff came. Now we
have most of what we need (still no couch, dining room chairs or tv!)
We still have a lot to unpack and find homes for. In our 'spare' time
we have been working on putting in a small garden, pulling the zillions
of weeds, mowing, and lots and lots of planning and list making. Our
project list is endless...there is so much that we want to do on the
farm and in the house. Just one thing at a time though, I suppose! It
is probably a good thing we don't have a tv or a couch yet...no time for
resting!
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| We have a house! Thanks to the best realtor in the world! |
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| Creep kids on our moving truck, haha, someone whited out their eyes and made these kids look scary! |
While
Amanda was still in town we had a girls night out, dinner at Cheddar's
(Amanda's favorite) and drinks at Houlihans. We all had a fun night and
the weather was fantastic. We also had a get together at our house for
Father's Day. We had fried chicken and an open fire outside where we
enjoyed making smores and playing cornhole. I'm so excited to be able
to entertain again!
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| Mom and Pam enjoying their teas |
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| All of the girls! |
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| Amanda and I and our delicious beverages! |
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| Marla and I at Houlihans |
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| Amanda and Sarah | |
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| Josh and I in front of our new house! |
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| Apples on our trees |
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| Mom and I enjoying the swing on our front porch. |
That's
all I have to say for now! Live is good and busy. I'm having some
London withdraws but I really am enjoying being back in America. Just
for fun, here are some pics of Amanda that she took while I was away
from my phone at the wedding reception :)
Sorry Amanda! LOL!
Rachel
