Week of Fun 2011: Day 4

Gabby's Burgers & Fries

Oh. My. Goodness.  Where has this place been all my life?  Gabby's is a total dive, but it has the most delicious, greasy burger I've ever had.  Amazingly, they have grass-fed beef here!  I was shocked!  Click here to read their menu and the reasons why grass-fed is so much healthier for you.  I of course got mine bun-less.  The sweet potato fries are huge, awesome slices of potatoes.  It's not pretty...but tastes heavenly.  

Billy has an obsession with mustard.  Especially gourmet seedy mustard.  Gabby's had it so he was pumped.

Disgusting IMO...but he loves it.  :)

Lebanon Outlet Stores

About 30 minutes away from Nashville is the Lebanon Outlet Mall.  It was Billy's idea to come here and probably his most favorite part of the WOF 2011.  He's a shopaholic.  Especially a shoe-shopaholic.  He found not only just a Nike Store.  Not just the Nike Outlet Store.  But the Nike Clearance Store.  He was a happy camper because he's always trying to buy crazy sneakers.  I'm always discouraging the purchase of crazy sneakers. But when they're on clearance for $29...all bets are off.

 

Can you believe that these purple, tweed, high-tops are on clearance?  I mean...I'm so surprised they didn't fly off the shelves!

He decided against the tweed, but did find some rad neon pink and purple high tops.  Only Billy.  I love it.

The Gulch

There is an area near downtown called "The Gulch".  It has a lot of new loft spaces, shops and restaurants. We had to made a stop in our favorite yogurt place, Sweet CeCe's.  There's also a cool Urban Outiffers, a great local grocery store called the Turnip Truck and other cute boutiques.  It was tough to spend too much time walking around because the heat outside was so intense.  Similar to baking alive.

Maffiaoza's Pizzeria
Maffiaoza's is a popular local pizza place in 12 South.  We just found out that they offer g-free crust now.  It was a little pricier than we expected so we'll definitely split next time.  It was worth it though.  My pizza cravings were out of control.

Week of Fun 2011: Day 3

9 Fruits

This morning we had a not so fun trip to the mechanic to get the A/C in Billy's car fixed.  But the mechanic is in Franklin and a smoothie place called 9 Fruits is in Franklin, so I was excited.  I had one of these at a girls event at my church last spring and I haven't stopped thinking about it since then.  So good!  Totally beats Smoothie King. *cough* tasteslikechemicals  

9 Fruits only uses fruit, pure juice and yogurt.  What a novel concept.

It's also neat because the name means the  9 “fruits of the spirit” in the Bible: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control. 

Ahem...excuse Billy's chest hair and the deeeeeep V.  I usually don't let him wear it in public.  :)

Edgehill Village

Edgehill is a little up-and-coming area of town near Music Row that has new little boutiques, stores, and restaurants.  Super cute.  We stopped into Taco Mamacita's for lunch.

Ryman Auditorium

We've had the privilege of seeing a few shows at the Ryman, but today we took a self-guided tour.  This building has such a neat history.  It was fun to learn about how it began as a church, how it closed for over 20 years and then was remodeled and reopened.  It has such a warm, welcoming vibe inside.  Definitely an awesome venue to see a show.

Bon Iver's crew was setting up for a show tonight.

McKay's Used Books

I could spend hours in McKay's.  Billy on the other hand, does not have the same love....but he'll tolerate going there.  It's like a huge organized garage sale of books, CD's and DVD's.  I love a good bargain.  I scored some sweet deals on some educational books.  $3 for a Schmoker book in perfect condition worth $29.  Come on!

Tayst
Tayst is a fancy pants restaurant that we could only semi-afford because of a Groupon.  It's the first and only certified "green" restaurant because the only get food from small local farmers with no pesticides and they go to great lengths to recycle, compost and all of that good stuff.  That's why they charge the dollah billz, y'all.  Super yummy, though.  It was a fun, romantic date-night.

Week of Fun 2011: Day 2

Coleman Community Center

With all the food we're eating this week, we decided to start the morning off right and work on our fitness.  Around the corner from us is our awesome community center and we use the gym there.  (Only $3!)  Our Woodbine Farmer's Market sets up here on Saturdays.  They also offer Zumba, Yoga, Boot Camp and other great classes.  

Baja Burrito
We cannot get enough Baja Burrito.  It's dangerously close to our house so we eat here often.  OK.  Weekly.  Well, sometimes bi-weekly.  Mexican food is good for us "glutenites".  We order our burritos "naked" with no tortilla.  Hormone-free chicken, grass-fed beef.  Local ingredients.  THE best fruit tea.  There's almost always a line and you may bump elbows with the stranger next to you...but it's totally worth it.

Oh, and we ran into our pal, Micah Smith!  We love that guy!

The Frist Center
Thanks to a cheap Groupon we bought last October, we are members of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.  I'm ashamed to say that this is the first time we've visited.  Silly, right?

Right now there is an Andy Warhol exhibit.  We loved it.  It's a total Pop Culture feast for your senses.  Screenprints, paintings, photos, videos.  If you live in Nashville, it's a piece of history definitely worth seeing.

The Green Wagon
Next, we headed to East Nashville for a little shopping and food.  East Nashville is where the word "artisan" is very much overused.  Lol.  You can expect to see Smart Cars, Dread Locks, Birkenstocks.    I'm a hippie at heart and I love this little "green" store called The Green Wagon.  They have all kinds of wonderful eco goodies.  You know...like if you run out of vegan cranberry dental floss, you can pick it up here.  I'm not kidding.

In the back there is a new little g-free bakery called Aunt April's.  It was closed but I can't wait to go back and try it!

Wantanbe Sushi
Also in East Nashville, is Wantanbe.  Our friends Zac & Erin met us here for some great food. Sushi!

Billy's friend, Jon, is the bartender here.

Patterson House
For little night cap, we headed to Patterson House which is kind of a dark, mysterious, little lounge that feels a bit like a speakeasy.  They make specialty drinks from scratch and Erin claims that she ordered the beverage she's ever had in her entire life.

I was in need of some chocolate so I ordered the S'mores.  Unfortunately I could only eat the gooey middle.  Yes, I  looked extremely classy and lady-like while doing this.   The marshmallows were homemade.  Delish.

They bring your receipt to you in an old book of signatures. Pretty cool.