karaspeak

The Auburn vs. Vanderbilt game was this weekend, so Nate's friend Parker (who was in our wedding) and his girlfriend Meghan headed up from Atlanta (or as we say, Hotlanta) to stay with us and go to the game. They arrived on Friday night and we all went to dinner at SOL in Downtown Franklin, which is kind of upscale Mexican. We luckily had a babysitter (my Mom) in town for the weekend so we were able to go sans Aiden, which is a nice treat every now and then and helps us feel like we still have a life. SOL has great food and a fun atmosphere, but the service leaves something to be desired. I always say I won't go back, nearly every time we go, but somehow the amazing guacomole pulls me back in every time. Oh well. Mexican is just so hard to turn down.

Saturday we went to breakfast at the Mercantile, which is also in downtown Franklin. We love this spot and frequent it oh....at least once a week. It's so good and they make all their food right in the moment. They have live music on the weekends, a fantastic lunch menu, and good for you breakfast all at reasonable prices. If you're ever here, you have to go. Eat the Heaven Cake if you do. I've blogged about this before, and all I'll say is that it is pure Heaven. After walking around for a bit in downtown, we headed back to clean up before they headed to the game. Nate and I had other plans...Willie Nelson....so we went our separate ways.

Willie Nelson was awesome! It was a sold out show that took place out in a field (a farm actually) in Leiper's Fork, TN about 6 miles from the house. We drove out there as it was approaching sunset and it was simply amazing. We passed by farm after farm until reaching The Preston Farm, where the concert was. We parked in the field, walked through the field to the show, sat in our chair in the field, and chilled out (literally, it got cold!) to Willie. Our neighborhood got preferential treatment and a huge block of tickets for the event, so it was nice to see some neighbors, meet some neighbors, and be out of our norm. About three songs into it, though, we could smell the "good stuff" floating around...too funny.

We went from there to meet up with Parker and Meghan (defeated by the Auburn loss to Vandy) at Tin Roof 2 for dinner. Soooo good. Sunday morning was about rest (as well it should be) and they headed out after a quick breakfast.

My good friend Beth was in town with her little boy Ryder, who is 3 months older than Aiden. They hadn't met yet, so Beth, Ryder, and her friend Kirsten came over Sunday afternoon to hang out, catch up, and let our little dudes meet for the first time. It was great - both catching up with Beth and watching the two boys ogle over one another. Aiden hasn't met another baby that close in age yet, so it was really funny to watch the two of them...it made me sad, too, because I so miss Beth and just know if we lived in the same town still Aiden and Ryder would grow up good little buddies. But they are in Texas, closer to their families, and we all know the value of that with newborns.

Needless to say, it was a long week, a long weekend, and it felt good to really rest Sunday night when it all was said and done. On to another week...I think this post is too long for pictures, so you can see them all here.