Day 2 in Nashville was going to be jam-packed, so we got an early start to the day and headed to the one of our highly-anticipated stops: The Frothy Monkey. We headed to the 12 South location since we were literally five minutes from our AirBnb. It was a cloudy and drizzly morning, so the rustic and cozy atmosphere of the cafe warmed us right up. Tom and I stood at the front, clearly looking very lost, so the barista was kind enough to walk us through the menu. I ordered the California which was over-easy eggs on avocado toast and sprouts. #basicgirlsdreams Tom got the Farmer's breakfast of eggs, toast and ham.
We also ordered two of their specialty drinks the Turtle Latte and the Monkey Mocha. While the Turtle was delicious, the mocha won hands down. It's a chocolatey coffee treat with a touch of banana syrup; I have to admit I was skeptical at first, but was hooked by first sip. HIGHLY recommend this drink to any visiting friends in the Nashville area.

We then strolled around the area to kill time before my hair appointment. We stumbled upon the cutest pumpkin patch and took some pictures. I felt a little odd taking pictures in front of the cafe/walking pedestrians, but Tom met another #InstagramHusband around the corner and all was right with the world.

We also made a point to stop at the infamous "I Believe in Nashville" mural. There was a small line to get your photo taken, but it went by quickly. A small wait is nothing for an Instagrammer checking off a huge bucketlist item on her shoot list ;)

After pumpkin picking and mural stalking, we stopped at Starbucks for *surprise* more coffee. I just wanted a little something to sip on before heading to The Dry House. If you haven't heard of this fabulous salon, please follow them on Instagram. Their well-known for their everyday blowouts at an affordable price. They also aren't shy to many well-known celebrities stopping by on a daily basis and I was crossing my fingers Lauren Akins would make an appearance. (Sadly...no :()
The salon has such a cool atmosphere to it, with lots of sassy quotes and cute decor throughout the place. I had an appointment with Crystal, who killed it with some bouncy curls in my hair. It felt so nice to have someone else style my hair for the day and I can now appreciate the occasional blowout necessity ;) (sorry Tom)

After the hair appointment, Tom and I drove around town looking at all the cool houses in the Nashville area. We like to dream big for fun, so we were trying to come up with a way to own a house both here and in Minnesota. (Still a work in progress hahaa) We then parked and decided to take in all of the boutiques in the area. One of our favorites was White's Mercantile. It was built in an old gas station and was filled with so much rustic TN home decor. I had to remind myself our luggage was already tipping the scale at the airport, so a large candle, pillow, mural and necklaces were out of the question ;)

Another mural, another Instagram <3

We also went in Draper James, Reese Witherspoon's shop, a southern girl's dream boutique, Savant and Vinne Louise to just name a few. Again, my wallet was just burning in my purse, but my already-stuffed luggage thanked me later.

Around noon, we started to get hungry again. And what better way to re-fuel than stopping by Five Daughter's Bakery for a 100-layer donut. That's right folks. 100 layers of sweet goodness. The staff there was super friendly and helped us make a couple of choices to try out their top treats. We ended up with the maple, vanilla cream and vegan pumpkin spice. My taste buds are still craving these small bites of heaven. Definitely a good-enough reason for us to buy that second home in Nashville one day. #AnythingforDonuts

After more shop perusing, we drove towards downtown Nashville and had a late lunch at the amazing Biscuit Love restaurant. Another one of our pre-meditated food choices, it did not disappoint. I honestly was waiting until one of our choices was going to be less than delicious, but honestly everything single thing we ate in Nashville was drool-worthy. Tom got the Princess Chicken Biscuit *insert crying/laughing emoji here* and I got the East Nasty. It was honestly southern comfort food at its absolute best. I refrained myself from licking the plate at the end. #CleanPlateClub

After lunch, we headed back to the loft for a little bit and I took a much-needed nap from all the shopping and eating we were doing. What can I say? It's vacation. We changed and decided to check out the downtown scene for the night. Both Tom and I aren't huge crowd people, but it was still fun to see all Broadway light up at night. There was a home Predators game that night, so there were much more people there than on a typical Thursday night. We stopped in a few shops and candy stores to look around and try to find some souvenirs to take home. After that, we strolled to the Pedestrian's Bridge to get some night-life shots of the city.

 
Once we were done downtown, we decided to stop at The Pharmacy for some burgers. The wait was about 30 minutes, but worth every second. The food was phenomenal and we got to eat in their cool patio section filled with trees and patio lighting. The burgers had homemade buns and the sweet potato fries were out of this world. We headed back home with full bellies and each fell asleep into a burger coma. Like I said, it's vacation.

Don't miss part III of our Nashville diary on Friday!

Question. Have you ever traveled to a place where you arrive, take in the scenery around you and say "Hm. Maybe this is where I was supposed to be living all along?"

**raises hand** Yep, that's Nashville for me.

I have had a fascination with this city ever since we drove through it on a family trip to Florida, years and years ago. While our time in town was short, young Melissa was instantly hooked.

Of course, it doesn't help that my favorite writer (Karen Kingsbury) and favorite singers (Thomas Rhett, Jeremy Camp, Russell Dickerson) are all from there. The city is full of creative individuals like writers, musicians, photographers and bloggers; which I've always hoped to fit into one of these categories. Therefore, you can see the draw I had to vacation here for our two-year anniversary this year <3 Our first day was nothing short of amazing full of delicious food, amazing music and total fan-girling (including Tom ;))

Our plane flew out of Minneapolis at 9am on Wednesday morning. I had closed the night before, so I was a littleee tired at the terminal. But after a venti-sized cup of a light roast from Starbucks, I was good to go. The flight was super smooth and only took about two hours (roughly 5 episodes of "The Office")

We actually flew into Atlanta with Spirit airlines since that was the cheapest option for us (#savingthemdollars), so we rented a car from Enterprise and hit the road to Nash. Georgia and Tennessee are looking beautiful this time of year, which made the four-hour drive go by quickly. **add an hour nap in there as well**

We got hungry along the way and chose a quick drive-thru of Chik-fil-A, which was Best Decision Number 1 of the whole trip. Everything is certainly better in the South and that doesn't exclude this restrarunt chain. The first of many mouth-watering meals on the whole adventure.

We arrived in Nashville a little before five and headed straight to our AirBnb. Both Tom and I have never rented though them before, but it was AMAZING. Our loft was situated about someone's detached garage and had everything needed for our stay and then some. I really wanted to see the inside of our renter's home because if her styling of the loft was any indication of her home, we would be great friends. 

We quickly freshened up and then headed to Exit/In, for Russell Dickerson's concert!! (And in time for a few outfit pictures as well ;))

criss-cross tee//American Eagle
jeans//American Eagle
booties//Target
purse//TJ Maxx

The line was fairly short when we got there, so we were able to get amazing spots on the floor, about 2 rows back.

 

Hannah Ellis opened and I loved her vibe. Her songs have now made it my Spotify list and perfect for those windows-down-hair-blowing car rides.

Russell was next and I WAS PUMPED. His new album just dropped this past week and I think he played his entire set from it. If you haven't listened to it yet, I HIGHLY recommend him to anyone with a little country-pop taste. His whole album is about his wife, their life together and where they headed for their future. If anything, just give a listen to "twentysomething" or "All Fall Down". You won't regret it.

One of the coolest moments was when he started doing a variety of covers of songs he likes. He ended with "Amazing Grace" which almost had me sobbing in the crowd. He has recently played this same set in Las Vegas and it just felt so overwhelming to know he had sung this in a city so filled with sadness in the following days to come. Yet it's been amazing to see the country stars come together in support of these unimaginable times. It took a while for the goosebumps to go away after this moment.

As the concert began wrapping up, I got a series of texts from my older sister (a fellow country fan) in all caps "DO YOU KNOW WHO IS AT THE CONCERT WITH YOU?!" At that exact moment, Tom had turned around and oh so casually stated "Oh. I think Thomas Rhett is here."

Sure enough, the country star was standing on the deck in the back with his wife Lauren.

Now, I haven't had a starstruck moment since meeting the Jonas Brothers (don't judge), but I may have blacked out for a moment of time. I then had the common sense to snap a quick pic and respond with the only words that could come to mind.

"dhfiushendjfseuhdnsduhgfweng"

Life. Made.

After the concert was over, Tom and I were a little hungry so we decided to hit up one of our chosen food spots that we had scouted for earlier on Pinterest/Instagram, BarTaco.

I was blown away by both the food here and the amazing service we got. From the moment we walked in, I literally felt a VIP. Tom and I were seated outside on the quiet patio with some cozy blankets and heaters. Our waiter (Tanner, you da bomb) read us through the entire menu and gave us his recommendations. We ordered the chips/quac, a surplus of tacos and one of their famous margaritas (they make their own tequila in house). It was one of those moments that you wish could last forever. And that my stomach could turn into a bottomless pit. We also chatted up another staff member (Christopher, you made our entire trip) who sent us other samplings from the menu and gave his recommendations of must-do in Nashville.

We then headed back to our loft and turned in for the night, resting up for another day in country paradise <3