Fair Play

In rural Midwest your county’s status is determined by one thing: the size of its county fair. It’s the hallmark of summer ‘round these parts, and this week it rolled into town. Now normally if I venture to a fair it’s only for the food (duh), but this year I had a more important reason. A good family friend participated in the queen contest, so a group of family and friends gathered to cheer her on. Spoiler alert: she won!

I was given the family camera to snap some pics of Ellie during the contest. I now like to think of myself as “Official Photographer to the Queen” ;).

A fair is not a fair without a lemon shake-up

You can bet that I stocked up on all the classic fair food. I'll only include this one so you don't know how much I actually consumed. 

 Pretty friends

Mom and sisters anxiously awaiting the contest results

The coronation, congrats Ellie!

On official camera duty

Cute sisters in a whole lotta J. Crew

Yes, they're all in the same family (and they're even missing a kid)

Papaw taking the kids on their first ever ferris wheel ride!

They weren't even scared. It was a fun end to a perfect Midwestern summer night.

XO,

Lo

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Nashville :: Part 2

So it would seem that when my siblings and I get together we tend to revert back to the younger, more free spirited versions of ourselves. We seem to suffer from Peter Pan syndrome. After sleeping off our food coma, the Saturday adventures commenced with burgers and popsicles.

We ventured to 12 South to stuff our faces at Burger Up. It was mouth watering, unbutton your pants good.

Sweet teas for the table. We are easy to please.

Charming bloke. He's nicer than he looks. Unless you're related to him.

I ordered the Triple L Classic with a side of sweet potato fries. They call it classic for a reason. It means you can't go wrong. 

Jared got the Woodstock stacked with bacon, Tennessee white cheddar, and Jack Daniels maple ketchup. As a testament to it's deliciousness I took a picture, looked at my playback, looked up and it was gone. 

EB always the healthier of the three. The older, wiser sister got the Turkey burger with all the classic toppings and avocado.

The "can we please have popsicles now" look...

Las Paletas the best popsicle shop I've ever been to (I have never been to one) just happened to be next door. We ooed and awed at all the kids coming out with their faces dripping with the sweet goodness. 

So many choices...

Jared got Vanilla w/ Chocolate Chips dipped in chocolate. EB and I ordered from the Chiquitas. She had the Chocolate w/ Chocolate Chips and I got the refreshing Strawberry.

We then went on to find ourselves chasing around miniature horses through Belle Meade. These wiley little guys escaped and were galloping through the road. Jared was put on duty to catch the ring leader. Let's just say he could probably stand to hone in on his hearding skills. 

The horses were finally captured and returned home safely.

We had the great fortune of stumbling upon Rayna James home featured in the show Nashville and couldn't help but giving in to the starstruck fan behavior...fine this was just me as I made Jared pull over and I hung out the window capturing every angle of the house at a stalker distance of course.

The rest of our afternoon was no better spent frolicking through Vanderbilt's campus pretending to be cool, rather mature looking college students.

My circus act

Climbin' trees

We are the animal whisperers

My brand spankin new Keds.

After a day full of playing, like real children we exhausted ourselves and over sugared with birthday cookies and whoopie pies. So we lazily ate pizza and curled up to watch a movie to wrap up the weekend. 

XO,
Bee

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Nashville :: Part 1

This weekend I ventured to one of my favorite Southern cities, Nashville, Tennessee (aka Nashvegas, Cashville). It's basically the definition of fun. My brother, sister, and I were reuniting, a rare occasion. It was my sister's birthday weekend and it promised to be a shamelessly good time filled with lots of laughs and no restrain as we explored some of Nashville's best eateries. Just to preface, I have never ate such delectable food. Ever. There will certainly be some long runs in my near future.

It was a few days packed full of Southern fun so sit tight as I spread this over a couple of blogs.

First on our agenda was celebrating EB's actual birthday at Nashville's top rated steakhouse Kayne Prime (It was recently rated best Nashville Steak, Restaurant, Design, etc and ranked in the top 10 best steakhouses in the US). Yes, their resume is impressive and my expectations were through the roof...I wasn't disappointed.

Note to self: continuously hint to Ma and Pops to reserve my birthday dinner here as well.

Okay let me set the mood. The restaurant sits just along the railroad that goes through downtown in a part of Nashville that used to boom with industrial business. The city is revitalizing the whole area giving it this super trendy vibe. The restaraunt itself exuded a rustic, contemporary design with dark woods and dim lights. It was simply, really cool. (Nashville dudes should take their Southern belles on dates here)

Union Station view from Kayne Prime

Jared is wearing J. Crew (his shirt is sold out so this is the closest I could find) and Ray-Bans

EB's necklace is J.Crew Factory and dress from Victoria's Secret

Chad, our superb down-to-earth waiter gave us great suggestions across the board. We started with appetizers. The cheese plate, a guaranteed people pleaser (who doesn't like cheese?). He also brought us some lobster puffs on the house for being a blogger...I graciously accepted.

My personal favorite was the Housemade Bacon. This was pork belly seasoned with peppercorn and cotton candy. Sounds strange I know. Boys will be in bacon heaven (The bro was less hesitant to share this dish).

Gap button up (old school) and Ray-Bans

Then came the filet mignon. Melt in your mouth. Cooked perfectly. Tried to look civilized.

Macaroni Gratinee (with bacon) for the bro and myself. Since he housed us for the weekend I let him keep the leftovers. I regret that decision.

EB got the brussel sprouts. I give up veggies on the weekend.

The birthday girl making a wish.

In summary it was the best meal to date (other than Ma's home cooking of course). We wrapped up the dinner and headed back for presents and a FaceTime sesh with the parents. 

Her actual birth day was coming to an end, but not to worry we let her pull the birthday card all weekend.

Sit tight for more of my Nashville adventures tomorrow. They are likely to entertain.

XO,
Bee

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