I never really talk about personal things that much but just wanted to say thing's have been looking up lately. Thing's are just falling into place out of nowhere and I'm pretty happy about what's going on.

Anyways, I had to change things up a bit. I went down south to Nashville, Tennessee!

Why? Well, Nashville is literally an hour away from Chicago flying (didn't even get served a beverage), food scene is small but they're all gems, drink scene is super nutty, and my friend Mixon (we used to work together many years ago) lives there.

What enticed me to here was that my friend Mixon offered me her place to stay instead of spending money on an airbnb. I was like "hell yeah, I'll come to Nashville." Saved me a TON of money. Since I stayed at her and boyfriend's place, I didn't want to drag them around everywhere with me. I came into this trip with a loose itinerary all listed out on foursquare and had that mentality of "I (/ we) need to hit up this spot before the day ends." At the same time, they loosely planned the must go-to places a local would do on fly around my schedule. Pretty much just did things on the fly which is honestly the way it should be when traveling.

I had a good time down there and currently planning my next trip. Maybe a few more domestic trips or get out of the country for a bit. Not sure yet. I'm pretty stoked about what's ahead of me.

Here are some highlights of the trip and misc thoughts:

Nashville is a very small city with a lot of character. East Nashville is definitely up my alley in scene - restaurants, drinking, shops, cafe's, etc.
Totally avoided Broadway entirely during my trip. It's just a nutty drinking party scene that reminded me of Wrigleyville but with bachelorette parties galore and more drunk people. I have to be in the mood to be in this kind of scene and drinking pace (which is rare).
It was HOT & HUMID. Ridiculously humid. Just constantly sweating...standing, doing nothing, even while under the shade. I don't get it.
Coffee shops in Nashville are hella cool. They're bigger, more open space, less cluttered than what I typically see here in Chicago. People are there to meet, drink coffee, converse, and then leave. No laptop squatter's.
Hattie B's Nashville Hot Chicken is seriously AMAZING. All of the ab workouts I've been working on for the past 6 months disappeared in like 15 minutes. It was hot but not making me sweaty hot like other local's said. I look at fired chicken on a whole new level now.
Mixon has this adorable kitty named Roswell who I cuddled with whenever I got a chance. Everytime I see her coming out to the living room or sun bathe on her spot, I would just pick her up and hold onto her for awhile. Not sure if the kitty hates me but I don't care, I love her.
Introduced "Mr Robot" (USA) and "Stranger Things" (Netflix) TV series to Mixon and her boyfriend. Hope they keep up with it because they're really good shows.
Learned there's a huge difference from "bro country" and "real country". I don't listen to country at all but got exposed to it my entire trip. Even went to a show to see country music. Got to admit, it's pretty cool.
Drank everything local and brewed in Nashville. Definitely drank a ton of IPA's and whiskey.
Nashville is a city I would definitely visit again. You can do a lot in a couple days. The vibe is relaxing during the day and a night it's entirely a different city.