Hello, friends!
Summer turned out to be pretty fun. The heat was slightly unbearable for me at times, but now it’s gradually cooling down. Stephen wasn’t feeling well over the weekend, but he’s bouncing back. I’m so ready for cooler weather and all the lovely fall colors! We’ll need to visit Cheekwood once they have their pumpkins and fall decorations out.
It’s time to rewind back to the end of July and share what we’ve been up to.
July 31, 2021
To kick off this Saturday, we watched two buildings implode. One was imploded two years ago whenever Stephen’s friends visited him. There were 4 buildings total and one prior to these last two was imploded at some point. Stephen couldn’t find out when that happened, so that remains to be a mystery.
*Having technical difficulties with the videos playing. Will fix.
I wore a cute bodysuit that I purchased on sale a few months ago from Lizard Thicket. I hit up the clearance and found other cute clothes that I’m excited to wear. Now that we’re transitioning seasons, I should really sort through my closet and get rid of some clothing items. Maybe I’ll do that this weekend.
I thought these sandals were appropriate to wear as we walked around downtown, but by the time we went to the food court, I had some blisters forming and it was super painful to walk.
After watching the buildings implode, we went to the Nashville Farmers’ Market to see what all was there.
There were many vendors, lots of veggies, and other neat handcrafted items.
The Gardens of Babylon is located at the end of the farmers’ market. I’m working on visiting some nurseries around Nashville just to see what succulents they have. From what I’ve seen online, they mainly have house plants like Monstera and those types of plants that I’m not too crazy about.
There weren’t many succies here, but they were really pretty!
I don’t even know what this hanging thing was, but it looked really cool.
Here is what the inside of the farmers’ market main building looks like. There are so many different food options! I need to go back to try some places.
It was around mid-morning by the time we finished looking at the vendors’ stands and plants. I hadn’t had any coffee yet, so we waited in line to get some at Farm City Coffee. I ordered a Sweet Whiskey Caramel Iced Latte and Stephen ordered a Watermelon Cucumber Soda.
Fifth + Broadway
At first, Stephen suggested that we walk to downtown from the Farmers’ Market — that was a hard no because it was like a mile and something to Fifth + Broadway. Given, he didn’t know how far of a distance it actually was before Googling it, but that didn’t sound like a good idea before the search.
This was our first time here, and Stephen also wanted to walk across the Pedestrian Bridge to see the race track set up for the Music City Grand Prix that would take place the following weekend.
It was a nice time to walk around downtown because there weren’t many people around. Not that I knew any of the drivers racing, but it was neat to have something like this downtown.
We were getting hungry after walking around and we headed back to the Assembly Food Hall at Fifth + Broad. This wall was super cool.
I didn’t take a photo of what the Food Hall looked like, but there were so many restaurants in the two buildings. It had so many different food choices; it was all you could want in a food court!
I had a hard time choosing, but I’d been craving a poke bowl, so I ordered from Oke Poké. I created my own bowl, which made me a bit anxious since the cashier was waiting on me to spout off my order. I ended up getting brown rice, ahi tuna, pineapple, edamame beans, and smelt roe with sriracha.
The ahi tuna was absolutely delicious!! It was so tender and flavorful. I wish I would’ve added eel sauce, but I didn’t think about it at the time. This dish was incredible. The next time we go back, I’ll try to order from somewhere else, possibly the Thai place near Oke Poké, but it’ll be difficult to choose something new after trying this meal.
Absolutely amazing dish. I highly, highly recommend trying this place. The ingredients are fresh and the employees were really nice.
Stephen chose the Hot Dumplings from SteamBoys, which was in the first building. The employee warned Stephen that the dumplings were super spicy, but he ordered them anyway because he’s had these dumplings from another location and they weren’t too spicy. He thought these would have the same spice level, but wowza! These dumplings were way more spicy, and it was slightly funny watching him eat.
He sweated while eating the dumplings, and it wasn’t because of the heat outside. The air conditioning was such a relief after walking around. I ended up eating the last dumpling and I had to get him a water refill for him to get through the meal.
Weeks later and I’m wanting these dumplings because they look heavenly.
We headed back to the apartment after having lunch and it was only like 2:00 PM by this time. We had a super fun morning and we still had the rest of the day left!
Also, I wanted to share this cutting board that we got at the Farmers’ Market! It looks absolutely amazing. This board is from Walnut Hill Woodworks. The company is owned by a super kind Christian couple. I think they’re usually at the market every week. They have a wide variety of boards to choose from!
I really liked the boards that were made from the darker wood. Whenever we get our own place, I hope some pieces in it will have dark wood.
I wish I was fancy enough to get into charcuterie, but I don’t think I’d have the patience or creativity to make a board. WHW sells a puzzle charcuterie board and it looks so cool! If I were to ever get into it, I’d make a beeline for that one. Though, I’d need to justify the purchase with an event where lots of people would help eat and make the boards.
Here’s an up-close photo so you can see the details. It caught Stephen’s attention right away.
That’s all we did on this Saturday!
Music City Grand Prix — August 7, 2021
The next week flew by and it was time for race day. We parked downtown a little after 11:00 AM and got back to our car at 9:00 PM. Yes, it was a really long day out in the hot sun. This was not my cup of tea at all, but Stephen had a really fun time. He’s been looking up and loosely planning for next year’s race events.
I won’t be too negative, but I will just say that I really didn’t like this experience. Stephen offered to take me home after being there for two hours, but I sucked it up and endured it.
We brought empty water bottles because there were drink station locations to fill up. We got to fill up once and then that was it since there were so many people. We had to keep buying bottled water for $5.
It might have been a poor choice on my part, but I ordered a Philly steak and cheese sandwich. It was really good, but I didn’t expect it to have this much cheese, or to be so messy. Stephen couldn’t find me a fork, so eating this was not fun and it worsened my mood. My hands felt gross and I couldn’t wash them because there were porta potties and I had to rely on hand sanitizer throughout the day.
Fun fact: The slang term for a porta potty is thunder-box. I’m going to use that.
What was neat to learn about the truck race was that Arie Luyendyk Jr. from The Bachelor was racing in it. This jogged my memory that he was a racecar driver, although I didn’t expect him to be in the truck jumping race.
The drivers driving their truck on two wheels was a really cool trick to show off.
I think it was after 7:00 PM whenever the sun started to set. There was a breeze throughout the day, but the sun was brutal.
Thankfully, we weren’t in the sun the whole time. We hung out under the bleachers for a race that Stephen wasn’t as interested in. It was terrible witnessing the empty cups and bottles that people would drop on the ground. As if there weren’t trash cans or recycling bins located on both sides of the bleachers.
I was in awe of the pretty sunset. I wish my camera could capture the actual beauty of it.
Whenever we left, it started raining, which was not predicted on our weather app. There was a Jon Pardi concert that started at like 10:00, but we weren’t interested in staying, and good thing since it absolutely poured!
To end this day, we were drenched once we got back to the car. If you know me, I loathe being out in the rain. Seemed like a fitting way to end the day. Stephen took me by Sonic so we could get something to eat for dinner. We ate around 1:30 PM. I was starving, but I was really wanting a blue raspberry Nerds slushie.
I was not going to pay $8 for a 12-ounce Lemonade slushie that wouldn’t be nearly as good. I forgot how much I enjoy Nerds slushies. I used to get them frequently.
That’s how a couple of Saturdays went for us! What are your weekend plans?
