René of the Day: René of the Day // 8.26-28.11 // The 'Villes

Another wonderful weekend spent in Tennessee… I must admit, I’ll miss Rocky Top when MR eventually makes his way home for good. Friday night we had a delicious dinner at a creole restaurant –boubon chicken, grilled asparagus & grits with cheese and Yuenglings - in Cookeville with a really nice stone patio with bricks walls and ivy and sparkling lights in the trees. It was nice to catch up and enjoy a quiet evening – the challenges of long distance love. After dinner we had drinks on the deck and listened to music – it seems to be our Friday night tradition. As we went to bed, MR made a comment about the earrings I was wearing. They were just simple CZ studs – so of course after a bottle of wine I retorted with a snarky comment and before I could find, a box appeared in his hand across the bed. My jaw dropped and a huge smile spread across my face and the first thing out of my mouth was, “Where did that come from?!” and he just grinned at me. I started to untie the little black bow on the box and he laughed and told me to pull up… I was too excited to figure out the mechanics of the packaging, I just wanted to see the treasure inside! Sliding off the top, I found a pair of gorgeous diamond earrings – what a sweet surprise – just because. He seemed to enjoy my reaction – I put them on and jumped up to look in the mirror… Of course I put them back in their safe place for the night but I slept very happily.

Saturday we had lunch at their favorite spot, Broad Street Deli. Rebecca does a great job – her chicken salad with Craisins and pecans was delicious and she uses Boars Head meats and cheeses so we filled up for the afternoon. Then we hit the outlets on the way to Nashville but didn’t see anything we had to have.

We arrived at the Opryland and I was so ecstatic when I heard we had a Garden View room. The view was spectacular, looking over the gardens and the little river in the Delta wing. We had planned to stay there since we came for Ice last Christmas time so it was really fun to finally make it happen – thanks Kenny! We had a few drinks and got ready then MR’s co-workers picked us up to head downtown. After hearing about each other every day, it was nice to finally meet everyone and put faces to names. Dinner at Big River was good – awesome beers brewed on site. Then we walked across the bridge and saw the Nashville Bang This twins! Killer club level seats at the Titans vs. Bears game at LG Stadium – Charlie Daniel’s seats were at the end of the row but that night his son was there so we missed the ole devil ;) After the game we were exhausted so we had drinks on our balcony and relaxed – it was hard to justify not spending time in a room that has a price tag for one evening that’s close to what I pay for rent each month!

Sunday we had brunch at one of our favorite places in Nashville, Ellendale’s. The food and service didn’t hit the spot as it usually does. We tried to go to a movie and learned that showtimes on Sundays are 1:30 or 4:00pm so we just decided to head home. One more packed and playful weekend under our belts… It’s fun when every weekend is like a vacation but it is quite exhausting. It will be neat to look back on these days eventually… Until then, we’ll just keep hangin’ and bangin’.