1. We attended the Behold the Lamb of God concert at the Ryman Auditorium. Not only was the historic venue incredible (though quite uncomfortable), but the talent and spirit at this event were just unbelievable. If I thought Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God album was awesome, then the live performance was just beyond words. The way he tells the Christmas story goes beyond a seasonal holiday celebration. He tells the story of our faith. Watching all the artists share the stage (Jill Phillips, Andy Gullahorn, Andy Osenga, Bebo Norman, Ben Shive, Randall Goodgame just to name a few - seriously, there were more) is a testament to the way Christian music should work. No egos involved. Just the joining together of talent for his glory. If finances allow, we would love to make this an annual trip!
No cameras allowed in the auditorium so we asked somebody to take one of us in the lobby.
2. We ate at the Spaghetti Factory in downtown Nashville. Since we were celebrating my birthday and all, I went for the combo dinner with spaghetti and spinach ravioli. (Don't tell anybody, but I finished the whole plate and didn't feel one bit guilty!)
3. We stayed at the Union Station Hotel, a newly-restored historic hotel downtown. It is one of those ritzy places where I hope they don't find me out and realize I am out of my league. The valet was gracious and didn't make us feel cheap when we asked where the self-parking lot was. He even walked me all the way into the hotel to show me around (though he didn't offer to carry my bag). We saved about $8 by foregoing valet parking, but the self-parking lot was still $15 for overnight. What?!@(#$*&^@#. $15? I know. I agree. Thankfully, we got such a good rate on the hotel that I was able to rationalize it.
I could not believe the windows in our room. They had to be at least 30 feet high with a view of downtown to boot.
I may have blown my cover by setting the camera on a trash can for a self-timer picture (hence the bad low-angle shot)!
4. When we got back in town on Friday, we had our small group Christmas party that might as well have been my birthday party too. Stephanie gave me an old Vertical Horizon CD. I mentioned it while on our Atlanta trip over a month ago. I used to jam to that CD in my Jeep when I was in high school, but I somehow lost track of it over the years. I don't know how she remembered that I said I missed it, but I have been wearing it out the last few days! Kim gave me a cupcake from some place in West Knoxville called the Cupcakery. I definitely wish I didn't even know it existed because I will now have to frequent that store. Yum! And Rachel gave me the "Friends" Willow Tree angel. Love those things! On top of all that, I won a $10 Starbucks giftcard during Dirty Santa. (I may or may not have conspired with Andrew to accomplish that!)
Me, Stephanie, Rachel, Kim, Angelina, Amanda
5. While I was fawning over laptops in the Apple store at the Mall at Green Hills, I found this blog post. Mom, I had to quit reading it so I wouldn't make a fool of myself in the crowded store. I printed it out to keep forever. Thank you.
Obviously, I am one lucky girl to be surrounded by so many wonderful, thoughtful people. Thanks to everybody who made my 25th such a special day.
1 comment:
Your Mom's blog was so sweet. Some of those pictures were priceless. For some reason I've never seen the glamor shot before. Thank goodness my parents don't know about blogging and digitizing pictures--otherwise I'd have to live under a rock. I'm glad you had a great weekend. See you Tuesday.
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