Napping in Nashville

I stayed the night in Nashville with my friend Nate, whom I had forgotten is the ultimate host. I’m sure most Tennesseans are that way, from what I’ve seen so far in this life. Sadly, during this visit, we were like ships passing in the night, because Nate had to work late and I had to leave early in the morning. However, sleep seemed less important than catching up on life events, hopes, and even yoga teacher training dreams. It was good to find a friend in the middle of the long road.

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It goes without saying that the next morning I had to make a stop at Five Daughters Bakery. Of all the donuts, this one, pictured above, is the donut. It’s really something—this 100-layer, croissant donut, maple glazed, buttercream-filled concoction. I don’t even understand how it can exist, and I’m glad I don’t live in Nashville so it can only be a special-occasion-type-of-thing.

It was only about four hours from Nashville to Asheville. What a treat after those ten hour days! And an equally delightful treat to have lunch with my friends Lainie and Warren. Would I ever tire of stuffing my belly full of donuts and bbq?!

Lainie just started a master’s program, and she had a test the next day, so it could only be a quick lunch and coffee break. Luckily, my mom’s friends slash my godmother agreed to host me for the night. They took me out to dinner, for which I was very grateful, although I was still pretty full of barbecue at that point.

What luck to have so many amazing places to visit across this route and friends to share the adventure with! More to come (and many more food posts) as I slowed down the driving across North Carolina…

Saying Yes

Planning my visit to Asheville had me thinking back to this time last year. Lainie and I had just moved into a new house together in Austin without any solid expectations of what the upcoming twelve months would bring. Our two original plans, of living in a rat-free home and buying a functioning washer/dryer, had already fallen through, so all we really had was a signed lease and the hope that things could only go up from there.

Since then, after exchanging appliances and putting up with many visits from the pest control man, we buckled in and sat back while life did its thing. We had a lot of fun in our house. Lainie got engaged and started planning a wedding. We moved a bunch of furniture. She changed cities while I changed neighborhoods, and, for the most part, we both spend our days in wildly different ways than in early 2016.

I'll always admire Lainie since, when the world presented her with a completely new and exciting plan, she said "Sure, ok, I'll try it" instead of fearfully retreating back to her comfort zone. And now she lives in a cool house in a cool new city with a cool dude. I'm glad I have a lovely new place for visiting and the steady reminder that however good our known surroundings might be, there's always the fun chance that the unknown might be even better.

Thanks for having me, Asheville!