Day #15 - ROAD TRIP

Day #15

I'm so thankful for road trips.  This past weekend Lauren and I road tripped it up to Nashville to visit Claire.  Lauren and I talked the WHOLE way up and the WHOLE way down.  That's what I love about our friendship...we can just talk and know we're not being judged.  Believe me, some of our conversation people would have judged me in a heartbeat but not Lauren!  Anyway, we got to Nashville around 4:30 and we hung out a little bit and then went to dinner at Chuy's.  I had a yummy margarita and a delicious Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom chicken enchilada.  DELICIOUS!

After dinner we went to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients for the yummy chili that Claire made for dinner on Saturday.  We got back to the apartment, chatted a bit and we all went to bed by 9:30.  However, before I went to bed, Trey sent me photographic evidence that Madison was alive and he remembered to feed her.

Saturday we woke up, made and ate blueberry muffins and I face-timed with Madison and Trey.  It was so sad though.  Madison didn't really react to seeing me at first but I started being playful and she started interacting more.  Then all of a sudden she takes the phone from Trey's hands and walks me over to her toys.  Trey thinks she assumed if she put me there, that she could go back and see me when she wanted.  Of course when that didn't happen and Trey took the phone back, she started crying and it broke my heart.  Trey texted me reassuring me that it didn't take him long at all to comfort her.  After all that, we headed to Opry Mills - the outlet mall in Nashville.  Wow...we shopped til we dropped!!  So much fun.  I got most of my Christmas shopping done in one day!!  I also indulged in some clothes for myself.  We also went to another mall (not sure what it was) and did some more shopping.  Here's Claire's trunk with all our goodies:

Trey texted me some more pics of his time with Madison.  The first one is Madison staring at all the kids at the Apple Store kids section.  The other pics are of Madison putting her daddy's South Carolina hat on.

After shopping we came to an apartment that smelled so delicious from the chili that had been cooking all day in the crockpot.  Jeffrey, Claire's boyfriend, came over and I was able to finally meet him.  He definitely won me over and received my approval.  We watched the LSU v. MS State game.  Felt bad for Jeffrey because he was not saying "Geaux Tigers."  He was a gracious loser though.  :)  After the game, Jeffrey went back to his place, Lauren went to bed and Claire and I got sucked into The Last Song.  The movie where it all started for Miley and Liam.  We started it in the middle, so now I'm itching to start it from the beginning.

Sunday we woke up bright and early to go eat at the Pancake Pantry.  On Saturday the line was RIDICULOUSLY long.  We got there around 7:30.  Taylor Swift was actually pictured eating here a few times with Jake Gyllenhaal when they were dating.  Anyway...it was so delicious!!!

Mine - YUMMY

Lauren's

Claire's - I don't think she was taking a pic of her food

After breakfast I was itching to go to the Opry Hotel.  It was sooo beautiful!  All their Christmas decorations were up.  It's definitely some place that I want to go next year when Madison can enjoy it more.  They also have ICE where they pick a theme and everything is made out of ice.  This year it's Shrek.  Anyway...amazing!!

After we left the hotel, Claire took us to Franklin in search of famous people and their homes.  We drove around for a bit and returned back to the apartment and Lauren and I hit the road back.  I was definitely anxious to get home to see Madison.  We finally get home and I run inside to see Madison.  She's out back being pushed around in her Cozy Coupe by Trey.  I stood by the door and Trey pushed her to the door so she could see me.  At first it was so sweet...her mouth dropped wide open, she kicked the door open and seemed like she was going to run to me.  Then I guess it clicked for her and all of a sudden she gets back in her car, slams the door shut and yells no!  I was heartbroken.  She was so mad at me.  I pushed her around a bit but then I sat on the patio furniture and just looked at her.  She just stared back at me and then started crying, kicked the door open and finally came to me.  It was so sad and sweet.  I hate leaving her because she always gets upset with me when I get back.  It's a good think I don't plan on leaving to go out of town any time soon.

By the way - so proud of myself...just wrote this blog yesterday (aka today is Wednesday).  I'm doing much better with this blog.  This is the most posts I've written in any month.  Hopefully I'm starting to get the hang of this blogging thing.  Baby steps...