Closer to the Equator

San Salvador, Bahamas

Size 5X12 miles; Population almost 1,000

The purpose of this vacation was to go below sea level for seven days straight... and that is exactly what we did. This place was meant for scuba diving and there is nothing else to do there.

 We stayed at Riding Rock Inn and Marina which is right on the water and a five minute walk from the dock. It is family owned and they are always there willing to answer questions or get anything you need. Every meal is included with your stay (the conch chowder is amazing) and they even had a cookout for America's Independence Day.

The crime rate is zero so we actually left all of our equipment on the boat all week and everyone pretty much left their doors unlocked. It was very laid back.

While 40feet under the water we saw tons of fish of course; yellow tail snapper, groupers, jacks, angel fish, barracuda, blue tang, black durgon, trumpetfish, rock beaty, parrot fish and my favorites the lion fish and drum. We also sting rays and three kinds of shark.. not to brag but we saw a Hammerhead!

The airport is very small, one room actually and right when you walk off the plane you walk through it and onto the island. It is equiped with a phone booth and bar across the street. Since the plane was an hour late we had a little extra time to takes some pictures

Coincidence but I matched their flag!

Last walk along the beach...

Colorado

Memorial Day Weekend

I flew out to Colorado to visit.

Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures but they would have mostly been of a child's baseball tournament. Of course I did take pictures of one of my favorite hobbies... eating.

D Bar - an uptown Denver restaurant dedicated to dessert and drinks. We ordered a fancy banana split, molten cake brownies, flash fried blueberry pie, and vanilla bean creme brulee. No one left disappointed.

Lucile's Creole Cafe - Littleton: Known for its atmosphere and breakfast, more specifically the beignets which we had to try. It all sounded tasty so it was decided that we would share everything. Going for traditional New Orleans cuisine so shrimp and grits was a must, as well as, Eggs Sardou and Rockefeller recommended by our server. 

 Before returning to Nashville we stopped at the Denver Zoo

National Holiday

The birthday celebration doesn't end until after you have had a night out with the besties

We met at The Palm for a delicious dinner.

As always we ordered tons of food: beef tenderloin carpaccio, ahi tuna, ribeye, fish, creamed spinach and hashbrown potatoes which was almost all eaten.

We make our friends work for their presents so a scavenger hunt type game that uses the caricatures on the walls was born.. read the clue then walk aimlessly through the restaurant while attempting to find the sketch. Very fun! 

Of course, kid rock was an answer!

And my fave Mel Gibson... I wasn't great at this game.

No they do not sell this ice cream sandwich ice cream cake at The Palm... this was actually found on pinterest and made by Grace Feng (seen below).

Best Day of 2012

Happy 26th Birthday to ME!

The best day of the year has arrived...

full of French inspiration

Sunday, May 20th

It began with an amazing and relaxing morning of crepes and coffee with baileys with my man as we prepare for what is to come.

At noon we showed up at Union Station for an event called Savor Nashville. It is an annual tasting of food by chefs from restaurants around the city, the catch is that it has to use Tennessee made product (Jack Daniels, GooGoo Clusters and something else). We voted for our favorite... the brisket was definitely at the top of the list and it turns out that it was the winner! A close second was the bacon ice cream... nothing we have ever had.

At the event they had a complimentary bloody mary and a sample shot of Jack Daniels Honey Whiskey...

Although fun the event was not as filling as we thought it would be so we stopped at Margot Cafe. The poached egg with marinara and the asparagus omlet were delectible and the french day continued.

Before dinner we stopped at the parents house who kept with the theme of the day. Made from scratch a french cake and had a bottle of wine (which I didn't spill on my white dress), porcelain tea pot, and truffle tea all set up. We played some games and enjoyed the company.

As for dinner it was fancy french at Miel!

This was long awaited because their menu looked great...

and they try to use mostly local products.

For an appetizer we had escargot and steak tartare, then for dinner I chose the antelope while Micah had Rabbit Gnocchi. We are definitely wanna be foodies so this was a fantastic selection to add to our repertoire.

During dinner I received a surprise! It is perfect for me... If you know me then you know that I am super picky and I don't know how he picked out jewelry but I was very impressed.

Another very successful birthday! Can't wait for next year... I'm getting old.