we're moving! (so rent our apt!!) UPDATE: rented!

yup! we've decided that we need a bigger place. and that sadly means that our cozy little apartment is up for rent. i wanted to share it with my blog friends/family first ... in case any of you were interested!

the details:

$1050 - 1bd/1ba apartment located on the 2nd floor of a historic home on 18th ave. seconds from hillsboro village hot spots - enjoy the yummiest breakfast in town @the pancake pantry, coffee at fido and an independent film + a glass of wine at the belcourt theatre. minutes from downtown and a short walk to music row/belmont/vanderbilt. plus - you can't beat this area if you're a runner/walker!

almost 11 ft ceilings, hardwood floors, ceiling fans, big kitchen w/ built ins + a pantry. w/d hookups in kitchen. plenty of STORAGE. the master bedroom includes his & hers closets! shared front porch - we'll even throw in the hanging lights we installed. no smokers or dogs. available jan 1st. one-year lease + deposit.

we have loved this little place. i can remember when i found it shortly after we had gotten engaged. wade was still in boston and he trusted me to find our perfect "first home". i walked into the kitchen filled w/ morning sunshine and knew it was perfect. wade is a morning person - and he spends each morning at the kitchen table drinking coffee and reading the new yorker as the sun rises and fills the room. we've made so many memories here in our first 2 years of marriage.

it will definitely be bittersweet to move. :) although much sweeter to pass it on to someone who will love it as much as we have!

UPDATE: i'm 99.9% sure it's rented! will let you know if her references fall through. yay!

a merit badge in cake decorating ...

today i want to introduce you to cara bella creations. my friend joanna had shauna from cara bella creations make these totally fresh 80s themed cupcakes for her 30th birthday last month. adorable, right? that got my wheels to turning. 1 less task for moi (praise the Lord) and guaranteed cupcake crème de la crème!

camp themed cupcakes? tents? maybe leaves? no ... merit badges!

i created a few simplified merit badges based on vintage boyscout finds on etsy. and then sent them to shauna to work her sweet sugary magic. thankfully i thought to snap a few pictures of them BEFORE arriving at the campsite! they disappeared almost on arrival! :)

are you craving a cupcake as much as i am right now!?!

our big race weekend.

we did it! we ran the st. jude country music marathon over the weekend!

1 // that guy ran his first full marathon - a very hilly and very hot 26.2 miles! and he is already talking about what he'll do differently next time! that girl ran her second half marathon (13.1 miles) - and actually enjoyed it! though she isn't quite sure if there will be a "next time". ;)

2 // we clean up well! amazing how a great big smile can mask achy feet and a bit of heat exhaustion! an icebath for him and a loooong shower for her - plus a little r&r while watching "princess bride" ... and we were good as new!

3 // great food, great drinks and even greater company. we were super excited and thankful to have friends alex and naomi in from boston. we started early at mad donnas for appetizers, margaritas and martinis. then made a brief stop at 3 crow bar before heading over to holland house. it was nearly impossible to tear us away from holland house and our fantastic lead bartender jeremiah blake; however we had reservations for our 2nd annual post-race dinner at merchants downtown. as ah-mazing as last year! we finished the night off with a little honky-tonkin' at roberts western world and some 90s sing-along at the big bang piano bar. basically your "idiot's guide to nashville" ... all this before 10pm!

4 // then on sunday ... we did a whole lot of nothing!

best part ... as a couple, we raised over 1K for barefoot ministries. and as a team, we raised almost 35 THOUSAND DOLLARS! pretty sweet, huh!?! that's scholarship money for over 300 students to go to church camp this summer and extra $ for further development at barefoot republic.

thank you to those that supported barefoot ministries & our run! :)

{whatever wednesday} metro classes

each year i learn a little something new about nashville that makes me fall even more in love w/ it.

i'm particularly impressed w/ centennial park! in the spring, you can enjoy movies in the park every wednesday night @ sundown. july through august spend your saturday afternoons enjoying musicians' corner and stick around for swing dancing complete w/ live big band and free dance lessons. mid-august, the shakespeare festival presents romeo+ juliet thursday through sunday. and of course twice a year, i look forward to the taca craft fair.

recently i found out about classes held by metro nashville through the centennial art center. i'm pretty excited to sign up for my first pottery class (and to √ that off my 30 by 30). at only $85 for a 12 week class - it's an absolute steal!

{source: an apple a day}

live in the nashville area? then you should definitely sign up for a class too! click here to download the fall 2011 schedule.

music saves mountains ...

i mentioned before that wade and i volunteered at bonnaroo this past weekend w/ the nrdc. to tell you the truth - i wasn't too familiar w/ the cause until we arrived. now i'm rather passionate and had to share w/ you all.

we worked a tent for "music saves mountains" - bringing awareness to mountaintop removal coal mining.

what is mountaintop removal?

instead of extracting coal from underground, mountaintop removal blasts away mountain peaks to access the coal underneath. today, there have been over 500 peaks destroyed (devastation the size of the state of delaware), cleared over a million acres, and over 2500 local rivers and streams have been buried from debris from the blasts - polluting drinking water with toxic waste and sacrificing the safety of countless communities. the economy of appalachia has also been greatly affected. in the last 30 years, mountaintop removal in west virginia has increased production by 140% while eliminating more than 40,000 jobs.

{source: steve shames / j henry fair}

the appalachian mountains are america's oldest mountains filled w/ fresh streams & rivers that have for hundreds of years provide millions of americans w/ clean drinking water. with the future of america's oldest mountains at stake, singers and musicians have come together to fight for these cherished mountains where american music and countless songs were born.

the nrdc premiered the film "the last mountain" on thursday night and then again inside our makeshift mountain/chill zone at sundown throughout the rest of the weekend (until our projector was stolen. boo hiss.). it is a documentary on the battle over one of these mountains:

this issue hits home, nashvillians! over 250 mountains have been blown to smithereens in kentucky. nashville, tn is directly downstream from this destruction.

our goal at bonnaroo was to get the word out and get people involved by petitioning the president to change the legislation. find out more about the issues here. and be sure to sign on w/ the cause here.

we joined a gym!

and not just any gym ...

{source: climb nashville}

over the weekend, we saw the film 127 days. it's the true story of a mountain climber (played by james franco) who becomes trapped under a boulder while climbing alone and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive. wade promises the film isn't the only reason he was motivated to join a rock climbing gym this week. and i believe him --- he has had major spring fever. climbing/hiking is about all he has talked about lately!

at first, i tried to persuade him to consider a regular people gym - ie. the ymca. but once we looked further into all that a climb membership includes ... we both were impressed: core conditioning classes, kickboxing, a weight/cardio room + rock climbing! and as an added bonus morning/evening yoga classes by sanctuary for yoga.

i'm actually pretty excited about the membership now! just sounds like fun.

do you know the best part about joining a rock climbing gym w/ your husband? we're pretty much required to work out together (one belayer/one climber) - at least until we make gym friends. this morning we took a yoga class! it was the 2 of us + 2 others and the instructor ... intimidating but fantastic! and tonight we climb. have i mentioned that i have a slight fear of heights!?!

i think it's safe to say we're officially hippie cool. (unfortunately bonaroo tix aren't included w/ membership - though they totally should consider it!)

so now it's your turn ... what's your idea of a fun workout?

{love} visions of the south

wade and i enjoyed a date night to the belcourt theater on friday night to see elia kazan's WILD RIVER.

the belcourt opened its doors in 1925 as a silent film house. it was the home of the children's theatre of nashville after 1931, the grand ole opry between 1934 and 1936 and the nashville community playhouse after 1937. then in 1966, it became the belcourt cinema returning to its original use as a movie theatre. today, the belcourt is the last traditional neighborhood movie house in nashville.

filmed in rural tennessee in 1960, WILD RIVER peaked wade's interest - he loves all things tennessee history. and my interest - i love old movies and date nights! the film serves more as drama than a study of historic events. it is the story of a proud 80-year-old matriarch who refused to leave her land which was to be bought & flooded by the tennessee valley authority in the early 1930s. (wade's great grandparents had land that was also flooded by the TVA.)

it was the kick off to the belcourt's 23-film journey of "thoughtful, authentic portrayals of Southern culture as presented throughout 20th century cinema" - a series called VISIONS OF THE SOUTH. wade and i live just around the corner from the belcourt - though we don't take advantage of it as much as we should!

so glad we found out about the festival - check out the lineup (and message me if you want a date!):