Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend has been by far one of the best since I’ve moved to Nashville. And oddly enough, I haven’t done anything spectacular. In fact, the beauty of this weekend is I have never felt more “at home” in Nashville than the past 3 days, doing “normal” things and feeling like a local. The weather this weekend has lent itself to some great outdoor activities. Friday, immediately after our 2 pm dismissal (thanks to the Memorial Day holiday), we headed over to the outdoor patio of a local bar for lunch and happy hour, where I received my first round of sunburn of the weekend. That evening, we spent the evening on the town, enjoying several other outdoor venues as well as a karaoke session.

It was equally as beautiful on Saturday, with the sun shining, not a cloud in the sky, and zero humidity. I made my way to the downtown YMCA to take advantage of the rooftop pool. The pool itself is nothing to write home about, but spending 4 hours doing nothing but reading and soaking up the sun was the perfect way to start my day.

The rest of my afternoon was spent walking around downtown, stopping by the library to grab a new book and planting myself at an outdoor table at Panera for lunch. I was reminded just how much I love living by the city while, as I read my new book and ate my favorite Panera salad, live country music drifted up from Broadway and the Bridgestone Arena was visible in the background.

Saturday evening we headed to a barn party – yes, apparently that’s a thing. My coworker Sarah and her family own a barn 20 minutes outside the city, and it was the perfect weather for a bonfire. The best part – she introduced us to a large group of her friends that weren’t teachers, a first for us! We spent most of the evening being real people, only mentioning school if someone specifically asked.

This morning, I woke up to another sunny, cloudless day, and was itching to get outside, so I walked to the local bagel bakery for breakfast. My friend Annie and I recently bought a one-year membership to the new bike sharing system here in Nashville, and we met at Centennial Park (home of the Parthenon replica) to rent bikes for the first time. B-cycle is a neat program – there are various bike stations located around the city, where an electronic dock allows you to check out and check in bikes at any of the locations (kind of like RedBox for bikes). You pay a membership fee, which covers unlimited rentals and the first hour of every ride free. We have grand plans to bike our way around the city this summer, and today was our trial run. Practicing on the paved, contained sidewalks of a park is the ideal start for a girl who hasn’t ridden a bike in years. I was a little wobbly at first, which I blame on the unwieldy metal basket on the front that weighs down the bike, but after the first few minutes I was feeling pretty confident. There were a few incidents of intentional off-roading to avoid the throngs of people that randomly popped up throughout the park, but for the most part we were pros, and we had a blast.

The day rounded out with a trip to Target, a scrub-down of Annie’s newly bought condo, and dinner at one of our favorite local spots, Five Points Pizza. Plans for tomorrow include more pool lounging, maybe more bike riding, and potentially dropping in on my building cookout to meet some of my neighbors (a year after moving in).

I hope everyone is having a relaxing holiday weekend. Only 4 more days of school!