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This week, Steve and I finally had an entire weekend together with no gigs, no work, no events, etc. It was awesome. We knew this was the perfect opportunity to do uniquely Nashville activities together. We love driving around the different neighborhoods of Nashville and exploring new parts of town. We snapped some photos in Sylvan Park at a place called Import Flowers, where they have adorable murals of sunflowers and gardens on the outdoor walls.
Chambray Romper– Old Navy [on sale] // Shoes- Nordstrom Rack // Charee Cross Body Bag– Hush Puppies // Watch & Bracelet- Charming Charlie Rings- H&M // Necklace & Earrings- Forever 21

We kicked off the weekend Friday evening with a round at The Listening Room Cafe, where we saw Laura Veltz, Sean McConnell, Jimmy Robbins, and Maren Morris blow us away with their original tunes. It was #1 hit, after #1 hit, after #1 hit that evening. If you don’t know who they are, look them up, trust me. It’s so fantastic to see such incredibly talented songwriters any night of the week in Nashville. It’s such an inspiring and supportive community.

It was the perfect Friday evening in downtown Nashville. It was also the perfect way to spend the first night of our full weekend together for the first time in what seems like forever.
I hope you all had a beautiful weekend.

 

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I’m back from another whirlwind weekend in West Michigan, where I spent my time hosting my sister’s first baby shower and playing some tunes with Steve at The Back Forty Saloon in Grand Rapids. It’s always so nice to go home and see family, but it’s never long enough. I wish I had a bit more time to sit back and relax, but it was a fun weekend nonetheless and I’m glad I saw as many people as possible. Chances are I won’t be back again until Labor Day Weekend, so I have to soak it in while I can.

Continue reading Basic

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We’ve officially been living in Nashville for over a month (almost two!) and I cannot believe how quickly time is flying. Last night Steve had his first writers night since he’s been back in town. It’s been a while since he’s played just original acoustic tunes in front of a crowd in Nashville, so it was nice to see him getting back into the swing of things. Plus, it’s always great to have an excuse to go out on the town on a weeknight to help break up the work week.
I chose to wear my typical go-to nightlife uniform: black, grey, and denim. The heat and humidity has been crazy around here lately, but it’s nice when the temperature drops a little in the evening. I still prefer jeans over shorts, and I don’t think that’ll ever change.

Continue reading Benchmark

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One of my favorite Chinese dishes of all time is Mongolian beef. There are only a few restaurants I’ll order it from, though, and P.F. Chang’s makes my absolute favorite version of it. I recently decided to purchase the necessary ingredients to make it myself and just go for it. It turned out pretty darn amazing, if I do say so myself. Here’s the recipe!

Ingredients:

  • 2 tsp. vegetable oil
  • ½ tsp. ginger, minced
  • 1 tbsp. garlic, chopped
  • ½ soy sauce [I use low sodium soy sauce]
  • ½ water
  • ¾ brown sugar
  • 1¾ vegetable oil [for frying]
  • 1 lb. flank steak
  • ¼ cornstarch
  • 2 green onions, diced

Directions:

  1. Make the sauce by heating 2 tsp. of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over med/low heat.
  2. Add the ginger and garlic to the pan. Then add the soy sauce and water before the garlic burns.
  3. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then
    raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or
    until the sauce thickens.
  4. Remove it from the heat.
  5. Slice the flank steak into bite sized pieces
  6. Place steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef.
  7. Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.
  8. As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a
    wok or skillet [as long as it’s large enough to fry the steak].
  9. Heat the oil over medium heat until it’s nice and hot, but not smoking.
  10. Add the beef to the oil and sauté for two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges.
  11. Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly.
  12. After a couple minutes, use a large slotted
    spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out
    of the wok or skillet.
  13. Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute.
  14. Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green onions.
  15. Cook for one more minute, then remove the beef and onions with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate.
  16. Leave the excess sauce behind in the pan.

 

This recipe was much easier to make than I expected. Try it out and let me know what you think!

 

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When neither Steve nor I have work, family plans, gigs, events, or otherwise on the weekends, we like to dedicate an entire day to discovering. Sunday has become our day of adventure. Last Sunday we drove East on Highway 40, about halfway to Knoxville, to visit Cummins Falls State Park. This had been something I’d been wanting to see ever since I starting seeing photos of the beautiful swimming hole and waterfall plastered all over social media.
The weather was perfect that morning, so we loaded up the car with a cooler of sandwiches and water, put on our hiking shoes, and were on our way. We hiked the 1.6 miles from the parking lot to the falls and were excited to see that it wasn’t a simple trail hike. There were quite a few parts of the journey that required climbing, walking through the river, and jumping from rock to rock. It was 100% worth the hike, especially when we got to see this view:

It was challenging to not trip over stones every time we looked up to take in the view. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and I kept saying to myself “this is so amazing.”

We had such a great time visiting the falls. The hike back to our car was a bit more strenuous, including some up-hill climbs and stairs, but when we got back to our parking spot we felt accomplished. We ate our packed lunches, aired out our wet shoes, and eventually headed back to Nashville for a much needed nap.
It was a memorable day that I will always cherish. Steve and I had such a fantastic experience and are already looking forward to our next trip to Cummins Falls.

Hope you all have a great 4th of July! I’m super excited to be heading up to Michigan after work today to see friends and family on the lake.

 

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