Downtown Nashville

After Louisville, we drove a few hours the next day so we could stay in Nashville and check out their downtown area.

We used Travelocity Secret Hotels again and ended up with a cool, modern hotel downtown.

After checking in, we went to explore and listen to live music at little bars downtown.

We had so much fun in Nashville - going from bar to bar, listening to country music, drinking cheap beer, and eating bar food...ahhhhhh - I'm ready to do it again.

I actually have really enjoyed our two cross country road trips that we have already had together - it probably helps that we only drive about 8 hrs a day and then spend each evening in a new city.

Downtown Louisville

Travelocity Top Secret Hotels rocks...seriously, it's amazing.

Dusty and I are officially hooked.

We have been known to just get the bottom of the line deals on there, which usually results in us staying at some old Days Inn, Econolodge, Microtel, etc...and it's not usually in the best part of town...

Well, recently we decided to splurge while we were in Louisville and Nashville...we were driving back to Orange Beach from our trip to South Dakota/North Dakota. 

We went ahead and upgraded to the $75 (with taxes) 4 star hotel in downtown Louisville.  I know it doesn't sound like much of an upgrade, but we were used to booking the $45 (with taxes) rooms in the past.

Anyways, we could not believe what we managed to get for $75.

P.S. We wanted to stay in downtown Louisville because we were hitting up a free Steel Magnolia concert that was downtown Louisville - it was at Fourth Street Live, where they have a free concert every week...how cool is that?

Remember how we only paid 75 dollars?

Well, here are some exciting things about our room/experience at the hotel:

• We had two doors from the hallway - one leading to the bedroom, the other to the living room.
• After being in our room for a little bit, we received a phone call making sure everything was going well and to see if we needed anything.
• Our room had two bathrooms.
• We had a balcony overlooking the Ohio river.
•  We were a 5 minute walk to the concert.
• Location was perfect - in the heart of downtown.
• Staff was friendly and eager to make our experience memorable.

One more exciting tidbit - I looked the room up online directly on the hotel's website and they charge $225/night before taxes.

Some pictures of the outside of our hotel...

The room was a little dated, but we weren't complaining...I think I was just so excited because in comparison to the hotels we have been staying at, this place was amazing.

I secretly wanted to take a ride on this...

Fourth Street Live was where the concert was held - it was a really neat area...so cool.

Our view for the concert...

Steel Magnolia :)
Thanks to mom for telling us about this concert since she knew we would be staying in Louisville - good work!

The concert was so much fun.  We had a great time in Louisville - my first time in Kentucky and I would definitely be up for going again :)

Friday's Workout

Friday's Workout

(found on Pinterest)



Thursday's Workout

Thursday's Workout

(Found on Pinterest)

Wednesday's Workout AND possibly my favorite project so far

Wednesday's Workout

(found on Pinterest)

PROJECT:

The other night we gathered a bunch of our frames that we wanted to paint white for various rooms.

Many of the frames were purchased at a thrift store for 1 dollar a piece.

We spray painted them white...

 The above picture is deceiving because in actuality, Dusty did most of the painting.

I went to Target to buy some mats for our frames...it turns out they don't sell them.  So I decided to buy card stock and thought we could use colorful backgrounds for the photos instead of white mats.

We are actually really happy with how it turned out.

We chose three pictures that I have taken that we both like - oh, and there is a coupon at Target online right now for 20 free 4 x 6 prints, so this project was super cheap.

FINISHED PRODUCT:

We plan on getting a white shelf for the living room and placing these three photos on it - I love how they turned out!

I'm really happy we ended up going with the card stock - it's fun and adds more color.

While in South Dakota for Dusty's Dad's funeral, Dusty got to be a "picker" and go through his Dad's things to see if there was anything sentimental he wanted to bring home.

Every tape player they turned on in his Dad's garages had a Johnny Cash cassette tape inside.

Dusty brought one along for our drive home, but it ended up not working.

I thought of the idea to put it in a shadow box, so it could still serve as a memory of his Dad.

Dusty spray painted the shadowbox, I put gray card stock for the background and then used some extra green patterned paper to add a little more dimension.

FINISHED PRODUCT:

I ♥ shadow boxes - they have so much potential.

Tuesday's Workout

Tuesday's Workout
(found on Pinterest)

P.S. We did a fun project last night that I'm really excited to share...I will take pictures today, so I can post about it soon!

Monday's Workout

I came across workouts for Monday-Friday on Pinterest.

Many of us are capable of designing our own workout plan, but it's kind of nice when you find one online or someone else tells you what to do.

Anyways, I gave this workout (and Tuesday-Friday workouts) a whirl two weeks ago and enjoyed it, so I thought maybe some of you would like to try it.

I will post the rest of the workouts this week!
Tomorrow's workout will be posted tomorrow morning...get excited :)

Feel free to do more cardio or go through the strength exercises twice...or do exactly what it says - either way, you are doing great!

Brothers.

After hours of swimming, Oliver and Palmer took a quick break from the water.

Oliver has a hard time keeping his hands off of Palmer, but I'm pretty sure Palmer enjoys it :)

I love this picture of the boys and couldn't help but post it solo.