Nashville Girls Weekend

 

Today I’m sharing a full recap of my girls weekend in Nashville with Alyson.  This was one of those trips that we’ve always talked about doing, but never really got around to…and I’m so glad that we made it a priority this year. For those who don’t know, Alyson & I met at a Lucky Magazine blogger’s conference (FABB) back in 2012 and have been friends ever since. She’s one of those women that I instantly connected with because our personalities are so similar – we’re both moms of two, we love food, we don’t take ourselves too seriously and we like to make each other laugh.  Even though she lives in Florida & I’m in New York, we’ve found ways to stay connected through the years and, because of that, she has become one of my closest & most cherished friends.


We booked our stay at the Hutton Hotel, which we cannot recommend enough.  They provided a free shuttle service that would take you anywhere you wanted to go within a 5 mile radius – this helped us save so much money on Uber’s because most of our destinations were either in the Gulch, 12th Ave S or Music Row.  They greeted us with the sweetest gift box, full of locally made products, for us to use during our visit (the TruBee Lip Balm was a fast favorite).  

 

We arrived late in the afternoon, so after checking into our hotel, we took the shuttle over to 12th Ave S to do a little exploring & shopping.  We were happy to discover the famous Nashville mural & the picturesque Draper James store.  Another place we both loved was Serendipity – they carried tons of fair trade items & locally designed jewelry (we each bought the cutest pair of tassel earrings). From there, we wandered over to Five Daughter’s Bakery – even though it was nearly dinnertime, we couldn’t resist a pre-meal snack!  I haven’t eaten a donut in 3 years, so I had to document the moment (I got the Paleo chocolate chip donut, which was insanely delicious).  We finished off the evening with lite bites & cocktails at bartaco – it was so nice to enjoy the warm weather & get the chance to eat outside.

 

 

Madewell Earrings // Nails: Essie Tart Deco

On Alyson: Similar Jacket, Socialite Tee, Similar Jeans, Soludos Espadrilles (shop Soludos flats), Kate Spade Bag (shop Kate Spade sale) On Me: Joie Jacket (similar here or here), Similar Tank, Express Jeans, Jeffrey Campbell Loafers (shop Jeffrey Campbell flats), Similar Bag

Our second day started off with brunch at Biscuit Love – we had to wait in a nearly mile-long line outside & halfway through our wait, the fire alarm went off and everyone had to evacuate the building.  Thankfully, they were able to solve the issue quickly & we decided to wait it out…which proved to be a good decision because the food was definitely worth it.  I had poached eggs over brussel sprouts, but we highly recommend ordering the “bonuts” to share (although I couldn’t have them, Alyson said they were incredible).  

 

It was unexpectedly cold, so Alyson borrowed my suede moto jacket

After stuffing our faces, we walked all around The Gulch – there are some cute boutiques, hotels & plenty of restaurants.  If you go when the weather is nice, it’s not that far of a walk down to The Country Music Hall of Fame – it was particularly chilly & windy on this day, but we needed some exercise after our filling meal, so we braved the cold.  What we didn’t know is that it was SEC Tournament weekend, so the area was packed with college students who were attending the games (navigating through the crowds was a bit challenging at times). 

Adidas Sneakers // H&M Flats (similar here or here)

That night, we had dinner at Rolf & Daughters, which was probably my favorite meal of the entire trip.  Afterwards, we went out to enjoy some live music – we started off at The Stage, where we discovered Chris Shrader, who we loved so much that we followed him over to listen to his next set at Crossroads.  Neither one of us could believe it when we looked at our phones & saw that it was 2:30am – I can’t remember the last time I stayed out that late!  Needless to say, we slept in on Saturday morning, ordered coffee up to our room & then made reservations for a late brunch at Le Sel, which was a French brasserie that made us feel as if we’d been transported to Paris.

Satin Pajama Top & Bottoms

From there, we walked to Hillsboro Village & shopped around a bit – some of our favorite affordable local boutiques were The Impeccable Pig & Dress Up.  When our feet started to get tired, we grabbed an Uber and headed over to meet up with Jackie at Barista Parlor.  This was such a great spot for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up.  They have so many specialty drinks & pour-over coffee, along with a chocolate pairing recommendation for each one (which we happily tried).

After visiting a while, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up before going to get our ears pierced at Dahlia (Betty Ann was amazing!) and then we went straight from there to dinner at Josephine.  When we finished our meal, we tried to get in at The Patterson House for cocktails but the wait was over an hour, so we took that as a sign that we should call it a night.  We headed back to our room & were in our pajamas by 10:30pm…which was perfectly fine with us after such a late evening the night before!


On our last day in Nashville, we went to brunch at Butcher & Bee – highly recommend the fried avocado sandwich & bacon-wrapped dates!  After eating, we only had a little bit of time to snap some pictures before Alyson had to head to the airport.  My flight didn’t leave until later, so I walked from the hotel down to Gigi’s Cupcakes to try out their gluten-free options (which were so delicious that I may have had two!).

We truly loved our stay at the Hutton Hotel & the location turned out to be perfect for all the activities we had planned.  In the lobby, they served fresh orange juice in the mornings (champagne added by request) & hot apple cider in the afternoons (whiskey added by request) and they also brought handmade salted caramels from Shotwell Candy Co. to your room at turndown (something you d0 not want to miss).  If you’re planning a trip to Nashville in the near future, feel free to email me for further recommendations & suggestions!

Madewell Trench (similar here, here, here, here or here)