Halloween is my very favorite holiday. We get the best candy (Snickers, Reeses, KitKats, Milk Duds', Rolos and Heath Bars), we put out freshly carved pumkins and we wait by the door for all the kids to come by so I can check out the costumes.We live in a neighborhood in Minneapolis that is FULL of children. One of our friends calls our neighborhood "where hipsters go to procreate."So why did we only get FIVE knocks at the door tonight? I am now sitting here surrounded by 250 pieces of my favorite candy. Watching trash television. THIS IS NOT WHAT I INTENDED. These parents need to man up and let the kids out on Halloween night. Seriously.

We slept in pretty late this morning. Well, until the alarm woke us up at 10 (which is late for us). Thank the heavens that we had the foresight to bring back some of the delicious coffee from Early Girl Eaterie in Asheville to help kick start the day. Now if only this blog were scratch'n'sniff, you could smell what all the fuss is about. This is some of the most delicious coffee I've ever had (not that I'm that picky). Now if only Target would restock their pumpkin spice coffeemate, then we'd be fully set.

Today was our last day in Nashville, and we spent it exploring The Ryman, having an amazing breakfast and coffee down near Vanderbilt and then a little book shopping before flying back to the Great White North. We landed pretty late and had just enough time to make it home and walk the dogs before settling in for some amazing trash television.My photos from the day are up over here. Enjoy!

Hello there from cold and rainy Nashville. It's not too bad (only 46 degrees), but it feels so much colder when you factor in the wind and rain. We started out the day with a big breakfast at the Pancake Pantry. I opted for just eggs and bacon, but they come with a side of pancakes. Because everything on the menu comes with a side of pancakes. Yup. Welcome to the South, where your arteries go to die.We then shopped around town at a few local boutiques, vintage stores and record shops. This photo is from Imogene + Willie. I loved every single thing in this shop, but hot damn was it expensive. I wanted Jamie to try on some jeans because they had amazing denim and they would custom tailor their jeans to fit you specifically. But they started at $250, so that was that.We also made it to Grimey's, which is an amazing record store in town. It's really interesting that a ton of the businesses and restaurants here (including Grimey's and almost every place we've eaten) is inside of old houses. It makes for super interesting architecture and shop design.We also took in some live music today. First we went down to Robert's Western World to grab a drink and hear a band or two, and to our delight the band on stage featured Josh, the fiddler that tours(ed) with Justin Townes Earle. We spoke with him briefly after the show, and he's now playing with Jonny Corndawg, which we are equally excited about.Then later we made it over to the Exit/In to catch Lord Huron and The Givers. The show was pretty good, but I was highly annoyed by the gentleman next to me who had zero sense of personal space and knocked into me no fewer than 9 times and stepped on my feet at least seven times, and never acknowledged his clumsiness. This kind of thing is fine if a show is sold out and packed, but the club was only a third full. SO BACK OFF AND GIVE A LADY SOME SPACE. Jeez.To see photos from the day in Nashville, look over here. And to see photos from the Exit/In tonight, look over here.Tomorrow we head back to Minneapolis. It's always hard to end vacation, but man are we excited to snuggle with the pups again. Yeah, we're suckers like that.

Nice view, eh? This was the scenery outside our hotel window this morning in Asheville. Uh huh. Awesome.We woke up and wandered down to Early Girl Eatery for the second time in two days (I am telling you that sausage/egg/sweet potato scramble is amazing). Then we mosied on back to our rental car and started our drive down the mountains and back to Nashville.It's about a five hour drive, but you cross from Eastern back to Central time, so you gain an hour which is nice. By the way, I don't think I mentioned this, but when we visited Nan and Mason in the backwoods, the time zones were a tad confusing. They live on a mountain, and it seems one side of the mountain is Central Time and the other side is Eastern. CRAZY.Today's drive was the most beautiful Interstate drive I've been on in awhile. Not as nice as the scenic route we took on Tuesday, but lovely nonetheless.Back to today though: So we drove and drove and drove and then pulled into Nashville where we met up with my good buddy Steve who took us to an AMAZING dinner at mÅmbu before giving us a personal tour of the town's neighborhoods.This was so incredible and we cannot wait to explore further tomorrow. Especailly around Vanderbilt and Belmont.We are in for the night now (somebody owes you guys a few days worth of photos), but tomorrow should be a lot of fun. You can see shots from yesterday in Asheville plus a few from the road today over here. Enjoy!

So you guys, I like Asheville a LOT. It reminds me of a bigger Lawrence and a smaller Minneapolis. It has fantastic coffee shops, amazing restaurants, stellar scenery... and the SHOPPING. Omg*, the shopping.Today we spent the day wandering around downtown eating amazing meals and spending money on shoes, dresses and jewelry. You know what Jamie said tonight when I asked him his favorite part of the day? "Watching you find all that cool stuff while we shopped." LADIES, I HAVE A WINNER.My favorite store, by far, was this place called Hip Replacements. I bought a pair of gloves, two dresses and a bracelet for myself (and some gifts for others that I won't mention here). The prices were perfect and the merchandise was amazing. Some of my favorites included jewelry by Amber Hatchett Designs, which is brass jewelry made out of old BULLETS. But in a cool way (of course) as you can see above. Also, do you love how the jewelry reflects guns and God? Two of the 3 major themes we have found while on the road (more on that later) . Anyway, this shop was so much fun -- you should check out their website and visit when in town. Amazing stuff. And wait until you see my new dresses.Then tonight we went to a French bistro where I had mussels and Jamie had an amazing steak. Then, um, to the bars for some red wine.Overall, another great vacation day. Tomorrow we drive back to Nashville. but I am not sure it will be as scenic as the drive here as we are taking the interstate instead of cutting through the national park.*Is this my first use of Omg on my blog? I blame the wine. Seriously good wine tonight.

So yeah, it is freaking gorgeous here. The fall color is outstanding and the drives and mountains have been unbelievable. So let's see... what should I fill you in on...Yesterday we flew into Nashville, rented a car and drove down to Soddy Daisy to meet up with my buddies Nan and Mason and their amazing backwoods retreat. These two used to work at the paper with me, but they escaped took buyouts, sold their house and moved down to Tennessee, where they bought a cabin with no water or electricity or actual address which they are quickly converting into an amazing retreat. They dug a well into the mountain (um, yeah) and set up propane generators to power marine batteries that feed the house electricity and cleaned it all up and just redid the bathroom. And I mean, like redid the bathroom so that it's like a freaking modern spa bathroom with a rainfall showerhead and beautiful glass tile.They have a lot more projects down the line (new kitchen, guest house, pole barn, etc), but man is it fun to see how far they have come. You can follow the progress as well, if you're interested, over on Nan's blog here.So we stayed there last night, woke up to a delicious southern breakfast (homemade biscuits!) and then started the drive to Asheville. This drive wound through the Smokey Mountains which were stunning after you passed the various tourist traps on the way.Then tonight, we settled into Asheville and met up with our good friend Eric from Brains on Fire (and his lovely lady) and had an amazing dinner at Tupelo Honey.To see photos from both days, I posted them over here (including lots of cabin photos so you can see how great Nan and Mason's place is). Enjoy!