stuff that happened in 2015

Well hey there!  Again, it's been eons since I've posted anything to this little blog 'o mine, for several reasons:

a) I got a new job, and life got busier
b) I didn't feel I had anything all that compelling to write about
c) I didn't much feel like putting myself "out there" anymore

But life changes, moods change, and here I find myself, in the mood to write a little update on (parts of) my life over the past year.  What I do find pretty remarkable is that in my relatively long absence, the blog views have been steadily chugging along, so I guess there are still some peeps out there who are enjoying reading what I have to say, whether it's about grey hair, culinary nutrition, travel, or whatever I've blathered on about in the past. So whatever brings you here today, I'm just going to roll with it and blather on a bit more. :)

First up, since this started as a blog about my hair - here's an update: It's still grey! And I'm still loving it.  Over the course of the last year, I felt maybe it was time to attempt to grow out that pixie I went with in order to cut off the last of my died locks (almost exactly two years ago now!) - and I almost  got it to shoulder length...

...then decided NOPE, can't do it.  So I chopped it all off, and then that was STILL too long for my liking, so I chopped it all off AGAIN a few weeks ago, probably to the shortest it's been since that original cut two years ago.  (Typing out the word "short" repeatedly has resulted in that odd phenomenon whereby it looks/sounds like the strangest word I've ever heard - weird when that happens, no?) Anyway, these three photos all happened within a month or so of each other, (and all in the same location, can you tell I like the light there? haha) and now that I see them side by side, I'm thinking I like the middle length better, so I guess that'll be where I'm headed from here.  As they say..."the one thing about hair, it always grows!" Ain't that the truth.

So now that I've held you spellbound with riveting tales of my hair length over the past little while, let me talk about something else that happened in 2015 that I love, love, LOVED - we visited Nashville (and other parts of beautiful Tennessee) for the first time ever, and it was AMAZING!!!

So, here's a funny thing - you know when people ask you what kind of music you like, and you say "blah blah blah, anything but _________"?  Well, my answer to that fill in the blank was almost always "COUNTRY" for, like, ever - until a funny thing happened.  Over the past year or so, I was hearing more and more country music that I really liked - because 1) it actually is MUSIC, as opposed to a lot of studio processed crap that seems to rule the airwaves (streams?) these days, and 2) we decided to take a road trip to see Ed Sheeran, and chose Nashville as our destination; and 3) knowing we were headed to Nashville, we decided to get acquainted with the city by watching the TV show "Nashville", as it came highly recommended.  Well, needless to say, not only did we fall in love with the show, we fell in love with the city itself, and I'm here to tell you, if you love music of ANY kind, you owe it to yourself to visit Nashville, Tennessee.  I can't exactly explain its appeal for me - but it somehow it even transcended its "music city" nickname for me.  Of course, music is EVERYWHERE you go in this city - coming out of the honkytonk bars on Lower Broadway, in its historic venues such as the "mother church of country music", the Ryman Auditorium, and even on street corners, magically coming out of utility boxes as you passed them. So while I loved the musical aspect of our visit there, what I also loved about the city was it's aesthetic, if you will - its laid back culture, its friendly citizens, its "small town, big city" vibe, enhanced by its many lovely parks and outdoor spaces, many of which were dedicated to, you guessed it, listening to music.

In fact, quite by accident, on the day we rolled into Nashville (we road-tripped it all the way from Toronto, yeehaw!!) we literally parked our car downtown and walked over to the annual Live on the Green music festival, which featured none other than Nashville's own* adorable and talented Stella sisters, Lennon and Maisy! (* The TV show, not the city - these lovely ladies actually hail from my neck of the woods - Ontario, Canada!)  

We had become big fans of Lennon and Maisy's by watching the show, so were absolutely thrilled we had a chance to see them perform live.  Such poised young ladies for only 11 and 16 years old - and so seemingly unaffected by the business they're growing up in. Jason Mraz has called them "old souls" - and I would agree.  If you're not familiar with them, this video would be good introduction to both their charming personalities, and their beautiful harmonies:

Also, as luck would have it, we discovered that Charles Esten ("Deacon" on TV's Nashville), was also performing in the Nashville area that night, so we were able to catch him live too:

And I'm pleased to say he's every bit as attractive, charming, and personable in person as he is on the show!  Not bad for our first day/night in music city!

I could easily fill a few blog posts full of ramblings about our visit to Nashville, but for the sake of your sanity, I'll wrap up (for the moment at least) with a few more shots from our 3 days there - first, our bird's eye view of the Bridgestone Arena while awaiting Ed Sheeran's appearance (and yes, he was amazing - WELL worth the drive to Nashville):

You didn't think I'd go to Nashville and NOT get cowboy boots, did you? :)

And finally, a shot of us in front of Nashville's Parthenon - which is a full scale replica of the original Parthenon found in Athens, Greece:

We enjoyed FANTASTIC weather...

As you can see, Nashville has SO many things to offer the tourist - I've barely scratched the surface here - I didn't even get to the food!  :) In fact, we simply weren't there long enough to enjoy all it has to offer - which means we have a great excuse to go back! **UPDATE! Nashville was recently chosen as Travel + Leisure magazine's "Destination of the Year" for 2015 - so I'm obviously not the only who has been seduced by this city's many charms... :)

I'll pick up on some other Nashville places of interest we visited in another post, and will also tell you about our visit to Memphis, which has so many charms of it's own - an entirely different vibe, but of course, still defined mainly by its reputation as the home of the Delta blues - and of course, the King himself, Elvis! (Of COURSE we went to Graceland!)

So as you can see, not really that much new in my world - still talking about my hair, travel, and music!  :)  But while you're waiting with bated breath to hear all about the rest of our Tennessee adventures, I'll leave you with another Lennon and Maisy video - get to know these girls, they're simply fantastic!