You have 48 hours to take a quick trip: where do you go? Our choice was easy--Nashville. I actually surprised Chris back in September with this trip as a gift for our 3 year wedding anniversary. Ironically, at the same time he surprised me with a trip to Chicago. 

Graham had already been to Chicago, and Chris and I had talked about going back to Nashville for years, so we decided to go with music city :)

Where to Stay in Nashville

Neither one of us had ever stayed at an Air BnB, so I decided to go for it. I knew we'd need a place to nap Graham in the afternoons, so I rented an adorable house in East Nashville from a really awesome couple (we're already planning our next trip back to this gorgeous 1940's home).

Graham clearly felt right at home ;)

​It was so nice having a bedroom to nap Graham in, meanwhile Chris and I could use the rest of the house to hang out in and continue our Suits binge watching without waking G. 

Nashville Murals

Nashville has tons of awesome murals throughout the city for great Insta-worthy shots ;) Here are the ones we love and recommend...

Live Music in Nashville

Chris is a fan of old school country, so he did a little research prior to our trip and decided to take us to Robert's Western World. If it sounds old, that's because it is. We were the youngest people in the crowd by about 40 years, but Graham loved EVERY MINUTE. 

(Side note: Apparently this is one of Brett Eldredge's favorite places to hang out and grab lunch when he's in town.)

Rachel Hester was the artist performing while we were there. She noticed Graham was locked in to what she was doing on stage.

​When she wrapped one of her songs, she said, "How old is he?" We told her he was 2, and she said, "He's going to be a musician. He has the same look in his eyes that I had when I first saw live music when I was 6. You've gotta get him a guitar."

Needless to say, we're not surprised. Graham asks to see guitars, play guitars, points at guitars in his books, and now asks me every day to play the video of Rachel from Nashville.

​EVERY. DAY.

Case in point...
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Where to Eat in Nashville

Keep in mind, we were only in Nashville for just under 48 hours, so we had to make good use of our time. That being said, you know a place is good when we revisit it within a 48-hour time frame. 

Five Daughters Bakery is a must in Nashville. They make these 100-layer cronuts that are out of this world. Trust me. Once you eat one of these, you'll break up with regular donuts. 

Lucky for us, our favorite coffee spot in Nashville, Ugly Mugs, was about 100 ft. from Five Daughter's. So clearly we went to both of these places Saturday AND Sunday morning before we did anything else :)

When you go to Ugly Muggs, get "the hoodie." It's a vanilla latte with honey and cinnamon. Need I say more?

A couple of our favorites restaurants we hit were...

The Pharmacy in East Nashville: Amazing burgers, beautiful patio, and boozy shakes. We went here on our first trip to Nashville. From there on out, we decided this is a must-stop for every time we visit. 

Bartaco in 12 South: A fresh spin on Mexican, killer margaritas (which they use their house-made tequila for), and the nicest manager in all of the land. He bought us dessert--twice. If you go, you MUST order the pork belly taco and baja fish taco. I'm still dreaming of the pork belly.

And a few places we didn't have time for but would love to check out are Mas Tacos, City House, and Cafe Roze. 

I've always said if I had to raise a family in any other city other than St. Louis, it would be Nashville. Be sure to check these places out next time you're in town!

​We'll be back soon :)

P.S. Here is a little flashback from when I interviewed several country artists at the ACM Awards in Las Vegas...
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Antique shopping is my love language. I just can't stop. It feeds my soul. (I lean dramatic).

​I realize it's not for everyone, but for me it's pretty much the most fun thing I've ever done (besides getting married and going to Greece and birthing a child and such). 

Alright birthing a child wasn't fun, actually, but nevertheless...

So, when we recently moved into a house with a little more space, that meant more reasons to dig through antique stores, naturally. After posting some pics of my finds on Instagram, I've decided to share my top 4 tips with you for finding the hidden gems buried in antique stores:
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1. Hunt for the good stuff. Don't look at the obvious things on display. Dig through the racks. Look at the walls. Touch everything. Mirrors (like the one above) are usually hanging on the walls in antique store booths, which is exactly how people overlook them. Your brain is used to shopping the things on shelves and tables like you would in a regular store, so the mirrors hanging on the walls often go overlooked as store decor. 

See a rack full of what you think are old, ugly clothes? Don't skip it. Look at and touch every single piece. I've found that many of the people selling in these antique stores are elderly (or close to it) and don't think twice before selling an old designer piece they have for cheap, presumably because they have no use for it anymore. Digging through racks is exactly how I found this real fur jacket (pictured below) for $35. 

2. Hit antique stores in less-trafficked areas. There are so, so many amazing antique stores/malls in St. Louis and St. Charles. A few of my favorites are Warson Woods Antiques Gallery, Treasure Aisles Antique Mall, St. Charles Antique Mall, and The White Rabbit. With that being said, the best luck I've had was at antique stores that were less frequently visited/shopped.

For example, antique malls in the more pricier parts of town have decent inventory, but fairly high prices, while antique stores in more rural areas may only have 2 or 3 gems in the whole store, but are amazingly priced. For me, it's worth hunting through a bunch of so-so items to find that one priceless piece. 
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3. Research labels/brands. After shopping antique stores for several years, I feel like I have a pretty good gauge of telling whether or not something is a quality piece, but I'd be lying if I told you Google wasn't my friend. So, do some quick research!

For example, I found this insanely beautiful lamp (pictured above). I knew I wanted it, but wasn't totally sure where it would go in our house. When I walked back by to look at it for the 11th time, I saw the label on it and decided to Google it. Turns out, 1978 Westwood Industries lamps are hard to find, and they usually go for a few thousand dollars. Deal done. I bought the lamp and it's now my husband's favorite find of all my antique shopping. 

Two weeks after purchasing the lamp, I was back at an antique store (yes, my husband is aware of my addiction) with some time to kill and noticed a rack of clothes that hadn't been there at the time of my last visit. As I was sorting through them, I found this beautiful, calve-length coat in perfect condition (pictured below). 

"Look", I told myself, "St. Louis winters are brutal. Every girl needs a long coat. It's just practical." Again, my husband is aware. 

I tried it on and I could tell it was a quality piece. Out of curiosity, I looked inside the neck to see who made the coat: Christian Dior. CHRISTIAN DIOR. I think I gasped audibly in the middle of the store. I then proceeded to march my happy self to the front of the store, clutching onto my new, prized designer coat with a tighter death-grip than a working mom on her glass of wine. 

Moral of the story: check the labels. Did I mention I got the Christian Dior coat for $36?

4. Be creative. You may find something--an awesome lamp, for example--but hate the shade. If you can tell it's a quality lamp and you love the base, then buy it and swap out the shade for something more modern. Find an awesome mirror, but the glass is in poor condition? Get it and swap out the glass. 

My husband and I found this beautiful, vintage bed frame at the Vintage Market Days in Chesterfield last year--perfect size for Graham to grow into--but it was missing the slats. We bought it anyway. Why? Look at the wood.

It's burl wood. Burl wood is very hard to come by and increases the value of a piece.  (Burl wood comes from those odd growths you see sometimes on the side of trees. It can only be caused by mother nature, and when the growth is removed from the tree, the tree does not survive. Therefore, acquiring burl wood is difficult and costly.) After purchasing the bed, Chris simply built slats for it himself. The cost of the bed frame? Only $125!

Personally, I love keeping vintage items exactly the way they were made, but if you're not opposed to modernizing them, then antique stores are the best places to find that missing statement piece for your home that you've been searching for. The best part? You're pretty much guaranteed not to find it in anyone else's home. Pretty special. 

I hope you found these tips helpful! If you have any questions, leave a comment below or comment/message me on Instagram (I'm always posting pics of our home and antique finds there). Happy shopping! 

​XOXO, Courtney