Nashville Flooding

Ryan and I were in Nashville last weekend, when they were hit by terrible rains and flooding (13 inches of rain in 2 days). While it was obviously raining a ton, I never could have imagined the devastation and destruction that happened. It was so crazy! (and heartbreaking!!) It is probably the most severe "natural disaster" we've ever been in. We left Nashville Sunday morning, so we were able to get out...I think if we would have left even an hour later, we wouldn't have made it. Here are a few pictures...although you can find way worse online.

These first 2 were taken on Saturday on Highway 100 (south of the Harris Teater headed toward Loveless). By Sunday, the street was a river (literally) and obviously not drivable. I spoke to some employees at Loveless Cafe Sunday morning...they were stranded as the 100, 70S, I-4o, and McCrory ln were all closed.

This is our hotel Sunday morning. We were staying near Vanderbilt at the Courtyard Marriott.

This was taken on our drive home Sunday morning. We were on I-65 N, about 20 minutes north of downtown.

CHI Town with the Girls

Last weekend I spent 3 incredible days in Chicago with Anne & Jenni. It was a mini "Nashville" reunion...all of our husbands went to Vandy (Residency, MBA, & Law) and now we're spread across the country (Cincy, Boston, Park City). We had a blast in Chicago...here are the highlights.

Restaurants (I plan trips around food!) - Rosebud on Rush, Bongo Room, Garrett's Popcorn, Frontera Grill, Toast, Sweet Mandy B's, & Bandera

Shopping - Michigan Ave, Lincoln Park, Old Town (The Spice House!), and we can't forget Trader Joes. We're in the taxi, Jenni sees Trader Joes and yells "Pull Over!" I guess we're stopping :)

Besides Shopping - The Bean and Bobby's Bike Hike (good find Anne!)

Our New Neighbor

On Sunday afternoon, after getting home from my girl's trip (more to come!) and of course after getting unpacked (that is the first thing Ry and I do whenever we get home from a vacay :) we went on our Sunday walk. We start at our house and make about a 1.5 mile loop. As walked past this one house (it is brand new and was for sale when we moved here but sometime during winter it sold) we noticed some signs in the driveway that said "Valet Parking" and also a catering truck our front. We said, "They must be having a party!" Well as we got closer we noticed a few people out front talking and low and behold, it was NICK LACHEY!!! We walked right in front of him. He was talking to the catering guys. It was crazy! Apparently he is from here; we've heard him on the radio a couple of times. And now he is our neighbor :) We were a little surpised he didn't invite us to his party! I'm sure we'll get an invite next time :)

Move Over Celine

Ryan has a new favorite artist - Taylor Swift!

For Christmas I surprised Ryan with tickets to the Taylor Swift concert. Yes, it is what he wanted, and yes, he was very excited to go!

We sat next to these girls, and I asked if I could take a picture of them with Ryan. We figured there was at least a 10 to 1 ratio of girls to boys. These girls thought Ryan was so cool for coming!

Since Ryan got the t-shirt at the Celine concert (yep, Ry really does like Celine...we saw her play in Vegas) I bought the black t-shirt at this concert.

Seriously, she puts on a great show. Go see it if you get the chance!

NOLA

Ryan and I just got back from a long weekend in New Orleans. It was our first time, and we had a blast! Here are a couple of my favorite pics...

beautiful homes in the Garden District

cool cemeteries (I went on a fun bike ride too)

I ate beignets (a doughnut like pastry covered in powdered sugar) EVERYDAY! They were delicious!!!

French Quarter / Pirate's Alley

St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Sq

Movie Updates

I have gotten to see a few movies since Thanksgiving. There are 2 you HAVE to see:

1. Avatar - a few people I have told were like "Really? It kind of looked weird" The first time I saw the previews, I thought the same thing...I thought it was a weird animated film. It is definitely not. I don't like to hype up movies too much because then they don't meet your expectation, so just go see it thinking, "well, Heather liked, but she likes most movies, so who knows??" Then after you see, we'll chat about this phenomenal movie :) It had ALL the elements of a great movie - a love story, good vs. evil, special effects, humor, creativity. Seriously, one of my very favorite movies in YEARS...and I see a lot of movies!

2. The Blind Side - LOVED this movie too! Sandra Bullock rocks. She did an amazing job. This is such an incredible story. I just bought the book and am half way through it. It is really good too.

Other movies you might want to see...

It's Complicated - we laughed a lot in this movie. Very entertaining

Up In the Air - really like George! Not the typical romantic comedy, so I see why the critics liked it (they hate romantic comedies...weird right?!?) Lots of bad language, so beware!

I Netflixed Romeo & Juliet because somehow Ryan made it through high school, college, med school, residency, and 1/2 of fellowship without ever knowing the story of Romeo & Julie. I think this came up when I dragged him to New Moon and said something like "Stephanie compared New Moon to Romeo & Juliet" and Ry was like "I never had to read R&J...I don't know the story" So anyway, we watched the movie...I obviously new the ending but was still bugged because there is SO many ways they could/should have ended up together, but somehow both end up dead! Hadn't those kids ever heard of eloping!!!!????

I have not see Sherlock Holms yet, but have heard good things. Leap Year is next (Jan 8 :)

That is about all...go see Avatar and the Blind Side and report back!

Dear NYC, Love you, Miss you, Heather

After 3 years, we finally headed back to the city I love! New York City - the best city in the world. We ate and ate and ate, saw Wicked, saw friends, spent a day in the park, and shopped for purses in China Town.

More pics are posted on my facebook page if you're interested. Loading these takes forever on my blog.

Our 4 Year Anniversary

4 years ago this past weekend, Brett brought this gang together for the first time to watch General Conference. And so began our Conference Weekend Tradition (and 5 new best friends)! Of course since then, we have added (well actually Anne has added) 2 new faces.

The weekend included LOTS of snacks!

Watching conference

Taking notes

While others slept

Okay, I took a nap too!

But the main event (besides President Monson's talks of course) is dinner:

Spicy Beef Sandwiches

Pottery Barn Potatoes

Green Beans & Onions

And Chocolate Cake for dessert

Thanks Dave, Anne, Ellie, Hank, & Brett for making the trip to Cincinnati to spend Conference Weekend with Ryan and me. We had a blast! Whose house in April? :) Miss you!

Ellie & Hank

Last weekend we met our friends Anne & Dave and their 2 adorable kids in Columbus. Somehow I only took pictures of the kids (note Ry is included in that!). Sorry Anne & Dave :)

Cincy Tennis

Every year in Cincinnati they hold a tennis tournament that is part of the US Open series. All the big players come. We got to go to a women's quarterfinals on Friday night between Jankovic and Bammer. It was awesome! Bammer actually played Serena Williams the day before and beat her (which was a huge upset)...had Williams won, we would have gotten to see her! Jankovic won and actually won the whole tournament. The men are playing this week. We have tickets to the men's finals too...I am hoping it is between Nadal and Federer.

We got our tickets through Ryan's fellowship..they have a "box" :)

Jankovic - winner of the tournament