Wine Wednesday: Nashville state of mind

Being raised a southern girl (Texas and Florida) these northern winters are probably going to be the death of me. I have thin skin, what can I say?

So when the weather started turning colder, I found myself getting depressed and anxious about what was heading our way. And so I started my campaign to convince Clean Fresh Hubby that we needed to move somewhere warmer. Like Mexico. Or Hawaii. Or Nashville.

We figured that Nashville was far enough south that we would still have seasons, albeit hopefully a much milder winter. And even if it did snow or ice, southern cities are typically ill-prepared for such weather, so things pretty much shut down. Fine by me. And given it was only an eight hour drive from Chicago, we figured our families couldn’t be too angry with us since technically we were just a car ride away. It also didn’t hurt that Nashville is “Music City” and Clean Fresh Hubby plays guitar and has his degree in music. I thought this might be a selling point when presenting the idea to him!

Since neither of us had actually ever been to Nashville, we decided to take a road trip. So last October, we dropped the child off at grandma’s house and hit the road bright and early on a Friday morning for our quick in-and-out visit to Tennessee.

It was an absolutely fantastic weekend.

Nashville is the perfect blend of big city and southern charm. It is urban but not overwhelming (as Chicago can be). Bars open early and you could hear live music over lunch. East Nashville (our targeted area) is hip and trendy, but still has a neighborhood feel. Everyone we met was warm and welcoming. And the southern cooking, lord, I could write an entire post just on what we ate that weekend. In short, we loved it.

Over cocktails at The Patterson House (an amazing, amazing bar), we agreed that we needed to figure out how to make this move work. A job for Clean Fresh Hubby was of course the main concern. So we trudged back to Chicago, our heads filled with thoughts of the south.

I was fired up and couldn’t scan the real estate ads quickly enough. Or the job boards looking for something that might work for Clean Fresh Hubby. I was ready to plant a “For Sale” sign in front of our house come spring. Hubby, well he was a little slower about it all, a bit more cautious (which is why we balance each other out so well!).

Then, right after the holidays, my mom had a series of strokes. Suddenly, the five minute drive to the hospital seemed too long and I was thankful not to be an eight hour car ride away. I instantly saw my dreams of moving south dashed by the need to stay close to family.

Thankfully my mom is doing better now and life is slowly returning to normal. I still dream about Nashville, though wonder if we will ever really get there. Clean Fresh Hubby says not to rule it out just yet. So I guess we’ll just wait and see, huh?

In the meantime, I stumbled across this wine at the grocery store and it made me think of our fun-filled afternoon on Music Row, when we visited the Hatch Show Print shop.



I kick myself for not wanting to wait in the long line to purchase a print, so for now, I will just have to enjoy this little bit of Nashville (the label… the wine is from California, not Tennessee!).



At $10.99, I figure this is a wine I can enjoy anytime I’m hankering for a little Nashville. And how cool is this label? I love the look of the letterpress and the cowboy graphic speaks to the Texan in me. Of course, cool looks aside, the wine itself is pretty decent, good enough that I’d recommend it, even gift it to a friend.



If you can’t get to the Hatch Show Print shop, pick up a bottle of The Show and drink in the fun artwork and a nice glass of vino!