The adventures of The Leadbetter Family: Nashville April Fools we are 40

We did it! A year ago, we talked about turning 40 and how it would give us this wonderful reason to get together and do something to celebrate us - so we picked Nashville and planned it!

Here I am at the airport in CT sporting my cowboy boots that were a gift from Chris on my 30th! Still love them.

Ashley flew in from GA (driving first to an airport and staying the night)

Natalie drove from Put-in-bay OH

Farrah from DC and I from CT

we all arrived at the airport and relatively the same time

Felt SO good to be together (until I was sick - blah blah blah)

This is the most instagrammed sign - so we had to snap a photo - plus we had the worlds greatest brussel sprout salad here - YUM!

That night we chose between 2 restaurants that Brian had booked for us - once Uber dropped us at our choice and I saw the white table clothes I wanted to bolt (not a high end dinner) the food was great, however it sounds like we all feel that 404 cafe is the one that got away - I was feeling like crap anyway and missed out on the late night bar time and headed to bed - wishing it would pass so I could ENJOY my time with these wonderful ladies!

In desperate need of freshening up! - at a DRY BAR - meaning blow dry your hair (they had champagne so not THAT dry) the idea of NOT having to style our hair at all this weekend was a little bit of heaven - great call Farrah.

The eye lashes we all scored were a total treat! Our stylist also styles the stars of course - because when you work in nashville that is totally normal! (matter of fact she was flying on Saturday to Vegas were the country music awards were being held that Sunday night!)

Love the after photo!

Now lets go get some tattoos! This was such a popular place all appointments were book - matter of fact when the folks at the dry bar hear we were going here - they were surprised we could get it, well we couldn't, we had to wait at the doors until they opened and get on the wait list

Thanks to Ashley we got in!

This photo makes me laugh a bit, Brian called it a suicide pack gone wrong - I can say that right?

Love love love how they all turned out! Our tattoo artist was a hoot and enjoyed being part of our conversation. He did each one of us and it was the experience we paid for (since yes, the tattoos were pricey!) But I will always remember THIS!

Now onto a juice bar - GREAT Idea - ginger shot was FABULOUS! great call ashley - knock it out of me -

The batman building was often our directional beacon as we walked through the city. Snapped this one for the kiddos

Dinner on Friday rocked - I didn't snap a photo of them, but we sat right next to a family from Germany! Natalie LOVED using her german and she still had it - they thought she was German!

Love these pretty ladies all dolled up

Wonderful dinner - wonderful wine - i could go home right now...but we didn't

Here is where the night gets late - we were in search of a 2 stepping bar - somewhere along the way, we met hockey coaches, wondered to 2 other bars (limited dancing but lots of music) scored a really crabby taxi driver (why we didn't take Uber is beyond me) ate REALLY hot pizza and finally told the late night half at 2am it was time to go home! they were shocked it was that late an although their first response was - it doesn't close tis 3, we managed to wrap them up and take them home!!

Classy photo - I know! I wore my cowboy boots ALL weekend (they were a gift from turning 30 when we lived in Austin!)

Now we are just snapping photo before our Uber driver shows up

Love this one

A mere 7 hours later - I am not sure if you can see the tears in our eyes - but we were laughing until our stomachs hurt trying to figure out this selfie stick - I am certain it was compounded by the fact we were a bit hungover and out tis 3am - this was breakfast and thankfully, someone was singing to us while we had bloody mary's in hand. We linked up with Ashley's Aunt and husband here - The wonders of social media, a photo of her on FB had them responding saying they were hear too seeing lots of great shows - I love that they popped over for a quick hug!

Now to walk the streets of Nashville the DAYtime Right in the city - train station turned hotel

Just about every bar had live music as well as its own flair - I have to admit that hockey stadium sure does stand out like a sore thumb - sure its unique but... (its in the left hand side of the photo and street - kinda looks like a blue dome)

Yes, we walked through the Grand Ole Opry and

Ryman Auditorium -

We didn't actually "Go through it' but instead soaked in the surroundings - you know i have never been a detail or museum person no matter what the subject - instead I purely just like to 'be' there. and we were!

I loved imagining the legends who have truly changed their life here and have made this city what it is today

And this is where we ate Pizza last night - Ashley and I got asked by a million folks for a slice - our next business venture is a Pizza truck - RIGHT HERE!

We are getting pretty good at the selfie stick right? About to head into a Honky Tonk bar!

Truth

Yes, this is the magic selfie stick you have been hearing about - while we were walking through the city we stumbled on a group celebrating 60 and trying to figure out their selfie stick - they were laughing about as hard as we had - we offered to take their photo so they could figure out the selfie stick later -

So what does a Honkey Tonk bar sound like??

https://youtu.be/vAkTI57QUfE

Of course we had to do some cowboy boot trying on - sad to say, none were purchased - but they were all cool!

Greatest snack ever - tator-tot Nachos - pretty sure we should have had this at 10am this morning. This was served to us by our waiter who looked like Jason Bateman, Micheal J Fox and a few others all in one (now I am regretting not snapping a photo of him)

I did manage to get one of the band

Such a pretty afternoon

With 4 girls on a trip together without kiddos and the rest of their family - allowed the time to get ready=LOTS of selfies! I honestly couldn't decide which I liked better

Yes, I did snap a few of the scenery - but none could truly capture how beautiful the afternoon was.

We caught ourselves really loving the fake eye lashes and had to do a little close up of them.

They stayed on the whole time, but we were VERY careful in the face-washing department

More nashvilleness -

Ready to get started?

Saturday night we had a fab dinner right on the corner people watching - we all just about ordered the same thing which was rather humorous - drinks and all - it was an early night as Ashley and Natalie had early alarms clocks to schedule.

We enjoyed the evening being together - talking about lives, moves, what's to come and really just being thankful for the time we were truly in each other's presence. These ladies are so real and so part of who I am - being with them no matter where we were was so wonderful.

I remember Ashley and Natalie tucked in while Farrah let me read some senseless trivia about being 40 and what our childhood experienced -

So Sunday morning we hugged Ashley good by first - than Natalie and than Farrah and I caught an Uber to the airport and enjoyed a coffee in the lounge - (a perk of all the traveling Brian has had to do) It was so quiet (having been loud all weekend, we were able to be quiet too)

Back to real life feeling full and fortunate for this time.