Like I said, October was/is nuts. I left on Tuesday, October 7 for a whirlwind work trip. First stop, back to Charlotte! Initially my meetings in Charlotte were supposed to be the prior week so I could just stay through Natalie's birthday. Of course, they were postponed, but I still had the work event in Atlanta on Sunday night so I couldn't just stay through until my meetings the next week (are you keeping up?).


Whittney and I went for a walk before dinner while I was in Charlotte - they live so close to the Carolina Panthers stadium!

After a yummy dinner at The Summit Room on my last night, we headed to Angry Ale's for some trivia. And guess who won? THIS GIRL.

After my week in Charlotte, I headed to Charleston on Friday morning to get a little work done there before the weekend started. Adam rented a car and met me there after work - which means he arrived around 1am. To kill time, I hung out with my favorite redhead - Miranda.

We went to a really cool bar called the Gin Joint, then headed over to start our own little dance party at Mad River.

The next day was planned around Georgia Football (of course). I researched the best UGA bars in Charleston, and luckily one was right down the street from where we were staying!

We got to Sullivan's Island in the morning and decided to walk down to the beach before we posted up at the bar. It was WARM - like, 90 degrees WARM.

 Home Team BBQ on Sullivan's Island! Not the worst place to spend your day.

And Georgia won - great day!

After taking a quick snooze, we got ready for our night out in Charleston. After a quick drink at Social, we headed to the Market Pavilion Rooftop Bar. It's our tradition to go every time we're in town.

We finished the night with dinner at Cypress - so yummy!

The next morning, we headed over to The Grocery for a quick mimosa and snack before walking around Charleston. It's our favorite city and we fall in love with it every time we go! (Can we move there, please?)

The whole reason we were in Charleston is because I donated water to the No Kid Hungry Charleston dinner and got two tickets in return. The dress code was Cocktail Casual (what does that even mean?), so we saw all sorts of outfits.

The dinner was in this beautiful tent on the water - great night!

We headed home on Monday - just in time for me to turn around on Tuesday and head to Nashville. I couldn't leave town again without spending some QT with my favorite little man though!

In Nashville, I was working with Distributor Reps - which means they know they're getting a killer lunch out of the suppliers when they volunteer to do it. My guy picked Wild Ginger for some sushi. It was AMAZING! Fried beyond belief, but so freaking good!

I was alone on my trip to Nashville, so I thought it was worth a try to call The Catbird Seat on Wednesday morning to see if they had any openings that night. (Side note: This is one of those places where reservations only open up 30 days out and fill up like THAT.)

Lucky for me - I got a call back and they had an opening for me at 9pm! Someone recommended I grab a drink downstairs at the Patterson House before dinner - so I happily obliged. 

I've never eaten out alone before and was a little wary, but it actually ended up being so much fun!

Here's the entrance to The Catbird Seat… you open a random wooden door and there's this little table with a candle - and an elevator.

And here we are! A couple fun facts about The Catbird Seat.

• The restaurant only holds 20 people 
• You sit around this "bar" where all of the chefs are cooking right in front of you. There's literally no kitchen. They do everything right here.
• The chef, Trevor Moran, is Irish and came from Noma (no big deal, only the best restaurant in the world).
• There is no menu. You show up and eat whatever they're making that night (add drink pairings, for an additional cost, of course).
• My meal was 14 courses. 14! By the end, I was only able to eat a bite of everything because I was so full.
• My meal and drink pairings - for just me - was $220. (Thank you, work!)
• It was the coolest experience ever - not to mention the food was so delicious! I actually preferred eating there alone, because I spent the whole time talking to the chefs/beverage director/hostess and learning more about everything that goes into it.

Here's Trevor (we're on a first name basis) just topping off my Fernet. I'm so fancy.

At the end of the meal, you receive a handwritten menu! The hostess and I were going out for a drink after dinner (see, I made friends!), so I didn't take mine with me. I was so sad! However, she texted me the next day and mailed two copies to me! Yay!

It was definitely a killer way to end my crazy out of town excursions! For obvious reasons, I have no recipes to include in this post. You can just read that "menu" instead.

valentine's weekend in nashville

Expecting a cute, romantic story about a getaway to Nashville? Too bad! I ditched the hubs on Valentine's Day to head to Nashville with the girls of his family (so it's kind of like we spent it together?).

Debbie, Kelsey, Meagan and I headed up to Nashville on Friday afternoon, and after a very local dining experience at Backyard Burger we checked into our hotel and waited for Adam's grandma and cousin Amy to arrive from St. Louis. Friday night was pretty uneventful because we had to wake up at 5:30am on Saturday for the Hot Chocolate 5K. (Oh, yeah. I forgot to register myself so that was fun to deal with on Friday!)


We woke up Saturday morning to a balmy 10 degrees (with the wind chill) and headed outdoors. Are we nuts? I have been cold before, but I can honestly say I've never been that cold for such an extended period of time. Painful!

Amy and I ran the 5K (I mean, 15K) while Debbie, Meagan and Kelsey walked. Grandma was the smartest one - she stayed back at the hotel! You can't tell in this picture, but Amy's ankles were purple by the time we got to the start line.

After the race, my hands were so numb I had no choice but to shove them in my pockets on the walk back to the car. Amy, being the good Samaritan that she is, offered to hold my souvenir goodies for me. When I tried to take it back (with my hands still in my pockets - don't ask), it spilled everywhere and I'm pretty sure we both peed ourselves from laughing so hard. I guess you had to be there...

Post-race/Pre-spill

After sprucing ourselves up at the hotel, we all headed out to see Opryland and the Grand Ole Opry. Turns out there was some sort of Wild Turkey Convention happening, so the place was packed with Duck Dynasty wannabes. At this point, we were all about to snap due to the lack of food (or was that just me?) so we parked at the outlet mall - which happens to share a parking lot with the Grand Ole Opry, kind of weird - and headed to the first restaurant we could find. Chuy's it was.

We all ate way too much food because we were starving and it was mexican food (bad combo), but pulled it together to do some sight-seeing.

Fun guitars outside the Grand Ole Opry. They charge you $20 to tour the place, so we settled on the gift shop instead.

Opryland was crazy! You could definitely stay there and never leave, very similar to a cruise ship.

Even though we hadn't planned on it, a nap back at the hotel was in order. After a quick nap, we headed back out - this time to the famous Broadway and 2nd area of Nashville. It was Valentine's weekend so there weren't reservations available anywhere. We tried calling Rock Bottom Brewery, but were told they were full and would squeeze in walk-ins if anything was available. It happened to be the first place we found once we got down there, so we decided we'd suck it up - the wait for 6 people anywhere was going to be long. Well, what are the odds. There wasn't a wait for 6 people. The food was so yummy - I recommend it.

After dinner, we walked through the streets for a little bit before settling in at a bar with live music for a quick drink. All of the bars we passed looked like so much fun - live music everywhere! I told Adam we have to go back and really check it out.

Sunday morning before heading home, we went to The Pfunky Griddle. One of Kelsey's friends frequents the place and it looked like a lot of fun. It was! You make your own pancakes! Definitely a fun, touristy thing to do, but I typically like to go out to eat so I don't have to cook.

We made it back home Sunday afternoon, and Adam and I headed out to celebrate Valentine's by seeing Lone Survivor at Studio Movie Grill (what a romantic movie!). But seriously, such an amazing yet heart-wrenching movie. Every American should see it.

I also came home to this gem from Lindsay! She works for US Figure Skating and knows how much I love the Olympics. Best surprise, ever!

I had Monday off for Presidents' Day, so I spent the morning with these two weirdos before meeting up with my mom. I mean, could Hank look any cuter?

On Monday night, I caught up with some work friends at Tin Lizzy's, and then Allison and I hit up the new Sprinkles Cupcakes ATM. Coolest thing, ever! I got a Raspberry Chocolate Chip cupcake, and it was delish.

And in typical Baker fashion, we missed Hank's third weekly picture on Saturday. Whoops! We'll try to take it tonight. Quick update on him... He's getting cuter and cuter everyday, and he and Ruthie are best friends. He hasn't had an accident in the house for almost a week (yay!) and seems to have cut down his chewing a little bit. He loves his crate (because he gets a treat when he goes in) and has mastered 'Sit'. Unlike Ruthie, he is the best snuggler! She has always had her own agenda - such an independent pup. We love him a lot, and I'm so glad I finally broke down about getting another dog.

Update! Here are his three week pictures.