the parthenon-nashville

Last week a few of the girls got together & took a trip to the Parthenon in Centennial Park in Nashville. Greek & Roman mythology is so interesting, how the gods were created, their lack of standards, always seeking revenge. I'm not quite sure I'd want to worship people like that...but that's another story.

Before Brady & I left for the summer my little brother's gave me a big stack of books to read! I was never much of a reader growing up (a few books here & there) but the past few years I've started to really enjoy it. Some of the books I was lent were the Percy Jackson & The Olympians  books.

I watched the movie when it first came out & then read the first one but it was years ago. So as I basked in the summer sun at the pool I quickly read through all 5 books. I couldn't put them down! They are great books for anyone pre-teen-adult. I get fed up with all the grotesque, dirty, nasty books/media that's out in the world today. These are a breath of fresh air & educational. I learned a lot about the Greek gods throughout the series. My brother also lent me the add-on series after the Percy Jackson books, The Heroes of Olympus.

So far I'm halfway through the first book & I'm loving every minute! I'll read for a good 3 hours at the pool everyday (rough life, I know) I recommend you read all of these books if you haven't done so already.

Back to the Parthenon....On the main floor of the building there is an art gallery & a few pictures & trinkets from when Nashville first became a town, but upstairs was the GIANT statue of Athena. She was beautiful! Athena is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill.

The amount of detail in the statue is amazing & to think that long, long, long, ago in Greece they carved a statue similar to this. This one itself took 8 years to complete by Alan LeQuire.

Seeing this statue & others & the Parthenon itself made me want to go to Greece & see the actual Parthenon & other Greek ruins.

Since Athena is the Goddess of war her shield has a battle scene on it. Sorry this was the best shot I could get.

To see the scale of this thing, check out the lady in the far right of the picture....it's huge. Might I add that Athena is covered in actual gold leaf. The gold on the original Greek statue weighed 1500 Lbs. This statue tops out at 8.5 Lbs.

Athena is holding the goddess Nike (or Victoria in Roman mythology). Nike is the goddess of victory. So the next time you lace up your Nikes, know that you will win.

On the north & south faces of the Parthenon are most of the greek gods. They had these smaller replicas to show you what it looks like since you can't get close to the roof to see up close on the actual building. The pieces without arms & heads are molds of the remains in Greece. Sculptors worked with photos/drawings & these molds to recreate the Nashville Parthenon's statues.

After we wandered through the Parthenon & bought a postcard for my dad & myself (my tradition) we walked around the park. It was a beautiful day. I'm so grateful that I get to explore new places every year! I love traveling, seeing sights, & learning the history of the earth.

Go explore a new place this week!! Take pictures & collect a keepsake for you to remember your time there by.

peace+blessings

4th in the music city

Events in Nashville have really spoiled me, I now think every event or activity has to have a live band involved. There is no other way, the radio isn't going to cut it anymore folks.

Before I jump into the my activities from the 4th we need to rewind to the 3rd. Our neighboring town of Smyrna held their fireworks & fun on the 3rd of July. So me & a few friends struggled our way into a parking spot & made our way to the Recreation Park. It was hoppin'. The whole town was there, plus more. We watched the bands for a little while, then decided to go look around at all the fun things that were going on.

This place was kid heaven. I'd never seen so many blow-up/bouncy things. There were TWO bouncy houses, a blow-up slide, a blow-up basketball court, & more. There was face painting, a rock wall, a little train to ride around, and any other "fair" game you can think of. It was overflowing with stands selling snow cones & italian ice, fried turkey legs, pizza, hot dogs, funnel cake, you name it. I did not buy a single thing...I did get a free peach & a free glow stick bracelet though!! YES!

After walking around & waiting in the longest bathroom line ever, we made our way to the grass to watch the fireworks. I was impressed. My favorite firework was this awesome glittery gold one that fell down like a waterfall!! I couldn't get enough, but that was only a taste of firework awesomeness.

Later that night when Brady got home we made a midnight trip to Wally World & got some ingredients for his families famous Chocolate Pancake/Vanilla syrup breakfast that we were hosting the next day. We got carried away & decided to buy some sweet patriotic shirts while we were there too.

On to the 4th.....we woke up, brushed our teeth...too much detail? oh, ok, sorry. After our chocolate pancake party we suited up & headed for the pool! We played way too many games of 500 & Brady got fried (even though he drenched himself in sunscreen). On the way out we stopped at this little BBQ joint called Bar-B-Cuties. Pretty tasty, but nothing special.

When we got to downtown we explored a little, took pictures, then shoved our way through the crowd to, almost, the front of the stage. We stayed for the national anthem, flag ceremony, & a few songs from the band Striking Matches until we almost got a few cigarette burns & our second-hand smoke headache got too bad. We walked up to the bridge & got to see the stadium that the fireworks were going to be lit at. Then we made our way over to the Tennessee Towers where we would watch them.

 

A little back story....our first sunday in our new ward we met a nice lady named Kim. The 4th of July got brought up & it turned out that she worked at the Tennessee Towers & she was going to be watching the fireworks on top of the building! Then she invited us!! back to the story...

We went up the 30 stories to the top of the building & parked our chairs right in front of the railing on the 2nd tallest building in Nashville & got to watch the 2nd best firework show (last year's rating) in America. IT. WAS. AWESOME. Watching 27 minutes of musically choreographed fireworks from on top of a building was THE coolest. It even made the 1 hour wait to get out of our stall in the parking garage worth it.

This was by far the best 4th I've ever had/will ever have again.

backyard session w/ free people

First of all I want to welcome Andi & Tyler to Nashville! Wednesday I got to go pick them up from the airport & hang out at their new house for awhile with them. They just moved to the music city so Tyler can start his new job at Nissan in Franklin, TN. I'm ecstatic. I FINALLY have a kid-less friend to hang out with!! 

Ok so on to the story...earlier in the week I entered a contest from Free People Blog to win an invitation to their little backyard concert sesh with a local band. I posted a picture on Instagram, tagged them in it, & explained why I should get invited. Late on Wednesday night I got a message saying that I WON!!! I was at dinner with all the guys in our summer office & they all thought I was crazy when I stood up & yelled "I WON!!!!" Hey, I was excited.

The shin dig was Thursday evening & I invites Andi to come with me! We had a lot of fun meeting new people & listening to the beautiful notes & voices of Cotton Jones. WOW. Lovely. 

I could've stayed & listened to them serenade me all night! Too bad moments like that have to pass so fast.

Andi & I had a great time! I think both of us could go to something like that every night & not ever get sick of it!!