For many years we celebrated New Years Eve in a big way. We’ve been to the beach, the casinos, Gatlinburg, Atlanta… but more recently, our New Years were spent closer to home. Jill and I were ready to get back to our memorable celebrations and decided this New Years would be spent in the home of country music, Nashville, Tenn. It turns out that the city was having their first organized block party on popular Broadway street this year. The streets were blocked off for a “guitar drop” at the Hard Rock Cafe in the heart of downtown Nashville. I booked our room at the Courtyard Marriott which was in walking distance to the block party.
This story wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t start by telling you that it was freezing cold. I don’t handle the cold well and neither does Jill. We all had on double and triple layers worth of clothes in anticipation of being outdoors all night. Brrrr! Here are the four of us as we left out that night - photo courtesy of our bell hop, Travis.
The streets of Nashville were buzzing with people. I loved the way the Christmas lights mixed with the neon glow from the shops and bars. There were tons of people with hats that read “Happy New Years”. I’m usually so good at remembering to bring things like that and was totally bummed that we didn’t have any. Jill somehow snagged a couple by sweet talking two strangers and then shared with me. That’s a true friend right there.
We were right in front of the Hard Rock Cafe when the guitar dropped. The energy was nuts, and Rodney Atkins sang us into the new year. With everyone counting down and celebrating, we totally missed our New Years kiss photo op, so we reenacted it. We’re totally spontaneous like that. Jill and Nathan tease me about my kissing instructions during their engagement photography session. Jill kept saying, “Hold it… hold it… hold it…”
We held it for so long my tiara fell off, and we ended up dying laughing. I love this photo, blur and all. It totally captures our New Years Eve. Tobbogans, scarves, bokeh, crowds, laughing and each other. It’s perfect.
We had an absolute blast in Nashville. Everyone was talking about the guitar drop becoming an annual event, so if you are in the market for New Year’s fun next year, you should totally go. Despite the cold, I don’t think Jill or I complained once which is a true testament to the fun level. We stayed an extra night and had another adventurous day on Friday which I’ll tell you all about later this week. I think I’ll begin that one with “…and it got even colder!”
by Amanda
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