#11 home away from home

I have grown to love this town.
and a huge part is because it has become my home away from home.

It's true, I still get homesick for where I grew up and that comfort, but if I could call any other place home, it definitely is here in Nashville!

What makes it home?
Lots of different factors. I think the biggest one recently for me are Sundays. Sundays at the Hogan household in Virginia are typically spent with close friends and family watching football (with me always doing homework!).
This past Sunday instead of going anywhere to watch the Steelers game, I invited friends over to my house.
We watched football, I did homework, I baked delicious cookies, we laughed, we chatted, and had some good community time!
Those are the moments when I know this has become my home.
Those comfort moments.
Those joys of just being in the presence of good friends.

this is what makes it home.
And I love it :)

Here are my pumpkin white chocolate chip cookies that were devoured!!


and then the empty plate...

#10 clothing swap!

Last night I attended my first ever clothing swap.

What is a clothing swap, you ask? Basically you get a bunch of girls together (well guys could do it too...but typically girls) and bring clothes/purses/shoes/scarves/whatever you don't want anymore. And what do you do with those items? Give them away! And in return, you get to 'shop' at the other girl's unwanted items. There are different ways to do it, but we all got together and went one by one through the items asking who wanted it...if there were mutual wants, then it was battled out by the girls (not really...we all really didn't care too much, it was a more of do I love this or like it). If you have a lot of people then you can set up rooms and basically shop around!

I absolutely love this idea, because you don't have to spend money! And you get rid of clothes that have been sitting in your closet.

What I came away with last night: (I should really post pics...maybe when I wear them!)
2 jackets
1 pair of jeans
3 skirts (2 of which are totally not my 'style' but trendy! I decided to branch out of my clothing comfort!)
3 shirts
1 pair of brown boots!

not too shabby, eh?!

I am hoping to host a clothing swap in a few weeks. Oh yes, I still can get rid of clothes! And can always use 'new' ones ;)

#9: welcome wooers

After living in Nashville, I feel like everyone knows everyone...or at least you will find some random connection with whoever you meet. I love this! It is fun to play the "who do we mutually know" game, and a lot of times it works. It keeps things alive! I love going up to random people and striking conversations, and in Nashville it is totally welcomed! That goes with my personality of being a 'woo' (if you don't know what woo is, take the StrengthsFinder test!). Nashville is the perfect city for this personality...or I just like to think so because it's me! Probably overwhelming, but something I've learned is that I shouldn't worry about fitting the perfection of what others want to perceive me as, but rather focus on all God has me to be!

Nashville - thank you for satisfying my outgoing personality by giving me lots of people and opportunities to talk to, share life with, and be who God created me to be!

#8: grocery store encounters

I went to the grocery store this morning. it was a typical grocery run and morning...well that's what I thought.

So as I am walking around Kroger, I head to the baking aisle (I mean, I love to bake, so why not!). I'm picking up my brownie and cake mixes and head to the chocolate chips. This woman was standing there as well and we got into a discussion about how the Kroger brand choc chips are not real and are made with chocolate liquor (who knew!) So we chit chatted about that and then she started to walk away and said something along the lines of "well you just look like such a great young housewife"

BAAAAAHHH. was my first inside reaction. I chuckled and said "Oh I'm definitely young, but nottt married!" She asked how old I was and as soon as I told her my age, she goes "that is how old my daughter would be, she passed away 3 years ago in a car accident". She got teary eyed and emotional and started to just share her heart with me. She told me that I reminded her of her daughter - full of life, trying to find the best deals, tiny framed, and smiling with joy. She proceeded to show me pictures - beautiful blonde haired blue eyed girl.

This woman then told me how comforting it is to know as a mother that your daughter is up in Heaven and that she lived a life after the Lord. OH and the best part was when she was telling me about the 5k that they have every year up at her college in Ohio and it's named after her daughter, Kelly. I immediately stopped her and said, "my name is Kelly". She just hugged me. Right there, in the middle of Kroger, I was hugging and crying with this strange woman. We talked for probably 20-25 minutes in the middle of the grocery store.

That moment was such a God thing...this woman spoke encouragement and truth into my life that I so needed to hear in amidst the craziness and stress of my life. At the same time, she needed someone to hear about her incredible daughter. The Lord truly brought us to the middle of the baking aisle this morning for a reason. And I was just so speechless and in awe of that encounter.

When we were walking away from each other, she said these final words "Continue to live your life, love it, and live it to the fullest finding all those blessings!"

Amen. Amen.

#7:jeni's ice cream

If you have never been to Jeni's Ice Cream, you need to go. Oh myyy gooodness. It is delicious goodness in your mouth. I went out to dinner with a friend the other night and on our way to my car we see Jeni's...immediately we both are drawn in...because well, let's face it, we're girls...and it's ice cream! Who can resist!? Apparently Jeni's started in Ohio and other than Nashville is only in Ohio...so we feel special here in Nash! What makes Jeni's unique is the flavors. Anywhere from Reisling Poached Pear to Brown Butter Almond Brittle to Brambleberry Crisp to classics like mint, vanilla, chocolate. This experience was overwhelming to say the least at first. But the employees were super helpful and let us taste test...a lot...we had a bouquet of sample spoons. A little embarrassing, but we just had no clue where to start! I ended up getting Riesling Poached Pear mixed with Lemon Blueberry (with blueberries mixed in there!) and Shaylee got the Brown Butter Almond with Coffee (yummmm!).

We will DEFINITELY be going back there. Weekly dates for us :) Delicious food followed by delicious ice cream=yes please!

#6 the stars

I can ACTUALLY see the stars here!!! Last night as I was pulling up to my house I just happened to look up and was just in awe of how many stars I saw...I couldn't believe it! I have seen the stars away from the city, closer to Franklin/Brentwood area but not 10 minutes from downtown!

to put this into perspective. whenever I am at my parent's house where I grew up (in northern va) I get excited if I see the big dipper...that is how light polluted that area is. so when I moved out west into more of...well the somewhat middle of nowhere...I get to see more stars!

I absolutely LOVE to star gaze and could just lay for hours looking up at the sky :) when I have done this in the past, that's when I have seen shooting stars! soooo awesome! I don't see the stars out tonight...but I know they'll be back :) and I know I'll be laying down watching them! there is always such a peace about stargazing...

I love Nashville because I can see the stars!!!

#5: the screaming girls

No, I don't really like screaming girls...but it is what the reasoning for the screaming girls...well I don't really love that...but I love the spontaneity of the the screaming girls and my day yesterday.

So as I was sitting in Entertainment Publicity class, I was doodling and checking twitter (and listening to my professor of course!). Well one of my friends tweeted that Justin Bieber was in downtown Franklin (for those of you not around here, Franklin is right outside of Nashville and a fun/cute little town). Immediately I gasped and my class turned to me in wonder and I responded with "justin bieber is in Franklin!". They all either laughed, said "I heard!", freaked out with me, or rolled their eyes because this crazy college girl got excited about the Biebs. Apparently Selena Gomez was with him too, just shopping around. And they were to start filming for his christmas music video... Now to my though process. Well part of me was like umm I am just gonna drive down there and see if I get a glimpse, but then I knew it would be insaaaaane and I didn't want to go alone or miss church... I texted one of my small group girls that JB was in Franklin and she flippppped and said "let's go let's go!!!" I told her I didn't want to skip church, but at the same time this would be good bonding time for us. So drove from class, picked her up, and waited for a few hours until we saw him step off of that bus.


Here is downtown Franklin last night -->


The process of watching JB fans/waiting for him was pretty adventurous... I have never seen so many 'in love' girls with a celebrity. it is crazy, and sad in a way. One girl told me she would dieeeee if she didn't see him. I really just wanted to tell her about Jesus...while I think that JB is a good role model, I don't think he should be worshiped as he is...and that makes me sad. The security guard touched the bus and then touched the girls blocked off and they flipppped saying, "I touched Justin's bus!". I just laughed. And the screams..oh the shrill screams, kind of haunting. All in all, it was quite the experience. I am glad I went to watch some production, see Justin Bieber, and mostly observe all the crazy fans. Another reason why I liked yesterday is because it broke routine for me. Sometimes you just need that randomness to a day to make it that much better :)

So yes, check it off the bucket list. I have seen Justin Bieber live. He is as small as people say, and he seemed nice from a far - I mean he smiled at us! haha. I wonder what goes on in his head...

P.S - back in February I took a few of my girls to go see the movie...that is when I approved of him. Here's a pic from that :)