At the copa, copacabana...

Awwww....Monday night, John and I went on our first grocery shopping trip as a married couple here in Nashville. Last night, we went for a walk and played some tennis. Now, it's been about three years since I've really played and it showed. I took a spill. John "brought the heat" and I couldn't handle it (he told me to type that). As I was chasing after one of his wild serves (which by the way was heading over into the next court), I tripped and went sliding across the court. Luckily, no one else was out there but us, but today I have the bruises to prove it happened.


Tonight, John and I went out to eat with some of his friends at this restaurant called the Cabana in Nashville (http://www.cabananashville.com/). The best way I can think of to describe the atmosphere of this restaurant is your backyard deck meets a disco club. The booths inside the restaurant sit in these little "niches" so that your table feels like it's the only one there. They even had little curtains you could pull across the opening for privacy. Our "niche" had it's own little LCD TV and sound system. You could plug in your ipod/MP3 player and play your own music in your booth if you wanted or just watch TV or a movie. Very neat.

Here are some pics of the Cabana from the outside - sorry some of them are blurry...

Here are some pictures from inside the booth:

This is John, me, and Scott Munsell, a good friend of John's:

Here is a picture of Jeffrey Butts (just in case, he's the one on the left) - John and Scott recorded a live show for him this past February. He's opened for the Black Eyed Peas and John Mayer... I'm listening to the CD right now... :) The woman beside him is Lynn Sanders, the wife of one of John's friends.

And last, but not least, here is a picture of the newlyweds!

Surprise, surprise!!!

Well, this is our first official blog... John and I thought this may be a really good way for people to see what we're up to (not that we lead exceptionally interesting lives or anything) and to stay in touch with our family and friends back home and here in Nashville. I PROMISE all of our blogs will NOT be this long. We just got back from our honeymoon and had a lot of info to share. We have a total of 406 pics from the honeymoon. Of course, I didn't put them all on here, but hopefully we can share them with you the next time we see you. Hope you enjoy!

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John and I just got married this past Saturday, September 15. We got back from the honeymoon yesterday. For those of you that know us, you know I was told by John that we were spending the wedding night at the Tutwiler Hotel in Downtown Birmingham and that we would be driving to Blue Ridge, GA on Sunday where we had a cabin reserved for a week in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Well, that is not what happened...

For the two weeks prior to the wedding, John had been 'hinting' to me that he had some little surprises in store for me on the honeymoon. As we were dancing at the wedding, John leaned over and told me that we were not staying at the Tutwiler in Birmingham but at the Cobb Lane Bed & Breakfast (http://www.cobblanebandb.com/) at Five Points South (also in Birmingham). I was really excited about that - I love old houses! When we arrived at Cobb Lane (about 2:00 in the morning), we went up to our room and were excited to find cookies and champagne waiting for us. (Note: Thank you to all who packed our picnic basket - we would have died of starvation without it!) John had reserved the Southern Magnolia Suite which consisted of three rooms: a bedroom, bathroom, and private parlor. As were sitting in the parlor sipping champagne and munching on cookies, John told me that I had another surprise. Sunday, we were going to drive to Asheville, NC and stay at the Inn on Biltmore Estate (http://www.biltmore.com/stay/inn/default.asp)!

Pic of us at Cobb Lane:

Sunday morning, after being served a delicious breakfast in bed, we set off for Asheville. The Inn on Biltmore Estate is actually located on the Biltmore Estate itself, and to me looked like a castle all on its own. We stayed in the Pinchot Suite. It was bigger than my two-bedroom apartment in Birmingham!

Pic of the Inn at Biltmore Estate (please excuse the windshield...):

After getting settled in on Sunday night, we headed off for dinner at the Bistro (http://www.biltmore.com/visit/dining/bistro/default.asp) at the Biltmore Winery where we had reservations for 8:30. Walking to the Bistro was really neat. There was a narrow winding path, lit by small lanterns, leading from the Inn down below to the Winery. The walk took about ten minutes and when you got near the bottom, you could look up and see the Inn set up on a hill. Very pretty! The Bistro was really nice - the food was delicious. When we were finished, we headed back up to the Inn, following the same path as before (but on a full stomach going uphill - not as fun as the trip down!).

Pic of John outside the Bistro:

The next morning (Monday), we ate breakfast at the Dining Room (http://www.biltmore.com/visit/dining/dining_room/default.asp) at the Inn and headed off to tour the Biltmore Estate (http://www.biltmore.com/). They gave us headphones (I just attempted to type in 'earphones' here and John told me that 'headphones' is more correct), a walkman, and a map. The walkman was really some kind of computerized information source. You followed your map where each room was numbered. When you came to that room, you pressed the number of that room on your keypad and the walkman played the information for that particular room. Some rooms even had additional information codes you could punch in.

Pic of John outside the Biltmore Estate:

After touring the estate, we had a late lunch at the Arbor Grill (located at the Winery) and headed back to the Inn to get ready for dinner. Our reservation was for 8:00, so we had a little time for a nap. Dinner was really good - among the more interesting things we experienced was a cheese tasting.

Pic of us outside the Arbor Grill and inside:

Pic of us at the Dining Room - Look at our "Congrats" sorbet!

After packing up to leave the next morning (Tuesday), we ate breakfast at the Dining Room and left the Inn to tour the Biltmore Gardens (http://www.biltmore.com/visit/gardens/default.asp). We didn't get a chance to tour all of them, but we got a chance to see a few. Once we finished up at the Gardens, we took the shuttle to the Winery (http://www.biltmore.com/visit/winery/default.asp) where we had a 2:00 reservation to do the 'Behind the Scenes' tour. Since this is their busy season, it was really 'hopping' in there. Our guide explained to us the processes they use to make wine from where they bring in the grapes from the vineyard to fermenting and bottling. Very informative and educational. Afterwards, we got to go to a wine tasting. We made it home with a bottle of champagne (the same kind they had waiting for us when we arrived), merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and pinot grigio - all made from grapes from the Biltmore vineyards and processed through the winery on the estate.

Pics of us at the Biltmore Gardens:

Okay, so there were BEES ALL OVER the pink flowers right behind me!!!

Pic of us at the wine tasting:

After finishing up here, we left to go back to the Inn and grab our bags. We left late that afternoon and headed to Blue Ridge where our cabin named Sanctuary was reserved(http://www.mountainparadisecabins.com/sanc/index.asp). Apparently, this is the only part of the honeymoon I was aware of! We stocked up on groceries and just relaxed and vegetated for most of the week. The cabin had a home theatre, hot tub, hammock, and great views! I was able to read an entire book: 'Angels and Demons' by Dan Brown - all 580-ish pages! I can't remember the last time I was able to sit down and read a book.

Pics of Sanctuary (the actual front of the cabin was facing and right on the edge of a steep drop off, so I couldn't get any front pictures):

Thursday, we drove into town for a few odds and ends and did a little shopping in Blue Ridge ((http://www.blueridgega.com/). Or tried to do some shopping. We didn't get there until almost 5:00. In a town of only 1500 people, everything was already starting to shut down. We did get to go in a little bookstore where John bought a book he was interested in. I was more interested in the little dog that belonged to the owner. I played with her until we left!

Pic of John outside a Blue Ridge store getting attacked by a big bear!

(Sorry, Mom, I tried to be careful)

On Saturday, we went whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River (http://ocoee-outdoors.com/)where we rafted and 'surfed' rapids up to Class 4 (highest is Class 6 and illegal to do commercially in U.S. according our guide). By the way, this was the first time I signed my new name (when I basically told the rafting company they were responsible for nothing if I was injured, died, etc. - no big deal :) ). I was thrown out once, as well as John. His wedding band slipped off when he was trying to get back in. We thought it was gone for good but, LUCKILY, found it in the bottom of the raft later down the river.

Pics of us in action (in case you can't tell, John is the only one with a yellow helmet; I am sitting to his left in a red helmet):

On Saturday night, we grilled out and packed up all our stuff. Sunday morning, we got up early and loaded down my truck (and I mean LOADED) and headed back to Nashville. We got up early this morning and headed down to the DMV to get new driver's licenses - I wanted mine to read "MaryGrace K. Gholston" but the lady informed me I would have to go to court to change my first name. Apparently, it is not as easy to change your first name when you get married as your last name. So, now we're looking into that. I mean, I could really understand it if I wanted to change my name to something random like "Rachel", but I just want to run together my first two names! The lady refused to issue me my driver's license the way I wanted it, so I had to settle for "Mary K. Gholston" - WEIRD!!!