I am moving to Nashville

Just kidding. But I do love it there. We got to mingle with the "laid back country folk" (who can name the movie?) when Faye's aunt and uncle, who live in a suburb of Nashville, showed us around town.

We went to the best little place for dinner in Franklin, TN, just south of Nashville, called Puckett's. This must be the best kept secret from tourists such as myself. Several great country singers are regulars here. Jason Aldean was just there recently as was Gary Allen. Apparently no one bothers them when they come in to eat....well, I thought to myself, its a good thing they weren't there the same night I was ;)

I had to laugh at the historic, vintage phone in the bathroom; right next to the futurist looking flat screen on the wall.

The night we were there, three great singer-songwriters, John Ford Coley, Georgia Middleman, and Byron Hill were performing their hits that they wrote for country stars such as Alabama, Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Joe Nichols and George Strait, respectively. I think I found a new "happy place."

Faye and John Ford Coley...he wrote that song from the 80's "I'd Really Love To See You Tonight," among many others. Faye had that song stuck in her head all weekend.

We also stopped in to Tootsie's honky tonk on Broadway downtown Nashville with some great photographer friends and had some fun. It was a Monday afternoon, so not really too much going on. But we can pretty much have fun wherever we go.

Thank you to Matt Kane for this fun pic. Don't we look tough?

Oh, and we also attended the PPA annual national convention, Imaging USA ;) and saw some great photographers speak. haha

**edited to add:

I didn't have time to write this before, but I wanted to mention the biggest concept that I brought home with me and what really struck me among all the different speakers I heard. Basically what it comes down to is this, and you non-photographers may not care about this, but: You can have people/other photographers tell you how to shoot, how to run your business, how to treat and interact with clients, etc. but what it comes down to is that you have to do what works for you. Every photographer I heard speak are extremely successful internationally known wedding photographers who teach workshops and shoot celebrity weddings all over the world. But they all are drastically different in the way they shoot. Some say get it right the first time so you don't have to do much photoshopping afterwards, others say shoot to capture the emotion in the moment and worry about exposure later. Some use only available/natural light, others always use some form of lighting, either flash on-camera or off-camera. It was super interesting to hear their different points of view and I realized I am sitting comfortably somewhere in the middle of all of their philosophies. Do what works for you.