"nashville to kentucky... my heart, it draws the line."

when two of your favorite artists play within a 3 hour radius of your town, you go.

one of the reasons i love lindsay so much is that she, too, was a music loving, band tee wearing, heartbroken teenager. we grew up loving the same music, and so when i told her andrew mcmahon was playing, she was in.

we left nashville around 10am on saturday morning and headed up the bourbon trail to louisville. we lost an hour due to the time change to we got there around 2pm and went to bardstown road for lunch.   a friend had suggested el camino, so we gave it a shot.  talk about yummy, swanky, mexican food!

i had the "mexican firing squad," to start which was heavenly and included omleca altos plata, lime, grenadine, and bitters. it was basically a pomegranate margarita and i loved it. for lunch i had a barbacoa taco and a kale & black bean taco. both were delicious!

after lunch, we checked into the marriott downtown and changed before the bar-hopping began. but not before linds could give me the most awesome birthday presents ever. i got an eric church album and the cutest coasters ever from anthropologie! and not just any eric church album... a LIVE FROM CHATTANOOGA eric church album. it's awesome. so are the coasters. so is lindsay.

our first stop on the afternoon bar crawl was bluegrass brewing company. linds had an ipa and i had a raspberry meade which was only served in a 6 oz. glass. it was weird and very different and very good.

after one beer, we walked down to sidecar where i decided it was a good idea to start drinking bourbon at 4pm. i had a "gold rush" which included maker's mark, honey, and fresh lemon juice.

our last pre-concert stop was a lyft ride away to a place called garage bar, which has made its way onto my "top 10 favorite bars of all time" list. 

{stolen from their website}

i had one of the most delicious drinks i've ever tasted. it was called honey lavender lemonade and it was vodka, lemon, honey, lavender, and club soda. i am still currently trying to figure out how to recreate it. i could have hung out at this bar all night!

after a 10 minute hair curling session at the hotel, we walked over the mercury ballroom for the concert! it was an intimate venue and there were probably only about 400 people there - just the way i   like it. andrew was up first and was amazing as usual. his music has been making my heart beat fast for over 10 years now and he never fails to move me. 

and next up was matt nathanson. Y'ALL. i had no idea how sexy that man is. he is also hilarious which only increases his attractiveness level. he is incredibly talented and i can't wait to see him play again. he sang all of my favorite songs of his, and also sang whitney houston's "dance with somebody" and "you're the one that i want," from grease. it was awesome. 

but the highlight of my evening was hands down seeing him and andrew cover tom petty's "american girl." do you ever have those moments where you just feel like all is right in your world and there isn't a thing that could ever bring you down? this was one of those moments for me. 

after an eventful evening at the hotel bar making friends with a 60 year old woman named ruby, we called it a night. we slept in on sunday and sadly had to make our way back to nashville to head into work. my first trip to kentucky was a success and ever since we left, we've been talking about going back. you sure are cool, louisville!