First night in Nashville!

 I made it y'all. So far, so good.

I think there were even sadness lulls on the plane. There are just little things that remind you you're alone. I'm trying to get into the mindset of this is my life and I 'chose' it but that doesn't feel right. I know I don't necessarily 'want' to be married, per se because I don't think men have evolved, but I'm still working on my mindset and approach.

But each day I do feel more like the new me that I'm trying to develop. Stay tuned.

Anyway, I had a nice bowel evacuation to start the morning off. I was able to use the nice water pressure in the kitchen to wash out my sore tooth and gum. 

Some observations and things that have gone well and could have been better:

- grr, the heat yesterday totally overrode the packing I did when the weather was cooler; ended up coming without my jacket and unpacked my sweats; as my brain likes to fool me.. I couldn't possible imagine being cool again while sweltering in 80 degree heat yesterday. 

- but as soon as I got to Nashville, it was rainy and my room was cool; all I wanted was to get in my cozy sweats! just as I thought I would. weather is confusing. I also just hate packing and lugging a bunch of stuff; grrr, feelings; but luckily, money comes to save the day; ordered some sweats online at amazon; they offered free amazon prime for 30 days so I'm getting one piece today and the other tomorrow; after the flub with unpacking, i even bought 2 sizes of bottoms because i suddenly couldn't remember or decide if I was a small or medium on the bottoms. in the daylight, i'm clearly a medium, but I was so cold last night, i wanted everything to fit as cozily as possible. 

- glad I already had it in my mind to take Uber to get to lodging; didn't have to even toggle with trying to take public transit. $50, meh

I think stumbling upon that article about spending more, helped..a lot! I guess it's like when you're an active Christian - you have to go church and be around church people to remember all the things. Honestly, I need someone like that in my my life just to remind me of my priorities and what I value; I definitely struggle thinking through things especially when there are strong acute emotions.

- as for cooking, I was glad I waited until I got here to check out the digs before buying a meal kit; ick, I was not motivated to cook anything. Luckily I had already picked out meals I wanted from hello fresh and blue apron. So I didn't have to spend additional time deciding. But I did look again just to make sure, just didn't have to spend as much time ruminating. I thought I could get the Hello Fresh ready made meals as part of the package, but they were only able to be added additional. There was a brief moment of stress with Hello Fresh because it started to feel like I wouldn't be able to opt out of the meals once I reactivated the plan to figure out if I could add the ready made meals. Phew, luckily I could! 

I did kind of have my heart set on cooking and having a cozy week in, next week, but maybe I'll find some stuff at the grocery store that's more oven ready. 

Packing for a temperature range between lows in the 30s and highs in the 80s is tough. In the future, I think I will just have to get on board with taking a checked on bag. Hopefully with an airline card, this will be free. Yeah, I think anything over 3 to 4 days, max 5 if the weather is consistent, will need a checked bag.

And I'll pack more of my comfort items. Like my 1 pot; and some paperware. Oh well. I wanted this to be a quick (long) weekend getaway, so that was accomplished. 

But yeah, having an array of snacks to get me through the first day is a great idea. Good options - cut fruit, nuts, oatmeal, and potato chips. And always spring for the $3 airport ginger ale especially after a turbulent flight.

- I opted for Chik fil A lemonade and sprite at the last minute after being put off by the 3-4 dollar bottled soda. And then realized how difficult it was to carry a cup of soda vs a bottle I could toss in my bag. I could have poured it in my water bottle but I really wanted the water in case the water at the place was gross for some reason. And I just wanted a water bottle. In the end I made it to the door of my apartment and the flimsy cup of lemonade and sprite promptly spilled all over the hallway. Ugh. 

As far as the place, I'm excited to get on the balcony and sit out at some point. I wasn't sure of the view, but I think it's just fine. Side note, there's a fifth third bank across the street. There's a bonus I've been wanting to get with them, but I didn't bring my SS card. Darn! So funny because I saw it on the map, but didn't realize it was this close. 

It was cool when we were driving up to recognize some of the places I saw on the map. I think that helped with the excitement.

One little minor snafoo. I had a work email that had come in at 3:41p. I thought about turning on my notifications when I turned off my laptop, but though...meh, I don't want a get a bunch of nonsense notifications from all my personal calendar reminders. But luckily, I checked my email when I landed in Atlanta, it was around 6p, and was able to respond. Phew!

I keep forgetting priorities..err..work.

So now, notifications are on. I probably need to figure out how not to get them before 7a. 

Mmm....randomly found some tinned body cream at dollar store, in travel size. Just used it on my hands, and it smells so nice. Better than what was provided. But glad the apartment provided some lotion because was worried about that for a sec.

Thought I'd do a mini review on first impressions, now that I've stayed in 3 separate short term rentals.

Viktoria - downtown Seattle- Zeus Living - most expensive, also the nicest. Great rooftop view and lounge space; the space was nice, and smelled neutral which was awesome; Had cable and nice dishes; didn't cook and mostly used the paper plates I brought; also nice fluffy towels; and had initially provided full size bottles of soaps and shampoos and laundry pods but stopped doing most of that; downside - that street in downtown seattle is kind of sketch but in a downtown way, not in a poor people way

Kasa - downtown Seattle - forgot about this one - cruddy and smelly, but has a full kitchen; would likely not stay there again unless desperate and it was cheap; but it's strangely not cheap; I booked this as part of a bundle on Expedia. I think it's about the same price as Sonder

The Loop -  Hello Landing - loved being near Greenlake, it was precisely what I wanted; I think all the cookware seemed pretty new; and there was good variety including storage containers. I cooked at least 6 meals and it was a good experience having everything I needed; it was cheapest because I got a bit of a deal; but the view was of a vent, and being that close to city was noisy; also it was a studio with only an armchair, not a couch, no cable, and the washer had a funky smell because you couldn't open the soap drawer all the way

Village 21 by Sonder - only stayed for 2 weeks so the price was in the middle if I remember correctly for the month; definitely feels more aged than the other two places. The carpet is kind of cruddy and just general signs that other people have lived here; the noise is heard in the hallway, every time someone enters their room; and the street noise is quite audible, might need double or triple paned windows. Kitchen tools did not inspire cooking but did come with full stove and fridge and dishwasher; doubt I would want to stay here for a month, and unlikely I'd come back here. 

Today, I am going to have a lie-in, and then get some Tennessee meat!