Tennessee

I'm braving myself to wright this blog, as I can feel the holiday blues creeping across my body and the need to quickly book another flight. One month ago, myself and my partner decided to voyage across the Atlantic to the country of dreams, America! We went to Tennessee for a number of reasons, the first and most important, my partners parents live over there. The second, we love country music from Shaina Twain to Toby Keith so it only seemed right.

We had been waiting for the moment to arrive since Christmas and the days seemed to drag, apart from feeling extremely nervous to meet my partners parents for the first time, I also felt extremely privileged that they welcomed me with open arms for two whole weeks!

                    Our first viewing of the
                     magical wonders of Tennessee

9 long, long hours of sitting next to my 6 foot giant of a boyfriend, I couldn't wait to see what the country  had in store for us! As you all know, you can pack as many moisturisers, dry shampoos and a stash of makeup, but we still all end up looking like Edward Sissorhands long lost sister. Not the first impression I wanted to give.

Obviously the first stop, Ice cream!

 

The adventures that were in store for us were amazing, we ventured to the aquarium which was downtown and oh yes, it was amazing. From the jellyfish to the sharks we got to touch them all (fighting our way through the queue of children didn't stop us!). We also visited as many tourist sights as possible from Dolly Parton's theme park and water world 'Dollywood' to the magical views of 'Rock city'. Take a peek....

This here, is the only photo I have of 'Dollywood' which I  regret, yet we stayed for 2 days in the Smokey mountains,  and stayed in a hotel full of cockroaches (okay there was one, it however crawled across me and I accidently deleted the photos for that day, this made a awkward night when the only way I would sleep was with my legs and arms tossed across my boyfriends body as a plea for the cockroaches to leave me be)

 The amazing butterfly room in the aquarium, they were so tame, they just rested onto your body, this didn't work out to well for my partner's sister  as she was frightened to death!

 

'Lovers leap' and the Incline, if you are ever in Tennessee I recommended this immensely , we had such good weather for July around 40-50 degrees, the locals kept apologising yet being from a country which is like the Antarctica all year round, we loved it!

 

Personally my favourite days, was when we went to Nashville. The home of country. We went to the Grand Opry and it was amazing! People from Johnny Cash and June Carter to Carrie Underwood had played on stage, and little old us had backstage tickets and a tour! From the bars of Nashville where upcoming country stars play from dawn to dusk to the underwater restaurant, everyone around looked happy and you could see the excitement on everyone's face. Also we visted, Ruby Falls, the underwater water fall, was breath-taking. The tour guide couldn't seem to understand how we could possibly be from England, he was adamant that we were from Australia and after the tour even whispered 'are you sure you're English?'  

 

 This holiday was the most amazing place I personally have ever been. A number of people have commented on 'why Tennessee?' with almost a disapproving tone. Yet, Tennessee is beautiful, you look around and there our mountains for miles around. The lifestyle is so relaxed, it is almost unreal, nobody seems in a real rush for anything, it's all about making the most of the life they have been given, and let's face it with 40 degree heat, horses and a creek down the road who wouldn't be happy!

Love and Sparkles Gemma xoxox

 

Who the hell are you?

It will please some of you to know that I almost titled this blog post 'Just say my name', I thought about this long and hard until I realised that this sounds like a bad 1980s porn movie and decided against it. So I decided with 'who the hell are you?' as most of you will be wondering what possibly can a farm girl living in the sticks of England could possibly tell you what you didn't already know?

Well, in reality, nothing ground breaking. This will be a simple lifestyle blog. Mostly to get me out of the house and helping me rise out of bed before late afternoon (I'm not making any promises though). So, I'm  going to share some simple quick facts about myself, and what makes me think I should tell you about my more than average life,

• I Travel, a lot. At the tender age of 20, I seem to be making myself travel around the world and in the space of a year have been on 4 holidays. I can tell you where to avoid, where to go, and show the numerous amount of holiday snaps I can take.  
• I'm currently attending university at my local town. As I go along this three year  stretch I can enlighten you on the Do's and Don'ts (and let me tell you there are many humiliating, embarrassing and looking back slightly frustrating  story's.)
• Fashion, fashion and more fashion, I shop until I drop weather this is makeup, clothes, handbags, sunglasses or the worst hair accessories you will ever see I will wear them. Loud and proud sisters.
• The dating game. Before I met my love, let me tell you there were some frogs I had to kiss. From someone leaving me half way through a date because 'there dad called' and seeing my 'dream man' hand in hand with another lady. Boy oh boy I have been there.

So there's what you can expect some brutally honest advice, thrown in with some of my outfits of the day.

I hope you enjoy.
Love and sparkles, Gemma xox