becky and rachel's grand adventure part I

Hey Bloggers, what's going on? Remember when I revealed only half my birthday present? I'm sure the curiosity has been eating you alive, so today I'm going to relieve you of your torment. (And if you don't remember what I'm talking about, and have since forgotten I even had a birthday, that's ok. I'll fill you in anyway.)

Several months ago my mom was at the Beth Moore simulcast when Lifeway advertised an upcoming conference specifically for ministers' wives. Actually attending said conference became more of a real possibility when I read it was going to be in Nashville. I added a ticket to my Christmas list and sure enough, come December Danny's parents purchased a ticket for me. I called Becky B, our senior pastor's wife to see if she'd want to join me for the trip. I was a little nervous dialing her number. I've known and loved Becky since we moved here, but I don't know her on a take-a-trip-together level. As soon as the invitation was out of my mouth she replied immediately with a resounding "yes!"

Danny having witnessed this chain of events said he would take care of the details of booking our hotel room.

Did he ever.

On my birthday I unwrapped a notebook. Inside was a map of Nashville, directions to our hotel...

and...

a pamphlet to the Relache Day Spa & Salon at the world famous Opryland Hotel. Danny and Bill (Becky B's husband) had made us appointments prior to the conference for a full service manicure & pedicure. I know.

Not only were we going to join hundreds of other ministry wives from around the country for a weekend in the Word, we were going to be sporting the best looking nails there!

The night before we left I couldn't sleep. Early Friday morning I popped out of bed to make last minute preparations. I skipped around our room exclaiming, "I can't believe this is happening to me! I'm so happy to be me! If I weren't me, I'd be so jealous of me right now!!"

Somewhere there's a third grader missing her attitude. Or maybe a first grader?

We loaded up the car and plugged in our third passenger.


This is Garmin, our GPS on loan. We called her Carmen. Carmen the Garmin is definitely someone you want around when you're navigating a new city. She's a back seat driver who actually knows what she's talking about. There were times we doubted her. There were moments we completely disobeyed her, forcing her to recalculate. But she never held a grudge. Her calm steady voice guided us to each and every destination even if we had to take the scenic route. Here's to you Carmen.

Anyways.

We pulled up to the Opryland Hotel a little late for our appointment, so we had to rush through the entrance and on up to the spa. As we hustled through the lobby, I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head! The lobby is an expansive atrium filled with plants. Everywhere you looked there were tropical flowers. Instead of elevator music, we climbed the stairs to the sound of rushing water cascading down a waterfall.

I wanted to pull out my camera and take a picture of everything I saw, but we had some pampering to do. The photos had to wait because there were two nail specialists waiting on us.

We entered through double glass doors into the Relache and it was just as I imagined a famous salon to be. It looked like all those bathrooms on Divine Design that Candace Olsen had decorated. The hostess ushered us into the pedicure room, where a wall of nail color awaited. I'm the kind of girl who's conflicted over the chip selection at Subway, so I almost hyperventilated from the copious assortment of colors. I took a few deep breaths. The inhalation of lotion, hair color and moisturizer brought instant clarity and I went for the brightest, most obnoxious pink I could find.

Soon after I made my choice I met Jana. She must be a real live angel, because the next hour and a half was pure heaven. (Is it just me, or is my blog starting to sound like a cheesy pick up line?)

Jana was a pro. I could have fallen asleep but I didn't want to miss a second of it all. So I talked to Jana. She has a daughter, Bella, who is four years old. Her husband is a sound engineer who has worked with Keith Urban. How cool is that?

It was all over far too soon. I made sure to get a pic of the final product. One of these pastor's wives is wearing "Party in My Cabana" nail polish. She shall remain nameless. And in case the elders catch wind, you didn't hear it here!! Ok, forget what I said. Our nail colors were "Holy Shade of Servant Woman" and "Submissive".



I heart toe separators. Even if they do make your feet look like Shrek's.

After the treatments we went down the hall to the relaxation room. We had some strawberries and tried not to look directly at the people dressed only in robes. After some deliberation we decided our church needed its own relaxation room and a full time Minister of Nails. For the sake of the kingdom of course.

Our nails needed time to cure, so we meandered through the hotel in our flip flops. Along the way I snapped some shots of my favorite flowers.





Here we are just before we left. We had a conference to get to after all.


I'm working on my recap of the conference. Let me just say I was borderline victimized by another pastor's wife...stay tuned for Part II of our Grand Adventure!