When Your Vision Turns Into a Reality...

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About two and a half months ago, when I created this whole "Native in Nashville" thing, I had NO idea what I was getting myself into.  I had no idea how hard bloggers work on getting these informative things done.  I had no idea how many hours I would spend researching places making sure I didn't dare to write incorrect information for the whole world to see.  I had no idea how many connections I would make through this or about any of the events I have had the opportunity to attend, solely because of my blog.  I especially had NO idea how many people I would reach by it.  It has been the most rewarding thing I have ever done for myself.  No, I don't get paid for this, and that's ok.  That is not at all what I mean by rewarding.  I have never been the type to really have any hobbies.  When people have asked me in the past, I almost feel stupid because nothing has ever really interested me enough to give a straight answer.  However, if you ask me now, I will definitely tell you blogging is it.  I love connecting with people and this gives me multiple ways to do that.  It gives me a platform to literally talk about anything I want to talk about and the beauty of it is that no one is being forced to read it.  Gotta love being an adult.  I genuinely want to thank everyone who, in fact, does read it.  It means the world to me when I start to tell someone something, and their first reply is "I read about that in your blog"  I literally LOVE you guys!! When I say it's rewarding for me, I mean that I take pride my posts.  I've never had a lot that I have been super proud of.  This is definitely it.

Speaking of proud, that brings me to my next subject.  Since the first day I created Native in Nashville as my blog name, after about six hours of trying to come up with a name that wasn't already taken, I had a vision for all of this.  When I created my logo I envisioned seeing it on tee-shirts, hats, etc.  I know that I personally have always loved anything that has "Nashville" written anywhere on it, so I thought to myself, this would look really cool on a shirt.  I never dreamed that when I thought those thoughts that I would actually have enough people that supported me to even think twice about it.  Fast forward about two months later and I started getting requests from people, a lot of people, saying "you should make shirts with your logo on them".  I had another friend, Erica, reach out around the same time period asking if I cared if she made me a shirt with my logo on it.  She made me one and I loved it.  I wore it to the Nashville Sounds game and posted about it.  When I posted a picture in it I had twelve people order a shirt from me, when they knew the shirts weren't even made yet.  I even had two people order from out of state.  I am humbled beyond belief.  That day when I went to the Sounds game, I thought to myself how amazing it would be if I was at a game one day in the future, or anywhere for that matter, and looked around to see even one other person wearing something I created on a shirt....five people... ten.  I would be over the moon ecstatic.  

Today I picked up thirty shirts with my logo on them.  It was a surreal feeling.  Ever since I was young I have always been a big fan of t-shirts.  Wearing them, buying them, or thinking of ideas for them.  I think my favorite part of high school was making shirts for pep rallies (those were the days).  Anyways, I never really had a reason to make them, and now I do.  I think they are the perfect way to show your love for Nashville and pride in living in such an amazing city.  Don't be surprised when you see me wearing one everyday.  Nothing wrong with a little shameless self promotion, plus they are SUPER comfy!  I'm so proud to call Nashville HOME.  I'm also proud of myself,  that is a rare thing.  I genuinely appreciate everyone who supports me and my blog!   

If you are interested in purchasing a "Native in Nashville" shirt you can click here http://www.nativeinnashville.com/represent-nashville/ or choose the "Represent Nashville" tab from the dropdown above.  I have put in a lot of time and dedication on these shirts to make sure to provide a good quality and comfortable shirt for everyone.  I have definitely experienced a lot of trial and error through the process, but I couldn't be happier with the result. If you have any questions, please email me at nativeinnashville@gmail.com.  As always, thank you for reading.

I'm NOT a Cook- Easy Fresh Blackberry Pie Recipe

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I can't even believe I'm sharing a recipe with y'all because as you can see from the title of this, I am NOT a cook.  I am one of those people who eats out(or gets cooked for) just about every single meal.  I don't really understand what went wrong in my gene pool, because every single woman in my entire family are all basically the best cooks ever.  I can't pick a favorite, so we will leave it at that.  My great grandma, Mema Knight, was the greatest cook on the planet but she is 90 now and her cooking days are unfortunately over.  I will never forget the days at her house in Kentucky going out to her huge garden and helping her pick bucket after bucket of fresh blackberries, and ever since then they have always been my favorite!  

Blackberry cobbler is probably my all time favorite (non-chocolate) dessert, so when I saw my friend, Dr. Aimee Lyst, shared a picture of her homemade fresh blackberry pie, I commented about how amazing it looked and that she should share her recipe.  Thankfully she did. 

Aimee's Pie

Aimee's Pie

I tend to ask people for recipes because I swear I have really good intentions on actually cooking, but it's rare that I ever do.  To my surprise, this recipe didn't call for many ingredients and looked fairly easy, so I figured I'd give it a shot. 

You will need: 

Aluminum Foil  

9-inch pie plate or Round pan

4 cups of fresh blackberries

1 1/4 cups of sugar  

1/4 cup of all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon of salt

Pastry for double crust pie

Combine sugar, flour and salt.   Add sugar mixture to blackberries, after washing them, and toss to coat fruit. (The mixture will stick to the blackberries then and turn to a glaze while baking).  Fill a pastry-lined 9-inch pie plate with berry mixture.  Adjust top crust.  Seal and flute edge.  Cover the edge of pie with foil.  Bake in a 375° oven for 20 minutes.  Remove foil; bake for 25 to 30 minutes more or until golden.  Cool on a wire rack.  Makes 8 servings. I have included a step by step visual guide as well below.

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I decided to do a little design with the top of my pie crust and added a heart in the middle, something I've seen on Pinterest over the years, I'm sure.  I know I won't be winning any pie decorating contests with my creation, but I was pretty proud of the way it turned out.  Even more importantly, my sweetie pie was impressed.  If you are looking for an easy and delicious dessert to make, I highly recommend this one.  I felt so much more accomplished than when I make brownies from a box or use pre-made dough to make cookies.  Move over Martha Stewart ;). Thanks so much to Aimee for sharing this simple recipe! 

Thank you all, as always, for reading! XOXO- Amber