The Parthenon. And Halloween.

Let's just say, hypothetically speaking, that you were building a full-size replica of the Parthenon and you could choose to put it anywhere in the world. Where would you put it?

Nashville?

Yes, I thought it was unlikely, too. But it's true. Nashville, TN boasts a complete replica of the Parthenon. Tim and I decided to check it out last Friday for date night.

First, we went to Fido's, a local coffee shop, to get some hot chocolate and apple cider.  It was the perfect fall weather--crisp enough for some warming beverages, but not too cold.

It had a really cool vibe--we've really enjoyed going to all the local places!  So much character.

 And here it is, folks.  The Parthenon.

Look at him!  He's so cute!

There was even someone getting married at the Parthenon--I wish I would have known about that, I totally would've done that too. So klassy.  (just kidding, obv.)

I bet this was a problem they had at the original Parthenon too.

And then we found this random swing, in a random spot, that wasn't even really facing the Parthenon.  Thank you, Tennessee Parks & Rec.

And here, for your viewing pleasure, is a picture of a pretty church downtown.  There are like ten billion of these around here.  

And then, this one time, we carved pumpkins with our new friends.  We take our pumpkin carving very seriously.  Check out Ali with that huge knife and Natalie with her POWER DRILL.

But look how good Natalie's turned out!

Here's what we did for our pumpkin--the Vanderbilt logo.  Well, I guess when I say "we did" what I really mean is, "what Dani did while Tim watched and offered words of encouragement."  But boy, does he give great moral support.  

Plus, the control-freak/artist in me really didn't mind.  There was a lot of fine detail work to do.

All of our pun-kins.

Closeup of our masterpiece. None of us had thought about bringing candles to light up our pumpkins with, so we did the Gen Y thing and used our cell phones.  Tim and I even downloaded a flashlight app specially for the occasion.

On Tuesday, I got a call from Tim informing me that our pumpkin had molded to death.

Seriously?? We just carved that thing YESTERDAY!!  I think it has something to do with the humidity...and we left it inside...

We usually don't have to worry about it being too warm around Halloween.  Heck, we're used to having SNOW on Halloween.  Either way, we had to say goodbye to our pumpkin prematurely.

Part of him lives on within us. Literally. Because I roasted the pumpkin seeds and ate them. (I scooped them out before he was all moldy, obvs.)