Nashville Lifestyles Magazine November 2020

What an odd year. As we enter this season of gratitude, I want to take a moment to reflect and give thanks. I realize this year our celebrations may feel and look a little different, but I think it is still very important to highlight gratitude. Personally, I want to thank you. Thank you for reading. Thank you for subscribing or buying our magazine on the newsstands. Even though this has been a taxing time, it’s never felt more important to be connected to our community. While we can’t be physically together, it is important that we continue to tell the stories of this great city. The year 2020 has been the toughest I have ever known. I remember the panic I felt when I heard the tornado touched down in…

I know I’m not the first to say it, but how is it already November? It seems like I was just laying out by our adult kiddie pool (my best quarantine purchase, thank you very much!) and now I’m writing about Thanksgiving and holiday entertaining. To that end, we were so excited for the holidays this year (hey, we all needed something to look forward to) that we created two gift guides to celebrate the season. The first, our Hostess/Host Gift Guide, appears in this issue. In it, you’ll see tons of goodies to take to family gatherings (ideally small and socially distanced) or to send the host of your holiday Zoom event (2020, am I right?). If you’re the host but aren’t feeling the holiday cooking spirit, let someone else handle it.…

As wife to her high school sweetheart, mother of their two boys, reigning Ms. Wheelchair Tennessee 2020, and founder of No Such Thing—a company with a mission to help others redefine purpose by removing defining labels—Megan DeJarnett is no stranger to success. Now, she is adding first-time children’s book author to her list of triumphs with No Such Thing As Normal. DeJarnett, who was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type II, found inspiration for the book in her personal life through the brotherly bond of her highly active six-year-old, Bronx, who was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, and her inquisitive four-year-old, Shai. In No Such Thing As Normal, DeJarnett tells the story of two brothers and their encounters with differently-abled people to showcase the beauty of everyone’s differences, along with the…

Grammy winner Chris Stapleton is often portrayed as a timeless figure in country music, and that’s mostly because of his work itself—it seems like it could exist in any era. But with his new album, Starting Over, the Kentucky native captures a pivot point in history. Although it was finished just before COVID-19 changed the world last spring, Starting Over finds Stapleton offering a roadmap for personal change in its aftermath. Fourteen new songs highlight a desire to step off the too-fast treadmill of modern life, and in the process continue his streak of authentic, against-the-grain country music. Out November 13 on Mercury Records Nashville, the project marks Stapleton’s fourth studio album, following the 2017 double set From a Room (Volumes 1 and 2) and his 2015 breakout, Traveller. Each of those…

Yes, Nashville, there is a Santa Claus! Despite a year of lifestyle changes and cancelled plans, Gaylord Opryland Resort will open a safe and celebratory immersive pop-up Christmas experience on Nov. 13. In the grand tradition of Opryland holiday-themed theatrics, “I Love Christmas Movies,” a multi-sensory exhibition in collaboration with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, will anchor Opryland’s 38th annual A Country Christmas lineup of holiday programming. The never-before-seen 17,000 square foot “I Love Christmas Movies” experience will feature beloved holiday flicks including The Polar Express, A Christmas Story, Elf, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and The Year Without Santa Claus. Guests will be able to walk through 13 iconic scenes from the films, interacting and capturing moments with the characters, sets and moments they know and love. Participants will feel as if…

Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey (Ecco) At age 19, Trethewey, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and two-time U.S. poet laureate, lost her mother after she was murdered by Trethewey’s stepfather. Memorial Drive explores the poet’s life growing up in Mississippi with a Black mother and a white father, the pain of losing her mother so tragically, and how those experiences and others have influenced her creative life. (Available now.) Sea Wife by Amity Gaige (Knopf) Juliet and Michael’s life could use a boost. Juliet, a poet, is struggling with the demands of marriage, motherhood, and finishing her dissertation. And Michael needs a change of scenery. He buys a sailboat and soon the couple and their two young children are off on an adventure. But things don’t go to plan. This literary thriller alternates between…