Oh Happy Day

I titled this post that because I watched sister act 2 and that song is stuck in my head....

I go through these phases where I have all the intentions in the world to come to this little corner of the internet and write my little heart out, but life has other ideas. Summer is approaching  fast and it just seems like there is always something going on. Visitors coming and going, vacations and other plans, but after next week I think we are going to see a little break in our busy schedules. I am excited to stay home and cook meals on the regular again, and excited to explore more of our new area! Taylor's brothers and sister in law were in town this past weekend, along with our nephew, Caedmon. They were mostly excited to just hang out and visit, along with some BBQ tasting. I'm always down for some wine and a catch-up fest, and of course anything that involves food, well sign me up!

At Central BBQ

I had to work part of the weekend, so Taylor took his family to the usual tourist spots. Beale Street and rendezvous in downtown Memphis, and they took the old trolley system around downtown as well. There is like a little splash pad area downtown where fountains shoot water up into the air. Caedmon wasn't a huge fan. We took them to Memphis BBQ company because so far that has been our favorite, and we also tried a new place that they were told to check out, Central BBQ. The sauce had a good smoky flavor, and the sweet tea had just the right amount of sugar. The next week we are headed to Texas for a little vacation time and visit some of my family! I am so excited! Here are the rest of our pictures from the weekend, I have got to go pack! Also, "The craft" is on TV and for some reason I love this creepy movie!

Baby Nephews FaceTiming.

Boys getting ready for some BBQ!

Brandon on Beale Street.

Brother Bonding time.

Oh, I love them!

Car Selfies

The dogs lounging

The in-laws enjoying some Beale Street

 

BBQ FESTIVAL

So tomorrow starts a new weekend, and I meant to post what we did last weekend before the next creeped up on me, but my body had other plans. Turns out, I'm old and when you're old, you end up at the urgent care down the street with a strained muscle not only in your back, but your ankle too. So between the muscle relaxers and the sleep that accompanies them, looking at a computer wasn't happening!

SO anyways, since Taylor and I are new to Memphis, we have to check out every festival, no matter how big or small. Last weekend just happened to be the world championship BBQ festival. It is quite a big deal and people fly in from all over the world to enter. Anyone can go to the festival but you must know somebody to actually get into a tent.

Just to give you an idea of how big this festival is! {{VIA}}

A girl I work with invited Taylor and I to come check it out, her husband had entered the contest, so they had tent. There is a mix of people involved in the BBQ fest. Some big corporate offices will buy a spot and then throw together and two story tent for the employees to come party at. They are more there for the party it seems, as opposed to the cooking contest. Then there are tents (like ours) that consists of a small group of cooker, who take it very, very serious.

There is so much that goes in to into prepping and preparing. There are several different categories from sauces to the "Anything But Pork" to the over all pork BBQ.  It was really interesting to see it all.

Buuuuut there is one thing about BBQ fest you should know. It is not like other cook off contest, you know the kind where you walk from tent to tent tasting food, you're not actually eating BBQ. Is this not absurd? Had I known this in advance, I might not of drove 30 minutes downtown for no food. I mean they have a food area set up that resembles that of going to the fair (cheese fries, lemonades, ears of corn), but it was just not what I expected. Either way we did enjoy ourselves and can now say we have been.

BBQ Selfie! I'm not sure why my husband can barely take a normal picture...

Sunday Social : Summer time.

1.)) What was your best summer memory as a kid?
We used to vacation at the Jersey Shore (before the guidos had a TV show), while I hated the long drive there, that 2 weeks was awesome! I would get up early and walk the beach with my aunt, collecting as many unbroken shells that my little pail could handle. Spend all day at the beach and running wild down the boardwalk for ice cream or cheese fries. In the evenings we would head over to the bay and throw out our crab pots. It was always my favorite part of the day.

2.)) What is your favorite summer drink?
Typically, I just enjoy an ice cold beer in the summer, but recently I have been LOVING margaritas. On the rocks, with a splash of O.J. please.

3.)) What is your favorite summer TV show?
I can not tell a lie, I am so flipping excited for RHONJ (refer to the "about me blurb" it explains my love of trashy TV) returning in July, even if most of them are not returning this season, my favorite train wrecks are!! Also, I'm pretty pumped about Pretty Little Liars coming back in June!

4.))What is the best summer outdoor activity?
I really enjoy fishing, and vow to do more of it this summer.

5.)) What are your summer vacation essentials?
If you would like to read right {here} you will know my number one is sunscreen. My number 2 is a book, a really good book. Which reminds me, I need a new one. Any suggestions? Please?

Sunday Social

Tanning is not for everybody.

I have always been a bit envious of women who can soak up the sun, turning their skin into a beautiful glow of bronze. I have had pretty much two shades of color my whole life, albino pale porcelain (Sherman Williams has this exact shade... sike!) and lobster red. I am just a fair skinned type a gal, to give you an idea, I was born with fiery red hair. My sister was born with coal black hair and can just draw a picture of the sun and become tan. Life is so unfair sometimes.

Reason 48579 I carry sunscreen at all times. Do you like my necklace?

I know there are other alternatives, like working my way up in a tanning bed  (I know it's an unsafe alternative, but it is an alternative). I tried this my junior year of high school, before my spring break trip to Hawaii.  I didn't want to burn on vacay and be miserable (see above picture ^), so I tried it out. I was so excited my mother had finally agreed to allow me in a tanning bed to begin with (read: she knew I wasn't cut out for the tanning bed life), and now I would finally understand what my friends were all talking about. My friends always went on and on about how relaxing it was to listen to music and lay in a warm bed. Well this is what I learned in my short lived tanning bed experience.
 1.) When you're as fair skinned as I am, you can't really lay in a tanning bed for all that long, therefor getting naked for 5 minutes was neither relaxing, nor worth my time.
2.) Tanning beds make me itch. Like want to rip your skin off itch. More so in the area where my 2 ladies are up front, and well that is just an awkward day at school. It just makes everyone uncomfortable.

So what's next in operation "get tan"? Well a spray tan of course!! So you of course grab your girlfriend that is addicted to spray tans and has one done at least twice a week, and pop your spray tan cherry! So off we went, I took said friend into the booth with me while some poor girl sprayed my nakey body down. Like I said, this was my first time, so I had no idea it took a while for the color to set in. My dear friend talked the poor spray tan lady in to giving me not one, but two, extra coats. We left the tanning salon and drove across town 20 minutes to my BFF's apartment to start our pre-drinking shenanigans. As I strutted my stuff in, to start the night, I could immediately tell from the looks on their faces, I was more like an oompa loompa than a sun-kissed beauty. I spent 20 minutes scrubbing my skin raw in my BFF's shower.  After several drinks I let them talk me into leaving the house, and I vowed to , right then and there, love my pale skin, forever and ever, Amen!


this was after I scrubbed down for 20 minutes!

A piece of home.

The husband and I didn't do anything too exciting this weekend; we were so excited not to have plans that we just hung out around the house. We went out to dinner for sushi Friday night, but I still feel awkward most of the time taking pictures of my food out in public. Mainly because my husband likes to yell "what are you doing?" to draw even more attention to our table. He thinks he's funny. Our end chairs to our dining room table finally came in, so while I was at work Sunday (alllll mothertruckin day), Taylor put those babies together for me! So, I actually found my camera and decided to use it today to take pictures of our new kitchen dinette set. Then I went to load them on my computer aaaand they wouldn't upload. Cool. My computer won't recognize my SD card. Because my camera is so old, I have no idea where in the haaaail the cords are, sooo here are some crappy iphone photos (my favorite kind!) of our kitchen table and our coffee bar!

You can also see our travel wall behind the table here.

Here is a closer look, we also found a bench that matches the table perfectly!

I knew when we received our keurig at Christmas I wanted to have a coffee bar in our new home. Taylor and I looked everywhere for some type of furniture that we could use as coffee bar on top, but use as a liquor/wine bar underneath. We never did find something that invoked the vision we had in mind. But when I found this piece at Hobby Lobby I knew I wanted it. So while were still looking for a wine bar, my coffee bar is coming along quite nicely!


I still need to decorate the shelf, but for now this look will do!
The baskets are full of my loose leaf and bagged tea!



My husband is OBESESSED with ordering K-Cups off amazon!

Ugh, I need a new camera! Like yesterday....

Sunday Social

1.)) What was your favorite TGIF show?
Oh man that is a tough question. This was always my favorite night of the week because my sister and I were allowed to have pizza rolls for dinner AND we got to eat that dinner while watching television, it was a glorious night. I think I always was most excited to watch the Dinosaurs though!

2.)) What was your favorite Saturday morning TV show?
hmm it was a toss up between "Clarissa explains it all" or "Pete and Pete". Oh, or the Secret world of Alex Mack. Were those Saturday morning lineups??

3.)) Mickey Mouse club or Kids incorporated?
What is the latter to this question? MMC for the win!!

4.)) Zack Morris or AC slater?
 Hello any stud that can rock a 4 foot long cell phone had my heart!

5.)) Which show would you like see remade?
If I had to choose a remake... it would be "Are you afraid of the dark", because remakes typically suck. Although this might have already happened, I think it goes by the name American Horror Story, and isn't really suitable for kids..

If it was a reunion show... I would looooove to see a full house reunion.

Five On Friday

Hello Friday! I have been looking forward to you, mainly because I have a hot date with my husband who has been on duty. And by hot date, I mean a nap after work and then sushi for dinner. So lets go ahead and start this!

{{ONE}}

I love Game of Thrones, it is also the only show Taylor and I agree on.

{{TWO}}

This sunscreen, it smells amazing. Buy it.

 

{{THREE}}

This salsa recipe is so good, I'm so glad my sister in law introduced it to me. I could eat it all summer long

{{FOUR}}

So excited I get to see both these studs this month!

{{FIVE}}

I forgot this book came out, I will be reading it all weekend long.

Password Problems.

Once upon a time, I used the same password for everything. Being that I am 29 now (as of yesterday), my memory isn't what it used to be. Somehow in the last year, I have started changing my passwords for various reasons to different accounts, the problem with this... I can't ever remember what I changed it to. Was there a capitol letter in this one, did I have to have a number for this one, was it one of my passwords or one of my husbands, why is this crap so hard?

I can not express to you how many times I have been locked out of accounts and had to call customer service to be allowed access again, to which I have to select, yet again, a new password. Thankfully in the last two weeks I have started either A.) writing them down. or B.) taking screen shots. I realize this may not be a new concept to most, but bare with me folks, I'm almost 30! Ahh there it is, I said it. Anyways, I was thinking my next step may involve tattooing my passwords somewhere, and then I reminded myself that me and needles to not go well together, so that is gonna be a big haaaaaail NO! Any tips for keeping track of all of these different passwords? Advice is welcome!

In the mean time, my planner and I just became a little closer!

Cinco De Mayo!

Seeing that my birthday falls the day after Cinco De Mayo, I've never been a huge participant in the holiday. Taylor was supposed to be underway this week with his boat, but to my delight, they won't be! It was so beautiful out and when I found out Taylor was coming home, I immediately text my BFF and asked her for one of her favorite grill recipes that didn't include steak. Don't get me wrong, I love Steak and plan on eating it for my birthday this evening, which is why I asked for a non steak meal. As usual, sister did not disappoint on the recipe! When Taylor came home from work we sat outside on the deck enjoying a few margaritas before starting up the grill. We are really loving having a fenced in backyard and huge deck!!

I haven't killed all my flowers... yet!

Hope you had a great 5th of May, now I'm off to celebrate what should be a national holiday, my birthday!

Surprises and Brewfest!

Soooo... after our night at the Casino the girls decided to go out and get massages the next day. Breanna was the first one awake so she called and made appointments (I still don't know the area any better than she would). When we arrived to the spa, it wasn't exactly what we had in mind, the place kind of looked like a pop up massage parlor. There were 3 people working and as we were filling out our "first timer" paper work we were all cutting each other uncomfortable looks from the corners of our eyes. Since there were 3 of us, and 3 of them, they put a sign on the outside stating that they were closed, that was another thing that made me a little uncomfortable (not to mention the 3 masseuse did not look like your typical "give a good rub down" type). We all headed back to our respected massage rooms and prepared for the worse. One hour later we reconvened in the lobby, and all agreed they were the BEST massages any of us have ever received (and I was thrilled to receive coupons for my next trip in the mail the other day). After our awesome massages, we decided to continue our girls day with lunch and shopping. We had been to store after store, when the girls were ready to head the next store I had to decline, because I knew my husband was not only coming home, but picking up our friend Ashley from the airport. Ashley and I had decided to surprise the other girls and not tell them she was flying in from Texas. So as we prepped for dinner, I awkwardly waited for them to arrive. When I opened the door, Amanda heard Ashley's voice and practically ran Breanna over to get to her, unfortunately Breanna was the only one surprised because Amanda said she had a feeling she was coming. Either way, my heart couldn't be happier to have all 3 of these lovely ladies under one roof.

Love Love Love them!

The next day was the Brewfest that essentially brought all of my lovely friends in town. We woke up and headed downtown for lunch and pre-gaming. We stopped in at a creole kitchen for some beers and crawfish. After walking around Beale street we headed on over to Autozone park for Brewfest. There were over 200 different samples of beer to be tried and a couple different bands to listen to. I have learned that  beer in abundance brings all walks of life to one area.

making pretzel necklaces

Trolley Fun!

They were REALLY enjoying themselves.



Husband = Out of control.

I love them!

The morning after Brewfest, my friends slowly started their journeys home, Breanna and her husband first, followed by Ashley, and on Monday Amanda and her boyfriend. I was really sad to see all of their faces go, but I am so happy to have had the chance to host all of them here in our new home!

Hey Girl

The last of my visitors left Monday, and I'm still recovering. My liver is still mad at me, my heart is still sad, my cheeks still hurt from laughing, and I have some incredible memories from this past weekend. I'm not sure why I decided to work the same day as my visitors arrival, because of course I didn't sleep well the night before. And procrastinated things I needed to get done before the best friends a gal could ask for (and their guys) showed up. Of course the military life is always unpredictable so Taylor's schedule was all messed up, and he wasn't home to help. Thankfully my anxiousness kicked up the adrenaline rush and I was able to get everything done, with time to spare. While I was waiting for the girls to arrive, my sweet friend stopped by with banana pudding she made for my out of state friends, and wine for us to enjoy while we waited (thanks Karen). Y'all, every time stella barked or even moved I wanted to jump out of my skin with excitement that some one  was here. Turns out, stella was not on her A-game.

Breanna and her husband were the first to arrive, followed by Amanda and her boyfriend. The first night pretty much involved lots of catching up, giggles, and wine. I was trying to read my girlfriends and assess whether or not they knew about my secret, a mutual friend of ours was flying  in from Texas later on in the week and I wasn't quite sure we had pulled it off ((spoiler alert: we didn't)). We didn't have a lot of plans for the next day, I figured everyone would be tired from traveling and decided to just play it by ear. I was so incredibly shocked to discover I was the first to awake the next morning, that never happens. Once everyone started moving, we decided to head on down to Beale Street and did what tourist do. We listened to music, had drinks, ate BBQ and were hassled by the pretend homeless (if you have ever been to a big city, you know what I mean; if you're scared of your own shadow like me, you know how terrifying these creeps are...). Later that night we headed on over to the casino, I think Breanna was the only one who came out lucky that night, but we all had fun playing. After the rest of us lost our money we headed back home, where the ladies retreated to the deck for some more cocktails, followed by a round of cards against humanity!!

Morning Yoga



Bean is always so serious ;-)

Taylor couldn't make it to listen to music, so we pretended!

And then a ninja turtle showed up!

Part 2 coming tomorrow!!