Things

Tonight, our "Memphis Urban Family" got together for Christmas dinner. It is a group of girls that all went to college together (save one) and a few husbands. We really enjoy getting together and eating dinner and tonight played games and talked.

S got the game "Things" for Christmas. I had played it the week before and it was so much fun. It asks "what would you do if there was a black out?" Everyone puts their answer down and then you try to match the answer with the person. It is so much fun and we all had a great time trying to get the matching right.

I am so blessed to have a great group of friends. Its interesting, when I lived in Knoxville, my family came from my church. Here, in Memphis, my "family" comes from my friends from college. It is amazing that out of 12 people, 9 of us went to UTM together and 8 of us were in the same sorority. What an amazing legacy!!

South of Beale

I had a great time last night at dinner with a friend. She is the first work friend I made when I moved to Memphis 11 years ago. We don't work at the same place anymore, but our friendship has survived.

We went to South of Beale (SOB) last night. We both started with the Honey and Ginger cocktail, which was really good. I know it had a whiskey in it (which I don't normally like), but this was good. For dinner, we split the tuna appetizer, lobster and scallop cakes and each tried a side. The tuna was good, but the fried rice cakes were a little over-cooked, which made them difficult to chew (and cut). The lobster and scallop cakes were bready- not many big chunks of meat that you would expect. I had the duck fried rice for my side. It had a good spice to it. M got the cheddar grit fries. It was enough to feed about 10 people. The flavor and texture was good, it was just a lot... All in all, SOB is a place I would go back to (the braised ribs looked divine). We got a lot of fried food, so I am looking forward to trying other things on the menu. It claims to be a gastro-pub, which means the chef isn't there to cook chicken strips and has a very diverse menu. The waiter recommended the duck and braised ribs. The wine list is very good too with two price points. If you want a great atmosphere, get there around 7:30 pm or so.

Committments and parties...

Well, the first nail finally went in the walls today. C (my sister) and I finally committed to hanging some pictures. The big problem is two fold: 1) a lot of the pictures we want to hang are still at the house in East Memphis that we are trying to sell, and 2) we want to upgrade and get some new art work- which takes time. The house does have a more homely feel...even with a few pictures on the walls.

My department is coming over on Tuesday for our Christmas party. We have been in our house just shy of a month and this will be our third party. I love entertaining...it definitely runs in our blood. My grandmother and mother are both entertainers and my sister and I love to entertain as well. I just love the planning and decorating and then having everyone get here!!

I hope we will be able to entertain even more now that we are downtown.

Inspired

Well, I read someone's blog and it inspired me to start writing again. I want to get back into writing and hope I can do so. Now my head is full of things to write about.
Wow, the last few weeks of my life have been so crazy...I moved into a new condo in downtown Memphis over Thanksgiving. My grandmother passed away two weeks later. We have been working on her house trying to sort through 50 years of memories. My sister in law is due with the first grandchild in the family (which is exciting and yet stressful for me). My job has been really crazy this year with me traveling 2-3 weeks/month...and you wonder why I am still single.

Craziness...

Anyway, I started the morning in a really bad mood. I think part of it was I was tired and we had to get up early to drive to Humboldt for my sister in law (B's) baby shower. After the shower, we went to my grandmother's house to help clean out closets and pack things up. I know this sounds strange, but my mood got better (I guess because I felt useful). It is amazing how much needs to be done and I know what I will be doing over my Christmas vacation. We packed up my sister's (C's) SUV with things from my grandmother's and came home to Memphis. Now C and I are sitting on our couches decompressing before heading out to another Christmas party (party #4). The party should be fun. It is with downtown locals, which is great since I just moved downtown.

People have asked me how much I like living downtown. My answer- I think I love it. My life has been so crazy this past month, that I haven't been able to just enjoy being downtown (hanging out at the coffee shop, checking out local stores, etc.) Hopefully that will come...soon.

Monday, Monday...la la la-la-la-la-la

I can't believe it...I was just a few miles from my favorite shoe store in the whole wide world and did I get to go? NO!! Why does being an adult suck sometimes? I was going to go following my meeting and my co-worker invited me to lunch. What could I say? "No, I can't go to lunch, shoes are more important." Sheesh! I guess I am going to have to work it in before Wednesday. If you are in Franklin and get a chance, go to Marti & Liz. It is a great shoe store.

A good day...

I had such a good day today. Cindy, Lisa and I ventured into unchartered territory by heading to to look for knock-off purses. We all share an affinity for purses and as much as I would love to pay hundreds for a purse, I can't bring myself to do it since I change out purses so often. I am more discriminatory about my purses, but I love to look. I didn't find anything I liked but it was fun to go...although I will take Chinatown any day.

Cindy and I then went to lunch with our friend Krista. She just got married and we had fun catching up and hearing about the honeymoon. From there, I hit tthe road and headed to Nashville. I have to be there for work and gladly went up early to see my friend Kim.

Kim and I have been friends for almost nine years, which is so hard for either of us to believe. I spent the night with her in the hospital when she had kidney stones, I was a bridesmaid in her wedding, and now I am helping her celebrate motherhood. Little Parker was born on February 11. I got to see him a few weeks ago and it is amazing to see how much he has changed. He is more alert and more responsive. He fell asleep in my arms and I could just sit there and hold him for hours. After Brian got home, I got Kim out of the house for dinner. We had a great time catching up. I can't wait to see them again.

All in all, it was a great Sunday.

My Sunday

I really need to get some work done but instead I am blogging. I am heading to Nashville this afternoon for work and have a feeling my work will take place in my hotel room. I am excited because I am going to visit my friend Kim tonight. She had a baby in February and I will get to see how much Parker has grown. I am also going to see my friend Lori. Her husband was diagnosed with leukemia and at Vanderbilt hospital.

I am about to hit the shower so I can go with my friend Lisa to Third Street. They say that it is like Chinatown with all the purses for sale. It will be an adventure and I will let you know how it goes.

After purse shopping, we are going to meet some friends for lunch and then off to Nashville.

Dinner

So, I went to dinner this weekend at two restaurants- Sauces on Friday night and Rain on Saturday night. I wanted to write a quick review of each.

Sauces (www.saucesmemphis.com)
Sauces is two stories with the ground level serving more as a bar and the downstairs level as the restaurant. For lunch, Sauces has great sandwiches, flatbreads and salads. The She-Crab soup is delicious!! For dinner, you can also order fish and steak. The fish can be cooked to order, which gives you many options. The restaurant is known for its mojitos and is trying to build its wine list.

Friday night I ordered the Medallions Chesapeake. It was supposed to be steak medallions topped with lump crab meat and lobster sauce. Instead, it was a cut of steak (no medallions) that was a little fatty and overcooked. The steak was served with amazing mashed potatoes (which says a lot since I am not a potatoes person) and green beans.

Everyone else had a great meal. My food was good, just not quite what I thought I was getting. It is worth going back, though.

Rain
I went to Rain in Cordova last night. I am not a ususal Cordova visitor, but had been wanting to try this restaurant for awhile. My friend, Christy, did the wall finishings and some of the art work so I wanted to see her handiwork. Rain is like Villa Castrioti, in that has a great atmosphere, and you hate to see it stuck in a retail strip center.

I went to Rain with my sister and our friend Lisa. We are all sushi conniseurs on different levels (I lean towards all raw meat, while they like cooked fish to various degrees). We ordered seven different rolls among the three of us. My rainbow roll with different fish on top was ok. Some of the white fish was tough, telling you it wasn't as fresh. The best roll I had was the R&R roll. It is very spicy with wasabi fish smelt, but the kick is worth it. My sister's favorite roll was the Crazy Crab roll. It had a good mix of flavors with the avacado and chili sauce.

Will I visit Rain again? Probably. SPR will always be my favorite, but when in Cordova...

Regeneration

Well, I just recently joined Twitter and it has made me realize how much I miss blogging. So I decided to get back into blogging. I am going to try and keep it up, if anything for me.

So, I hope you enjoy...

My Grandfather

On Monday, February 6, 2007, my grandfather turned 89 years old. It was an emotional birthday for him because over the past 5 months, his health has been declining and he faces the reality of the fact that he may not live to see 90 years old.

Emmett Wilson Barker was born in 1918 in West Tennessee. He spent the majority of his life as a dairy and crop farmer. My mom says she can remember going into the barn on a Saturday afternoon/evening and my grandfather would have the UT football game on while he was milking cows. My grandfather actually attended UT Knoxville for 2 quarters before he had to come back home and help on the farm (and get married). He has 3 children- Emmett, Nancy and my mom- Phyllis. Last, but not least, he has a spunky, beautiful wife of 70 years named Rebecca Barker.

I am so thankful to have such loving grandparents like I do. Oh to be married 70 years and for my husband to still want to hold my hand. I pray that God will continue to bless their lives.

(Picture from July 2006 at 70th Anniversary)