Memphis, Tennessee

Now, I am sitting in my hotel room in Memphis (here for work) and really... there are just too many good songs with Memphis in the title.
There's the one above (Help me operator, get in touch with my Marie. She's the only one who'd call me here from Memphis, TN...)
There's "Walking in Memphis"
And then there's "Maybe it was Memhpis"
Goodness, they just keep coming.
Post your favorite Memphis-related songs if you can think of any more...

And to start, I will post a picture NOT from Memphis. This bird was hanging out in the pond behind our office. I named it pinkie. I spent some time looking, and finally found it is a Roseate Spoonbill. It was crazy!

Before I left for Memphis... actually, come to think of it, this was while I was on the way to Jacksonville for the weekend right before I left... anyways, it was pretty stormy towards the end of the week. But the clouds were cool.

It's always cool when you can actually see it raining from far away. Ah, Florida summers...

NOW... on to Memphis. So, on my first day here, I was out and about walking through the downtown area (where I am staying) and I happened into the Peabody Hotel. AND I happened into it a little after 4... AND then after spending some nice time talking on the phone in the beautiful lobby, all the hoopla started to see the famous ducks parade through the lobby, into the elevator, and up to their duck palace on the roof. This is a cool picture of them at home in the fountain. Then my camera died. Boo.

My camera came back to life a few hours later on my walk home. Just enough to capture this great sunset over the mighty mississippi, so at least that's something.

Beale Street. Home of the blues and great BBQ. It's more of a hang out place though... and since I am here alone on business, I just took a self-guided walking tour and went back to my hotel.

This is BB King's place. I bet it's cool. The sign is cool. However, nowadays BB King makes me think of that diabetes commercial he did. Strange...

Okay friends! Well, I head back home tomorrow... so yay for that! Stephen is coming to get me at the airport and then we are off for a fun weekend with my roommate and his brother in Lakeland- we are going deep-sea fishing with Casie's dad. Stay tuned for pictures! I'm sure it will be an adventure!

you spin me round (like a record)

a.k.a. Monster Mash 2007

Yes, things have been crazy. Yes, I have many pictures. Yes, they are probably out of order. Yes, you'll just have to deal with it. Yes, I know this is probably getting annoying. That's what you get for heckling me, TLC! Hahahaha.
Okay, I'm going to try to at least group these so they make some sense, but hopefully the pictures are fun enough to stand on their own. Enjoy!

First:
I found out a few of my friends from college would be in Florida visiting family, so I drove down to Ft. Meyers on a random Tuesday to see them and their cute little daughter, Violet. (They've already began her mentorship to be the next Vanna White- see what a fast learner she is?!?!)
: )
Yay for Bethany, Ben and Violet!

Now, here are some more pictures from NYC... Although there are still others that are on Stephen's camera that I haven't seen yet. So... maybe we'll have some more fun ones later...
In no particular order, I give you: NEW YORK!

Saturday morning we met TLC for brunch. Now, for those of you who are unaware, brunch is really just breakfast food served in the afternoon so you don't feel like you missed anything by sleeping in until 2PM. But the food was soooooo tasty that I didn't care what time it was. Gotta love NYC! and TLC! for you and me! stop rhyming and I meant it! (anybody wanna peanut?)

In the city, we were hosted by my awesome friends Will and Christian. Staying with them was super fun and we also enjoyed some hang out time with their cat, the Traveler, and their dog, Gringo. Goooooood times.

As usual, there are many, MANY construction projects going on in NYC during the summer. Stephen checked in on this one to make sure everything was up to code. And then I mugged him. Hehehe. JUST KIDDING!

On Sunday Stephen was brave enough to accompany me on one of my marathon Sunday afternoon walks through the city. Seriously, we walked for a few HOURS. However, it was pretty- pretty HOT, that is. Yeah, we brought some good ole Flawduh humidity to keep us company. In case you were wondering, this is St. Patrick's Cathedral in midtown. Very Niiice.

During our marathon Sunday stroll, I led brave Sir Stephen (or Super Supervisor Stevie, as my sister calls him) into the deep wilderness of Central Park. This picture was taken on the pretty bow bridge, we were quite pooped by this point, but still smiling...

Nice sunset view down 79th street towards the Hudson river. It was even more lovely in person... I wish I could have captured the real color on the buildings... but alas, backlighting strikes again.

Jump back to Saturday. In the afternoon, we met up with Stephen's relatives, Alex and Judy, and they were kind enough to treat us to a great evening on the town. First Stop: John's Pizza in the Village. It's home to one of the few remaining coal pizza ovens in the city. They are a big fire hazard, so building a coal oven is illegal. Good thing this one dates from 1929, cause the pizza sure is tasty!

After dinner we stopped next door to get gelato at a place called Scoop. The gelato was soooo good we forgot to take a picture. I definitely recommend it. Then, we were off to the Village Vanguard to see the Nino Josele trio play some latinish flamenco jazz. It was cool. Picture taking is not allowed so this shot (taken from the table with no flash) is the best I could do. I think it kind of lends to the ambiance, though.

Rewind back to before we met Alex and Judy on Saturday. Stephen and I went for a walk to Bryant Park and then stopped in to everyone's favorite Chipotle for a snack. Chips and Salsa faces- muy caliente!

Pretty, pretty trees in Bryant Park. Long and squiggly, just the way I like 'em!

Yay for Spring! Wait, it's still spring right? Well, yay for my birthday weekend trip to NYC and engagement celebration 2007!

Sunday night we went out in the rain to Little India for a farewell dinner with Christian and Will. We went to this restaurant that I really like called Panna II. You can see how understated and demure the decor is. Just like us. : )

Okay, now fast forward to last weekend in Lakeland. Stephen came to visit me and on Saturday we took a road trip to Center Hill to attend a family party hosted by Stephen's mom celebrating our engagement. AND Casie and Lucy came along, too! Super fun. Here Lucy demonstrates just how much personality she has. She's a good dog- even in the car.

Stevie was kind enough to drive and smile at the same time.

We took many roads that looked like this. It was a nice drive into the country... now if there was only a way to shield us from all those lovebugs... Seriously, my windshield was so gunked up at this point, this picture almost looks like an impressionist painting! If you don't happen to know what lovebugs are, count yourself lucky!

At Stephen's mom's house, Lucy demonstrates her impressive social skills. Dosen't she look like she's having a conversation with someone? Hahaha, too funny. She really does act like a person. When I move Casie and Lucy will be sorely missed... sniff... okay, no time for sad, we're nearly finished!!!

Pre-church Sunday morning after brushing our teeth in my bathroom. See? All clean. Seriously, are we a match or WHAT?! : D

And finally... we are caught up to now. Now, I am beginning the mammoth task of trying to plan a wedding. I went and visited a possible location with my mom and aunt... and this little chapel was soooo cute. Too bad it was sooooo small as well. But it makes for a nice picture.

And, I stopped in at the parent's house for a night and my mom opened up her wedding dress for me to look at. It was definitely too small for me to wear, but it was cool to see it because it had been packed away since she wore it. For a mid-70'd wedding dress, I think it's quite nice.

And here's one last picture- a close up of the lace on her dress. I like the flowers. So I will leave you all with a good representation of what fills my head these days... wedding dresses, lace, flowers.... good stuff. : )

Bad

Because I'm Bad, I'm Bad -

Come On (Bad Bad - Really, Really Bad)

You Know I'm Bad, I'm Bad -

You Know It (Bad Bad - Really, Really Bad)

You Know I'm Bad, I'm Bad -

Come On, You Know (Bad Bad - Really, Really Bad)

And The Whole World Has To Answer Right Now

Just To Tell You Once Again, Who's Bad...

(This blog is sponsored by Michael Jackson- not old creepy MJ, but young cool hip MJ. The very same man who could take a song with lyrics as repetitive and lame as these and make it into something pretty awesome.)

So, yes... hopefully you've gathered by now, that I would like you to know, I'm bad.

Why am I so bad?

Because I have LOTS of pictures of pretty fun and significant moments in my life... the ones really worth sharing... and I have been terrible about posting them. So, I want everyone to know, that I hereby acknowledge my badness. Isn't that like step one or something?

Anyways, here are a few great photos to try and make up a little bit for my severe lack of bloginess.

While Stephen and I were in NYC for my birthday we had some engagement photos taken (yes, all those things have happened since my last blog) by my friend Jen. She's a photographer who lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and here are a few of the fun shots she took! Yay!