DC

It's so weird to think that this time last week we were in DC! We had such a great time and got to spend a lot of time with my best friend, Sital, and her boyfriend, Kiger. I didn't want it to end!

We were lucky enough to stay at her company's apartment, not but a block from her. It's the closest we've ever been able to stay to her (in the past, she and the company both were in different apartments blocks away) and it was so nice to text and meet her at the corner for dinner.

 This is the view from her roof. The big buildings to the right are all of the Securities and Exchange Commission buildings. You can see the capital building peeking out right past it. If I had kept panning to the right, you'd have seen the Washington Monument.

 Saturday morning, we headed out to one of our favorite places in the city, Eastern Market. We had brunch at a great place that brought us out a skillet full of cinnamon rolls. Incredible.

 We had lots of great food throughout the trip. After going to the International Spy Museum that day, we headed over to Shake Shack. Paul had a peanut butter shake and I had a chocolate. I just had to see what they tasted like together.

 That night we had a four hour wait for our dinner at a hole in the wall (but really great) ramen/dumpling place. So, we hopped around on H Street while we waited. We went and played bocce ball at one place and then headed to a bar with an indoor put put course. All of the holes were themed after monuments. It was pretty cool. After a bit, we got the text that they were ready for us (mind you, it was about 11 p.m. at this point).

 Tokki Underground is really small - only seats about 25 at most. We were ready for some food!

 We tried a couple of different dumplings and a bowl of ramen.

The next day, we found out just how much we love kayaking.

 Right at the iconic Key Bridge in Georgetown (ahead in this photo), you can rent single or tandem kayaks, paddle boards, and canoes. We loved it!

 How many people get to say they've kayaked the Potomac? We rented tandem kayaks with Sital and Kiger and paddled down stream past Roosevelt Island and were able to see Watergate, Kennedy Center, and the Lincoln Memorial. Very cool!

That afternoon, Paul and I visited Arlington National Cemetery.

 I still can't get over how many headstones there are.

 This is the view from Arlington House overlooking the river (from Virginia back towards DC). That road right there is leading to the Lincoln Memorial.

 We also visited Medgar Evers grave. We think the rocks and flowers left are from this summer when there was a ceremony for the 50th anniversary of his death.

 Back at home, we were getting pictures like this of the cat. What a nut!

 Sunday night, we had an awesome dinner on the roof of Sital's building. (That's the Washington Monument and Union Station in the background) The whole weekend, the weather was fantastic with highs in the upper 70s and lows in the 50s. It was the perfect time to be outside.

 We grilled chicken, corn, asparagus, squash, peppers, and onions. Sital made this incredible cucumber, olive, tomato salad that I need the recipe for!

When we were cabbing back to our apartment one night, we drove by the new NPR headquarters and realized it was only a few blocks from out apartment. We signed up and got to tour the building on Monday. That day was someone crazy because we woke up that morning to hear about the DC Navy Yard shootings a few miles from our apartment.

 Paul in one of the recording studios.

 Here's part of the newsroom. I couldn't take pictures of it, but in another part of this newsroom, there was a large round table that becomes home base during breaking news. There were people sitting around on phones, watching TVs and waiting for more details from the shooting.

Our final thing we squeezed in before our flight for the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

 This guy look familiar?

 Let me just say, I would NOT want to mess with this guy.

 They also had a great room filled with gems. I though this necklace was beautiful!

We finally made it home on a flight that night. For the first few days, it was weird being back. I had problems at first with vertigo (which I've never had before). I kept having this feeling like I was still on the subway and it was moving!

This week, we also had one of my favorite event of the year, Symphony at Sunset. It's on the grounds of the Cedars, where we had our reception. There's not a square inch of space left on the grounds when people spread out. This year they played British tunes and I loved their medley of Harry Potter songs and songs by the Beatles.

We're now getting some much needed rain and I'm happy to stay in for the day!

Labor Day

Time is FLYING by. It's hard to believe that school is back in session again. 

We've been slammed with school starting back (for me at work) and the next magazine heading off to the printer.

This past week, we got a sneak peek of a craft beer bar opening up called Fondren Public. You can read all about it here. They make a pretty wicked Darky and Stormy. Makes me excited for our trip to DC in two weeks!

 Because I had been working non-stop for over two weeks straight, I took this past Friday off and it was great to have a long, four day weekend. We celebrated downtown Thursday night with a night at the Museum of Art with the French art/Monet exhibit. We headed over to Jaco's Tacos for charity night with the Jackson Zoo to support them. Don't tell me there's nothing to do in Jackson!

 The cat has really been enjoying us being home too.

 I've been griping for the past few weeks that it's been too early for pumpkin beer. Now that it's officially September, I went ahead and picked up on one of my favorite pumpkin beers, Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale.

 According to Paul, I made "one of the best things I've ever done" the other morning with my version of Monkey Bread. We don't have a bundt pan, so I baked it in a round cake pan. It was pretty perfect if I do say so myself.

 Yesterday evening, we made our way to Renaissance to see Darius Rucker. I'm not a country fan and I really could have done without the opening acts, but Darius Rucker is actually pretty good. He sang a good bit of Hootie and the Blowfish songs and it took me back in time!

Hope you guys have had a great, long weekend. It's already 1 o'clock and we're still in our pajamas!

We're back!

It seems like so long ago we were on the beach, but it's only been a week! We had such a great time with our family for beach week, albeit some rainy days.

 Everybody got a big kick out of Karis this year. She knows who's boss!

 Of course, we had tons of good food, like Ashley's zucchini and feta salad that I want to make again soon.

 Flipping through Southern Living while we were there, we saw a feature on a restaurant in Orange Beach made out of shipping containers and we knew we had to check it out.

The atmosphere was great and the food wasn't bad either. If you go, get the Grouper Sandwich.

 Back in Jackson, we got back into gear and started eating right after all that rich food. I'm happy to be seeing lots and lots of produce!

 We also got obsessed with World Market while we were down at the beach. There's one in Mobile and we made a trip there on the way down and one again on the way up. We found these nightstands and knew we had to have them. Unfortunately, they didn't have them in store, but I went online and ordered them (AND got 15% off plus free shipping).

 I found the best recipe yet for baked oatmeal. Check it out here. Only difference is that I didn't have bananas and just had two peaches, a few strawberries and a few blueberries on top.

 We also got our new cat once we got home. We've had a few rough days, but we think we're through most of it now. She no longer thinks we've kidnapped her, so that's a good sign. I'm still having to work on feeding schedule with her. She's used to an auto feeder and when I feed her once a day, she shovels it down and then throws up. Not pretty.

 Hope you guys have had a great week!

My Week

It's been a great week, but I've been ready for the beach the entire week!

 This has been the first week for me that I feel like it's just been unbearably HOT. Homemade popsicles are still high on the list. I got some new molds in this week that I can't wait to try when we get back from the beach!

Last weekend, Paul and I decided to have an adventure to check out a place I had never been before, but Paul had been many times growing up - Jerry's- a catfish house on 49 that's shaped like an igloo. I just had to see what he was talking about.

 Surprisingly, it's HUGE on the inside and it had the best catfish I've ever eaten. Truth be told, we're going back again tonight! I worked an admissions event at work today and they had catfish for lunch. I told Paul I had to have catfish for dinner. It's hard to photograph and not eat it!

 Salmon has been on our plates this week. There's nothing better than a good, grilled piece of salmon (with brown rice and extra thin green beans).

 There's also been a big theme of tomatoes, Chilton County peaches, and blueberries this week, too. Peaches are just now getting good, so I can't wait to eat them while we're at the beach.

We got to do some celebrating this week because we found the deal of the century on... wait for it... a washer and dryer. I know, you're all so excited as we are. Funny enough, I get emails about deals from Home Depot and saw an LG front loading washer and dryer for $400 less than usual (we had been ready to pay full price for them). Since we knew that they had them at Home Depot, we decided to go see what Lowe's had competition-wise. We found the exact same set at the same discounted price plus free delivery and a $50 gift card. SOLD.

We celebrated with snow cones.

 We got them this week and lucky for us, the delivery men even helped us move the old washer and dryer to another part of the garage (they came with the house, but are getting rusty - the reason we bought our own in the first place).

It cracks me up that instead of a start button, there's a play button. Instead of a buzzer, it plays a song at the end. You'd have thought we bought an iPod. These machines are very high efficiency and we find ourselves just watching them work. 

Hope you guys are having a great week and see (some of you) at the beach!

Catch Up

Sorry it's taken to post again. I had all these plans for the blog and unexpectedly a very close family friend passed away and things went out the window (Click here to read the obituary I helped write). It's been a sad week, but a good week.

What I couldn't wait to tell you about was the new speakeasy down the road from us called Apothecary. While I could explain everything to you, I'll just let the article we wrote do the talking. I've already told Ashley and Bryan they have to check this out when they come to Jackson!

 I've also gotten wildly into popsicles. This article has been a great source of inspiration. Thanks Pinterest!

I've made healthy Nutella popsicles and, my favorite, ginger and peach.

 I picked up the peaches at a farmers market in Cooper Young while we were in Memphis. They aren't Chilton County peaches, but they were pretty good.

And, as luck would have it, we've found a cat to adopt. I saw a girl post on our neighborhood message board a week ago that they were having to relocate for their jobs and with a three month old baby, they just couldn't move the cat to Ohio. We went and looked at her last Wednesday and were so happy with her. They are keeping her until we get back from the beach and then she's ours. The family has been keeping us updated and the cat "sent us this picture to say 'hi'" the other day. So ready to have her!

Hope you guys are having a great week!

Birthday Trip: Memphis

We just came back from a great birthday trip in Memphis. We've been there a few times before, so we have our favorite places, but we wanted to branch out too and try some new spots.

 When we go to Memphis, it always seems like we end up at Soul Fish in Cooper Young. So good. I got the catfish basket with sweet potato fries, hush puppies, and mac and cheese. I didn't finish even half of this!

 I had never been to the National Civil Rights Museum and knew that was something I wanted to do. 

 This is the view from a window ten feet to the right from where James Earl Ray shot Martin Luther King, Jr. from a hostel bathroom window towards the Lorraine Motel. Unbelievable.

Paul wanted to look all serious for you guys. I'm not buying it.

 After checking into our hotel, we started walking about Main Street and ended up at Slim's near the Peabody for happy hour. After a few drinks on the patio, we rode the riverwalk loop of the trolley.

Later that night, we ended up at a tasty gastropub called Local. Great food.

 The highlight was probably these pretzels and cheese sauce. The sauce wasn't thick and the pretzels had the perfect amount of salt.

 Great atmosphere. I ended up with a Lobster BLT, but was full by then and ate the bacon and lobster off the sandwich!

 I've heard awesome things about Bluff City Coffee and have passed by it on the trolley loop several times now. The owner is a pastry chef and he's renowned for his baked goods. He definitely didn't disappoint. We tried a cherry yogurt roll (which almost tasted like cobbler) and an orange cinnamon roll. Very tasty!

We headed back to Cooper Young and stopped at their community farmers market for peaches. I wish I had a photo of where we went next - a fair trade store inside a church. UCC in denomination, this church has opened their doors to the community to fill the giant building. The church has a community bike shop, yoga classes, home birth midwives, dance classes, and the fair trade store, among others. I bought some really cool pieces there. I think my favorite part about this church is the sign that says "We teach acceptance, forgiveness and bike repair." 

 After looking around some shops, we headed to Overton Square in Midtown (Cooper Young is part of a greater Midtown area) and found ourselves at Chiwawa. We tried Juan-Tons and split a foot long corn dog, one of their specialties.

 After lunch, we walked off our meal and headed to the other side of Overton Square for gelato. At YoLo I tried half a scoop of nutella and half a scoop of avocado. Very tasty!

Then, we headed back to Jackson. I have to say, while I love and appreciate Memphis, there's no place like home! We had some good times that night back here in the neighborhood. More on that in the next post!