Smile for a Lifetime, Dinner with Sarah and Josh, Sunday Funday at Shelby Farms!

We had a fun non-traveling (almost) weekend in Memphis.  On Friday, we drove to Jonesboro to a fundraiser for Smile for a Lifetime at Dr. Burris' house.  It was a great chance to see some friends from dental school and get together for a great cause.  Their house is perfect for entertaining and we had a great time and ate some delicious food!  On the ride to Jonesboro the sunset was so pretty I had to take a picture. 

 Brian and Matt Carlisle

Andrea Carlisle and Emily Gairhan

Clark and Summer Tyson and me and Brian...I kind of match the table cloth

Jennifer Steele and Emily Gairhan

Summer, Kendall Jones and Me...I sort of look pregnant in this one:



On Saturday we watched football all day.  The Tennessee game was a nailbiter and if it wasn't for the UAB kicker missing 5 field goals we would have lost!  Then the Arkansas Alabama game was alllllmooostttt a great upset.  For dinner we went to Sweetgrass with Sarah and Josh and their fun friends from college, Scott and Courtney.  We passed the House of Mews and spent some time checking out all the crazy cats:

Sarah showed us some killer dance moves at Celtic Crossing: 


Today we took the doggies out to Shelby Farms off leash area for dogs and they had a blast.  Ayla is slowly getting better about being scared of big dogs.  Coco gets outside in the great wide open and turns into a wild woman!

I know its not Music Monday....but can you teach me how to Dougie?

I know its not Music Monday, but no one really reads my blog anyway to keep up with any sort of Webbsite blogging standards, and this is pretty important and I have to share with those not so fortunate to be in a city on the cutting edge of hip hop and R&B.  If you met Mrs. Sarah Farmer, you might not realize she is a closet hard core hip hop and R&B fan but she busted in to pedo this morning and dropped this little jewel on me and changed the pace of pretty much my entire day so I just had to share.  Sarah explained that she listens to Memphis' K97FM almost exclusively while riding to and from school every day and they play this "like a million times a day and we just have to hear it".  Sooooo here you it.  This beat was bubble gum, so I had to chew it:



Amazing right?  Kind of can't stop listening to it.  If you're like me and are not so much rhythmic or dancey, you might find this instructional video helpful:

Pedo Party at the New House!

I haven't been doing much blogging so I'm going to do some catching up tonight.  First off, last weekend we finally got the house somewhat unpacked and set up.  Still have some leftover random furniture that Brian said we should give away as door prizes to anyone that came over, but we didn't have any takers...We took a few pictures, but I should have taken more!  We have six second year residents and six first year residents, and almost everyone was able to come with their spouses and kids.  It was fun to get to use the new kitchen to make dinner for everyone, make some of my favorite appetizers, and use some of my party paper products.  I have come to realize after getting married that I have a bit of an addiction to paper products, napkins, decorations, serving platters, tablecloths, and anything that I can say "it would be great for a party".  I have more of these "party supplies" than I've had parties in my life.  I get it from my mom and she got it from her mom.  I wish I had pictures of my mom's party supply closet for any occasion.  Anyway, it was a great excuse to have everyone together and meet their families annnnddd use party supplies!

The Kunkels on the couch and their cute daughter, and Kevin on the left!

Scott and his fun kids eating some dinner!  They were super party kids and stayed up watching cartoons at our house later than anyone, annnddd Scott says they sleep in until 11 every day.  Lucky!

Karen and her husband who just had a baby one week ago!

Kate and Renalie and some of the food.  I went with my go to entree- Poppyseed Chicken Casserole.  This is my favorite meal my mom makes, and its easy and yummy.  I think every southern mom has some version of this casserole.

Braving the 100 degree heat to eat on our back patio.

                                                           Sarah, Renalie and Emily

Thank goodness Kate and Chase were smart enough to bring this awesome train track and trains.  All the kids got here and we realized we had nothing fun for kids!  They saved the day with this- the kids loved it.

And here are some of us earlier that day at an outreach event at a community center in Memphis.  Check out my awesome white socks.  Stylin.

Walking in Memphis...

So for anyone who knew me in dental school, I was not the biggest fan of Memphis.  When we found out we would be coming back to Memphis for my pediatric dentistry residency, Brian and I were so so excited about me starting the program but a little worried about Memphis.  We haven't had a ton of nice things to say about the people you deal with day to day in Memphis and when we moved back here a couple of weeks ago we were expecting the worst.  It is like the Memphis Tourism Bureau had tapped into our house and every situation we've been in since we've moved back has been rigged to prove us wrong.  Everyone has been overly nice at grocery stores, gas stations, on the phone setting up utilities, restaurants...to the point that its getting scary.  Soooo maybe I need to retract everything I said about Memphis.  We'll see. 

Anyway we came here a few months ago looking for a house and were having a hard time finding something to rent.  We looked all weekend and had no luck, so we started just driving around looking for homes for sale with the idea that we might just cold call someone and try to talk them into renting to us for two years instead of buy.  We happened to pass this cute yellow house with a For Sale sign in High Point on Oakley Avenue just as the owners were driving in the driveway.  We hit the brakes, rolled down the window, and said :you guys wouldn't be interested in renting for two years?"  They said, "Maybe, you want to take a look?".  We looked, fell in love with the house and the neighborhood, and the rest is history.  We love love love the house and I'll have pictures up soon.  We moved from a 12 foot wide shotgun double in New Orleans (that's a duplex anywhere else in the country) to a 3 bedroom house with a den and living room and dining room, sooooo we have some furniture buying left to do. 

Since I wrote about New Orleans food, I'll have to mention the top few places that I HAD to visit after returning to Memphis.  Number one on our list is Central BBQ Memphis.  Brian and I both agree that this is hands down the best BBQ in Memphis.  I love the half bbq nachos:

The other spot I had to go to was the Little Tea Shop.  It is another one of my Memphis favorites.  Don't let the name fool you- it is not tea and crumpets- it is amazing home cooked meat and vegetable with a different daily special each week day.  It is a spot where Memphis lawyers and businessman are known on a first name basis and where the regulars have their usual table.  The owner knows everyone, and if you go there enough she will put your picture on the wall (when I left Memphis we finally made the wall!).  Corn sticks are served with every meal and they are delicious!

Another spot that I can't believe I haven't been to since we have been back is Kooky Canuck (formerly Big Foot).  I will go there soon and will have to take pictures of their GIANT burgers and most amazing chocolate chip cookie ice cream dessert.  The owner, Shawn Danko, was so great to all of us in dental school, and it was the spot we would always head any time we finished a big test or a year of school or really any other excuse.  Ok that's enough rambling for tonight....