Memorial Day Weekend..

Yay for four day weekends! I plan on spending the day doing a little housework and some relaxing.

So far, my weekend has been go go go.

Friday night, I went to my very first Memphis bloggers meet up, and I was so excited to finally meet these girls I felt I already kinda knew. :)

We met up at a Memphis Redbirds minor league baseball game, and I don't even know who won the game. That's how much talking went on.

Thanks to Alyssa for letting me steal her picture! We've got such a nice camera...but it's not really that great if you don't know how to work it. All my pics turned out blurry. :(

Saturday morning, I got a new hairdo.

We were going to the Grizzlies game that night, so we went to eat downtown before the game. 

I had never tried Pearl's Oyster House, and it did not disappoint. 

It was absolutely delicious!

Next was the game...

It was sad that we lost, but the atmosphere was unmatched. I had a really fun time!

Sunday after church, we went shopping for a mattress. Yes, after living in our house for about two years, we've finally got a bed in the master bedroom!

We had been sleeping in a guest bedroom until we decided it was time to take the plunge on buying a king size mattress. 

I can't wait to sleep on this new comfy mattress tonight! 

 

Then....we went to watch Hangover 3.

 

I was pretty good. Not as good as the first Hangover, but it was much better than the second.

I've just jumped on the Mad Men bandwagon this weekend, so I've got a new show to add to the ever-growing list.

 

We've already watched 4 episodes!

Today, we just ran errands, cleaned up the house, and swam at a friend's house. I'm glad to return to the land of the living and get a little color!

Hope you all had a fun safe long weekend!

Linking up with Sami.

Summer Book Swap

I can't pass up the opportunity to make a new friend and to read a good book, so I jumped at the chance to join the Preview to Summer Book Swap! 

I was paired with Sarah Carper at Beyond the Grade Book, and we have very similar taste in books! I knew that whatever she picked out for me would be right up my alley!

  Seriously...do you see how many books I have to read now? I hit the jackpot with this swap. My only problem will be choosing what book to read next. I've already started Nineteen Minutes, so I'm making good use of these gems.   Thanks so much Sarah!! I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you a little better and bonding over our love of books. :)   Linking up with Kim! Thanks so much for hosting this swap!  

MIM: BBQ Fest 2013

We had so much fun at the Memphis in May BBQ fest! This was my first time ever, and I can't wait to participate again next year!    Each year, a different country is chosen for the theme, and this year was Sweden. We played off that theme in the shirts and tent by using Absolut Vodka which is made in Sweden.   

  Here was our t-shirt design. Pretty creative, right? (No, it wasn't us super creative accountants that designed it. I know you were wondering.)
And you can't have a bbq fest without some pork, right?

And now for the randoms. Please forgive the picture overload. There were just too many good ones to pass up!

    Linking up with Shanna!    

Literary Junkie Linkup!

1) What are you currently reading? Tell us about it.

Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner

  

Goodreads Synopsis:

The lives of four very different women intertwine in unexpected ways in this new novel by bestselling author Jennifer Weiner (In Her Shoes; Best Friends Forever). Each woman has a problem: Princeton senior Jules Wildgren needs money to help her dad cure his addiction; Pennsylvania housewife Annie Barrow is gasping to stay financially afloat; India Bishop yearns to have a child, an urge that her stepdaughter Bettina can only regard with deeply skepticism until she finds herself in a most unexpected situation. Interlocking dramas designed to ensnare; bound to be a bestseller.

I'm not too far into the book, but so far it's pretty good! Just your typical cush read with no thought involved on my part. :)

2) Summer is just ahead and my fave thing to fantasize is laying in a hammock with a good book. What are your top 3 fave "summer" reads?

I honestly have never had a particular type of summer read genre. I'll just from a murder mystery to a Jennifer Weiner brainless read. Sometimes it's actually nice to have a super intense plot to distract me from how burning hot I am sitting outside in the southern heat! Not trying to do a cop out on this one...promise!

3) What are your top 3 summer "to-reads"?

The Twelve by Justin Cronin --- the sequel to The Passage

The Distant Hours By Kate Morton --- received in a book swap recently!

19 Minutes by Jodi Piccult --- received in another book swap recently

4) What book do you wish they'd make it a movie of?

For sure..hands down

  

The Passage by Justin Cronin. Love love love!

5) Has your favorite author published a book lately or going to publish a book soon? Tell us about it.

Yes! I just got an email from Amazon (thanks for always being aware of my purchasing habits and notifying me of things I may be interested in....ha!). Jo Nesbo just released a new Harry Hole novel.

 

If you love Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you'll love this series. They're all really great and highly addictive!

Linking up with the lovely Taylor & Lesley!

 

Weekend Fun!

  I'm absolutely worn out from the weekend festivities! I took Friday off of work, so my weekend started early (love when that happens!).   The weekend was full of Memphis in May's BBQ fest activities. I will most likely be eating chicken this entire week. I can't even begin to think about pork at all right now! I've had enough pulled pork and ribs to quell that craving for several weeks.  

  Come back tomorrow for a full recap. There's no way I can fit it all into my full weekend post.    I'm starting a new fashion trend below. ha! I didn't realize it was "wear your team shirt" day, so I hate to improvise.   

    In addition to the BBQ fest festivities, we watched Star Trek. I could seriously stare into Chris Pine's eyes all day long. Can those be real? Or have they been enhanced to be brighter or something? When I wasn't staring into his deep pools they like to call eyes, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was really good, and I would definitely recommend it.   Since the Memphis Grizzlies have been doing so well, Whoop that Trick has been the theme song of the area the past few weeks. Al Capone rapped during the game recently which got everyone talking about Hustle & Flow this weekend.        Can you believe I had never watched Hustle & Flow before? Since Rodney owns all movies known to man, we watched it this weekend. It's nothing special or anything...it's just nice to watch a movie that's based in Memphis. And now to have the song be the new "chant" of the Grizz.    We're going to the game Saturday, and I'm sooo excited! I've never been to a playoff game, so I'm sure the energy will be awesome.    Hope your weekend was just as exhausting and fun-filled as mine was. :) Linking up with Meg, Sami & Leeann.  

Sundance Day 3

Yeah...so it's been a few months since we went to the Sundance Film Festival. And...I'm just now getting around to finish up my movie posts. Tax season chewed me up and spit me out. I'm trying to get back to normal. I can't go without posting this after it's been sitting halfway written in my drafts, right? There's still one more day of movies to cover, so bear with me. We're almost finished. :)

Houston

This movie was entered in the International Film Dramatic category. We were trying to work it in before another movie we really wanted to see. Even though it is a foreign category, most of the movie is set in Houston, TX. The premise is that a headhunter from a German company is trying to secretly meet with a CEO of a company based in Houston to offer him the CEO position of the German company. This movie's premise gave us hope that it would be a decent foreign film, but unfortunately it didn't work out that way. This movie probably was our list favorite film that we saw at the festival. It drug on and on and on, and the pacing of the movie and the plot wasn't very good at all. We ended up having to leave before it was over as the other movie we wanted to see was starting across town, but we weren't even that disappointed that we didn't see the end. I would not recommend this movie if you somehow see it pop up on Netflix in the future. 

Ass Backwards

Casey Wilson from SNL

 We were very interested in this movie since it had a Saturday Night Live cast member in it. She was also the co-writer of this so we had high hopes for it. The premise for this movie is that two childhood friends who now live together in NYC decide that they want to make their way back to their hometown to win a beauty pageant that they failed to win as children. This movie was very funny if a bit on the silly side. It is basically a funny road trip movie. We enjoyed this movie and had quite a few laughs with it. We also enjoyed the fact that in the Q&A session Casey Wilson was present with her real life friend and co-writer June Raphael (who plays her childhood friend in the movie as well). These two were very funny and entertaining in the Q&A session...the filmmakers who attend these Q&A sessions and are entertaining really make the festival fun and different.

Very Good Girls

As you can see from the pictures, this movie stars Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Olsen (whose sisters are Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen). This movie was directed by Jake Gyllenhaal's mother Naomi Fomer. It is a coming of age story about two friends from NYC who have just finished their senior year of high school and fall for the same boy. At times the movie is a bit slow, but I feel the director did a great job of illustrating the complicated relationships that teenage girls can develop with each other especially when they share the same love interest. I feel this movie will make it to wide release or at the very least to limited release in larger cities. I would suggest trying to check it out if you are into movies that are heavy in dialogue and exploring relationships.

Linking up with the beautiful Shanna!

It Ends Here.

  There are all these people posting all these nice things about how their mom being the "best mom." Oops. Sorry. I already have the best mom, so the contest is over.     

That's my mom on the right and her sis on the left. She's like my second mom. :) 

We celebrated Mother's Day just like we celebrate anything else...by eating!

This is my absolute favorite Italian place. I wish it were closer to us!

Bruschetta...making my mouth water just looking at this pic. 

In other noteworthy weekend events, I got to see one of my high school best friends and her new sweet baby boy.

Look at that head full of red hair! Precious!

I wish we were closer to these sweet friends too!

  Rodney has a little work to do on his baby holding technique. :)   It's going to be a busy week for us. It's our first year being on a Memphis BBQ Fest team. I've never even been before! Are there any other Memphis area ladies going to be there this week? I need to stop eating immediately to save room for all the eating I'll be doing! I'm very excited!     Hope all you lovies have a fabulous week!   Linking up with Linking up with Meg, Sami & Leeann.  

May Your Days Be Merry & Bright

 Yeah...I know this is a Christmas song, but this time of the year with all the bright colors makes me so happy!

You can't be on the beautiful Ole Miss campus and not take a fashion shot, right?

  Blazer: Ann Taylor Loft Top: CAbi Necklace: Stella & Dot Jeans: JCrew Shoes: TJ Maxx   It's no secret that the largest part of my body is my thighs. If you suffer from big leg syndrome like myself (and even if you don't!), then you need to go purchase yourself some Matchstick jeans from JCrew asap! They're straight leg without looking maw maw. They're not so tight that you feel like you've stuffed your leg in sausage casing. You can thank me later.   Linking up with Shanna & The Pleated Poppy.