Top 10 things I love about Memphis

About a year ago Laurin posted her list of top things she loved about Memphis and Lee decided to weigh in with her’s earlier this week. In light of the fact that Memphis has been confirmed, by a very narrow margin, as the 2nd most dangerous city in America (see article here) and the 2nd most miserable (see article here), I decided it was a great time to put my two-cents in on this topic. In no particular order, here are the top 10 things I love about this city:

1. Shelby Farms: As Laurin and Lee both noted, this really is a Memphis jewel. One of my favorite parts about Shelby Farms is the Wolf River Trails. As expressed here, I love trail running and the Wolf River Trails on the south side of Walnut Grove are an excellent place to get a great trail run in.
2. The Pancake Shop: This little place on Summer Avenue serves hands down the best pancakes in Memphis. If you don’t believe me give them a try for yourself! You'll see exactly what I mean.
3. Fall drives down Central Avenue
4. Tiger basketball! No, I couldn’t leave this one out. In all honesty, I simply love all things University of Memphis. I enjoyed the time I spent there, I cherish the friendships that began there, I think highly of the business school, I like Tiger football, and more than all of those… I love Tiger basketball.
5. My job: Yep, obviously my job is in Memphis and I love it. I like both what I do and where I do it.
6. Grace Church: I could probably go on for days about the things I love about Grace Church. The truth is this is the only thing on this list that really has eternal significance. I’m so very thankful for my church.
7. Gibson’s Donuts on Mendenhall: The best donuts you will find ever. Gibson’s holds a special place in my heart because it used to be owned by the same man (Mr. Howard) who started the much beloved Howard’s Donuts in West Memphis. Gibson’s must still have the very same recipe. Because I grew up on Howard’s and it is near and dear to my heart and because this post is about Memphis, Gibson’s officially makes it on my list.
8. The Memphis Marathon and Half Marathon: This is a great race and it keeps getting better and better as each year passes. The Memphis Marathon was my very first marathon and because of that alone it has significance. The Half Marathon is just plain fun and you have to love the fact that this race supports another one of Memphis’ jewels, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
9. BBQ: If you like bbq (of the pork variety of course) and you live in Memphis this has to be on your list. You won't find better bbq anywhere else in the world. A few of my favs include: Neely’s Interstate BBQ, Germantown Commissary, and Central BBQ. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!
10. The Orpheum: I love going to The Orpheum. It is simply one of my favorite places in Memphis! To name a few wonderful events I’ve seen there (and some multiple times): Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, The Lion King, Death Cab for Cutie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (as part of the summer movie series), and in June… Wicked!

So, what are some of your favorite things about where you live?

just another saturday

A little recap from the weekend: This past Saturday contained one fun adventure, one new place, and one new creation! What a GREAT day! Let me explain…

Fun Adventure: Despite the early morning rain, I headed out to Shelby Forrest for a nice trail run Saturday morning. Due to the rain, the trail was nice and soft and felt great on the joints and knees which have gotten used to running on the asphalt and concrete as of late. This run reminded me just how much I love trail running; it is far better than road running. Anyway, being that I don’t have any upcoming races to prepare for, it was quite nice just to run… and yes, run in the rain. Once you got going and engrossed in the natural spring beauty that surrounded you, you didn’t mind all the sloshing around. The sound of the rain hitting the tree canopy above, the choir of chirping birds overhead and wet shoes trudging through the water saturated terrain. Sorry for the bad picture quality, it appears I had a little rain on the camera lens. At any rate, here are a few fun pics! (Note: Yes, several months back I surrendered and purchased a running skirt. You know what?!?! I love it!)

New Place: After the soggy run, I headed back to my house for a quick shower that was VERY much needed (I had mud everywhere!) and out to Panera Bread for lunch with a friend. I’ve been to Panera Bread in the Atlanta airport but never to the one in Cordova… until Saturday. I had a small salad and some yummy French Onion Soup (I love French Onion Soup!). Great food + great company and conversation definitely = fun times!

New Creation: I mentioned here about the Sprinkles cupcakes recipes that I got my hands on Easter weekend. Saturday I made them for Sunday's Grace Lunch. I decided to go with the Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing. I’ve never made cupcakes (or any cake at all for that matter) or icing from scratch before so, this was the second “first” of the day. Thankfully, I had my good friend Ashley there to help out with the cupcake construction. Despite being only slightly dry (does anyone know how to fix this so the cupcakes are a bit more moist????), these cute little cakes turned out to be quite tasty. Personally, I feel the cream cheese icing was my favorite part! Mmmm.....

It's official...

A new running route in Memphis is coming soon! I'm excited! Check this out...

It's been a while since I really blogged. So here's a random update of sorts... Enjoy!
-My aunt recently got her hands on the recipes for a couple of Sprinkles Cupcakes and made them for Easter lunch. They were fabulous and I think I’m going to make them for this Sunday’s Grace Lunch. Get excited!
-This coming Tuesday, April 21st is Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry’s… again, get excited!! Who doesn’t love free Ben & Jerry’s?!?!
-About a month ago I woke up on a Sunday morning and the thought of coffee was enough to make me sick. Consequently, I didn't have any and I had a headache to pay for it later. Ever since then I've been doing something I never thought I'd do... drink decaf coffee in the morning! Weird I know! At the very minimum I've been having ½ decaf, ½ regular coffee in the morning hours.
-I went to the Death Cab for Cutie concert on Saturday night and had a BLAST! What a fun concert. I highly recommend catching their show if you have the opportunity in the future.
-I haven't blogged about Tiger basketball since that fatefull day that Calapari officially decided to leave but I am really excited about out new coach Josh Pastner. Additionally, I'm really saddened by this response that so many have had towards Calapari lately. He did a great job at Memphis and he's a likeable person. Hopefully as time passes and the sting of his departure lessens, Memphians will look back on his tenure here at the university with great fondness. It was a fun ride, which hopefully will continue...
-Completely unrelated to the Memphis basketball: I'm a BIG fan of little government. Enough said.
-I’ve still been plugging away at Isaac Ambrose’s Looking Unto Jesus and here is a quick quote/ sampling for you: “Only Christ is the whole of man’s happiness.” Great stuff.
-Since Ambrose’s book will likely take me 10 years to finish, due to it’s length, I’ve been reading a few other things simultaneously. Recently I finished a book that was lent to me by a precious little girl at my church who LOVES to read! It was a super book about a missionary who I was previously unfamiliar with, Mary Slessor. She spent her entire life serving numerous tribes in Calabar (in Southern Nigeria, Africa). This book has really piqued my interest and I’m dying to know more about Mary.
-In other book related news, I got my copy of Hungry Girl's latest cookbook in the mail yesterday and most all the recipes look yummy! I highly recommend these easy and healthy remakes of your favorite recipes.
-In other recipe related news, I got a great new recipe from last week’s Viking Cooking School class for a homemade vinaigrette. You should give it a try. It’s fabulous! The great thing I learned is that the mustard, in addition to adding extra flavor, holds the oil and vinegar together so they don’t separate quite as easily. Such a fabulous and easy recipe!

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
Pinch granulated sugar
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar (or whatever vinegar you happen to have handy)
3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon thinly sliced chives
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

-For the first time since I started running in 2004, I am not signed up for a race furthermore, I do not even have one in mind. Any good suggestions?
-I bought some Roundup at Home Depot last weekend (yea! It was on sale!) and am ready to rid my flower beds of pesky weeds so I can plant my spring/summer flowers (impatients, which I also got on sale at Home Depot!). Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain this weekend so that might put a damper on my gardening plans... I'm sure you'll see pictures of my gardening right here, so stay tuned! :)

Easter

As many of you know, this Sunday is Easter however, at Grace Church last Sunday we received the following reminder: For the believer, every day is Easter. Praise God for the risen Christ each day!

something new

Warning: This could potentially sound odd!

In an effort to be more dilligent about memorizing scripture I've tried something new this week and so far, I like it. I wrote the passage of scripture on a note card, which is pretty typical however, I decided to put the card in a Ziploc bag and tape it to the tile in my shower. Voila! Now I have a "waterproof" scripture card so I can work on my memorization as I shower! Yep, so far I like it and it seems to be working....

a very wild ride indeed

No, I’m not going to convert this blog into a sports blog but with all the recent developments in Tiger Nation (coupled with my love for Tiger basketball), I must make a few remarks. Apparently next year’s basketball season will be a bit of a wilder ride than I originally thought however, not for the reasons I anticipated when I wrote this last Friday. Here are a couple of my remarks given recent developments:

-Our “rebuilding year” probably just got extended from this year to next and depending on who the new hire is, potentially the year following too… I say that because in the span of a week we’ve gone from having a great team, competing for a spot in the Elite 8 (last Thursday) with the number one recruiting class in the nation in the wing to currently having quite literally approximately 5 people TOTAL on our team. (Thanks for taking next year's team with you out the door Cal!)
-The past season marked the end of an era for more than just the graduation of Robert Dozier and Antonio Anderson. It seams Cal’s era here at Memphis is over as well. It’s kinda sad to me because he was the coach the entire time I was in school at the university and he is a great coach too!
-I have to say for those who know me and fear this might be the case, I am not bitter. Seriously. Who can blame Coach Cal for leaving? Kentucky has a fantastic history and it is a big deal to coach there. If he can rebuild the Kentucky program anything like he did Memphis’ he will have solidified his spot in the Hall of Fame. No questions. And if Kentucky was his dream job and that’s where he really wanted to be then that’s where he needed to go.
-With that said, I do like Coach and I’m sad to see him go but no doubt he did a lot of phenomenal things for Memphis’ basketball program in his tenure here. He built it up to a nationally competitive program and I for one, have enjoyed the ride! But guess what? The show will go on. Memphis will again have their day in the spotlight and we will win a national championship. What would make that win sweeter? Winning over a Cal coached KY team.
-More than anything, I’m not a fair-weather fan so you’ll still find me at every game next year yelling just as loudly for my Tigers… just with a new coach.
Go Tigers!