Peanuts and Cracker Jacks

The Memphis Redbirds are the St. Luis Cardinals AAA club team, and they call Auto Zone Park, right here in downtown Memphis, home. Being so close, the girls from work and I had a night out, filled with food, beer and the great American pastime. And because I work at such a fab place, cs2 employees attended a day-game last week.

From foreground to background: Claire, Kristen, me, Kate & Kendall

Some cs2'ers, enjoying playing "hooky" from work. We quickly went back to the office though- the temps were in the upper 90s!

Live at the Garden

Besides when my girls were here, last Friday night was by far the most fun I've had in Memphis yet. Every summer at the Botanical Gardens, a summer concert series is held called Live at the Garden. There are two types of admission tickets: lawn seats or, the more desirable, table seating. Because cs2 is a sponsor, the company has a table for ten reserved each night a concert takes place, so Ryan and I joined four other couples and enjoyed the first class seating privileges. Sister Hazel and Train were on the line-up for the evening, and they both put on a really good show. There's not much better than friends, music, wine and a humidity-free summer night.

We had GREAT seats.



Kendall (pictured with her husband, Keith) is our very own Martha Stewart. For many reasons, too numerous to mention!



I turned the flash off for this one because it was so pretty with our candles and the white twinkle lights around. But I couldn't capture that by having that dern flash on.



Kristen and I. Boy we've had some fun nights these past few weeks!



Mean girls unite forever! We're throwing up the "M" (please ignore that really funny facial expression I have going on). I've gotten pretty close with these girls at work, and they are part of the reason why I love my job so much. We started Friday Lunch Bunch, and quickly became nicknamed Mean Girls 'cause it's a girls only thing along with some others at the office. I think we need our own logo.



Kendall (talking to her husband), Kristen, me, Anne



And I'll end with this pic of Ryan and I. It's a good one, babe!

Sunset Symphony and a Party, too!

Bad blogger, bad blogger! It seems as though I'm getting pretty lazy about posting. And honestly, there's no rhyme or reason for it, just, well...laziness.

Anyway, Memorial Day Weekend was a fun one around here. Saturday was spent at Sunset Symphony with friends. We packed a cooler filled with goodies and drinks, and headed downtown to listen to music, watch an airshow and ohhh and ahhh at fireworks, all from the banks of the Mississippi. Though we didn't stay long enough for the fireworks, we sure had fun. It rained (ok, monsooned) within moments of us getting there, but we didn't let it spoil our moods. In fact, strangely I think it added to the fun. The rain only lasted for a few minutes, and then it thankfully stayed away.

This is right when we got there- before the clouds opened up and dumped showers on us!


It was only sprinkling at this point. (from left: Kristen, Claire, Megan, Ashely, Ryan, me)


A view of the stage and crowd.


The sun made a late appearance after the rain cleared.


Awww... (please pardon how bad I look here. The rain was not kind to us ladies' hair).

This past weekend, a friend at work, Amy, celebrated a birthday in true b-day fun style. The party was complete with a bounce house (now how long has it been since you've jumped in one of those!), a card reader and a pinata. Unfortunately I didn't stay long enough for karaoke! I won't be elaborating on the outcome of my card read. Lets just say it wasn't all that pleasant, not that I believe all that mumbo-jumbo! You know me, I'm more about the law of attraction.

Myself, Kristen and Mike at the start of the party (and Lady, too!)


Bounce, bounce!


Ha- look how scared I look!

For a quick Ryan update, his surgery that was scheduled for this week has been postponed until June 25th. Unfortunately, three more weeks of suffering for him :(
And, finally, it's now June, my most favorite month of the year. My birthday is right around the corner, the weather is beautiful and two of my best friends are about to bring little ones into this world. Can't get much better than that!

Here a Pig, There a Pig, Everywhere a Pig Pig

Though the month is almost over, Memphis in May continues, and it’s just a darn fun time to be a Memphian. Last week, Ryan and I got to experience Barbecue Fest, an annual event that attracts teams from around the world who are all vying for Barbecue fame. It’s a three-day affair where hundreds of teams set up tents (booths), invite their friends and cook amazing food (pig, of course) that will be judged in categories such as whole hog, shoulder and rib. The only catch is that if you don’t know anyone who has a booth, then it isn’t really a whole lot of fun, unless people watching if your gig. Since it’s a competition where anyone and everyone who wants to pay to participate can, local health regulation prohibit teams from serving food to the general public. Which means you have to know a team so you can get invited into their tent to eat and drink. Lucky for us, since I work at such a fab place, I was given access to the local FOX-13 media tent, so Ryan and I were able to feast on some BBQ and enjoy a cold beer. It seemed like people came out of the woodwork for this event, and we look forward to meeting more people here so that next year’s experience is all the better.

Next up on Saturday, to wrap up the Memphis in May festivities, is Sunset Symphony. More music, an air show and fireworks, all watched from the banks of the Mississippi. In the meantime, enjoy some pics from Barbecue Fest:

Just a cookin away



A sampling of the crowd



A booth for a local Memphis team

A Memphian Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers and Mommies-To-Be! In that it is yet another holiday that I'm apart from my family, and the women that really matter on this day, today dawned as just another usual Sunday in the Herschelman-Novess household. Unfortunately, it rained today for what seemed like the fourth weekend in a row, but I guess that just meant it was a good day to sleep in :)

After breakfast, cabin fever must have set in because we decided to take a drive with the pups to scope out a few neighborhoods we may want to buy a house in one day. Ryan and I will be Memphians for years to come; there just seems to be plenty of opportunity for us both here that cannot be passed up. So we might as well start looking now! We found a GREAT neighborhood that I fell in love with, but we'll see. After all, we still have a FL condo in our back pockets ;)

All that driving around made us hungry, so we decided to celebrate our moms by heading to Buffalo Wild Wings where we could watch some golf, eat wings and have a cold beer.

Watching the Players Championship on the big screen. Played in Florida where it was a 100 degrees. Wish we were there!

My handsome man watching golf (and thinking about his mom, of course).

A celebratory drink to the finest and best lady I know, my mom. I miss you SOOO much today and always!

After we got home, my babies decided that their gift to me would be that they would sit still long enough for me to snap a good picture:

My boys

Pretty Kaia

In all, another great day and weekend here in Memphis. And again, Happy Mother's Day to all you deserving ladies out there!

June Just Got a Whole Lot Better

For the first time in 29 years, I was dreading June. Normally, just thinking about June makes me smile. For Pete's sake, who doesn't like this month?! When we were little, it meant freedom from school. When I lived in Michigan, it meant the start of really warm weather. In Florida, I was free from snow-birds, and could enjoy the beaches and restaurants again. And of course, June is my birthday month, and who doesn't like their birthday! But this June...it was going to be a struggle for me.

Part of being a Marine Reservist means you spend about three weeks every summer doing some sort of active duty somewhere around the world. Ryan's unit is going to Africa this June, and he was originally scheduled to leave June 5th, and then he got word last week that he may have to leave as early as May 27th. Here's the kicker- he wasn't scheduled to arrive home until June 30th. That meant I would have had to spend the WHOLE MONTH by myself, on top of worrying about Ryan's safety while he's in a third world country.

However! Yesterday we found out that Ryan is finally going to have surgery for his major sinus problems. For years he's been suffering constant congestion, sneezing, sniffling, cold-like, stuffed up, allergy symptoms. During the day, he's miserable. And at night, I'm miserable (you try sleeping next to someone who can't breathe). This surgery is a blessing! He's finally going to be able to breathe, hear, talk, sound like the rest of us. The surgery will be doing that much for him. It's scheduled for June 4th, which means no Africa trip. And you know what? Selfishly, I'm ok with that. June just got a whole lot better!

Memphis in May

To all you non-Memphians, upon reading the title of this post you may think this entry will be about my take on Spring in Memphis. Or maybe what I plan on doing in this lovely month now that I'm a Tennessean. Wrong, and wrong. Memphis in May means great music. Memphis in May means world-class BBQ. Memphis in May means summertime is upon us!

This weekend was the official kickoff of Memphis in May, a month long celebration of the city's largest events. It all starts with the Beale Street Music Festival, but the celebration also includes World Championship BBQ Cooking Contest and a Sunset Symphony. Translation: a darn fun time to be a Memphian.

Unfortunately, Ryan was in New Orleans this past weekend for his monthly drill. So, we missed out on the musical festival, who's lineup listed Katy Perry, Jack's Mannequin, Rise Against, Al Green, The Roots, Saving Abel, Thriving Ivory, James Taylor, Fall Out Boy, and many others. BUT! I can honestly say I wasn't too bummed we didn't make it to this one. It rained ALLLL WEEKEND (and it still is as I sit here typing). I can think of many other things I'd rather be doing than standing in the rain listening to music. Like laying on my couch catching up on some quality time with my remote. Which is exactly how I spent much of my weekend! (cut me some slack, it was raining, I promise)

Now, that BBQ cookoff...I will NOT be missing out on that one.