Shelby Farms Park

Having two young, energetic boxers, I often thank my lucky stars that Ryan and I live less than five minutes from an off-leash dog park. For those of you dog park naysayers...this is no ordinary park. For starters, it is over 200 acres, and is filled with ponds, wooded areas and open fields for those boxer burns. Second, it's not one of those parks where you take your dog and just watch them wreak havoc with other dogs. This place, called Shelby Farms Park, is just as much a place for Ryan and I as it is for the dogs. We love to walk and be outside, and the dogs get to play in such a unique, open space. I think they get tired just from their little sniffers working overtime, let alone all that running they do.

Since Kaia and Boomer need so much exercise to burn off that boxer energy, we take them to the park every night. And why not? It's such a beautiful time of the year here right now. The grass is green, trees have their leaves and the flowers are blooming with that wonderful springtime aroma. A few Saturdays ago, we spent two hours just walking, letting the dogs play and snapping pics as we went along.

We love going here so much that when friends visited a few weeks back, we took them, too! Carmen and Jay brought their (extremely handsome) black lab, Dallas, who, in true retriever fashion, spent most of his time in the water. Jay would throw the buoy out as far as he could, and Dallas would just charge in after it. Kaia waited patiently at the water's edge, and would try to steal the buoy from him upon his return:


Right now, it's a beautiful, sunny, 85 degree day (YES, you heard me, 85!), and Ryan just called to say he's taking the pups to the park now. No fair, I'm stuck on the wrong side of the window here at work :(

To the Mitten State We Go

Ryan and I (with the doggies) are driving to Michigan this weekend. We're leaving Thursday and coming home Sunday- just a quick jaunt. It's getting to be that time where my girls in MI are starting to get pregnant. Two of my very best friends are preggers right now, and both are due in June. What a good month (ok, I'm a little biased) to have babies! Elesa is due June 13th and Jenny is due more towards the end of the June. I forgot Jen's exact due date; I only remembered Elesa's because it's my birthday! Anyway, the whole point of my trip to MI is because we are having a girls' weekend baby shower at Sarah's. Just us girls- so there will be plenty of laughter, food and good times.

As it turns out, Jen is having a boy, whom she is naming Vincent, and Elesa is having a girl, named Lennan. We are already joking that Lennan and Vince are going to grow up, be inseparable and of course, get married. In fact, they have already had their first kiss. Here's proof:

Jen (w/Vince) and Elesa (w/Lennan)

These are going to be two lucky babies. They both have eight "aunts" who can't wait to meet them and spoil them rotten! Below is a picture of all of us girls, taken at Sarah's wedding. Do I have the prettiest group of girlfriends or what?

Jen, Carmen, Jennette, me, Sarah, Stef, Tracey, Elesa, Leigh

Can't wait to see you girls!

Easter in Memphis

I've very rarely been without family around holidays. When in college, I was only an hour and a half from home. In Florida, for the past seven years, I was lucky to live minutes from my uncle, aunt and cousins. However, since moving to Memphis, it's the first time in my life that there's no family around. Of course I'm not alone. I'm blessed to have Ryan and two great (and spoiled!) dogs. So, we make the most out of our holidays here. We call our families early, and then make the day ours. For Christmas, we were invited to my friend (and co-worker) Donna's house. It was nice to be around a family, even if it wasn't our own. But for this Easter, it's just Ryan and I, and I'm ok with that. We spent the morning just lazing around, and then headed to the grocery store where we got the fixins for a dinner we don't usually have: nice cuts of steak (fillet Mignon!) and shrimp. Ryan, who takes after his dad, cooks amazing food. So tonight we will be dining like royalty!

Happy Easter, everyone! I hope you are enjoying your day as much as I am mine.

Graceland...Finally!

So, when friends were here last week, I finally made it to Graceland! I've been wanting to stop by the second-most-visited-home in the US since I moved here, just didn't want to go by myself! Though three couples visited, only Jennette was interested in going. Luck was on our side because Monday was by far the nicest day of their trip. It was a sunny, beautiful 70 degrees, so we donned our tourist hats and away we went. I'm glad we did because it's now just one more thing I can cross off my list of things to do and see!

Jennette and I, outside Graceland


Outside by Lisa Marie's childhood swing set


Elvis is buried at Graceland, along with his mother, father and grandmother

In all, well worth the $30 ticket, and I wouldn't mind going again one day! Next up on my list...The Memphis Zoo.

WOW! Sham-Wow!

I must say that when it comes to infomercials, the home shopping network and the like, I don't particularly say very often "I must have that!". However- I was completely sold on Sham-Wow within the first five seconds of the 'mercial. I mean, it's a sponge, towel and chamois all in one. Who wouldn't need this? I just had to have one, but of course sensible Ryan said I was crazy.

Well, when my Michiganders were here last weekend, we somehow got talking about the Sham-Wow, and all of us girls proclaimed how much we wanted one. Imagine my surprise when Ryan came home from a beer-run with...you guessed it...a box full of Sham-Wow's! WOW! I'm a lucky lady. And because there were so many in the box, I shared with each of my girls. Here we are proudly holding our newest treasure, note the pure elation and excitement:

It was a good thing we had the Sham-Wow's during our fun-filled weekend. Beer was spilled, a fruit smoothie was tipped over and Kaia threw up. And yes, they do work. Wow, Sham-Wow!