Grady Arrives!

Courtney and I went to meet Grady at the hospital on Monday. Brenda and Jared went to see Obsessed Friday night, Courtney and I were planning on going (months in advance) and our plans changed. Brenda still went and the next day went into labor. Grady was born early Sunday morning and according to Jared, "Brenda got the best epidural and didn't feel anything!" ;) 

Dine out, Fight AIDS..TONIGHT!

Tonight ONLY..eat at any of these restaurants and a portion on your bill will go to Friends for Life Charity to fight AIDS/HIV. Its so easy, just go out and eat! Who wants to join me!?

Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, Automatic Slims, Bari, Barksdale Restaurant, The Beauty Shop, Cafe Society, Central BBQ, Chez Philippe, Ciao Bella, Iterim, The Kitchen on Brookhaven, Lou's, The Majestic, McEwen's, Mollie Fontaine Lounge, Mollie's La Casita, Petra, Restaurant Iris and Skimo's! 

Queen of the Vine and The Great Wine Race

So this was our first time going to The Great Wine Race, and I'm really glad we went. It was A LOT of fun! It was held on Beale Street starting with the parade and entrance of teams. We came to support Brett, who works for Flemming's, but they only participate in the race. So we got to check out all the other teams for the parade, the Queen of the Vine and the Grape Stomp. It was a gorgeous day outside and people watching was excellent. 

The Queen of the Vine contest was crazy! It was like Spring Break. The restaurants get their hottest girl, or craziest one, and get her to dress in next to nothing and shake her rump on stage. Brett told me at Flemming's they don't let the girls ever do this. I was surprised to see Ruth's Chris entering a girl, and she was grinding on another girl when they played music in between. A couple of the girls where cute and deserved to wear their thongs and bikinis, but a few, a few had no shame and needed to spend a little more time in the gym before sharing that much skin with a crowd of over 2000. 

During the Grape Stomp, that was pretty slow, we cooled off at Wet Willies. I had 2 Call a Cabs. Whew! I forgot how great those were!! Engin had a Weak Willie, yep a Weak Willie.  I gotta remember about that place, those drinks are great in the summertime! It's been years since I've been there. 

Engin loves the ladies and got his picture with The Queen of the Vine and the other girl that I thought was cute and coulda won. The Queen represented Red Rooster and the other girl, Kooky Kanouk. 

I caught Tony and Engin checking something or someone out..and this guy had a great save in the race!

Here is Brett bringing home the championship for Flemming's!

Trot for Spot Reminder

If you have a dog REGISTER BY MONDAY MAY 4th to get the $20 entrance fee

If you don't have a dog...come and just enjoy the fun and watch the parade of dogs..get lunch and buy a cute tshirt! The games will be a lot of fun to watch and maybe you will want to adopt one of the 100 dogs that are adoptable and will be participating in the walk! 

Saturday, May 9th 

10am for the warm-up from Jazzercise

10:30 walk begins

11:00 Lunch and Canine Carnival until 2pm

"FIXING" Pet Homelessness

We attended the Mid South Spay/Neuter Services event on Friday at the Madison. Amy Kalkbrenner is the Executive Director and is also a dogwalker at the Humane Society, so of course I was happy to support her cause. We met her great staff as well as the head Vet Iris, who was very nice and had a lot of good stories. This is the only clinic in the Mid South that offers low cost spay/neuter. Here are some facts that I learned. 

2 dogs can create 12,228 family members in 5 years

2 cats can create 11,801 family members in 5 years

The City of Memphis Euthanizes over 12,000 animals per year

That is 36 animals a day!

PLEASE 'FIX' YOUR PETS!! It only takes one time for you dog/cat to get out...

 After the party we walked over to Grill 83 and enjoyed some great salads at the bar. And the bartender attempted to make my Cuban Cortadito! It was pretty good. 

After Grill 83 we met Ben at Rain and he and Tony did some Saki Bombs. I was too tired to participate. Ben was getting excited bc his wife from Peru is finally getting to come to the United States to live with Ben after a year of marriage. That DJ at Rain is great..

No KFC Grilled Chicken in Memphis

There are 10 Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurants in Memphis. KFC wants Memphians even fatter. Aren't we always in the top 5 fattest cities? Well KFC isn't helping. Yesterday was the big "Come try our grilled chicken for free". I looked it up and most of the grilled chicken is 4 grams of fat per piece and 80-180 calories depending. So not that bad right? Well we wont get to try it in Memphis. The only location that will have it is the Bartlett location, which is not that close to me. I guess they either think Bartlett needs to lose weight or Bartlett eats healthily. Anyway I know all this because I of course went to my Cordova KFC to get my free piece and I came out with two fattening chicken strips instead. I insisted I get something free, and dang it smells so good in there!! Whew, its been forever since I've had some good fried chicken, now don't get my started on those biscuits! Now explain to me why they have the KGC (Kentucky Grilled Chicken) boxes!?!?

Andrea's Birthday..and Jennifer's, and Katie's and Avery's...

We went out on Tuesday for Andrea's 32nd birthday. Jennifer's was the Monday before, and Katie and Avery's were the next day, so it was a big birthday celebration on Andrea's actual day We picked up Shannon and Andrea and headed to Silly Goose for their $2 Tuesday's Specials. Well they were somewhat crowded, but no one seemed to want to hurry and get us drinks before our 7pm reservation at Sauces. I was super disappointed, bc we had such a good time here for Valentine's Day. We waited about 20 minutes for our drinks after ordering them, watching the bartender hug female customers and our waitress hang out with other guests.It was so frustrating when you are in a hurry and JUST WANT A DRINK! I guess Silly Goose has turned into a spot where regulars are taken care of and well those of us that live out in the 'burbs and don't frequent everyday, can't get much service. So....we left. Debating on whether or not to try ol Silly Goose again, we will see...We made it to Sauces just in time for their Happy Hour ($5 Mojitos. $3 Wells and $2 Beers) and finally got a drink! I ordered a starter drink of Cranberry/Vodka and a Mojito bc I knew the Mojito would take awhile to make. Pretty good Mojito for north of Miami, better than the last time we were there. After drinks we went downstairs for our meal. Tony and I got the 2 Ribeyes and 2 Sides from the $25 Stimulus Plan Menu. It was wonderful!! It took about 3 hours for 14 people to get through dinner, but it was nice catching up with everyone and well worth it. After dinner we walked a few blocks down the street to Bardog. I have really been wanting to go there, bc I have heard so much about it. It was a small bar with a basement and a couple of nice TV's, good enough to catch a little late NBA action. They had some good drink specials too and we had fun picking out music on the jukebox. I totally remember meeting the owner of the bar whenhe worked at Stella, bc we talked about his American Bulldog, which is Bardog's mascot. He had rescued him and I remember someone else at the bar had rescued a Pit Bull. I don't know why it didn't hit me until I went in there. So now I have to go back and get a Tshirt when they get more sizes in! Can't wait to go back to Bardog. I think all the Birthday people had fun, I know Andrea did! :)

No more Sidekick

Well today is the last official day that I will NOT have two phones. I have cancelled my service with T-Mobile, thus getting rid of my Sidekick. I've had two phones for 4 years. Before that I had a phone and a two-way pager, remember those?..before all the phone texting craze? So after that I got a Sidekick bc it all of my clients had them and it was the best way in keeping in contact with them, I barely used it as a phone, just for texting. Then last year, Sprint came out with the wonderful Blackberry Curve and I got one, making the Sidekick obsolete, but since I was under contract I had to stick with them until today. So no more 901.338.4192 number or kembree@tmail.com email. The Sidekick was great, too bad Danger, the maker of the Sidekick couldn't keep up with the technology out there...bye-bye Sidekick, we had some good times...

Trot for Spot May 9th

Less than two weeks away. You can print registration off memphishumane.org or register at the Humane Society. Please pass along this info to anyone that has a dog, or would like to come check out a fun event with dog games and contests, it will be a lot of fun for all.  All profits benefit the Humane Society! 

Roadside Selling of Dogs is now Illegal

We really need to thank Councilman Strickland who introduced this ordinance. If you want to email and thank him email him at Jim. Strickland@memphisTN.gov So now you can't see dogs being sold at WalMart or on the side of Germantown Parkway without the police being able to issue a fine. They will be charged $50 per animal, court cost, no business licence fees and zone violation fees. This is a huge victory for animals since all of our shelters are overcrowded and these people no longer can make a quick buck. Thanks to everyone that wrote letters and supported this ordinance. 

And with the 18th Selection the Denver Broncos Select..

Robert Ayers from UT goes 18th in the first round..yep Tony and I are glued to the NFL draft..Another first rounder from UT! 

Exotic Mushrooms and Tennessee Wine

A couple weeks ago, Randy and Diane had us over for dinner. Before we ate Randy wanted to show off his latest find in his back yard. Randy and Diane live about a mile from us, but their house is next to a nature preserve and a small lake. So they always have cool things in their backyard from deer, to exotic bird and now to exotic mushrooms. I don't eat mushrooms, but these did look very interesting. Randy and Diane looked them up and thought that they might be the famed Morel or Morchella Mushroom. There are lots of sites on this type of mushroom and they are very expensive. Apparently they have quite a few in their backyard, so if anyone knows how to cook them properly let me know and I will get you some. 

After examining the Morels, we had a delicious dinner prepared by Diane and some good Tennessee wines to go with it all. We had brought over some from Stonehaus that we got in Crossville over Thanksgiving. It was a nice sweet Homestead White. Randy had just done some work in Paris and we had a nice Merlot. I will say that these were two great wines and hey we were supporting our state economy right? 

Come Celebrate The Growth Tonight...

A great event for a great cause, the only non-profit spay/neuter clinic in the city. Such an important thing to have your pets spayed and neutered. 

"This bed is just right", says Lane

Ok, so I feel like I'm telling a children's story here. Two dogs = Two dog beds. They both like the same (old) bed. Lane the newer dog right, supposed to respect Lennox the older dog, but no. "Move over Lennox, I want to sit here!", says Lane. Keep in mind, Lennox and Lane both weigh around 70 lbs each.

"I am going to lay down and sleep right here such a good spot!", Lane says. 

Perfectly good bed with no one on it at all. 

You get on the newer bed, no you get on the newer bed.

Lane gets his way and gets the bed to himself.

Lennox finally gets on the newer bed.

I love these Croutons!

OMG! These are the best croutons! Loren served them when we had dinner over there last month and I am now addicted to these croutons! I know croutons are such a minor food item, but this flavor Sea Salt and Pepper makes a salad so tasty..more like a restaurant salad then one from home. You know how its hard to make a good salad at home, its hard to have all the right toppings, but get these and you will see..Just a random thought for you today...