Wednesday, January 27, 2010

For the FIRST time in THREE months..

Actually the first time ever! In our old house my car was the only one in the garage! We worked out tails off today. It was such a pretty day and I was really determined to do this. Yep exactly three months and after box after box..moving, throwing away, making a garage sale pile..WE DID IT!!

Fire at Pet's Choice Vet Clinic

Please be thinking about Dr. Shaw, the vet who saved Savior, there was a bad fire at his clinic last night, one pit bull lost its life...so sad.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Top 5 on the BBQ Tour through 20 stops





Diane's Top 5
1. Interstate
2. A & R
3. Tom's
4. Bar-B-Q Shop
5. Payne's













Randy's Top 5

1. Interstate
2.Toms
3.Bar-B-Q Shop
4. A & R
5. Payne's







Brett's Top 5

1. Bar-B-Q Shop
2. A & R
3. Interstate
4. Captain John's
5. Blue's City Cafe







Regina's Top 5

1. Interstate
2. Neely's
3. Tom's
4. Bar-B-Q-Shop
5. Payne's












Kembree's Top 5
1. Payne's
2. Cozy Corner
3. Interstate
4. Tom's
5. TIE Old Style Bar-B-Q/A &R








Courtney's Top 5

1. Tom's
2. A & R
3. Payne's
4. BarbaRosa's
5. TIE Central and Captain John's










Tony's Top 5
1. Cozy Corner
2. Payne's
3. Old Style Bar-B-Q
4. Neely's
5. Interstate









Remember this is our top 5 out of the first 10 we visited. If you want to review where we have been. Click on BBQ on Labels...

Monday, January 25, 2010

The Purrrrfect Evening-lounge style

Let me know if you need more info. The $75 for the ticket will spay or neuter 3 feral cats here in Memphis. What a great way to spend your Valentine's and REALLY give back to the community!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Wonder if this would work in Memphis?

Hmmmm...wonder if we should adopt a campaign like this!? It might work..worth a try as long as cats and dogs are getting fixed!

Shamus and Ariel's Wedding..

It was a clear, but windy day, so Ariel and Shamus got to have their wedding outside with the golf course as the back drop. Grandma Brown was escorted by Adrian. Don't the Brown boys look so handsome? I wasn't a fan of the Ivory tuxes at first, but with them all together I thought it looked nicer than I thought. I will admit that. These guys would look good in anything really.

Kaleb was adorable! I can't believe at 17 months we walked down that aisle alone. He did a great job.

The kiss seals it!

I look so windblown here, but had to get a picture with this cute little boy!

This one actually turned out nice of us.

Tony giving his Best Man speech. He did a great job!

Shamus, Tonya and Tony

Cutting the cake..always have to get a picture of the cake!


I'm still a single lady right!?!?!

This partition outside the reception became the area where everyone took shots like they were in the club..


The end of the night...it was a fun night! Whew..we were tired!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Pre Wedding Ariel and Shamus

We went to Cracker Barrel for the rehearsal lunch...the party practiced for a few hours and I met them at the restaurant. We got some time with Tony's nephew Kaleb and Tonya really enjoyed all the whipped creme for her hot chocolates.



Later that night we got to eat some yummy sushi at Ronin, which I was so happy to find near our hotel. The last time we were in Daytona we ate at Aunt Catfish, which was super country. This place was totally trendy and a place we would hang out in Memphis.

After dinner we hosted the party in our room and got in major trouble with our neighbors...ooops! The crazy guy next door came in with his 5 year old daughter in pajamas to tell us they were having to move rooms. Well...go on then! I couldn't believe we had that many people in our room, but it was nice for Tony's family to all get to be together after so many years.


Tikia was celebrating her 30th birthday and made sure to tell me that she doesnt mind what pictures I post and where, bc she doesnt care! :) Love that! Live your life!



The next day as Tony practiced more and got ready for the wedding, I took a long walk on the beach...I saw a lot of sites...




Thursday, January 21, 2010

Orlando for the day...

We flew into Orlando on Friday instead of Daytona Beach this time. Tony's brother lives in Port Orange right outside of Daytona and we like to stay in Daytona Shores. The plane is bigger and the flight is a nonstop into Orlando, so we did it this time. We had some fabulous seafood at Fulton's in Downtown Disney. I really wanted to check out Disney or Universal Studios, but its almost $80 each to go...and since it was already an expensive trip on MLK holiday weekend, we decided to just hang out and walk around Downtown Disney. The ladies at the airport kept suggestion Holy Land, and I couldn't understand what they were saying. We kept asking..until we passed Holy Land, and yep that's what they were saying! The cute birds above were hanging around on the boat/restaurant we were eating in. Did I mention how good the food was? Ahhh fresh Florida seafood! YUM...
My nephew Brayden is just SOOO into Legos, well we went to the Lego's Store were I got him some cute stuff and took pictures with all the lego creations. Here I am with Lego Jesse (for you Kelly) and the rest of the dog walking crew...reminds me of my dog walking days at the Humane Society...shout out to my Wednesday group!

So we were walking around all the stores and in the window there were 'bride' and 'groom' ears. Well they were out of the bride ones, so I had to deal with the Ed Hardy version. Gosh you can buy ANYTHING Disney in these stores..its amazing.

20th Stop on the tour... Blues City Cafe

We went to Blues City Cafe on Sunday August 8th. Tony and I had just gotten engaged, so it was a fun atmosphere with the Johnny Cash cover band singing "Ring of Fire" to us and making it all fun for us. Kelly and Loren joined in on the fun too!









Brett's Review: This place was a lot of fun. I believe we were the only locals
in there. I have lived in Memphis my entire life and have never been there. Honestly I didn't realize they even had bbq. However, their ribs were fantastic. I'm more of a dry rib fan, which they don't sell, but if you are looking for wet ribs I'd definitely recommend you go there. The live entertainment, a guy who looked like Phil Spector and Bob Dylan's love child and sang like Johnny Cash was great. The service was very good as well. To sum it all up, this is a touristy spot and because of that, I probably wouldn't go back, but they definitely send tourists home talking about how good Memphis BBQ (which is traditionally dry is. BCC is a 4.5 out of 5 for me.

Regina's Review: Since ribs were the only offering on a Sunday evening Rhea and I split a slab. I am glad the sauce was on the side because I did not like it. I liked the way the ribs had some charred pieces from the grill, they had a nice smokey flavor and were not overcooked. There were tons of French fries and a one little ramekin of slaw and one little ramekin of beans. I like my beans and slaw and would have preferred more even thought they were a little doctored up and the canned variety. Rhea was not impressed, he thought the ribs were greasy. He liked the sauce and loved the fries so I guess he didn't leave hungry.

Courtney's Review: For a touristy joint on Beale St, I thought Blues City served pretty good BBQ...or I should say ribs and rib neat because they don't do offer pork shoulder on the weekend. We started with the sausage plate and the sausage was really good. Good amount of spice and I loved the BBQ dipping sauce they served with it. I ordered the salad topped with rib meat and it was delicious. The meat provided so much flavor that I didn't even need to add the dressing. I would definitely order that again.

Kembree's Review: The atmosphere was perfect. It was very touristy, but that is what we were coming into. I too had the ribs, not a lot of choice on the bbq end of things..but I did like them. I don't like the fatty parts or having to pull them off with your teeth and meat getting all stuck in there, so these fall off the bone, kinda greasy ribs were pretty
darn good to me! The fries were good too. I think if you want a fun atmosphere with live music come, but don't count on this place as the best in town, the best atmosphere with bbq on the side. They didn't have enough 'que' on the menu really to give it a ranking as we have had so far on the 'tour'. I give Blues City a 3.5.

Randy's Review: I found the ribs to be a little 'too falling off ' the bone. The smoked taste was good, but excessively wet and greasy. In retrospect I feel they were properly prepared for wet ribs, but they couldn't overcome the lesser quality of the cut of the ribs (too much
fat). The venue was great, the music was entertaining and the company, it goes without saying, was superb. Blues City functions well to its intent; a place for tourists to eat what is told is
'Memphis Barbeque' and listen to the blues.

Diane's Review: I was disappointed in not being able to try the barbeque sandwich; however the ribs were pretty good. The were too greasy and wet to taste. I like the crisper and drier ones. They weren't objectionable. I felt the place was a bit of a tourist trap because of its proximity to downtown. All in all, I had rather be a tourist and seek out Rendevous for the ribs that I have had before, not on our tour.

Tony's Review: We had a good time at Blues City Cafe. I usually get the ribs and these
were all right. The flavor was good, but not the best ones, I think these are boiled and just ready because they came out way to fast. I would give them a 3 out of 5.