Yummy

You can have your home baked bread and other foodie fineries. In MY version of heaven, there is always the smell of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls baking.

And West Tennessee BBQ cooking. And my dad’s hamburgers on the grill.

There is also a never-empty casserole dish of my mom’s asparagus casserole. And billions of my grandmother’s pecan pies, and it’s perfectly okay if I eat all the pecans off the top if I want to.

Blogger Mini-Meetup (And a Hometown Observation)

So Friday night I met up with Scout and her friend at that old standby of mine, Cafe Ole’ in Cooper-Young. I had been working and not had anything to eat all day so I indulged in fajitas for dinner, while the two of them just snacked on some chips & dip, since they had been snacking down at the big annual BBQ contest on the river all day (who eats crawfish at the Memphis BBQ contest?!? Scout!!!! Ha!!!).

We had a great time chatting and lots of laughs, and she is, indeed, sweet as can be and just absolutely fascinating. And it’s always fun to hang out with folks from “back home” (our hometowns are about a half hour away from each other) who know this place and that place and, sometimes, some of the same people (much like ‘Coma, who used to work with my cousin Jay way back when). Hopefully we’ll get a chance to hang out again and spend a little longer time next time, either down here or maybe over some coffee at Jack’s Java in my hometown, since Scout’s a big fan of that fine establishment.

Always kind of both weird and comforting really being out and about in public back home, maybe mostly a small town thing. It’s always kind of strange running into someone you literally haven’t seen since third grade or seventh grade, and they just say, “Hey, Lynnster,” (well, they don’t say Lynnster, but you get it) like you just saw ‘em last week.

Anyway, next up for meeting – Finn. Whether up there in Nashville or sometime when she’s visiting West Tennessee, at least before the end of the year, I hope!

Food for Thought

I wanted to hurry up and get this food meme done because I was tagged by Merrie Olde England’s most ardent Big Orange supporter, The Vol Abroad, who is likely going to be going into labor just about any minute now, so I wanted to finish this before she winds up knee-deep in nappies and such and still has time to read.

This one’s all about your five fave places to go out to eat in your own general locale. I find myself kind of grasping here because most unfortunately, nearly all of my very favorite locally owned, non-chain places in the metro Memphis area have closed – some long closed now, some relatively recently. Cafe Roux, The Fish Market, vegetarian joint Babylon Cafe, and five legendary Memphis haunts – Gallina’s (Italian spinach to die for), the Buntyn Restaurant (Southern home cooking and the best yeast rolls ever), and Captain Bilbo’s, Pappy & Jimmie’s, and Anderton’s (all seafood) – all gone.

So here are my five still alive & well in Memphis:

1. Paulette’s on Overton Square in Midtown - Best Sunday brunch ever, with the world’s most delicious crepes of all kinds, strawberry butter for your croissants, and what would Sunday brunch be in the South without a Mimosa? (Well, unless you’re doing the Bloody Mary thing.) Brunch is awesome, though I pretty much have crepes of some sort there no matter what time of day it is.
2. Cafe Ole’ in Cooper-Young – The ex and I dined there the first week it was open (now quite a long time ago) and for a few years after probably ate there once a week at least. It’s still a fave place to go and fave meet-up place for me, having met up there with Hutchmo, and ‘Coma & Squirrelly on a couple of different occasions last winter. One of the reasons we used to go so often in the early years was because it is very vegetarian-friendly and was a fave of a vegetarian friend of ours, and my mom and I used to go pretty much anytime she was in town (for the shrimp, see next sentence). Decent Mexican Tex-Mex type fare, and the bacon-wrapped stuffed shrimp are to die for.
3. Huey’s (all over but the original is in Midtown) – Legendary in all its dive-y goodness, anyone who lives in or visits Memphis regularly will likely regale you with the virtues of the Huey Burger if asked. It’s one of those things that people just tend to crave. Whether the original or one of the many variations, it’s dependable – you can always count on it to be exactly the same every time. The potato soup is also excellent, and they had stuffed jalapenos before everyone and their brother and the grocery started carrying them, and these are done RIGHT (though the East End Grill’s are pretty great too).
4. Brother Juniper’s College Inn off the Highland Strip – I actually haven’t been here in quite some time, but that’s mainly because I am rarely up in time for breakfast, which is what anyone should go for. It opens at 6:30 a.m. now, but I think back in the days when the ex and I used to hit it for breakfast it was open even earlier; it was a frequent stop before long road trips for us, including when we drove to Kansas City to see the Hoodoo Gurus in ’91. The breakfast fare is just so indescribably good, I couldn’t even begin to tell you. The biscuits – you would not believe.
5. The Rendezvous, Downtown, and Corky’s (several locations, but the original on Poplar in East Memphis) – I’m cheating here by putting two restaurants here but (A) surely I couldn’t do this without mentioning BBQ, and (B) I am partial to both. And lots of you outside of Memphis are familiar with Corky’s since it has branched out to many other locations statewide and nationally and therefore it’s actually a chain now, but since it’s a Memphis original, I’m keeping it here. It’s my meme and I can do what I want! So anyway, yeah. I love both for different reasons – for dry ribs made with dry rub, I prefer the Rendezvous; wet ribs with lotsa sauce, Corky’s. And the Rendezvous is a Memphis legend and has been there forever and the atmosphere is pure Memphis, you just can’t beat it. I love to take first-time visitors to Memphis to both when possible.

Now here’s where I make up two more of my own categories, because I can:

Honorable mention of places I’ve been to: Zinnie’s East in Midtown – for the spinach nachos, which I haven’t had in a very long time but now my mouth is watering just thinking about them. If you’re a spinach lover, you won’t be disappointed. Yum.

Honorable mention of places I’ve not yet been to: Memphis Pizza Cafe on Overton Square, Midtown (other locations too) – Practically everyone I know, including Lesley, loves it and I’ve been thinking for years I’d get down there eventually, but just never have. Maybe sometime when Lesley is in town again I’ll break my missing streak on this one and we’ll meet up there for lunch.

OK, so now that we’re basically done, here are the actual rules and regulations for this particular meme:

1. Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you (if you get tagged for it, you can probably copy and paste it to make things easier – I did). Include the state/city and country you’re in:

Nicole Tan (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, USA)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
Yianna (Athens, Greece)
Melusina (Thessaloniki, Greece)
Vol Abroad (London, England)
Lynnster (Memphis, Tennessee, USA)

2. List your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location with as much or as little info as you’d like to share. (See above.)

3. Tag five other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.

Since I’m interested in places I might wanna check out someday (who knows!) or already hit on occasion, I’m gonna tag five people I know stop by here fairly often and are from different places, and going to just choose one Nashville/Middle Tennesseean. Most of my Nashville area friends seem to be hot spicy food fans (which I wish I could but cannot do) so I’m just going to select somebody else at random, and skip East Tennessee altogether (no offense but I already am familiar enough up there). Take your time if you get tagged, no hurry. Here goes:

1. Megan can probably tip me off to some good Nashville/Middle Tennessee spots.
2. Churlita (I might need to know where’s good to go in Iowa, you never know)
3. Margaret (seeing as how I am in Birmingham rather frequently tho not as much lately, good info to have on hand tho)
4. Kathy P. (traveling to St. Louis is always a possibility when you live down here)
5. And Sara to cover the Wild Wild West.

Looking for a Yummy Investment? Get a Piece of Nashville’s Finest BBQ Joint

As mentioned in the previous post, Nashville blogger fave Mothership BBQ is on the verge of closing its doors.

Location has always been an issue, being on a side street in Berry Hill that just doesn’t get much drive-by traffic at all. Here in Memphis, where BBQ is the only other King besides Elvis, I don’t think our major BBQ places could survive without being in a good location for driving weekday business lunch traffic (or within walking distance downtown for the lunchtime crowd), plus most are in fairly high traffic areas anyway, day or night. I’m sure most do well in the evenings too, but the lunch crowds are probably the meat (pun intended) of the business for many.

Other factors include zoning laws that disallow beer being sold at the establishment. In Memphis, no cold brew with your ‘cue would be flatly unheard of and probably result in a riot.

Jim has found a location in Nashville that is available, where he can sell beer, and that is in a high-traffic area where folks are lined up out the door at lunchtime at other restaurants in the area, among many other improvements. The faithful regular crowd of bloggers and their families, as well as other regulars, will most certainly follow him to his new location as well. There are people in the Nashville area who eat there every single week and some, multiple times a week. This great place, which has gotten consistently excellent reviews and publicity since it opened, has a definite and loyal following, but a move to the new location would likely increase that regular crowd immensely, and bring in new customers constantly.

I’ll let him tell you the rest about the situation and the fine details, just click here.

And here’s a brand new update to the above from Jim with some more specific details. Be sure and read both for a look at the big picture.

In any case, if you’re always looking for potential investments or know someone who might be interested, I urge you to get in touch with Jim ASAP and find out more. Fondly known among the Nashville blogging community as Knuck, Jim’s a good, straight up, and honest guy who always just tells it like it is, which he did on the Mothership’s blog this week. And if you’re interested in possibly investing in Nashville’s best BBQ, he’s got lots more information to share and can answer any questions you may have.

The details are on the Mothership BBQ blog or you can contact Jim directly at (615) 269-7150.

I can guarantee you that if you are interested and can help save the Mothership, you can count on having not only the constant and consistent business, but also undying gratitude, of a bunch of Nashville and other Tennessee bloggers – a group in number that is already large and consistently growing, and reaches across the entire state – their families and friends, and some other regulars (like a top news dude in Nashville who I hear eats there constantly) – as well as many other new regular customers, I’m sure, that just haven’t found the place yet due to its location issues.

Thanks for reading!

A Tiny Coyote Cat Pants Chronicles Weekend

I started this post about last weekend days ago and it somehow turned into the Great (?) American Novel, plus it took me five billion years to e-mail to myself and download all of my crummy cell phone pictures from the weekend the other night. And many of you have already read everyone else’s accounts of the weekend anyway, so now by the time I’ve gotten around to posting mine, it’ll be like old news. Or it’s been so long now, you can just pretend you didn’t read about it before and it’s brand new news. Or whatever. (And by the time I get around to posting about my L.A. trip, it’ll be like ancient history before dinosaurs roamed the earth, apparently.)

So most everyone else has written about the weekend more beautifully than I ever will, but since I got home so late Sunday night and have been going like mad all week long, and haven’t really had a chance to share much other than all of our (mostly mine & Ivy’s) drunken Twitter posts, and had the crummy cell phone pics to share (most of which Ginger and Squirrelly have the same pics, only better and less blurry), here goes.

I actually started off my day with lunch at the Mothership, and arrived only to be pleasantly surprised by who all had shown up, some of whom I knew were coming (Kerry Woo, Ivy, and the famous Mrs. Katherine Coble), some of whom had been maybes (Lesley), some I had no idea were coming and was so pleased to see (Malia & David and their kids, as well as Malia’s sister and fellow Nashville blogger Emily, who I’d not had the pleasure of meeting in the past, so that was great). Mr. Ivy and all three of the kids were there as well, and I’d not met hubby nor Ivy’s eldest before so that was cool too. Then the pleasant surprise of all surprises appeared when Sarcastro showed up with baby in tow, who is just so tiny and adorable and was so very good and pleasant and darn near silent, contrary to his father’s previous reports regarding the largesse and lengthy duration of the little angel who I never heard make a peep’s noise level. I should have thought to take some pictures there, especially of the baby (and ESPECIALLY of a nervous about holding babies Kat holding the baby, but she did great). But I’m not sure they would have come out, as there was some discussion about whether or not the child might in truth be a vampire. But it was the middle of the day, so probably not.

As always, it was great to see Knuck as well, and I truly enjoyed my first ever Mothership BBQ eating experience, having had the combo plate (with the pulled pork requested Kerry Woo style – I love my BBQ a bit crispy as well), the legendary crack-n-cheese, and the also legendary pinto beans – which I don’t generally like pinto beans but just as everyone had been telling me, these were great. And a special thanks to Knuck for donating the end-of-the-day veggies for our chick thing in the country. I was also extra glad I made it for lunch this weekend as, unbeknownst to me at the time I was there, it may be closing very soon. NIT bloggers may not just be Bloggers Without Borders, but Bloggers Without BBQ soon, and that is very sad. If you’re a potential investor who might be interested in helping expand this restaurant business into a better location, get in touch with Jim at the Mothership.

I missed seeing my Sista this trip, who was unable to make it for lunch or for the festivities at Chez Mack, and also hated missing Finn again, who was planning to come but got tied up unexpectedly. Hopefully next trip we’ll make up for it, ladies. Didn’t get to meet up with Smiley this trip either, which sucks, but he was in Sewanee this weekend and I could never begrudge anyone any opportunity to spend time on my favorite Tennessee mountain. Also missed seeing Hutchmo, who was my original planned lunch partner for the occasion and opted to go see baseball in Florida instead, but that was quite all right – I know better than to attempt to separate Hutch from his baseball, and he’ll just owe me another lunch or dinner anyway, heh.

Next, after what was a rather amusing shopping adventure on Thompson Lane, we headed out to Casa Mack. Ivy and Kat rode out with me and our short little road trip was probably one of my favorite parts of the weekend. You just can’t ride in a car with BadBadIvy and Kat Coble for 45 minutes and NOT have an absolute blast, I dare you to try. I’d have been perfectly satisfied with how my weekend had gone if it had all ended there – but wait! There’s more!!!

Most of the details have been outlined many other places so I’ll not rehash every single thing, but I will say that Mack and Aunt B. just totally outdid themselves planning and providing this little soiree celebrating the female contingent of Tiny Cat Pants regulars. In fact, I hesitate to even call it a “little” soiree because it really was not – THIS WAS HUGE! Tee hee. Who knows, maybe this was a test run and Mr. Mack has evil plans of kidnapping us all for his future harem – there was some discussion of everyone going and getting tattooed (after a few more drinks, of course), and it was just a little bit suspicious that Mack had “a place down the road” where we could all go and get ‘em done “right now”, I’ll say that much. But no, we all escaped – this time.

I kid – Mack was a wonderfully gracious host, abundantly so, and I appreciate more than they’ll ever know all that he and our kind hostess B. did to put this together. I had such a great time, and I am totally in love with Mack’s cabin and want to live there, and the woods, and the creek, and everything in the vicinity. And I also want his three awesome dogs while I’m at it. And a majority of the cool stuff he has around all over the place.

But seriously, Mack’s place is exactly the kind of place that my betrothed and I hope to have some day, probably with more mountain and less farmwork, but we could totally live in that cabin and I may have to steal some building ideas if we ever have a chance to build. It is a lovely, lovely place.

The food was incredible and people had brought enough to feed a couple of armies. I hate that I was unable to fully enjoy the real honest-to-goodness tamales Mack had procured from his connection, but I am wimpy about super hot spicy food and I took one bite and almost had a stroke, but no doubt they were unbelievable if you can handle the hot stuff.

And just as with the food, the company was totally incredible and amazing. Besides oh-so-generous and gracious Mack and the awesome Aunt B. (and can I just stop right here and say B.’s new haircut is just as cute as can be and so flattering and suits her so well), there were so many wonderful folks, many of whom I have met before and know well, several who I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time. I was somewhat awed by and felt as if I were in the presence of Tiny Cat Pants royalty meeting the legendary The Professor and equally legendary and veteran commenter NM, who were both just adorable and a hoot. I have heard much good about how wonderful and hilarious SaraClark is, and those rumors were totally true. And I was especially pleased to finally meet the world’s most awesome medical librarian, Rachel, who I have had many many e-mail conversations with but had had yet to meet in person, and am happy to report she is just the most cute and adorable little thing and so pleasant and funny. Those librarian types are wild party animals, don’t let anybody tell you any different!

Then there were all those I know but was equally happy to see, like Ginger, who is always so much fun to hang out with AND makes maybe the best mac & cheese I have ever eaten in my entire life (apologies to Knuck, but Ginger’s M&C is pretty unbelievable stuff, man). Malia, who I’d seen earlier at the ‘Ship but was thrilled to see again, and is such a nice person and whose always-gorgeous hair I totally wish I had. Kate O’, who is such a sweetheart and hilarious and is just one of those wonderful kinds of people who once you’ve met her, it’s like you’ve known her for years and years. KathyT, who is always just so warm and welcoming and you just can’t help but love her to death. The aforementioned Kat Coble, who I was thrilled to finally get to spend more time with getting to know this trip (we got to talk for maybe 30 seconds last time I was in town) and is just an absolute pleasure to know, fun and funny! And the also aforementioned Ivy, who was her usual meek and mild, quiet as a mouse self (yeahsureright)… good lord, I wish Ivy lived with me ‘cos not only would I be laughing my ass off 24/7, but I would be able to get my house finally clean and in order once and for all. As you already saw, Ivy and I were doing quite a bit of Twittering Under the Influence throughout the evening. And last but never least, my fellow West Tennessee sisters, Newscoma and The Squirrel Queen, who are just the most fab and made the party complete.

Another big high point for me was meeting the lovely and friendly and pleasant Mrs. Mack – she had had to work that night, otherwise I would have loved to have been able to hang out with her ‘cos she seems really cool – and Mack’s kids, who I had met before but not really spent much time around, are just awesome and two of the nicest kids you’ll ever meet. But I’ll let Mack keep his kids when I usurp his estate for myself, I just want the dogs.

There were times it was a little hard for me to hear everything and everyone around me ‘cos it was just pretty much non-stop talking and laughter the whole time, which was great – but as near-deaf as I am after so many years of loud music, when I wind up in a group that big and it gets kind of noisy it’s really hard for me to follow everything sometimes, but there was just so much funny and hilarious stuff going on the whole time it really didn’t matter – I’m surprised I didn’t fracture a rib or three from laughing so hard and so much. And even whatever I didn’t hear or hear well, it really didn’t matter – the friendship and fellowship and the whole experience of it all was the same and wonderful.

So, the rest of y’all that were there but didn’t crash overnight missed one of the best parts of all, which was something only ‘Coma and Squirrelly and myself were treated to the next morning – Mack made us the most awesome delicious waffles for breakfast that were just divine! I think I will keep him around as a cook when I take over his estate.

I also saw a bigass Cottonmouth swimming in the creek, which was not so divine – I’m not wild about snakeage – but he was kinda cool to look at, and I was standing on the wooden bridge above him and out of harm’s way so that was okay.

If you want to see better photos (many of the same shots but with better cameras than my crummy cell phone camera), check out Ginger’s, who has the BEST pic of Aunt B. with the Campfield toilet seat (bwahahaha), and Squirrelly’s (who outdid herself with the graphics once again, that banner is so rad).

Leaving Mack’s on Sunday, I didn’t make a turn I should have and wound up in Goodlettsville, but finally found my way back to I-40 and westward and traveled to my Mom’s, where we went out for a yummy lunch and to look around at some cars. Got back to Memphis really late and the rest of the week has been a real bear, but that’s all right

Anyway, a very special and grand weekend, and much thanks to Mack & B for making it all happen. It was awesome and memorable, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.

Mothershipping

Just a quick note that at least a few people will be enjoying delicious Mothership BBQ for lunch – and each other’s company – tomorrow (Saturday) around noonish, so if you’re so inclined, come on down and join us. The WonderDawg, K-Co, Ivy, Finn, and I, and maybe Paul C., will be partaking, and whoever else shows up. Possibly Lesley will join us for a nice vegetarian plate of crack-n-cheese as well.

Grace, I would about pay you to show up and meet Knuck in person, but I don’t wanna spoil you guys’ comment dating or anything…

Arrrgh. Just Arrgh.

ARRRGH. I know everyone that still bothers to read here is tired of reading me griping. I’M tired of reading me griping. It’s probably going to last a little longer, though. All of this post-wreck car stuff and insurance stuff has turned my brain to mush, and I can just barely deal with blogging right now, I’m so whacked out. I just want to go stand somewhere and scream for about ten hours, and this is one of those times it would be nice to live more conveniently to Hooterville so I could go stand in Newscoma’s corn field or whatever the hell kind of field it is she has up there that’s so good for standing and screaming in, and I would do it.

It has really just been one thing after another over and over, and I’m tired of it. I was actually pretty satisfied – not only satisfied but very happy – with my insurance company until I learned yesterday that my rental car coverage is now over. I wouldn’t be so annoyed, except for the fact I asked at least twice, if not three times, about the timeframe of that. So now, not only have they left me hanging when I have plans for the weekend, but BECAUSE I had asked about the timeframe and thought they were covering that longer, guess what? I hadn’t really even seriously looked at replacement vehicles yet because we thought there was still plenty of time to do so! So now I’m stuck, in a major crunch, and pissed.

I think it’s all going to work out eventually but that just made things a much bigger pain than they already were, and it’s just been one thing after another and every little thing and I’m just, like, enough already. Tired of it. And there’s plenty of other things upsetting my little apple cart of life besides this car stuff right now, so I’m just really unhappy with a ton of stuff right now. But I will be SO glad when there is just SOME resolution, whatever it’s going to be, to this car junk. It was a tremendous headache I really didn’t need on top of all other frustrations with many other things right now.

And my brain really has turned to mush, even more so in the last couple of days that I have looked at ALL this new car stuff and used car stuff and more car stuff . Ugh. You know, all of my friends that ever moved to New York, the first thing they did just about was get rid of their cars. That would be SO nice. I thought car prices were getting a little ridiculous already back in the prehistoric times when I first started driving, but they’re just outrageous now. It’s insane. Necessary for the most part in this area (especially when you have responsibilities out of town), but insane.

I’m trying to look on the bright side of things if there is one, and I guess it stands to reason that I have had a car, and then two cars, neither of which I was very comfortable with driving out of town for various reasons for a few years now. So I don’t know that I’d go so far to say this was all a blessing in disguise, but there’s that. I just really wasn’t ready to start having to take on car payments again and late model car insurance and all that, but oh well, guess that decision got made for me.

And the IRS just screwed me so much it was insane, and then other things going on too – I just really could beat my head on the desk right now. That is, if I didn’t already still have a knot on my head from the wreck. At least the remaining black eye is finally going away.

What DOESN’T seem to be going away is our new little visitor. Which, you know, when you already have a bunch of pets, you don’t really notice another mouth to feed, so big deal, even though I really wish his owners would turn up. But if they don’t, we’ll manage. He really is very sweet but he’s completely psycho. He’s even wearing Quincy out (which is kind of poetic justice) wrestling and banging around the house playing with Quince. And he’s so funny looking. He’ll certainly make for humorous blog fodder and photos if he’s gonna stick around.

He’s also probably going to have a slight name change if he sticks around. His name was Tokyo, but there’s a Hoodoo Gurus song called “Tojo”, and I had a cat for 16 years that was named after a Replacements song, so it’s only fitting that this one gets a Gurus name, really.

Oh, and Buster and Petey apparently tried to kill each other while I was gone overnight this weekend, but though Buster’s fur is a nice shade of faded blood right now, I can’t find a wound on either of them except for a small one on Petey. Petey has a tendency to hurt his mouth when he gets too rough so that’s probably where the blood came from, but I really didn’t need to be scared to death like that when I got home Sunday night. But they’re fine, as they always are. And I was glad to see no signs of Bruiser having gotten into it, since he so often ends up inadvertently in the middle when he had nothing to do with it. Buster is just mad at the world because he’s smaller than his brothers and apparently hates Petey because he’s the biggest, and he and Petey are constantly growling at each other. Bruiser growls too, sometimes, but he really doesn’t know what he’s growling about.

So there you go, my big lame update for the moment. I know there’s lots more extremely important stuff going on in the world this week but I’m not even going to begin to address all that, many more people already have and so much better than I would have anyway.

One thing that IS important is that there will be at least a few of us having lunch at the Mothership this Saturday around noonish – nothing formal or planned, I just know Hutch and K-Co and I will be there, and maybe Finn, and I dunno who else – but if you want to join us for some BBQ or crack-n-cheese, come on down. We’ll probably be there until Knuck kicks us out at two-ish.

Now excuse me while I go bang the uninjured back side of my head against the nearest wall for a while. ARRRGH.

Only In Dreams… Strange Stuff

In the course of a very brief little catnap I took today during my usual afternoon break, I dreamed that Knuck was my attorney, and we had just come from the Governor’s office and were on the way to Washington to see “some friends that would take care of things”. What things? I don’t know. It was a 10-minute nap. I’m not making any of this up.

I wish I could have stayed asleep longer to find out the rest of what happened. Perhaps we were going to see President Smiley and Vice-President Woo. Maybe we had just come from Governor Hutchmo’s office? Meeting with Secretary of State Sarcastro?

I have never had a blogger dream before. That was pretty weird. What it all means, I’ve no idea, other than the fact that still I am craving BBQ but what that has to do with legalities and politics, I dunno.

I haven’t posted much this week because I have been absolutely and completely exhausted all week long. Catch y’all if I ever wake up once I go to bed tonight…

The Trip – Better Late Than Never

I’ve been meaning to post about my trip up to Nashville and the Mothership for Sarcastro’s baby shower a few weeks ago for a while now, oops. This has been so very delayed but better late than never, I suppose. It was mucho fun and so great to meet everyone in person that I hadn’t yet met.

The day started off horribly, though, before I even left Memphis and Shelby County. I am habitually late anyway (for anyone who hasn’t figured that out yet) but I was actually running pretty close to on time that day, until I got out to I-40 and to my horror, traffic was not just slowed but stopped due to a wreck. There’s nothing worse than being stopped in traffic with no other option of getting off or taking another route around when you’ve got to be somewhere at a certain time. That doesn’t really happen in Memphis that often, at least not for long, so it’s doubly irritating when it does. I know people in places like Atlanta and D.C. and such deal with it every day and repeatedly. That would drive me crazy.

Anyway, once I finally extricated myself from the traffic mess and moseyed on my way to Nashville, I wound up hitting the Mothership about an hour later than originally planned, which irked me since that would have been an extra hour to spend talking with more folks, though I think I managed to at least say hello to almost everyone there and chat for a minute or two. I hope I didn’t miss anyone and I hope nobody thought I was being stuck up, it wasn’t intentional, there just wasn’t enough time and too many people to say hey to and meet, sigh. By the time I got there, Knuck was going to be closing up in an hour anyway so I squeezed in as much as I could!

Several I didn’t get to spend much time with this trip… unfortunately, right after I got there, the notorious ladies’ man JJ Dubin was needing a nap and not feeling well, so I only got to be wowed by his charms momentarily as his mom and I exchanged quick hellos and goodbyes on their way out the door. Jag was another one who was leaving soon after I arrived, and who is so cute and funny and I wish I was as tall as she is, but I was extra tickled because I also got to meet not only her but her absolutely GORGEOUS godchild. I was introduced to Michael but really only got to say hi and that was about it, I hope next time we run into each other to talk with him more. Malia was also a real joy to meet but had to depart soon after my late arrival.

Kerry Woo was also soon leaving after I got there but we did get to chat for a bit, and he is one of the most pleasant people on earth, I believe, and just smiles and smiles and it just makes you happy to be around him because he’s so pleasant and looks so happy. Nowadays I think of him and CLC as The Smiley Twins, really. Because they look so much alike, you know.

The being late thing cast the only shadow on the whole trip, as I was also disappointed about not getting to spend more time -but thrilled to meet and enjoyed what little we did get to chat – The Cobles, Aunt B., and Brittney. The Cobles are just the cutest couple and so nice, and Kat is so pretty. Brittney and I got to chat a little bit, but I was kicking myself later ‘cos I really meant to ask her how things were going with Cooper the dog’s issues and how her relative that had had to go in the hospital the day before was doing, so forgive me my rudeness in forgetting to ask about the latter especially. And B., I hope next time I come up maybe we can go out for dinner and beers with John and whoever else wants to go, you are just so interesting and fascinating I want to hear more!

Matter of fact, the Mothership was brimming with cute couples, including Slartibartfast and his bride Desdemona, and of course, Mr. & Mrs. Sarcastro. The Slartis are just as nice as you would expect, and the even more pleasant surprise – Mrs. Slarti is FUNNY, hugely funny. I really enjoyed meeting them and hanging out with them a bit, and while I only saw Trillian in passing, I did get to see a bit more of Zaphod because his mom made him apologize to another child at the gathering, and through it all I did my best not to fall out of my chair laughing and I think I did OK. Those moments as a parent when you’re trying so hard not to laugh because they’re in trouble, but it’s funny, I’m not sure I’d ever survive them. The Sarcastros are also both very pleasant and VERY funny and I’m now a HUGE fan of Mrs. Sarcastro, who is an adorable pregnant person (and not huge at all for being as far along as she is, even though she wouldn’t let anyone put up any pics ‘cos she thinks she’s too big right now, which she’s not). I personally would love to see Mrs. Sarcastro start her own blog in a kind of he said/she said vein, I think that’d be hilarious.

Mack was another major treat to finally meet and has adorable offspring, as was Knuck (I’m giving you 20 bucks for that Coke I drank, buddy), whose offspring was unfortunately not in attendance that day. Don’t believe any rumors you hear about me looking at Mack’s testicles because that’s just not true. I saw no testicles nor any other genitalia that day. I’m sure he has very nice ones but I was not looking at, nor for them. Though I will say that Mack has a very nice smile. :)

Another humongous treat for me, and I did get to spend a little more time with them than some others, was the notorious Bad Bad Ivy and her fellow Rutherford Countian, Kathy T., who is wonderful and I had a great time with sitting down to discuss my part of her Wrinkle series on her blog, even though I’m a lousy interview and I dunno how she stood it but glad she did. Ivy is, just as you would expect, a total hoot and a lot of fun, and luckily she didn’t kick my ass for almost immediately playing with her hair – everyone else got to play with it and pat it right after she got it shaved, so I wanted my turn too and it felt neat! Ivy also had Megs and Nate with her, and I just wanted to pick little Nate up and put him in my pocket and take him home with me.

I would eventually end up spending most of the rest of the evening with Sista Smiff and others, but Sista had to leave for a while to take the Drama Queen back home and get DQ and the rest of the kids settled for the evening. I was really glad to have had the opportunity to meet at least one of her brood – Sista claims DQ is really shy, but she was chatty and participating in a lot of the conversations and seemed to be having a lot of fun at the meetup and it was really nice to meet her as well as her mom.

Anyway, it was great fun at the Mothership that afternoon, I just wish I hadn’t been late and had had more time to spend with everybody. That was the only downside of the day for me, the realization that I just wasn’t gonna have as much time as I would have liked with everyone there.

Then there were those I did get to spend more time with. After Knuck booted us out of the Mothership, CLC, Kate, Ginger, and Hutchmo and I headed down the street for coffee, where Sista met back up with us later. Later, CLC’s sweetie RUABelle and Mrs. Hutchmo joined us as well. Of course, I’d already met Hutch before and he is always a blast to hang with, but with everybody else around it was like quadruple the fun! CLC is exactly as hilarious and fun to hang out with as I always figured he was, and RUABelle is like the perfect foil to his essence of CLC-ness, heh. Personally I think that CLC, Knuck, Hutchmo, Kerry Woo, and Sarcastro should have their own talk show, it would be like the funniest thing ever.

Mrs. Hutchmo is just the nicest person and like Newscoma has said, she has such a soothing voice and charming way about her, you could just about curl up and listen to her read the phone book and it’d be so soothing and relaxing. Ginger is bouncy and fun and a blast to hang out with, she totally rocks (I forgot to mention having gotten to meet her daughter too, and she’s a really neat kid and so pretty). Kate is just about the nicest and sweetest person in the world, very funny, and you just feel like she’s known you forever, as friendly as she is. And Sista, well, she’s my long-lost Sista, all right. If we’d grown up in the same town, she’d be one of those people I’d be telling old stories on today like I sometimes do Kelli and others, because she’s so much like most of my gal pals from back home it’s almost scary! She’d have you believe she’s a boring housewife who never does anything and has a boring life, but between all the zillions of interesting anecdotes she has in her memory banks about various and sundry folks in the entertainment industry, and the fact that she is hilarious and cracks me UP – nuh uh, not boring in the least. She is a LOT of fun and we had a blast, and just one of those things where you wonder why you’re just now meeting this person ‘cos it seems like you’ve been friends forever.

The coffee shop folks were kind enough not to kick us out even tho we hung around an hour past closing time (oops) and Hutchmo had to run off for the Vandy game and Kate needed to depart, so the rest that were left went for dinner – Italian – and stuffed ourselves silly, and added another party to our party while there, the vivacious and oh-so-funny Lesley, as in Vivalalesley. I was extra psyched to meet Lesley in person since we have so much in common with her kinfolks being from my hometown and her also being related to one of my best friends from school days, and everyone else was just thrilled to meet her too, and repeatedly said as much in the days following our big bash. Lesley is awesome.

We went from there to another joint for a few beers and some music that was entirely too loud (we are all ancient I guess!) and Hutch showed back up while there, effectively putting a damper on CLC’s mad pimpin’ skillz since he’d been the only guy with a table full of chicks for three or four hours at that point.

All our old ancient ears were about to bleed after a while, so we split and left that territory to the young’ns, CLC and the missus and Mrs. Hutchmo departed us there, and what was left of our party headed down the street to Portland Brew for even more coffee. There was so much geeky blogger talk going on at our table, I felt kinda bad for this guy who was sitting behind us with his laptop. He probably overheard enough information to figure out who all of us were and found our blogs while we were talking and thought, “God, what a bunch of GEEKS.” We had a blast though, so I don’t care that much about whether we disturbed him or he thought we were great big nerds or not.

Around 11-ish what was left of us, as Sista & Ginger had already headed home, broke up and I headed back westward. Tired, but it was a good day and a great evening.

Now, I do have to share with you one particularly cool thing that happened that day, and that was when CLC presented me with a little token of appreciation for having fixed up The New & Improved Dry Spot. He hands me this big gift bag while we were still at the Mothership, and I glanced in it and thanked him profusely – it was a totally unnecessary thing to have done, giving me that gift, but I certainly appreciated it and was very touched by the gesture (as I was as well with my bee-yoo-ti-ful flowers from Sista a few weeks ago – so now you know! – and my lifetime of Mothership BBQ from Hutchmo – that was a lifetime of BBQ, right? Hee. And all of these nice wonderful gestures are totally unnecessary but thank you all anyhow).

It wasn’t until a little later when I REALLY looked in the bag (because, of course, still at the Mothership, I was trying to make time to talk to as many people as possible in the short time there was left) that that little token of appreciation became even MORE cool. I had noticed the orange soda and Coke as well as noting there was candy in there, and some tea, but didn’t really pay attention to what candy was in there. It was all my VERY FAVE stuff!! Jolly Ranchers, Sweet Tarts, Ice Breakers Sours… all that hard sour-y candy I am so obsessed with and frequently obsess about on my blog. Oh, it was just perfect. (And as an extra added bonus, the little decoration hanging on the bag is now operating as my keychain.)

I’m not sure that even my own boyfriend or my Mom could have done as excellent a job picking out that stuff for me as he did, so I was just really pleased and tickled pink at the gesture. That’s also kind of a neat statement on the blogging world and community as a whole – in some respects, your blogging pals get to know you and what you’re about better than your other friends or family sometimes, I think. That was certainly true here so thank you again, buddy. You are a peach. I bet RUABelle gets like the most perfect presents ever all the time. Some guys aren’t good at picking out gifts, but CLC is obviously not one of those. Good man, that Smiley.

I ended up eating the chewy Sweet Tarts for breakfast the next morning while working (ha!), have about decimated the Ice Breakers Sours (you have to be careful with those, eat too many at one sitting and your mouth goes numb), and am still working on the bag of Jolly Ranchers. Yum.

Anyway, all in all, it was a terrific and fun trip even though it started out on the wrong foot and I was so glad I went, I wish I hadn’t had to miss the next weekend being sick but oh well. There were several bloggers that weren’t in attendance that I’m still dying to meet, but maybe next time or the time after that, I hope.

And the one other, only other, downside – that I forgot to eat any BBQ or any of the legendary Mothership crack ‘n cheese I’ve heard so much about, which is why I’m going to get up there again as soon as I can and remedy that omission. If it’s all as good as everyone says it is, I might have to start joining Hutch on his every Saturday BBQ tradition. Hell, if it’s that good, I might just have to move back to Middle Tennessee!

Ten Years of Babbling About Nothing

So I have to post NOW, because yesterday (Sunday) was my anniversary of ten years of blogging and I totally missed it being so blasted sick this weekend. GRRRR. Although I don’t really have anything extraordinary to say about it, it’s basically a decade of babbling about nothing much and a few rants here and there. At least I’m persistent, I guess.

OK, so, well, I’m semi-alive. I thought I was doing better and even said as much to Hutch earlier today, but after dinner (supper, whatever, I’m not getting in that debate ‘cos in my house we always called it both) I started feeling like death warmed over again, so I’m hurrying up and posting before I wind up attached to the bathroom floor again. Name a symptom, I’ve probably had it in the last 72 hours.

The pics from Sista’s birthday party at the Mothership are great, dammit, and looks like so much fun was had. I am especially upset at not having gotten to meet Scout or Finn at the soiree this weekend, plus Beth who I’ve heard so much about. And I heard Little Knuck was there, too, dang it. And then I got even more miserable because there were several people there I didn’t know beforehand were coming, all of whom I didn’t get to spend as much talking with as others when I went up the weekend before and would have loved to talk with more this time, as well as spending some more time with, well, everyone, so now I’m even more mad about being sick. And apparently there was a rock star there too, disguised in badass shades. And dang it, it was Sista’s birthday. I’m just sick about this being sick and missing everything. Poop. Well, I know I’ll be in Nashville again soon enough and I’ll have to make a point to head up northward for coffee at Jack’s Java some Saturday afternoon soon or something. But I wish now I’d just tried to go anyway, even though I guess I shouldn’t have. But still.

I hate being sick. Having worked in the medical field for most of the last 25 years, I can say in no uncertain terms that no, I am not a good patient.

Anyway, I still need to post some memories and reflections on my last trip to Nashville ‘cos I got something to say about everybody and everything, but it’s much too much to post right now when I may be speaking in tongues in any minute due to this fever creeping up again. I have to tell you all about one thing in particular that was super super cool. But I’ll post about it sometime this week.

In other news, last week at work really sucked and I got some kinda bad news that has me a bit worried, so I’m just keeping fingers crossed and having faith that maybe I’ll still have a job a few months from now. When so many others I know have been going through that horror lately and I just hate it for them ‘cos it just stinks to be dealing with that, I’m hoping I’m not going to be the next one out of work.

I actually have several other things to write about but it’s going to have to wait, as I’m now starting to feel dizzy. And if a dizzy blonde anyway is feeling even dizzier, it can’t be good. UGH. What IS this, the bubonic plague?? Holy cats.

If I were Kathy T, I’d kill me, but she WILL have her new blog within a couple of days. And next project is the complete and unabridged Tiny Cat Pants. If it takes me the rest of 2007, Aunt B. WILL have her entire blog in one place.

Anyway, yeah. Ten years of babble. I bet some of my ex-boyfriends wish I’d just shut up. Not gonna. Nyah.