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Well, unfortunately we did not win the Lotto. I now have to continue being accountable at 8:30am everyday, no pun intended.
Memphis was good, the BBQ was great, and Graceland was amazing. It was a quick trip but I accomplished almost everything I had set out to accomplish. It’s amazing how much you can get done when you wake up at 7:45 on the weekends. Not to mention eating breakfast at 8, lunch at 11 and dinner at 5. That’s the schedule at the old folks home. And since we really stayed at the old folks home, we stayed on schedule. Kirby Pines is a nice place, its probably the nicest retirement/assisted living place I’ve ever seen. They have “hotel rooms” you can check out. I had the Rosette Room. Two twin beds, a TV and lots of hand-me-down furniture and accessories, including pictures of a darling little boy (no idea who he is)… what more could you ask for?
Luckily Starbucks is within a 2 mile radius, so I got to enjoy my daily dosage of caffiene every morning. Saturday, we took out shopping. I got a couple gifts, some clothes for myself, a jacket that I’ll get from my Mom and Dan at Christmas, and a new rug. Well played.
Later on in the afternoon we headed for Elvis Presley Blvd. I decided to make that our last stop, so we could time it just right and see the Christmas lights as the sun went down. I have Graceland down to a science. We park in one of the tacky souvenir gift shop parking lots so we don’t have to pay for parking. We hit up the shop and buy a thing or two, in order to not get towed, and then we mosey down to the most beautiful sight in the world. There really is nothing better than seeing Graceland at Christmas. There’s the lights strewn about, the larger than life nativity scene in the front yard, and the sign that says, “Merry Christmas to All, [From] Elvis”. Not to mention the Elvis Christmas music blaring from the outdoor speakers. It’s just enough to bring a warm chill to your body and tears to your eyes.
We didn’t have time for the whole tour, so technically I’ve only visited the mansion 12 times, but it’s 14 if you count just stopping by (this year and last). I vowed to Elvis that we would do the full tour next year. And we will. Not only have I missed being inside this house, I know my Mom has, too.
After the religious experience, we headed to Corky’s for some amazing Memphis BBQ. Did I also mention that I got to drive the Caddy around for all of this? Don’t think I did, but now I did, so we’re good.
On Funday Sunday, we got to attend the “dinner” down the main dining room at 11:30am. It was a close call on whether or not I’d be able to go since silly me only packed jeans. There is a dress code for the dining room, especially at Sunday dinner. Jeans are not allowed. At first I was going to try to pull it off by wearing my all black lounge pants. Surely people would think I was just being comfortable. But, I felt awkward wearing what I had slept in, so I decided to wear what my Mom had worn the day prior. And luckily I passed inspection at the hostess stand. Dan, however, did not. We learned there’s another rule for Sunday dinner. Jacket required. So, the hostess had to go get a hand-me-down jacket for Dan to wear. I’d like to insert a “booya” here, if I could, because he gave me a hard time about not packing something dressier than jeans. Booya.
I’d also like to say that if and when I ever get old, I’ll need an assisted living place a little more on the casual side. Somewhere that allows t-shirts and flip flops in the main dining room.
It was a quick but nice weekend. Of course I came home with some sweet souveniers. One being a new hat. Don’t laugh. Two being most likely the coolest thing I’ve ever purchased there… a sink stopper with Elvis’ personal motto. Takin’ Care of Business in a flash.
I’ll post more pictures of Graceland later on in the week. Stay tuned…
I’d also like to go ahead and reiterate that Elvis and Marilyn Monroe did not have an affair in the Jungle Room, much like the lyrics of ”Walking in Memphis” hint. Which is where Mary got the idea and decided it would be great to tease me about it for the rest of my life. I’m not saying Elvis and Marilyn never had an affair, its definitely possible, but I can guarantee they didn’t have one in the Jungle Room. Why? Because she died in 1962, whereas the Jungle Room didn’t come into existence until the mid 1970′s when Elvis purchased the Jungle Room contents during a 30 minute shopping spree in Hawaii. Thank ya, thank ya very much.
I guess the Lotto must be up to some insanely large amount of money this week because our department has decided to go in on an office pool. Everyone that wanted to participate put in $1 towards the pot. Fifty people chipped in so we have 50 Lotto tickets for tonight’s drawing.
Here’s the thing. Not only is there peer pressure to join the pool, but it makes for an interesting kick-yourself-in-the-pants outcome if you don’t play the game. Say you were one who decided to keep your DOLLAR. Say the office pool had a lucky winning Lotto ticket. Say everyone but you won millions of dollars. Say everyone who won decided to quit. That means not only are you not a millionaire, but you also have to do 50 people’s jobs.
Needless to say… I chipped in. Let’s bring home the bacon!
Sorry for the very delayed Thanksgiving recap, but since I know all of you can’t live without knowing my day-to-day, I decided not to skip it. Better late than never, right? It was a wonderful break from work and visit home. Here’s a recap…
Thursday was Thanksgiving at my Dad’s which was the usual Halle paparazzi experience. She’s cute and entertaining though, so its obvious why we can’t help ourselves. One of the best laughs I’ve had in a while came shortly after everyone arrived at the house. We were all congregating in the kitchen, Crystal was in another room, when Halle goes over to Crystal’s purse and starts digging around. Of all the things she could pull out, and believe me there are a lot, she chose a tampon. And she proceeded to walk to the other room and hand it to Crystal. Too funny! After dinner, someone handed her a recorder and she played that thing all night. She even went band geek on us and literally marched throughout the house playing. I don’t know if she’d be as good at that instrument if it weren’t for her chubby cheeks…
We finished the evening watching the game. Go Horns!
Friday, it was back to Mom’s for Thanksgiving over there. Sue, Sarah and Branden joined us as they always do. Somehow we managed to cram all 12 people around our dining room table. It wouldn’t be a real Thanksgiving if Sue didn’t bring beautiful flowers to create our centerpiece. Its nice to know that I’ll have one item checked off the wedding to do list when I get engaged… find a florist. We all gathered around the kitchen while all the cooks did their thing. Sarah and I were in charge of the “Waldorf salad”, which is like dessert. Apples, grapes, walnuts and real whipping cream. Its amazing. After my Mom’s sweet potatoes, that’s probably my favorite side dish.
Saturday, the girls got up and went to Round Rock to shop at the outlet mall. After a few hours of shopping, we decided to grab lunch. Of course we planned ahead and brought turkey sandwiches and a big bag of chips with us… and then ate in the food court with everyone else. We are that family. On the ride home, I learned a new road trip game from the Aggies. It’s called iPod Idol. Basically you give someone an iPod and have them put the earbuds in. Then someone else picks a song at random and the person with the iPod has to try to sing along. After a couple songs I decided this game should be called Drunk iPod Idol… because that’s what is sounds like. Too flipping entertaining.
That night we did fajitas at the house and watched the football games. Afterwards, we set up outside next to the fire pit and ate s’mores. It was pretty chilly out, but the fire and laughs kept us warm.
Sunday was spent packing up and shipping out. I came home with an army’s supply of leftovers. So, I’ve been enjoying turkey sandwiches all week. Really good ones with Sue’s homemade cranberry salsa. Mmmmmm.
It was definitely tough to come back to work this week. Thank goodness things are slow right now… it gives me time to do my Christmas shopping. Which I am extremely behind on this year. Maybe that’s not a bad thing considering how much money I’ve spent this year on weddings and stupid personal training sessions. I’m still bitter about those by the way.
First resolution for 2009: Avoid getting hoodwinked.
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