Darling, you're exposed!*

Congratulations to Murbatron for getting the last blog bucks!

 

Color Me Rad was last weekend.  This year I got Kat, Luke, and Dan to join me.


It was chilly, so we walked around checking things out beforehand.  They had free Zumba going down and picture opportunities for everyone.



There were almost 10,000 runners this time.  I have no idea how many people were there last year, but I feel like this was a big deal for them since they kept bringing it up. 

The race didn't seem as fun as last year and I don't know if it's because they had fewer volunteers to color us, a different course, or all the extra yellow dye (aka pollen - the slow and silent killer).  Don't get me wrong, it was still fun and I'm glad I got to run it with Kat. Besides, the really fun part is right after the race when you go crazy and color bomb your friends.



The official pace car



I knew I wanted to take my camera....really glad I had a case

Afterwards was breakfast at Boychiks. 



This picture should be at the top - but Blogger has this really annoying things about when you put a picture in the post and try to move it - yeah blogger....I hope you do read this.





Doing her best Left Eye (TLC)



And the beast was grateful!*

Congratulations to Kat for getting the blog bucks from the last post.  This actually bumped her up to 9th place!

Back in January, when a few of us went out for my birthday, Nickapedia and I decided to go to Pennsylvania some time to take a marshmallow tour.  So when we ended up grabbing dinner a few weeks ago he said we should just get in the car and go.  We looked up the factory to see what time their tours were and that's when we discovered that the marshmallow company that had the tours was gone.  They closed up shop some time in 2011 but had finally updated their website.  Nickapedia and I were heartbroken of course, we had wanted to know how marshmallows were made.  But then we decided to look up a recipe and try it out for ourselves.  We made a few stops along the way back to his house to get the supplies we needed and then we got to work.

We had to whip this for 15 minutes!

 It took FOREVER! Nickapedia, Christian, and I decided that the marshmallows had to be about 120 times better than regular marshmallows to entice us to make them again.  They had to sit overnight, so Sunday I went back and the boys tried to tell me that these were them...

 Nice try.

The visual comparison

They were still a little too moist so we left them a little longer.  Then, one night I was over there and we started a fire and roasted them.

They are definitely good - but they weird me out a little because I'm so used to other kinds of marshmallows.  They were very vanilla-y.  Despite the time it took and everything, I'm glad we did it.

I can't work under these conditions. It's unprofessional!*

Last week I went to Annapolis for training (work related).  I have to admit, I'm a little bit in love with Annapolis.  The training site was three miles from my hotel (my goodness - I stayed in a Westin...it was heavenly).  During our breaks and lunch we had the option of sitting outside - since the weather was gorgeous, I took that opportunity.

Even though it was work related training, it was a very relaxing two days.  Don't get me wrong, I was exhausted after training each day - but at least I had the comfy Westin to return to at night.  Well - I had it one night but it was nice.

Thursday afternoon, not so great.  Thought I'd stop by the temple, which was only 37 miles from where I was...it took me almost two hours to get there with the traffic and GPS bloopers.  Very frustrating.

But it was worth it.

My gosh you've gotten fat.*

Congratulations to Isaac for getting the last blog bucks! This puts him back in 10th place!

Memphis - one of my new favorite cities.  

Well, G-Sauce and I packed it in on Saturday in Memphis.

We started the morning at Graceland.  As we were driving there G said, "So far Graceland is living up to what I thought it was, a dump - well maybe surrounded by a dump." And Graceland is not a dump - but it is encapsulated in 1970.  But Memphis IS kind of a dump (at least all the parts we saw).

We learned that when Lisa Marie was about 8 or 9, Elvis realized that she had never seen snow - so they got on the plane and flew out to some state northwest, she played in the snow for a bit and then they got back on the plane and came home...I had to wear my PJs on backwards and inside out to see snow...

G - showing off the audio equipment

From there - we went to find parking near Beale Street.  We had a bus tour reservation at 2 and had some time so we walked around Beale and grabbed lunch at Hard Rock Cafe.

Just as with Arkansas, it was cold and rainy all day.  While we were in Hard Rock, the music suddenly started to be themed.  It started with "I'm Only Happy When It Rains" and then the next song said something about rain, and then next, and the next.  At least 5 songs before we left were all about rain.  G and I had a good laugh at that.

Then we walked around some more.  Found these gems.

Then we found the railroad...

 

And then the Mississippi River!

Then it was time for our bus tour.  We had the address but couldn't seem to find the place.  For a split second I thought maybe G had been duped by the online trip planning.  I went up to a window and asked them where the company was and the guy pointed at his notebook.  So we waited for the bus...which apparently wasn't their bus.  Their bus was having trouble.  I wish I could have seen their bus.  The one we were in was a little more than old, there was 'stuff' all over (trash, food, stains on the seats and the overwhelming feeling that I was about to sit on a cushion that had been urinated on).  Also, there was a bar above our seats and rain or something had gathered on there and dripped on me the whole time.  THE WHOLE TIME.  Good thing I was wearing a sweatshirt that covered my arms.  BUT they gave us shakers:

And we were to play the shakers whenever the tour guide started to sing. I don't know if you know this, but the shakers are MY JOB in 'family band'.  Christian plays the guitar/piano/harmonica, Ben is a backup singer when he's around, Chris tries to play the drums, Nick goes to his room, and I play the shakers.  So, I was ready for this tour.

 We saw Elvis' high school and also the place where he first performed

We saw where Martin Luther King was killed

And at the end of the tour - they took our shakers away.  Boo hiss.

Then we went to the Rock and Soul Musuem for an audio tour. 

Johnny Cash clothes!

We grabbed dinner at The Pig - almost died in the bathroom

This is the cleanest part of the bathroom.

We stopped in at a music store and while G-sauce perused the selections, I ended up dancing with a man named Smokey who called both Gretel and I "Virginia" and gave me grief for wearing a Yankee sweatshirt (Boston).


Then we went to the car to rest our dogs until the show.

We went to the Orpheum Theater to see "The Million Dollar Quartet"  LOVED IT.  Absolutely loved it.

Then a view of Beale street at night.

If you asked me my favorite part about Memphis - I couldn't say, I enjoyed so much of it!