So, it's no secret that I have a big, huge crush on country music. My current favorite country song is
Helluva Life by Frankie Ballard. LOVE. One line in the song is
bad times make the good times better. Now. I'm not going to insult anyone by relaying my total First World Problems to you all but I will say that the past few weeks have been a little stressful. This past weekend, though? STRESS WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT.
Bad times made the good times better.
The weekend was awesome. Amazing. Epic. Totally still crushing on it and thinking about writing it a love sonnet right nizzzow. Just that awesome of a weekend.
Friday was K1's birthday. We did the morning birthday traditions (balloons and streamers in his room, cinnamon rolls for breakfast) then I checked him out of school to take him to lunch (totally something I plan on doing for all of them, though J's birthday seems to always fall during Fall Break) at Buffalo Wild Wings. The staff was AMAZING and when K1 - very excitedly - told the manager it was his birthday, he arranged to have ice cream brought out for both the Kyker Man
and K2.
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He's six! |
All three kids were spending time with their dad that evening so I made plans with a friend. We met up in midtown and cabbed downtown to check out the
Tennessee Brewery Untapped. The old Tennessee Brewery has stood abandoned for many years and, in an effort to save the building, a few local business owners have invested in "reinvigorating" it for the month of May. Every Thursday through Sunday, the space hosts food trucks, local breweries, and live music in hopes that some entrepreneur will see the ambition in the space, purchase it, and
do something with it. I've been wanting to check it out since I heard about the event. Honestly though? I was kind of disappointed! There was only one food truck. The bar area was more limited than what I was expecting. They did have air hockey and shuffleboard set up as well as various sheets that said things like "I Love the Tennessee Brewery Because . . . " It was neat and it was fun just . . . not entirely what I was expecting.
But, um, hello? Taco food trucks for the win!
Those are chorizo and crawfish tacos with a local IPA and lager (so sorry, so didn't pay attention to the ACTUAL beer names)
The crowd was mostly young and aspiring professional. My friend and I are both early 30's and felt a little . . . old . . . until we were passed by a group of cougars on the prowl. All in all . . . good time and PERFECTION for people watching.
We left the brewery and headed over to Beale Street where we settled at
Silky's. They had dueling pianists so we decided to skip the patio and stay inside. GET THIS: My friend tipped the pianists and requested Tom Petty's
Mary Jane's Last Dance and NEITHER ONE OF THEM KNEW IT. I KNOW. They half assed it then gave us a good attempt at some
Jack and Diane before my friend shouted out, "some 90's boy band!" BUT. They played N'SYNC! Now. Hello! I love me some JT
now but if I want 90's boy band then, um, I want some Backstreet Boys and
I Want it That Way! Anyway. We had a
great time and on our way to find a cab to take us back midtown we stumbled upon a GIRL FIGHT. Hello! Does it get any better?
That was Friday.
Saturday I headed back downtown
again to take my boys to the Redbirds game.
The good news: I didn't have to pay out the ass to park.
The best news: I DID have to pay out the ass for a beer.
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Worth it. |
The best news: the boys (and I!) had a BLAST.
They want to go back and I think I've decided we're going to start going on Tuesdays when they have $2 hot dogs and drinks. The boys just loved it too much not to make it some kind of tradition.
The Redbirds won, the boys loved it, and every Saturday after the game they have fireworks! Seriously, does it get any better when you're six and seven? K1 told me at one point, "this is the best Day After Birthday EVER!"
I kind of love downtown Memphis and, after Saturday, I'm making it a point to take the kids down there more often. Obviously, it's not totally kid friendly (DO NOT TAKE YOUR KIDS TO BEALE STREET AFTER 7-ISH PM) but there IS a lot for kids to do. And my boys, for one, LOVE tall buildings. And, I mean, this is
Memphis. Can you imagine how they'd do in NYC?!?
Then
Sunday rolled around.
Full disclosure: I'm not just
the biggest fan ever of Mother's and Father's Day. I have an amazing mother and an amazing grandmother. BUT. The Mother's Day holiday has always just seemed like "ho hum just another day" for me. My kids aren't old enough to "get it" yet and I'm too far from family for the one day trip to really make sense.
This year, though, I invited my friend Kendra to come over and get "classy girl wasted." I made a breakfast casserole and fruit salad. We killed a couple bottles of champagne drinking our way through mimosas. The kids played. We talked. It was just a good time.
BEST. MOTHER'S DAY. EVER.
I love warm weather.
I love that it's almost summer.
And I OMG SO TOTALLY L-O-V-E love weekends like the one I just had.
Bring on more of them!