One month ago today...

we quit our jobs down at the car wash and left our Mama a goodbye note...hitchhiked all the way down to Memphis, got a room at the YMCA. Not exactly, but Jerry Reed has a much better way with words than I.

In one month we have had any expectations we had knocked off the box and surpassed by astronomical proportions. The apartment is absolutely gorgeous and perfect and eerily all of the paint and carpet colors match all of our stuff. The exact moment our house was closing I was enjoying pedicures at the Peabody with my new sidekick neighbor/LBF 5.0. The first weekend we were here we had our minds blown by the spectacle that is the Downtown Olympics and we fortunate to be involved as videographer and trophy girl/assistant to the director. The weekend after that was River Arts Fest right outside our front door, where we found the first new pieces for our new place coincidentally made by a talented friend. I've ventured to the West Memphis Wal-Mart and vowed to never return again. I've gotten hooked up at the Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma outlet and purchased gold schrunchies from American Apparel just down the street. We attended a party at an indoor trailer court-- easily the coolest thing we've ever seen. We've thrifted like nobodies business and was delighted to find the Goodwills are still priced reasonably as opposed to where we come from. We've joined MPACT and the South Main Association and Memphis Heritage. Most importantly, we both got our first paid acting gigs with a new troupe that will be performing in the Beignet Cafe. Yes, paid. Money for something I would do for free. Theatre used to be such a huge part of my life and for the longest time I assumed I would never act again. As LBF 5.0 says "Everyday in Memphis there is opportunity for an adventure." Truer words have never been spoken (except perhaps those of Dennis Quaid portraying Jerry Lee Lewis... "If I'm goin' ta hell, I'm goin' there playin' the peeeano!)


The only real negative we've experienced is the good ol' Memphis inferiority complex, but that is another entry in itself.

We arrived at our new place last night...

and found this along with a TCB shot glass and a bottle of Mongolian fire oil. Brought a tear to my eye as soon as I finished screaming.

Outing myself...

on account of the very kind article on the Smart City Memphis blog about the mister.

Another 48 hours...

Today I had to return some things at the mall. I had forgotten my credit card so they had to look it up using my license. It didn't work for my current zip code and the sales clerk wondered if it could be under another. I realized that I had already changed my address on that account and for the first time I got to give 38103 as my zip code.


It's supposed to snow here on Sunday so we are getting out in the nick of time.

Things I cannot even fathom from where I am at the moment...

but I'm really looking forward to...


1. Historical markers right outside my door!
2. The ability to walk and procure just about anything we could ever need!
3. Having a best friend who just lives on the other side of my living room wall!
4. Easily attainable fried pickles!
5. NBA games just a stones throw away!
6. Green license plates!
7. Living in a place that necessitates the purchase of FLOR!
8. Drinkable tap water!
9. Snow being the exception and not the rule!
10. Only one month of the year having the average low be below freezing (and only 31 degrees at that!)
11. Having actual things to do and people to see!
12. Never having to negotiate designated driver duty again!
13. Pink mace keychains!
14. The free meditation hour at 7am daily at the Graceland meditation gardens!
15. Cheap booze! (relatively speaking)
16. Whole Foods, Sephora, and the Williams Sonoma outlet all within a 30 minute drive!
17. Meyer lemon trees indoors!
18. Price Chompers also known as movie night!
19. Patio gardens!
20. Being surrounded by like minded individuals!

A title escapes me at the moment...

but just in the nick of time we accepted an offer on our house today, sealing our fate. As of 10/10/09 we're Memphians complete with a 901 phone number and tequila.

Way Down

He had dreamt of Beale Street long before he ever saw it, from the stories Uncle Silas had spun, and his first view of it, at sixteen had not failed to live up to his expectations... he was drawn, it seemed, almost inexorably to Beale because "to me Beale Street was the most famous place in the South. We got in at five or six o'clock in the morning and it was pouring down rain, but we judt drove up and down, and it was so much more than I had ever envisioned. I don't know if I can explain it to this day-- my eyes had to be very big, because I saw everything, from winos to people dressed up fit to kill, young, old, city slickers, and people straight out of the cotton fields, somehow or another you could tell: every damn one of them was glad to be there. Beale Street represented for me something that I hoped to see one day for all people, something that they could say, I'm a part of this somehow." This was Sam Phillips' vision, and he kept it with him when he moved to Memphis with his wife and infant son some six years later. Memphis had drawn him like a magnet, but not for the elegant appointments of the Hotel Peabody or the big band broadcasts from the Skyway. It was Beale Street that lured him in a way he would never be able to fully explain and Beale Street with which, as it was, he could never be fully comfortable.
-Peter Guralnick Last Train to Memphis

We got the house up for sale two weeks ago and were fortunate enough to get two offers within the first three days, and we were unfortunate enough to have them both fall through. Now we have no potential buyers and a house that looks like a storage facility for Better Homes and Gardens. As my Memphis lifeline (or LBF 5.0) says "fate hasn't cooperated this much just to let you down." However, I fear it has. It is terrible to feel completely powerless, to know that we have done all we can and that it is out of our hands. This wouldn't be half as bad if we didn't have our dream apartment to lose. Whether we sell now or two years from now, South Main will always be there, but this apartment wont. I also feel guilty for worrying about such a petty problem and not counting our countless blessings. We have each other and a roof over our heads and a steady paycheck and a safe neighborhood and three of the best pets anyone could ask for and our health and a path to follow in life. I just wish I could be satisfied with those things until we get on our path.