"Cousin's Weekend"!!

Lynelle arrived in Memphis on Friday, but unfortunately I had to work all day and volunteer at an auction that night, so I couldn’t actually see her until Saturday evening after we finished work. Some of my teammates dropped me off and came in to meet her and then we met up with them again (a couple hours later because of slow taxis!) for dinner at Huey’s in downtown Memphis. We were starving when we got there, so we devoured our food as soon as it came! After dinner with my team, Lynelle, Alleigh, Eric and I continued on to Beale Street for the night. It was really fun, but exhausting! We ended up sleeping in until 1pm the next day! We took a cab downtown again and walked around during the day, had a late lunch at Hooters and then went to see the Ducks at The Peabody Hotel (if you don’t know what this is, it is actually a pretty big event and I don't think I can describe it well enough, so you might wanna Google it! Haha) After seeing the ducks, we went to the Rock ‘N Soul Museum and learned about Elvis and the importance of music in Memphis’ history. When we got back to the hotel that night, we realized that we were finally getting kinda hungry again after our late lunch, so we asked the lady at the front desk about ordering-in options and she told us about Marlowe’s Restaurant. Apparently Marlowe’s has a sweet deal where if you are staying in a local hotel (which we were), they will pick you up in a FREE PINK LIMO and bring you to the restaurant for dinner, then bring you back to your hotel after dinner! That deal sounded too good to pass up, so of course we took it up! The other cool thing about that was that the restaurant was on Elvis Presley Boulevard, so we passed Graceland and his private plane and all that cool stuff, so the driver was giving us some fun facts about Elvis and Lynelle and I both developed a new appreciation for The King and his “new to us” attractive looks. The next day we got up early(ish), before noon anyway and went to the Memphis Zoo! We spent a good 4.5 hours there and got to see lots of awesome Giraffes, Pandas, Elephants, miniature horses, and other cool animals! That evening we ordered in some Dominoes pizza and watched The Bachelor! It was a great ending to a wonderful weekend vacation/visit with Lynelle! I had such a blast! Thanks again, Nellie! Miss y’all and love you even more!

P.S.- this title comes from my team who was so excited to meet and hang out with Lynelle that they dubbed that weekend “Cousin’s Weekend” weeks before her arrival :0) 

Valentine's Weekend!

This weekend has been fantastic already! Friday night we went across the border to Arkansas (which I like to pronounce: “R-Kansas” haha) to go to Wal*Mart, because there aren’t really any near by to where we live. Most of my teammates, including myself had never been to Arkansas before, so it was a very exciting experience! While at Wal*Mart, Mollie, Neva and I bought some sweatshirts for only $2.50, some awesomely cute socks, and I also got a much needed new water bottle for $2.50. After our Wal*Mart adventure, we continued on to Baskin Robins to get ice creams, because I had never been to one before. It was truly a night of “firsts” with going to Arkansas AND Baskin Robins! It was fun, and then we continued the fun into Saturday with picking up trash along one of the roads in our nearby community for the morning (reading to the kids got cancelled again because of the weather! L) I could not believe how much trash there was on the side of the road…it was amazing to me that people can just throw trash out their windows and on the sidewalk without feeling guilty at all! In the afternoon, Mollie and I worked on making some signs for Arkwings and then in the evening we went to the Memphis Roller Derby! It was so exciting! I had never even heard of roller derby’s until the movie Whip It with Ellen Page came out a couple years ago. It was a very exciting night, watching crazy brute women roller skating around, shoving each other onto the ground so they could pass each other and earn their team points. The two teams we saw play were the PrissKilla Presley’s vs. the Angels of Death. The PrissKilla Presley’s won…they were super intense! I would best describe this event as punk-rock concert meets hockey, because of the intense crowd that was there, cheering whenever there was a “fight” or someone being shoved down. It was entertaining for sure, but definitely not my kind of sport!

Nate came to visit on Sunday evening! My team wanted to meet him, and vice versa, so we I bought some pizzas and we headed over to the hotel when he got there to hang out for awhile J Nate was super tired since he hadn’t slept in over 24 hours, but he was still awake enough to be friendly and meet my team, which was nice! It was so strange to me that they didn't all know each other, because I tell Nate about my team and my team about Nate, so it seems like they all know each other, but now they really do! Yay! Monday was a super nice and sunny day, about 60 degrees here in Memphis, so Nate and I took a cab into the city and walked around all day. The city was so empty that I felt like we had it to ourselves! We ate lunch at a pub called the Flying Saucer, which is known for having like over 100 kinds of beer on draught. We got some delicious nachos and Nate tried out a couple of their beers, but I stuck with the diet coke myself J After that we walked down Beale street (mini version of Bourbon street but way smaller and safer with their main focus being on BBQ and music than bars and clubs). We then made our way to the other side of town to the Civil Right Museum, which we didn't go in, but saw the motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent his last moments…it was really sad, but also really remarkable to be standing right there, where history was made. We finished the city tour with a walk by the river, oooo-ing and aaaa-ing over the beautiful mansions along the way, also thinking how funny it was that in places where there isn’t access to “ocean front property,” there are really nice houses with views of the river. We hit up Starbucks before we headed back to the hotel, and while I was inside using the restroom, Nate was outside chatting with Gino, a homeless man who walked right up and asked to join him at his table and chat or awhile. He was a really nice guy who knew a lot about the city and it's history. He had some neat stories he shared with us and then we went out separate ways, but the irony of it all was that Nate and I had just been talking about how he should find a homeless person to give his drink to, because they had messed up his order so they gave him both drinks…and then Gino walked up! He said he wasn't thirsty right then, but he took the drink anyway, saying that his mama always told him to “waste not, want not.”  When we got back to the hotel, being Monday night, we ordered another pizza and I made Nate watch The Bachelor with me (he was a good sport!) and Michelle, the crazy girl on the show, got kicked off…finally! So it was a great day and night J

Tuesday was a short day, Nate having to leave in the afternoon, so I went to the airport with him to hang out a little longer before having to say goodbye (which is always really sad! Ahhh I hate that part!) and then I took a $40 taxi back to our house and hung out for the rest of the day, waiting for my team to get back from work! But I was glad that I took that day off, because they were pulling ivy off trees allll dayyy long and I know that my arms would have fallen off if I did that! Haha. Today we spent the morning picking up trash that businesses have been dumping at a United Way property that is coincidentally right next door to where we live (they didn't know that until we got there! Haha). We filled up an entire dumpster in only a couple of hours, so we have to go back to finish tomorrow after they bring us a new dumpster! Our afternoon, after getting Top’s BBQ from United Way as a thank you, was spent back at Arkwings, painting the bathroom some more and working on the Arkwings Signs with Mollie again. Let me tell you, those signs sound way easier than they are to make! 

Snow Day!

This past week has been a cold one! We got 4 inches of snow yesterday, which around here is enough to stop everything because they don't have plow trucks to come out and take care of it like we do in Maine! It was okay with us though, because we got the afternoon off and went to the laundromat to finally do some much needed laundry! It was a fun adventure, and took forever, because we had to drive so slow. As you can guess, our work days with Wolf River Conservancy were cancelled too, so we couldn't work on the trail at all this week :( Instead we were back at ArkWings doing more painting and cutting ivy off of trees with loppers, which are now my least favorite tool ever, because they KILL my arms and weak little wrists! My arms are STILL sore two days later! Crazy! We have been continuing to work out at Rhodes College, it is so much more convenient than trying to work out in our little livingroom or running outside in the freezing cold! Today we also started making some bat houses, since they love bats down here 'cause they eat all the mosquitoes...ewww! The bat houses are pretty cool actually (I'll try to remember to take a picture tomorrow) because they are so stinkin' skinny! It is hard to believe that about 200 bats will be able to live in there this spring...guess they like to cuddle! I have just noticed that I am kinda all over the place with my blog and using lots of exclamation points tonight, which is partly due to the fact that I am drinking my traditional white chocolate mocha latte and partially because I am trying to remember and catch y'all up with everything we have been doing this week...haha
Anyways, love and miss everyone of y'all so much! I am super excited for my visitors (Nate and Lynelle) to be coming soon! And good news...the weather is supposed to be getting warmer! Woohoo! Nellie, it might be up in the 50-60s while you are here!!

Tree Planting!

The last portion of this week’s work has included painting the bathroom in the main house and helping the Wolf River Conservancy out with a big tree planting volunteer day. It was freezing out, but we still had over 100 volunteers come out and plant 3.000 trees in only two hours! I was really impressed with the number of people who still came out, despite the cold weather conditions, and with how fast they all worked (Probably because they wanted to stay warm)! My job was to sit at the sign-in table, which was awesome because I got to chat with everyone that participated!

They were all really nice and chipper, even though I’m sure they would have rather been at home curled up on the couch with some hot cocoa! Since the event only lasted a half-day, we came back to the house and worked on making Capping calls to schools in the area and on our resumes. I am realizing that it is really difficult to fit my whole AmeriCorps experience into a few lines in resume form…we have done so many different things and worked with so many different organizations! But it is also very exciting to me that I will actually have something more than just working basketball camps on my resume!

Last night we were invited to watch the Super Bowl at Dr. John McCall’s house (he is the founder of ArkWings). They have a beautiful home and it was really nice of them to invite us over for a bit! They got Central’s BBQ for us and even made us banana splits for dessert! It was a great time with great food, that’s all I can really say since I didn't really care about either team in the Super Bowl this year, so I have to admit I didn't really watch much of the game! 

White Chocolate Mocha Latte

Tuesday- Due to a correct prediction of rain all day Tuesday, we stayed “home” and worked with ArkWings instead of working on the trail with Wolf River Conservancy. Mollie, Norah, Alleigh and I repainted the bathroom in the main house a new cream color to cover up the other bright, gross yellow color there was. The room was not well ventilated at all, so we all got kinda woozy from being in there painting all day, but we recovered and feel better now! Yesterday was a sunny, but colddddd day here in Memphis. It was below 30 degrees and there were actual snow flurries falling out of the sky in the morning while we worked on laying another 5-ton layer of gravel on our new trail. We got done a little early due to exhaustion, coldness, and about a 2-ton lack of gravel that they need to order for us to be able to finish next week.

Mollie and I cooked dinner last night and it was a hit! We made breaded chicken strips, tator tots and salad, which everyone said was really good…yay! I told Nate that I am getting better at cooking and learning some recipes that I can use in my “life after AmeriCorps,” which he responded happily with “okay then, one day after you get back you can cook all of my meals for me!” That idea makes me very nervous, but we shall see how it turns out!

Today we worked at ArkWings, raking leaves from all 10 gardens around the house all day in the cold weather! We were super-bundled up though, so we didn't freeze too much!

I also wanted to take this time to clarify that I do actually like this round’s project, even though I seemed annoyed in my last blog haha. It’s just a long round and its been really cold while we’ve been working outside, so I think I’ve been slightly more negative in my reporting back about what we do each day, but trust me, I am still loving the AmeriLife and learning a lot! And not having internet at our house has opened me up to the life of Starbucks and all the amazing hot drinks they serve here…right now I am sipping on my new favorite beverage, a white chocolate mocha latte J So the mini road trip to internet a few times a week is totally worth it!

Oh, and we have been working out at the gym at Rhodes College here in Memphis. It is a beautiful little private Christian school that reminds me a lot of Gordon, but the campus is even nicer! All of the buildings are the same old stone on the outside and really nice and modern looking on the inside…I will try to take some pictures sometime so y’all can see! It was an adventure the day we had to go to their security office to get IDs so we could use the gym, because the printer machine broke while we were using it…but they were really nice to us and now we have awesome Rhodes College photo  IDs! I don’t know why I have such a fascination with photo IDs, but I just love them! Maybe it’s because I don’t have my license yet, so I feel the need to overcompensate with other photo IDs? Haha