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!