just like i promised.

a couple of weekends ago, sean and i decided to be tourists in our hometown and visit the ghost river brewery. it's located on south main... like, waaay south main, where it dead ends into crump. they do tours every saturday at 1pm, FOR FREE. you get a tour of the brewery and a sample of each beer that they are currently making.


the brewery makes beer for bosco's restaurant (one of our favs) and its own label. they give you all sorts of information on the history behind the brewing company, as well as the process for making each brew. it's really interesting- i definitely learned a few things. and you can buy it too :) they call them growlers... a 64oz jug of beer for $10. you pay a $3 deposit for the jug, and then can refill it anytime with any of their beers for only $10. i  l o v e  i t. you should go, it's awesome.


http://www.ghostriverbrewing.com/

here are a few more pictures from our afternoon around the south main district:

back to blogging

has is actually been 20 days since my last blog?? oh geez.

i don't really have any excuses, just add it to the long list of things i always have on my to-do list... i seem to accomplish most of those things, but i guess blogging is dead last and inevitably gets new to-do items shoved to a higher priority regardless of how much time it spends on the list. poor blog. i got inspired to write today when i was doing some eco-friendly materials research at work. i found a website, that had a "check out our blog" section. the blog had ONE entry. from 2007. i vowed right then and there to (try to) not neglect my blog like that.

i've been good about running lately. yay!! i always fall out of love with running during the summer because it's just too damn hot, which my real runner friend, sarah, can attest to. but the last month has been ridiculously good weather, and has inspired me to get back into it for my fall race season. and yes, i do have a fall race season. i love running in the fall and winter, and that's when most of the races are. so i have 2 races each month from september to december, mostly 5k's with a couple of 4-milers thrown in. i have been having great runs each night after work, and each leaves more more inspired for the next. oh, and sarah (running friend) is doing the chicago marathon in october. that is also VERY inspiring.

seattle/portland vacation cannot come soon enough. i am really looking forward to seeing a completely new part of the country and (hopefully) loving it so much we'll want to live there!! now, to be realistic, sean and i have also sat down with a list of residency programs to figure out all of the places in the u.s. that we'd be willing to go... that match program is crazy and you're only screwing yourself if you limit your options. we have cities all over the country- ca, wa, or, co, ny, ma, il, ct, de, nh... you get the idea. i think we'll get some time to visit denver at some point, and probably new york city and boston. very, very exciting and i can't wait to see where we end up!!

and now i'm watching hgtv show #5 of the night. i know, that's a little extreme, but i LOVE these shows. now showing: house hunters international goes to the caribbean. these people and their vacations homes.... makes me bubble over with jealously. earlier, house hunters went to portland, and sean and i got a small education on the condo market there. not cheap. that's all i'll say.

and i really have to get going on my paintings. i've avoided working on them so far, but with a show coming up in november, i'm probably going to regret not getting started when i originally planned to. i'm going image hunting tomorrow so i should have a good bank of inspiration.

as random as this has been, i hope it hasn't been to terribly boring. i've enjoyed getting some thoughts out and i hope i can be disciplined enough to come back soon. wish me luck, dear readers. whoever you are.

breakfast at tiffany's

i cannot believe that i have only just NOW seen this movie. i don't know how i survived before... this was a $7 purchase at target with sean on friday, and last night we curled up on the couch with some pizza and drinks and my life was changed forever. i love how modern it is- at some points i had to remind myself that it's almost 50 years old. i'm sure you've seen it, but in case you haven't, RUN to your nearest store or get on netflix right now and push it to the top of your queue. happy viewing.

ps- i want EVERY SINGLE THING that audrey hepburn wore in this movie. now, please.

penny pinching

in an effort to not spend a fortune on AC this summer, we've been keeping the 3rd floor air off during the day. every night when i go up there to paint, i turn the air on and after about an hour and a half it's only 80 degrees :) ha. still not great, but better than what i see when i go up there at first:

who knows how hot it actually is up there... the poor little needle has no where else to go.

welcome to memphis summers.

the run-down

my boss brought his dog to work today and she sat in my lap while i worked. finally finished getting the house clean over lunch. it's been a weeklong endeavor. kept getting distracted at work by the fun that shall inevitably ensue this weekend- sarah is in town and our usual routine includes lots of delicious food and wine, sandwiched by fantastic conversation. the bldg super came in to warn of the massive and violent storm headed our way. "might be good to get outta here" so we did. spent 45 minutes sitting in a friend's basement waiting for the tornado sirens to STOP. stayed on the phone with susan and we weathered the storm together. trees down on the way home. crap alllll over the streets. luckily no lights were out so the drive was easy. zoe sleeping next to me. her little leg draped over my arm. i wish ppl could see this side of her. not the side where she attacks your face at full force. waiting for sarah to arrive at mi casa. starving... constantly thinking "what will we have to eat"... looking forward to a girly night with my bestie, wine, and sex and the city.

i want it all. now.

just spending a lovely summer's evening painting, reading mags, online window shopping... found these on the new arrivals page at JCrew.com.

must. have. e v e r ything.

but here are my favs:

now all i need to do is win the lottery. that should be eeeeeasy.

nightcap

my night has been very random. but enjoyable.

1. delicious homemade enchiladas with rachel and adam

2. met dad at poplar and highland to pick up my social security card and birth certificate for tomorrow morning. see #6.

3. got the low-down on rotation day #1 from sean. bottom line, he sounded tiiiiiiired.

4. sorted laundry, started laundry, cleaned zoe's litterbox.

5. painted :)

6. gather information for my morning of job applying. i'm "hoping" to be on the day-sort out at the airport for FedEx. work part-time, get benefits, still can work contract for the architect i'm working with now. good deal. i don't know if FedEx hires people with architecture degrees. or people who can't lift 75 lbs. but we'll find out soon enough.

and that brings us up to date.

i will now proceed to go upstairs and put the whites in the dryer, then wash my fash, brush ym teeth, and curl up in bed with my zoe and a movie.

green porno

this may be a sad thing to admit, but i'm gonna go ahead and do it: my only previous familiarization with isabella rossellini was from "friends", when ross had her on his list on 5 celebrities he was allowed to sleep with. i could go on about that episode for another 10 minutes, but that's beside the point.

i was just watching "the soup" on E! and joel mchale informed me of ms. rossellini's newest project for the sundance channel... "green porno." i cannot even being to describe this by myself, so here is a description from the official website, as well as a link to the video page. WATCH THEM ALL. even though they're a bit awkward, they are pretty entertaining. they're only a couple minutes long a piece and who knows... maybe you'll learn something. and you can create your own "green porno name"... mine is Cory Cat. nice.

"The critically acclaimed series from Isabella Rossellini is back with a new batch of very short folms about the reproductive habits of marine animals. GREEN PORNO is scientifically accurate yet extremely entertaining."

(from www.sundancechannel.com/greenporno/)

videos: Sundance Channel: GREEN PORNO

don't mess with madeline

ahh today was glorious. rachel and i took her dog madeline to overton park. they have this large open area that is legitimately dog friendly. people let their dogs off leashes and these dogs just miraculously wander around exploring but not really bothering anyone. it's amazing. poor little maddie is a little more of a, shall we say, free spirit. so she stayed on her leash. i think she had fun anyway.

as we left the park, a guy stopped us to ask about maddie and show us a picture of his dog. while he searched his phone for a picture, maddie most definitely charged him and head-butted him in the groin, sending him to his knees. my guess was that she didn't care much for his "f*#k you" belt (seriously). it was amazing and hilarious and after apologizing we left as soon as we could.

and THEN we perused the oak court mall, and found some fabulous shoes at payless.

and i got home to find my bathing suit had arrived from j.crew!! this was the BEST DAY EVER!!

hello again!

well, i'm home from a fabulous weekend in nashville!! it was so nice to get out of the city for a bit and see some different sights. we ate A LOT (peter's sushi, pm, urban flats, fido, midtown cafe, marche... and if you can believe it, i feel like i am leaving something out) and went to all the fun little neighborhoods. i loved "living" the nashville life for a weekend, instead of having the tourist experience that i've had before there. thanks to rachel, her parents, and her friends for showing me such a wonderful time!!

now... because i ate so much, it's time to get back on the workout train (for the millionth time). when i woke up at 7:00 this morning was reaaaally foggy outside, but seemed to have subsided by the time i went to run. i drove to mud island for my run today, and as soon as i turned onto front street, i saw that fog was still blanketing the river, and entire memphis waterfront. the bridge across the mississippi was completely hidden. and it was 10:30!! on island drive, i couldn't see 50 feet in front of the car. once i parked, i took the following pic with my phone:

creepy, party of one?? seriously. i couldn't see the river, any other people, or even across the road... i felt like will smith in i am legend. minus the mutant human animals trying to eat me. and the multi-million dollar paycheck. ugh, if only. but i digress. by the time i finished my 3.5 mile run, it was sunny and clear. and i noticed that the river seemed to be getting higher... i hope it floods again, just like last year!! because it's so fascinating!! here's a pic from the same vantage point as the one above, but from last year's flooded river. and this is before it even got REALLY high!!

this has been a very random post, and for that i apologize.

food for thought

this week has been mildly intolerable. i have been bored bored bored and very restless. i cannot seem to occupy myself with anything. today was a little better, but i am DEFINITELY looking forward to this weekend. i'm going to nashville :) taking a little road trip with my friend rachel!! should be a great time. i think it would be fun anyway but considering my daily boredom, i think this weekend is going to be amazing!!

the highlight of my week so far was the dinner i made tonight. i had planned to make corn-cheese quesadillas from one of my cookbooks. the only problem is that i forgot which cookbook i saw i it. ha! so after i spent 10 minutes unsuccessfully looking for the recipe, i decided to be creative and do something myself. we'll call it veggie and cheese quesadillas. (so creative, i know.)

1 green pepper, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 package frozen whole kernal corn

1 can black beans

1 tbsp vegetable oil

ground cumen

4 burrito size tortillas

pepperjack or cheddar cheese

i heated the oil in a medium skillet and sautéed the first four ingredients. meanwhile, i drained and rinsed the black beans. i just added the beans to the sautéed mixture towards the end to heat them up. add the ground cumen to taste. set the sautéed veggies to the side.

butter one side of each tortilla. briefly heat a large skillet, and when warm, lay the buttered side of a tortilla onto the skillet. immediately place the cheese of your choice onto one half of the tortilla. spoon the veggies onto the cheese and fold the other side of the tortilla over. when the bottom side of the tortilla is golden brown, flip with a spatula and brown the other side.

tonight, this recipe made about 5 quesadillas. you can stretch it farther if you put less veggies on each tortilla. i think at minimum, this would make 4 quesadillas. it's really great because you can personalize it and use as much or as little veggies and cheese. and i'm sure if sean was home, he would top it off with a scoop of light sour cream.

delicious and relatively healthy!! yippee!!

i'm semi-proud of myself :)

springtime in memphis

springtime is here!! three things i want to do RIGHT AWAY:

one. go to the botanic gardens and feed the koi fish!

two. go to the "blossom - art of flowers" exhibit at the dixon gallery.

three. play another round of golf with my dad!

new items on Etsy!!

i've added several things to my Etsy shop over the past few days, but my favorite was this morning... go buy them!

#1

#2

cafe eclectic

sean took me to a new (to me) restaurant last night: cafe eclectic. i had never even heard of it... and that's a shame, because it is super cute. and delicious. just another reason why midtown memphis is so great. it has live jazz and other musical delights on the weekends. and really good roasted potatoes. and the overall ambiance is very very nice. i think it's one of those places where i could spend an afternoon sipping coffee and surfing the internet. just take a look.

entrance

interior of cafe

roasted potatoes!!

i am loving this brick corner detail.

remote blogging

it has been exactly 30 hours since our home internet began NOT WORKING. and i thought i would be ok, but i am not. i feel as though i may  die. i need email, i need facebook, i need news, i need contact with the outside world. so i went to otherlands.

otherlands is this amazing little coffee shop about 2 blocks from my house. it has a couple different rooms, so there are appropriate places to eat, drink, socialize, study, or merely exist. there's wonderful local art on the walls- paintings and photographs- that's really inspiring me to get back into painting and crafting. i went to michael's craft store today to pick up some things for my booming (ha) card making business. i have made ONE card to date. and i was my own client. my friend rachel for into law school- yay!- so i made her a congrats card. i should have taken a pic of it to post here, but because i am such a brilliant business-woman... i did not. 

ok. let's get back on track. even though i hope that we can fix our internet soon, i think i may start spending more time here, just sitting, sipping, and browsing. it really has been quite and enjoyable hour and a half. despite many people's pessimistic attitude about memphis and what it has to offer, little gems like otherlands exist all over this city, and i'm always thrilled to find a new one. 

sweeeeetness

so i've come down with a bug. i think it's only allergies, but my dad had something similar earlier this week and his progressed into more of a cold. i'm really hoping that doesn't happen, since i'm hosting an engagement party tomorrow night and in general i pretty much loathe being sick in any way, shape, or form.

so last night, in an attempt to feel just a little better, i spent some quality time with the fabulous girls of sex and the city. first, the movie. then season 4. I LOVE IT. i did have a wonderful, relaxing bath in between, just so my laziness wouldn't fuse me to the bed. and the boyfriend was at school studying for yet ANOTHER assessment (only 2 more!! yay!). i saw yet another benefit of having a wonderful, caring, loving boyfriend. i needed some more allergy medicine and some sugar-free popsicles. he shows up with allergy medicine, popsicles, orange juice, kleenex, AND ghirardelli chocolate!! so sweet! i'm talking about the boyfriend, not the chocolate. well, the chocolate, too.

chocolate, warm baths, sex and the city, popsicles, and LOVE. life is complete.

love it

i am obsessed with any show that has anything to do with houses: design, sales, organization... ANYTHING. sometimes i wonder what my true calling is. i mean, is it normal that i can watch the exact same design/home show over and over and over and over...? sean said it accurately today. "jennie, i barely watch any tv. and i've seen this episode at least twice." touche, seany. but i just can't get enough. 

some of my favorites are clean house, my first place, curb appeal, property virgins, designed to sell,  AAAAAAAAND...... house hunters international!!! at this very moment, a lovely british family of three is searching for a new home in the english countryside. and i'm so very glad they invited me along.  there's just something about watching people search

 for real estate. in a foreign country. it rocks my socks off.

that's how i roll

i had the best day!! well, maybe not the best, but it was pretty damn good. lately i've not only been waking up early on the weekends, but i've actually wanted to do so. on days when i desperately need the sleep (i.e. post-2 am bedtime or after slightly too much vino) i can definitely  s l e e p  as long as necessary. but i find that i don't really WANT to do that anymore. if i can accomplish x y and z before, say, 1 pm then i feel victorious and unstoppable. 

so today went something like this:  i woke up at 8:30 or so and read a little, did some sudoku, feed zoe, and strategically contemplated when i should wake up sean. this is a delicate process. wake him too early and you could get the evil eye... but wake him too late and he will start the day feeling as though he's already behind. i've got a 2 out of 3 chance of screwing it up, but i've gotten good at reading his sleep "mood" and can fairly accurately predict the best time to interrupt his beauty sleep. 9:00 we made breakfast. and by we, i mean me. bagels and eggs scrambled with fat free ham and cheddar cheese. delicious. 10:00 field trip to starbucks with sean and paul, then back to the house to enjoy. 11:00 i did some emailing, facebooking, cleaning, and kitty cuddling before grabbing my grocery list and heading to superlo. 45 minutes and $77 dollars later, i'm at home and having a tumultuous inner dialogue about whether or not i'm going to go for a run. i beat myself and decided to go for it. 1:45 it was definitely cold outside today- was 37, but no sun and a slight wind made it much worse. it was torture for the beginning. i kept thinking "i should have worn a hat, or another shirt, or put some vaseline on my lips" but eventually i warmed up and really fell into a groove. 3.6 miles in 33:07. not record-breaking, i know, but i was proud of myself. 3:30 i spent the afternoon at my parent's house, where i read my new book (which after only 15 pages i ADORE- i'm sure this book will have a post all it's own in the near future) i was told there'd be cake, essays by sloane crosley, drank some wine, 5:00 gave my mom a facebook tutorial (yeah, my mom's on facebook!!), 6:00 had dinner, 7:00 dessert, and 7:45 watched some of the SAG awards.

now here's the highlight: the following conversation took place as my dad was preparing to make dinner. i was so amused by this that i had to write it down immediately. i will most likely tell this story every chance i get for the next week or so. hopefully i can just continuously meet new people so i can just keep on telling it.  

dad: "you'll never guess what i found at the store- i had to search everywhere..."

mom: "ooo-what!?"

dad: "thick spaghetti!"

mom: "eww, i don't like thick spaghetti"

dad: "well that's just too bad. that's how i roll."

and i'm spent.

it's been a g o o d day.

1. got 8+ hours of sleep last night

2. came home for lunch and got quiet time with sean

3. finished my 'assignment' at work - proud of what i did and ahead of schedule

4. did 40 minutes of cardio - my power song: "let it happen" jimmy eat world

5. cooked new recipe - delicious, reduced-fat mac and cheese

6. visited with roommates and friends

7. watched PRESIDENT Obama's oath of office and inauguration speech. tears came. the good tears.

and one more thing.

i have to tell you how IN LOVE i am with my new 2009 daily planner. i know this is old skool, but shut your iphone and blackberry faces, and let me enjoy this moment.

MOLESKINE www.moleskine.com

i have used these notebooks for journaling, sketching, traveling, and NOW... PLANNING! they are fabulous in every way possible. i actually bought my planner in barcelona this past summer, bc i had never seen them in the stores here- stores only carried the notebooks and sketchbooks. but guess what!? now they sell planners!! yay! 

it's wonderful. and organized. and red. i love it.

you should go buy one: Borders, Davis Kidd

goodnight.