utterly sappy and gooby...

that's me after my fandabulous weekend with wick and lan and yes, even uncle jim :)

wick and i have been planning this for weeks- a super secret mission to surprise lan for his birthday and see uncle jim in the process. we were stealthy as ninjas as we packed and loaded the truck friday night. and wick grilled some fabulous pizzas...fresh basil, roasted garlic, tomatoes, grilled chicken. we stirred a lil ranch mix into the homemade mayo and used that to kind of anchor it all. damn, it was fabulous. what a gem lan and i have found in wick. how completely divine to find someone i can not only share all of me with, but also my kitchen. if ya know me, ya know i'm a wee OC when it comes to my kitchen.

next morning, we went to our weekly ritual breakfast at Little Building Cafe (www.littlebuildingcafe.com) check it out for yourself. we had amazing little building bennies (ted's special take on eggs benedict-- my gosh, it's good stuff) and a pot of coffee to fortify ourselves for the trek. if you've never taken a jaunt with an inquisitive 11 year old, you really don't know what you're in for... ha. we went by the house and scooped him up...grumpy as could be because he thought he was being dragged around for an afternoon of errands... HA. we got all the way to holly springs before he mentioned food and wanted to know where the heck we were. i think we were both shocked to have made it quite so far without a barrage of juvenile questions; perhaps a heartfelt prayer of thanks to the makers of handheld video games is in order. we stopped to have a lil picnic (yes, we packed lunch) and of course it sprinkled on us- all in good fun; i think god just wanted in on our adventure, but that's all good- always room for merriment.

when we got to memphis, he recognized where we were and we told him NOTHING til we pulled up at the zoo...oh my gosh, he did a lil jig in the backseat. i swear he did. ha- all coolness tossed aside on a childhood whim because i don't care how old ya are, the zoo is just cool. the weather held; was a perfectly beautiful day.

we took tons of pics, shared lots of laughs, and had an absolute blast with a certain white-faced gibbon and a plate glass window. it was a lovely day. the polar bears were just fun and furry and sweet. we saw a pregnant elephant (did you know gestation for elephants is 22 freakin months long). we even hung out with snakes and bats and frogs and the biggest porcupine i've ever seen in my whole big life. was such a good day, we purchased a family membership- it's a great deal and we'll definitely go back!

starving and happy, we made our way downtown and had dinner at Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken. suffice it to say it's the best stuff you'll ever put in your mouth. landen was amazed. i think he had a great time...even tho we paid 10 bucks to park 2 blocks away and then stood in a ragged line for 38 minutes for a table. well worth it i tell ya. we're thinkin that chicken is flash-fried. i can't explain its lack of grease. they serve it on slices of white bread for cryin out loud, and there is minimal grease there. i just am amazed. good stuff. i urge you to check it out. go for lunch or mid afternoon when not so crowded and the wait staff can chat with ya. great atmosphere.

after munching through that awesome chicken, we trekked to beale (yes, with lan- but it was early and it was memphis in may bbq fest, so kids every-damn-where). hung out for a few minutes at cool shop- tater red's- with ole nikole. was great to see her-- all graduated and whatnot. got herself a space in an art studio...so proud of her!

sunday we bounced up early (ok, i'm pretty sure i'm the only one of us who actually bounces in the morning, but you do get the point) and headed to uncle jim's retirement home for breakfast before church. church sucked. i bet god thinks so too. and that is definitely fodder for a later blog. man, that is so coming. anyways, we surprised lan one more time with a cake (from Fresh Market-- was white cake with cream cheese icing and garnished with wedges of white chocolate-- OH MY GOSH it was fabulous). after cake and ice cream with uncle jim, we took our leave and hit our spots- Fresh Market (second round) and Whole Foods-- a favorite shopping spot of ours.

3 hours later, we slid on down to southaven to meet up with denice- very very cool chick with two cool daughters. been forever since we've seen those girls- they're all tall and have body parts and everything. sigh. how does this happen? after kickin it with them, we realized it was pushin 5 and we were already tired and still had a good 2 1/2 hour drive...so we finally headed home.

made a pit stop in tupelo to snag a quick meal at byb (backyard burger)...wick and i both got the texas jack burger...pretty tasty. had battered and fried jalapenos on top with a chipotle mayo. was really good with the melty pepper jack cheese- not too hot either. i'd like to make our own version of that. mmm mmmm and ooo maybe, top with sliced avocado. slammin!

all in all, we had a great time...i might really love the direction i see ahead. :)