K's birthday celebration at Acre

Yesterday was K's birthday and we celebrated right! I surprised him with a new netbook. I wasn't sure if it would be something he would like but he had been complaining about having to lug around his full size laptop for a while so I took a chance and scored....he was soopa doopa excited about it. He said he had been thinking about going to get one after messing around with mine.

Each year on his birthday, I take Kennon to a restaurant neither of us have been to and this year Acre opened up just in time to be part of his celebration. I read that Acre was a 2 year work in progress and the doors finally opened a few weeks ago with a lot of hype. It is located in a remodeled house behind Theatre Memphis and the house is beautiful, I wish I could live in it. We got there about 30 minutes before our reszies so we could check out the bar area and have a cocktail.

After a glass of wine and not many people to watch, I was ready to get our table so we were taken to one of the dining rooms where there was plenty of people to watch!

This picture is from Memphis Magazine and doesn't reflect all we had to look at but it shows how pretty the place is and it was actually taken from the area where we sat. I loved the floor to ceiling windows all around the room and all of the light they let in. I did not like how long it took our waiter to get to us though. Having been a bartender and waitress in college, I realize it is impossible to get to every table as soon as they are sat but it is not impossible to acknowledge them and let them know you will be with them as soon as you get a second....This is a huge pet peeve of mine. HUGE! I will sit contently for 10 or 15 minutes as long as I know someone knows I am there and is trying to get to me. All was forgiven after about 10 minutes when our waiter finally came over, apologized, refilled my wine glass and was totally attentive to us the rest of the night.
We started with the duck pastrami and the peekytoe crab cake.

They were both really good, I liked the crab cake best and K liked the duck. The crab cake is made without flour so it is real light and very crabby. The duck was cooked perfectly, a little bit of fat on the edges added a lot of flavor and there was no gamey taste at all.

For dinner, I ordered the scallops. They were served over a potato puree with some veggies and some kind of red wine buttery brown sauce and they were really, really, really good! If you order these make sure to get the full order because it is only 4 scallops. I would have been PISSED if I would have ordered the half and been served 2 scallops.....I mean really???? Who eats only 2 scallops. 4 is a half order to me!

K got the ribeye and gosh damn it was so stinking good and I'm not even a ribeye kind of girl. I cut my piece with the butter knife, it was cooked perfect....tender, juicy, flavorful and damn good! Oh and it was served with Potato Gratin, which is always a winner with me! Please note K's hands in the background with his fork and knife ready to go. I think I drive him crazy with my blog pictures. We had the pecan pie for dessert and it was the best pecan pie I have ever eaten in my life..... and I have eaten a lot! I don't know how you can make a pecan pie light and fluffy but the pastry chef at Acre has it figured out.

In the background is an example of the improved people watching that was going on in the dining room. No matter how long I live or how many times I see it, I will never, ever understand a man and a ponytail!!! I will also forever be scarred by the large "lady" with him that insisted on sitting with her legs wide apart all night long while wearing a dress!

After dinner, we enjoyed one more cocktail on the patio.

We decided that Acre's patio has now taken over the best patio in Memphis title.Get yo butt to Acre soon for a wonderful dining experience :)
I borrowed the pictures of the patio, bar and dining room from Memphis Magazine's review of Acre.

More STC, walking, donuts, Redneck Riviera and eggs plus a netbook.

Let me just say that last Thursday's lunch was so good. I don't know where I came up with the idea but am glad I did.

Lemon dill salmon and an over easy egg on a bagel thin with sriracha mayo. To. Die. For! Thursday was also a good day because J came home from hunting camp....I missed that little sucka while he was gone and he missed Margo!

Friday was my last day at In Service for this year and was spent on the pistol range which made things more bearable than being in the class room. They let us go a few hours early and I went out to mom's for a while and then came home to start the weekend. We had some of J's turkey that he shot earlier in the year thawed out and marinating since the day before and K fired up the STC smoker. We also threw on some bologna for an appetizer while the turkey breast smoked.

We tore up the smoked bologna and cheese plate, the turkey breast wasn't bad either!
I woke up Saturday morning with J in my face begging for some Gibson's donuts. I had full intentions of eating none of it until we walked in the door and I saw their newest addition to the menu:

Yeah, that's a red velvet donut and yeah, it was the best donut I have ever eaten!!!!! So I had to get busy in order to make things right with that.....a little bit of a walk.

After lunch, we went over to the Donnelly's for Brian's Surprise Birthday Swim Party and Crawfish Boil......it was a blast and J and Jackson and i ate crawfish until we were about to pop. We wound up staying there the rest of the night. Sunday, J and I went to church and then came back home to find the Redneck Riviera set up.

After a full day of sun, J and I went to Central Church to watch the slideshow from Camp Tsungani and then he went to his dad's. K and I grabbed some dinner at Swanky's before calling it a day.
Today has been a fruitful one. After physical therapy this morning, I went to Best Buy to get K a birthday present and wound up getting me a little something too!

 How cute is this netbook??????? I think I am in love :)

Another good thing about today was our dinner, I busted out the Cajun tonight......

A little boudin with some dippy eggs, toast and potatoes. It was so good! Now I am going to spend the rest of the night playing with my new netbook.



New foods and tastes. Girls Night. My wedding dress. The boys go off to camp.

Looks like I have lagged behind on my blogging again but will start off with saying I have a new love!!!

Green tea blended with lots and lots of frozen berries and pineapple and sometimes a banana thrown in also. Another thing I found that is pretty cool is a yellow watermelon.

I had never seen one of these until I cut into one last weekend. It was very surprising! Even though it looks crazy, it is still pretty yummy.

I also got to enjoy some sushi and girl time last week!

Some of the other happenings of our weekend were some tremendous smoked chickens.

I took Friday off work to see the doctor about my shoulder, get J from VBS and to go shopping for a wedding dress, between all of that, I picked up some chickens and Leegan and we had quite the busy night at the house Friday night. J and Leegan played all night long while K and I hung out in the oasis while he smoked our chickens. Leegan had never had smoked chicken before and went kinda crazy over it, 6 servings worth of crazy. Saturday, I took the boys to the Fogelmans to swim and eat the yellow watermelon while K headed to the hunting lease to do some bush hogging. K stayed at the lease Saturday night and J went to his dad's to spend some Father's Day time with him. I enjoyed a very quiet night at home and went to bed early after a long walk with Margo.

Sunday after church, I grabbed J and the Mays boys and headed to Paris, TN to take them to hunting camp.

It's funny how the simple act of driving J to camp keeps me from worrying so much instead of putting him on a bus, like we did with Tsungani. Granted, it is a lot more trouble but definitely worth my peace of mind. I made it home in time for K and I to enjoy a few drinks and cook out some steaks in our backyard oasis.

I bought the steaks on Saturday from Charlie's and let them marinate all day long and then K cooked them according to an instruction card I got from Folks Folly and they were perfect :)

Monday brought about In Service week, which sucks! The waste of time is bad enough but then not being able to stay on my routine adds to the suckiness. I hate not being able to work out until I get off work unless that is what I want to do. I went for a long bike ride Monday night but decided to change things up last night. I did everything in the backyard and it was pretty fun! I had 3 stations that I did for 5 minutes each for 3 rounds for a total of 45 minutes. The stations were the trampoline, the stairclimber and the yoga mat where I had weights and did squats, rows, presses, planks and upward dogs. The time passed quickly and was really fun.

Notice my supervisor in the background!

15 Year Career Anniversary

Yesterday marked 15 years since I was hired by the Shelby County Sheriff's office and I was thinking how fast time has flown by and then I started thinking about even though the time seems to have passed so quickly, I have changed in so many ways since that day. Here is what I wrote about it:

15 years ago today, my life changed forever. I walked through the doors of the Sheriff’s Office Training Academy excited to be starting a career I had dreamed of forever while having no clue what that decision would make of me.

15 years ago today, I thought I had everything under control and knew exactly what I was doing, when in reality, I was just a kid looking for a little bit of excitement.

15 years ago today, I could only imagine the adrenaline rush I would get from a car chase, how good it would feel to lock up a monster or the unspoken bond I would form with my coworkers.

15 years ago today, I had no idea how hard I would have to fight to remember that no matter what I saw at work, there are still really good people in this world.

15 years ago today, it was hard for me to believe that a woman would let a man she just met abuse her daughter because she didn’t want him to leave her or that a man would kill his own brother over the last piece of chicken.

15 years ago today, I had never been to a friend’s funeral and now I look back and remember too many loved ones whose lives were taken by subhumans that would rather kill a police officer than go to jail.

15 years ago today, I had the highest respect for law enforcement and thought most of society felt the same way. I quickly realized I would be cussed out a lot more than thanked for the rest of my work days.

15 years ago today, I had no clue what it felt like to be completely hated because of the uniform I wore.

15 years ago today, I had yet to have some of the best laughs with some of the best people I have ever known.

15 years ago today, the strength and understanding that would be built in me because of my choice of a job was unimaginable.

15 years ago today, my skin wasn’t near as thick as it is now.

15 years ago today, I had no idea of the emotions that would wash over me after someone died in my arms or the helplessness I would feel when there was nothing I could do to protect a child from being abused because I didn’t have enough evidence to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

15 years ago today, I didn’t understand the lifelong battle I would face trying to hide the emotions this job causes.

15 years ago today, I thought a successful career would be determined by how many arrests I would make or how many times I would be promoted. 15 years later, I just want to know in my mind I have done everything I can to ensure the well being of the people I swore to protect.

15 years ago today, I did not realize the nightmares I would be unlocking.

15 years ago today began many changes in me. I have seen the darkest places, been to the lowest depths, and witnessed the most horrific events, yet I would not change any of it.

15 years ago today, I didn’t have much of a relationship with God. 15 years later would not have happened without the faith and understanding of a loving God and knowing that me and all the victims I have met over the years have a better place waiting on us.

15 years ago today, I thought tomorrow was a given.

15 years ago today, I did not know how important a grateful heart was.

15 years ago today, I had no idea I would be learning the lesson of a lifetime. When you live with tragedy every day, you have 2 choices of what to do with it. You can let it eat you alive, fall victim to it and let your world turn upside down or you can see the bright side of things at every given opportunity. I choose to count my blessings every single day for every wonderful thing in my life because 15 years of being a police officer has assured me that if I don’t appreciate it today, I may not have the opportunity tomorrow.

15 years ago today, I decided on a career and 15 years later, I can’t imagine where or who I would be without that decision.

15 years ago today, these words didn’t mean much to me but now I cannot find a better meaning for success:
To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

I'M ENGAGED!!!!! Baseball playoffs and championship.

On Friday, June 3, 2011, I finally received what I have been waiting for a long time for :)

 K finally asked me to marry him!!!!!! He took me to dinner at Restaurant Iris, our favorite restaurant, and did the deed. I almost died. I couldn't believe it and then I started crying and then I was so excited, I couldn't stand it. By the time it was all over, all of the waitstaff, Chef Kelly and a lot of the other people dining had come by to take a look at the ring and congratulate us. It was so exciting!

What a wonderful night! We spent a lot of this past week making plans for our wedding on Anna Maria Island. So far we have our house booked, Reverend Charlie booked as our officiant and the plans for the flowers have begun. We will be staying in the Casa Palma on the north end of the Island. Casa Palma It is a huge and beautiful duplex and K's family is going to stay next door so we will have the whole compound to our wedding party :)

Our engagement wasn't the only excitement that went on last week, we also had A LOT of baseball. J's playoffs were last week and his team took it all the way to the championship game.....and a lot of their success was because of him. They had to play so many games that their pitchers became ineligible and J came in and helped save the day in one of the playoff games, the semifinals and the championship game. He even got the game ball for the semifinal game. They did not win the tournament but they did so great. They really made the Braves fight to win it. The game was not over until the very last play. Bottom of the inning, 2 outs, 2 strikes and 3 balls and what did the little boy on the Braves do? He connected with the ball well enough to get the player on 3rd base in. J and his teammates were so disappointed but I thought they did one hell of a job!!!!!

This was a very, very, very great week!!!!!!!!!

Cupcakes. Etouffe. Cougar Watching. Sushi.

Loading up on the fresh produce didn't last too long once I got my hands on this:

I had to run to the grocery store at lunch and was so close to the Ladybugg Bakery that I decided to drop in and see how it compared to my favorite cupcake place, Muddy's. No comparison. Now that doesn't mean that Ladybugg wasn't good but I just really don't think anything is ever going to come close to being as good as Muddy's!
After work, I went home and knocked out a 12 something mile bike ride, to try and knock some of that German Chocolate Cupcake off my hips, and then got to cooking. The last time K and I were "back home" (that is what I now call Louisiana after hearing K call it that so much and there is no back home for me since I never left home) we borrowed a bag of crawfish that was shelled during the Easter crawfish boil and I put it to good use along with some shrimp and whipped up a little etouffe.

The etouffe was delicious but I kinda messed mine up. I thought it would be a good idea to top pasta instead of rice with the etouffe and it just wasn't the same.....2 misses in one day :(
Yesterday consisted of work, 60 minutes at the Y and this little jewel:

This is one of my favorite snacks going on right now, a mini wheat pita pocket smeared with spinach and artichoke hummus and topped with cucumber, bell pepper and a spicy pepper. The day was finished with a night of really great people watching. K and I were told by Leighanna, the bartender at Jim's Place, that Thursday night was the night to be there if you liked to people watch and she was right on. The cougars and losers were out in full effect and we had 3 1/2 solid hours of entertainment. We also grabbed a few drinks and some dinner while we watched. K had a filet and I had the Greek burger.
There wasn't much pep in my step today since I didn't get any good sleep last night but downing a little spicy sushi and being informed by K that we have Restaurant Iris reszies tonight has definitely refueled me :)

Candlelight Dinner. Refueling with lots of veggies.

Memorial Day weekend ended with K and I enjoying our delicious dinner of smoked turkey, baked beans, potato salad and pasta salad by candlelight under the stars.

Perfection!
I woke up yesterday feeling pretty bloated from all the sodium intake over the holiday and tried to rectify it with a bunch of veggies.

Despite my better eating, I was still exhausted by the end of the day and went home and took a 2 hour nap. Got up, fixed some leftovers, watched the Break Up, ate some ice cream and went back to sleep.
I'm still feeling bloated so I started the morning off with a huge smoothie with blueberries, strawberries, banana, spinach, flaxseed, protein powder and some milk. It was pretty yummy! I also have this freshness for lunch: