The Trifecta of Happiness

Look at what I found in Memphis!!!!! Here's the amazing thing - when I told Beth that I had found a Bikram place and I wanted to go, she said get in the car and go where I say -- and 3 minutes later, from her house, we were at Bikram! It was totally right in her back yard. I was in heaven!

And then - to boot! There's a Starbucks about 3 minutes from her house and a Chick-Fil-A. I could TOTALLY live in Memphis! It told Beth that her house was situated in the trifecta of happiness for me! LOVE IT!

I did manage to get to one Bikram class. It wasn't as smelly, a little (Chicago still wins as the best) and this time we had a male instructor. Never had one of those before. I find that the women are very encouraging ("not quite right Jane, but you keep on trying and you'll get there!" "Its gotten a little hot in here so I'm going to crack the door for a few seconds before you all die") whereas, I found, the men are -- well -- men ("my friend in the brown, you are NOT kicking your leg back correctly. You are not trying hard enough - be strong - pull that leg back - it should feel like your hip is ripping out of your socket and I don't think you're feeling that yet!" "Oh - by the way - I'm going to lay this towel in front of the bottom of the door so as to make sure to keep every single drop of heat and humidity locked up in the room for the entire 90 minutes otherwise I'll make you all take the class again!"). It was brutal, but good. Oh - here's the other thing I notice about a lot of yoga instructors.... they may be limber, but they're not necessarily the best looking in the shape department. This male instructor we had in Memphis, although his face was very attractive - was a quite a bit pouchy in the gut and he just sat on his little instructor podium telling us what to do. Bah! Not my all time favorite class so far, but its on my list.

Here's the other thing about Memphis. Its the S-O-U-T-H! I mean, the people are gentile, the children are polite, the women are powdered and bowed and the men are chivalrous. Also - the shops are frouffy and the houses are HOUSES! I LOVE the architecture in the south! Its so different from our $12.95 ranch, fake panelled track houses.

Beth and Joel's neighborhood is so beautiful and has such charm. Here are few of the houses that are down the road from them -- massive things that were erected after the smaller family homes on the lots had been torn down apparently.

This is Joel and Beth's house, below. I love the front - you can't see it, but they've got these two red doors in the front with the glass insets and they've got this big old American flag hanging right there and then the brick front stoop. Its just adorable and so classy and NOTHING like what we have at home -- okay, you'd have to go to Lake Forest or something to find anything like it.
Friday afternoon, I asked to be taken back downtown Memphis again so the whole family piled in for a fun trip! We parked downtown and then walked over to a really famous barbeque place for lunch. Below are Parker's amazingly bright, glow in the daylight shoes. They just intrigued me - had to share a picure...

This is the restaurant we ate at. Its called Rendezvous and apparently its so famous that when President Bush and some big dignitary from Japan came to Memphis, they wanted to go here so the restaurant closed down for the afternoon so that Bush and Mr Yokohoho could dine by themselves. Here's a picture of the menu too - its funny because Pat and Kim and I just took that barbeque class on ribs and all and learned all about Memphis rubs.

Here's lunch. I got a combination of brisket (which I love) and figured I'd have to try the ribs with the Memphis rub. The brisket was good, but I must admit that I didn't really care for the ribs as they were a little too dry and the sauce that was supposedly mild made my lips burn so I couldn't stand to put anything on the dry ribs. Beth kept on inserting that "Corkys" which was across the street had way better barbeque and we should have gone there.

Our waiter insisted that he knew how to take pictures with my IPhone, but somehow, after the second picture and this being the result, I questioned that ability.

Admittedly - this was the real reason we came downtown Memphis. My brother (hi Karl) had just told me that his hotel in Portland, OR - The Monaco - had taken first in the most pet-friendly hotel in the US. They have this dog they keep in the lobby named Timmy or Jimmy or Susan or something and he lives there and people can bring their pets -- oh, and I just saw on-line that if you check in there without your pet but you miss your pet, you can request to get a goldfish for your room for the time you're staying there... Kind of sappy :) Sorry, Karl :)

Ok - but here's the Memphis story. Karl said that the second in the list after the Monaco was The Peabody... And its in Memphis. Its this hotel that has ducks in the fountain in the lobby. If you watch that 19 Kids and Counting, they got to lead the ducks out one mother's day. Here's a link to read what the ducks are all about http://www.peabodymemphis.com/peabody_ducks/

I had to snap a few pictures for Karl of the hotel and the ducks and thought everyone else might find it interesting as well!
This is Parker, Paryton and me in front of the fountain with the ducks which is in the Peabody lobby.

This one duck looked a little sickly. It seriously had one leg and these feathers were all weird and skeletony looking.... Sick duck!
Beth, Joel and Parker and Payton in front of the fountain.

These dogs were by the door when you go to exit the Peabody.

Parker and I thought this car was pretty sweet looking so I made him pop into the garage it was parked in so I could get a picture....

On the way out of Memphis, we drove through the neighborhood that Joel grew up in. This was the house he lived in -- its in one of those old, genteel, huge house sections that make up the picture perfect southern landscape down there.