Saturday Fun Day...Junior League 5K!

Saturday was the Junior League's 5th Annual 5K for Kids.  This annual 5K helps us raise funds to support our community projects like GROW.  Last year some of our GROW participants came to cheer on the runners and during that time Kenny, pictured below who is one of our favorites, said he wished he could run the 'big' race next year.  My sweet friend Rebecca, who is the biggest friend and advocate for GROW, made his and other GROW friend's wish come true. Local running groups came in and did some training and there were at least 50 of our GROW friends at the race!  Most everyone had a buddy runner/walker and I heard multiple buddies say this one of their most favorite 5Ks ever.  Rebecca and I stayed back with the 10 little ones to run the fun ran as well as lead the cheering section.  We both said even thought we didn't do the full 5K we were as exhausted as if we had ran a marathon!

Team GROW photo!

Sweet Buddy Runners...

The Walter Casey family were some of the first to cross the finish line.  Director Casey has been the center director since it opened 38 years ago.  He is the heart and soul of that center and those families and he has welcomed us JL ladies with open arms over the last 4 years.

 Sweet Kelvon was a 'strong man', not a cheerleader!!!

 We are so proud of Nick who placed in his age group!!!

 Great weather, great friends and great fun for everyone!

Fun night with my GROW friends!

What a wonderful way to end year 4!!












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Saturday fun day with my favorites...

Such a fun Saturday on the Island...Full of bubble blowing, boat racing, game playing, fish feeding and playground hopping!  Love Saturdays like this!

Kindergarten Graduation

Tonight we celebrated Lily's kindergarten graduation.  She had 2 speaking parts and 2 solos and she did wonderful!  Lily is such a sweetheart and I love that we got to celebrate her tonight with a family dinner party at Megan and Adams with delicious cupcakes, graduation cookies, Jone's bbq and silly string! Fun night was had by all.  We just missed Uncle Ray and Uncle Logan who had to work!

 Mullen did so good at graduation!  As you can see from his hat, he is ready to graduate too!

Layne was so proud of his sissy!  He even gave her flowers!  

Can't wait to

Celebrate the graduate tonight!!


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I didn't take any pictures, but...

I am so thankful for my friends (near and far).  With all of life's ups and downs friends keep you grounded.  They help you laugh and feel connected and special and loved.  I have had some wonderful meals with friends over the last week (Ray's been out of town, so it was perfect timing!) and it has really made me think about how thankful I am for friends.  First, lunch with Kristy, who is my longest friend.  We met in 1st grade and have been friends ever since...our friendship really took off in Jr High and we have so many wonderful memories.  We don't see each other very often, but I so enjoy it when we do.
Most of this past weekend was spent with Jeri, Arden, Karen and Tracy.  Jeri's husband works with Ray and we first met there, but it turned out she was good friends with my work friend, Arden, plus we were all in Jr League together...Karen went to college with Jeri (and both were AXO's at Alabama) and Tracy worked with Jeri and went to LSU with Arden...I know it is like a big circle, but I want to remember our connection down the road.  We all just click and laugh like there is no tomorrow, but we also joke because there is always something medically wrong with one of us...so we are like the Golden Girls!
Tuesday night I met some of my newest neighbors and friends from my Lenten group at The Terrace.  It was fun getting to know them and I'm looking forward to our early morning walks!
Last night, I met my Grow girls for dinner at Second Line.  It's hard to explain what these 3 ladies mean to me.  We met four years ago and are all so unique, but we have this special bond that involves a love for helping others.  We have the most meaningful and fun times together and I just love it.
Then today I had lunch with Betsy at McEwens.  Betsy and I were best friends in elementary school...she lived on the same street as my grandparents and we would walk to each others houses and we spent many nights together.  We probably had not seen each other in 10 years, but we randomly ran into each other at the grocery one night.  I'm looking forward to hanging out with her and her fiance again soon.  I am one blessed girl and I hope I am as good of a friend to them as they are to me!

Our Grit and Grind

Just wasn't enough to pull off a Grizz win last night, but we didn't let that damper our Saturday.
Beautiful day full of fun at the Arcade, Farmer's Market, Second Line, Tennessee Brewery for an awesome history lesson and Nonna and Poppa's for dinner and bubble/water gun fights! Love weekends like this!









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Untapped

Such a fun night at Tennessee Brewery Untapped! This building has always been Ray's favorite in Memphis, but he tells me it is not a good investment!! Great friends, beer, music, atmosphere and food! (Hold for article on this awesome adventure). I wanted to take more pics, but my phone is out of space...must do some deleting!















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Back in my happy place...

Due to my crazy schedule this spring, I haven't got to spend much time at Thursday Night Supper Club. However, last night I was there and was so proud of how far these preschoolers have come with Ms Rachel. Brought tears to my eyes to see how well behaved and how much they enjoy her music lessons! Wow, I can see such a difference (especially from 4 years ago when we started this program) in just a couple of months!

Easter is here!!

What a beautiful Easter day it has been! We started the morning out at church, ended it watching Wicked Tuna on National Geographic and in between we enjoyed this beautiful day outdoors with family...eating, hunting eggs, shooting silly string at each other, blowing bubbles, flying kites, playing baseball, swinging, feeding the fish and the list goes on and on! Love days like today and these three blessings!





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Beautiful Day...

In the neighborhood! Harbor Town Crawfish Festival was so much fun and Charvey Rocks! He can play and sing anything...the crowd was begging for an encore (and he obliged). Love our neighborhood!


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Enriched

My life has been so enriched this Lenten Season. You see...I didn't give anything up, but I took something on. I took on embracing the Lenten season through the opportunities of our church. It started with the weekly Lenten neighborhood studies where I learned amongst multigenerational women (and men on occasion) how to practice Lectio Divina which is studying the bible through reading, meditating and praying. It is so hard for me to turn off the real world, make my brain stop running through my to do list, but this method helps. By reading, meditating and praying through the text for the following Sunday (and related text through the week) and hearing the one word, one phrase responses from these people I felt an instant bond with I felt my heart swell. I am a very inwardly Christian. Yes, I outwardly go to church, but if you ask me to pray out loud I freeze. I often pray little prayers through my entire day (mainly of thanksgiving, for forgiveness and for the strength to make it through the work day!!) and longer ones at night (which I usually fall asleep during and have to finish in the mornings...we are all human!). I can't see a homeless person without praying they receive what they need or get on a flight without asking for His will to be done. I believe having this relationship makes me the person I am...I now worry less than most and trust a lot. If you ask me to pray for something or I can sense you need prayer, I will stop what I'm doing and pray then, but don't ask me to pray out loud because I can't (or recite a Bible story because I often get them mixed up) but I'm working on it....instead I strive for my everyday actions to tell the story of God. Through standing in a circle to receive the the Body of Christ broken for me on Maundy Thursday to Good Friday for the Service of Extinguishing Lights with the earth shaking and rocks splitting and leaving to amazing voices singing "What Wondrous Love Is This" from all directions I feel so connected, so in tune with Jesus and the night of his Betrayal, Crucifixion and Burial and I want to remember this feeling. I've never been so excited for Easter and to sing Jesus Christ is Risen Today with a church family that has grown to mean so much to me in such a short time (and then hunt eggs all afternoon with my favorites). I go so fast through my days that I often have to reread my blog to see what I did yesterday and I look forward to rereading and reliving this feeling in the weeks and years to come.

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Wonderful Weekend

My weekend started a bit early thanks to my line review on Friday.  I was thrilled to have it completed and pleased with how it went, but after the emails I got from my VP and Director I think it went even better than I thought, so I treated myself to a mani/pedi.  
We enjoyed this beautiful weather the entire weekend...Friday night grilling burgers in our back yard, Saturday at a crawfish boil with Ray's buddies and Sunday for a lot of yard work!
In between that, I also attended a Junior League Leadership Training...

 Which I snuck out of to get a few minutes with these cuties!  I love them so much and enjoy the time we get to spend together...

 At least one of them liked the Easter Bunny...Adorable!  The others thought he looked scary!

After my leadership training was over for real, I met Ray at a crawfish boil.  Then once we left there we went to mom and dads to get some time with this cutie before he went to bed.  

Today after Ray went for a flight lesson and I went to church, we had lunch on the patio at our favorite Harbor Town establishment before I spent the next 5 hours working in the yard.  Ray was a big help too between Masters rounds.  I am already sore!!  I made stuffed tacos for dinner because for the next 21 days I'll be on a cold/warm/soft diet due to my dental surgery tomorrow...let the fun begin!

Even the chocolate knows what I need...

Sent from my iPhoneWorking towards a line review presentation the week after being overseas is for the birds. Been getting to work by 6:30 and not leaving till after 8 (and bringing work home) and I'm exhausted! I usually have a dove chocolate after dinner, but tonight I had 2 and both had the same message! I plan on following their advice starting Friday at 5 all the way till Tuesday...even though Monday will be spent getting a bone graph and implant to fix this root canal that went bad...I take what I can get!

Home sweet home!

I am thrilled to be home, but am still trying to get back on US time! We got home at 6:30 Wednesday night and since I hadn't slept much on the plane I thought sleeping would not be a problem. However, I was wide eyed at 2am...finally fell back asleep at 5:30 to be awaken by my alarm at 7 for work...same thing happened on Thursday night. Finally last night I got to sleep at 9 (while watching a movie with Ray) just to wake up at 11:30 pm. Thankfully I fell back asleep around 2 and didn't wake up till 10 am! I felt so go for a few hours and was excited to celebrate Donna Vaught's 60th with brunch at Paulette's! I had all intentions of going to GROW, but I just didn't have the energy! I finally went to the grocery and Lowes, but otherwise it's been a low key day breathing in the fresh TN air! Unfortunately I have a line review at work on Friday, so after church that is where I'll be. I'm already counting down the days till next weekend!



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Day 11

Homeward Bound! I had my best nights sleep last night, but still feel like I have been hit by a truck. Believe it is the combination of lack of sleep and going non stop. Anyway, lucky for me I have 14 hours to sleep!
All in all we had a very successful trip...nobody got hurt or sick and we saw some good factories. Now let the real work begin...

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Day 10...

and I'm still alive and well in South Korea.  I was thrilled to have slept till 4:45 am; however, I was not too thrilled to have been woken up by the entire room shaking.  I was the strangest thing and in my Advil PM induced sleep I briefly thought I was dreaming and then thought it was caused by a missile since it was a hot topic among the wives of everyone that I'm traveling with, but I finally concluded I'm on the 19th floor and it was probably the wind.  However, it woke others up too, just to confirm I wasn't dreaming. 

After a couple of factories and burgers for lunch, we had a traditional Korean meal with Mr & Mrs Ohh (pronounced U).  I can't say I ate much of the food, but the salad and the soup were delicious and the bbq was fantastic.  However, everything here is served family style and since my Director was so impatient today and got huffy when we got to a Korean restaurant, I didn't get as much of the bbq as I would have liked since that was all he was eating.  

Anyway, back to the Ohh's.  They are fascinating people.  Mr Ohh owns a filter company/factory and when his business was taken off, his wife decided she wanted to open her own manufacturing factory too.  They are both very successful and have traveled to over 70 countries.  Mr Ohh loves classical music...towards the end of dinner he sang You Are My Sunshine to me (who he called Helsley all day long) and then lead the entire table in a rendition of Oh Suzanna!  I'm thinking it was the Soju singing, but nonetheless it was a memorable night.  AutoZone does not allow us to take gifts, but he printed for each of us this famous Korean poem entitled Youth and placed it in a binder.  So thoughtful.  He toasted to a prosperous relationship and world peace at least 10 times through dinner.  As we were leaving his factory this morning we planted a tree together (I felt like a celebrity with white gloves and a shovel) to symbolize our growing relationship.  I hope he sends me a picture because it was super cool, plus my name will forever be on a plaque in South Korea.  

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I'm tired...

of being a good sport, of only sleeping 4-5 hours a night, of brushing my teeth with bottled water, of walking in flats and wedges, of being on my game every meal and every hour of the day, of not having a casual day, of carrying my 20lb backpack everywhere I go, of squatting to go, of always making sure I have my passport, of eating out, of riding in mini vans for hours at a time and trains for even longer, of waking up sweating, of walking factories and climbing flights and flights of stair...it's Day 9 and I'm done! Okay, I feel better already...I really think if we stayed in a hotel for more than a night and didn't have to take our suitcase with us almost everyday and didn't take the train and long drives, I would be not be so tired at this point, but the early mornings and new hotel rooms every night have gotten old. Day 9 started at 6am with a train ride about 450 miles to Southern South Korea to visit a media factory to better understand their capabilities for a filter line we are developing. The sales manager was actually an exchange student in Jackson, TN, but his English was a bit spotty. 

We had a traditional Korean meal at a local restaurant. I was fine taking off my shoes and sitting on the floor, but I was the only one that wasn't a Korean that was fine with it. The meal was interesting...let's just say we all mainly ate white rice. I felt so bad leaving all that food there, but I couldn't even bring myself to try it. 

Dinner tonight was with a factory owner and we stayed in the hotel at an Italian restaurant. I had a nice salad, a slice of pizza and finished with homemade ice cream. 4 more factories and 2 more days and then we are homeward bound! I'm counting down the hours at this point.

Gangnam Style...

I certainly feel like I'm living in Gangnam style given the 19 floor at the Sheraton right outside of Seoul in South Korea...clear air, 65 degrees, bright lights and a NYC feel!
However it took us all day to finally get here. We left the hotel at 10 for a noon flight. Keep in mind that it had been storming all night, but the sky seemed to be clearing up and they took us in a large van as the roads all around were flooded. After some back roads we get to the airport and go to the lounge to wait for our flight. After being called for our flight many times and then sent away due to the weather, we finally board only to be told we were on a weather hold for 2 hours (by this point we should almost be in Seoul headed to dinner at the top of the tallest building).
We flew Asiana airlines and the flight attendants looked like perfect dolls and were so nice. The pilot tells them to go ahead and serve the lunch. As the lunch is heating we get approval to take off, so at 3 pm we finally take off. The flight is the bumpiest flight I had ever been on and I was doing everything in me not to be sick. Because to get in S. Korea you have to fill out a medical history which lists all of these symptoms and ask that you check if you have had any of them in the last 10 days and no way was I checking yes! But of course I thought I had them all as soon as I checked no.
Anyway while climbing our plane gets struck by lightening. Seriously entire front of plane gasps and kinda feels the shock. Thankfully it just hit the window of aisle 1 (which is where I was sitting with my VP) and didn't hit an engine or anything major, but talk about a heart attack!
We finally land in S. Korea at 7 pm and by the time we get our temp taken and pass the health inspection, get finger printed and pass immigration and customs it was 8 and we were exhausted.
We stopped off for some Korean BBQ and it was literally the best, most unique food I've had in forever. However, I didn't know you were to take off your shoes before entering the dining room, so everyone is now gasping at me! Delicious food...this spicy salad, raw marinated mushrooms and the most tender steak that was cooked over charcoal in the middle of the table! Fun experience and amazing food...so much for loosing weight on this trip!

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The one about the minivan

Day 7...5 mini vans, 7 hours on the road, 3 different cities, 2 excellent factories, 2 delicious Chinese meals, 3 delightful Chinese brothers and 1 very sincere father. So the factory we visited is 3rd generation which is very unheard of in China. Given they were founded in Hong Kong, the 2nd generation had multiple kids. He then moved the family to Australia for a better education and then each brother chose a different country for their college education...talk about well educated people! Three are out of college and back running the family business...imagine trying to understand a Chinese man with an Aussie and British accent (kept me on my toes for sure). Needless to say the family has so much pride and knowledge of the filter business that is was a pleasure to spend the day with them (even if it did take us to the middle of China and back).
Plus they know how to order good food...hands down best meal ever in China (lobster, rice noodles, cabbage...I'm hungry just thinking about it!)! It was a long day and a very, very stormy night. Leaving China for Seoul tomorrow and I'm looking forward to the change (no worries the smell of China is already on my clothes...I about gagged when I put my rain coat on this morning!)

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