a few more from

Graceland.  Here are some of his movie scripts.

They told us on the tour that Elvis was very generous and made donations to a lot of different organizations.  They even said that he would come across somebody in need and pay their bills or something like that.  Here's one of the checks from a donation.

The end of the house tour leaves you in his meditation garden.  This is also where he is buried with his parents and grandmother.

I'd heard positive and negative things about Graceland.  I'd heard things like it was a waste or you don't get to see very much.  Honestly, I thought it was the coolest.

After Graceland we toured his car museum.  I think I'll post those pictures tomorrow, along with the rest of our day in Memphis.

graceland is

so cool... not the decor or anything, but just being there.  When you walk in the front door and look to the right you see this room.  You can't see everything because I had to get close to avoid other people.  I wanted to keep this lens on since I expected low lighting so there was no zoom on it.  What you're not seeing is a really long couch where they said Elvis would sit with visitors.  (Imagine, using the front room for visitors and having a couch to sit on at that.)  Through the front room was this music room/area.

Oh wait, here's part of that couch.  They said it was either 15 or 20 feet long.  I can't remember.

Then there was his parent's room not far down the hall.

It was purple.  Along that hall was a staircase, a staircase the public is not allowed to use because the upstairs area is a closed, private area.  They said Elvis was a very private person so they kept all his personal areas off limits.  Here is the staircase and part of the landing.

And when you look up, you see this chandelier.

Since we're still in the foyer, I'll show you the room to the left of the door.  The dining room.

There were plenty of other rooms in the house but I don't have a whole lot to share.  Some of my pictures were blurry just because of the conditions.  I still have a few more from the tour but I'll share those tomorrow.  I need to make Eric's breakfast now.

we arrived in memphis

and our hotel was booked with a conference of some sort.  People were everywhere.  There were two elevators in this hotel and after a 15 minute wait for a ride, everyone was packed like sardines.  It was honestly more than this hotel could handle.  They might could have handled it better had this group not like to go on so many elevator rides.  Enough of that.  I haven't mentioned the most important reason for going to Memphis.  Graceland.

We got in line and it was a very long line for the tickets, followed by a long line for the shuttle.  We decided a tour of Graceland (and avoiding the long wait) was worth an additional $39 per person for the VIP pass.  We jumped to the front of the line and were immediately put on a shuttle to cross the street to Graceland.  I took pictures in the house but today I'm just going to post a few.  The first is two Grammy Awards.

The second is of a small section of wall with gold records.  The next few pictures are my favorites.  First of all, does everyone realize how big of an Elvis fan I am?  No?  Well, I am.  Elvis has always been one of my favorites.  I would come to Brazoria every summer to stay with my grandparents.  Besides playing with all my Barbies, one of the things I'd do almost daily was to pull out Grandma's Elvis records and sing and dance.  (She'd usually join me.)  Every time I play Stuck On You, I can see Grandma coming around the corner from their kitchen to the den dancing.  (No, not literally but that's what always happened.)  It was fun.  For now I'll leave you with a few of my favorite pictures.  These were taken on a part of the tour limited to VIP passes.  I really like the lighting on these outfits.

When I was a kid, I'd walk to the gas station in Brazoria and buy Elvis trading cards.  I guess they were set up like baseball cards, I really don't know.  They came wrapped up with a stick of gum.  They would have pictures of Elvis on the front and the backs would have Elvis trivia.  (Maybe that's what started my love of useless trivia.)  Anyway, I remember one of these cards stated Elvis wore a size 13 shoe.  These shoes just didn't seem that big.

Okay, one more picture from the VIP part of the tour.  His desk.

More Graceland and Memphis tomorrow.

i don't know what's

worse... 

I read on the Cuties website that they are only in season for another 36 days
or
I was looking up a website for fruit

Regardless, I'm about to have my fourth one for the day and will eat as many as I can until they are gone.

we left new jersey

the following morning and headed to Asheville, NC.  We did get to stop and have breakfast at White Castle on our way out.  This was nothing but a day of driving.  We stopped Friday morning for an early lunch at this place and bought t-shirts.  Our reason for stopping in Asheville was to see the Biltmore Estate.  Believe it or not I don't have any pictures of the actual house.  (Actually, at this point, it's probably real easy to believe.)  I tried to get some but the other tourists were kind of ruining every shot.  Also, there wasn't a whole lot of green or blooming going on.  The house had some neat stuff but it was a quick tour.  We decided not to get the audio tour but we were getting stuck behind everyone else who did... they were really holding things up and just standing around.  I could include a few funny things that involve gas-passing and getaways but I already typed it once and thought it might be TMI.   We went to their winery for tasting and a little shopping.  We left Asheville around 3:00 for our next destination.  The next stop will have to wait until tomorrow.  I won't even say where it is but it's a place I've ALWAYS wanted to go.  I'll give a hint... "Long distance information.  Give me Memphis, Tennessee"

On another note, I have a new addiction.  Not that I had an old one but I do have something I am totally hooked on.

Oranges are my favorite fruit.  Yeah, sometimes apples or strawberries are good and every once in a while even bananas, but I love oranges.  I don't eat a lot of them since they can be kind of messy with the peel and juice and seeds and all.  It seems like lately I've been seeing these Cuties everywhere.  I finally bought a bag the other day.  They weren't available to buy just a few so I had to buy the whole bag.  I figured some would end up in the garbage since there were so many.  Well, I also didn't figure on eating SEVEN the first day.  They are delicious, seedless and so clean and easy to peel.  You know how when there are brownies or cookies and it's next to impossible to walk through the kitchen without having a bite?  That's how I am with the oranges.  It seems like every time I walk through the kitchen I have to eat an orange...or two.  As a matter of fact, I'm going to eat one right now.

wednesday, march 17

 

we got up and caught the bus and headed through the tunnel for New York City.  I took the first picture because it's funny.  We got on the bus and Mom was up by the bus driver talking.  I understand we were curious to know how many stops it made and what its final destination was but I'm sure she said/asked a lot more than that.

Our first stop was Times Square.  I have one picture and it's not the best.  Eric was not in the best mood because not only was it crowded but I wanted to stop in the middle of this crowd for pictures.  We knew there would be a St. Patrick's Day parade but we just didn't know where.  Since none of us were interested, we headed to Rockefeller Center.

After going to the top, the plan was to head to the street for more sight-seeing.  We walk out of the building and were smack-dab in the middle of the parade.  We were actually standing alongside some women who had also exited the building but this was an area that had been blocked off.  I heard drums and bagpipes.  Then I wanted to watch the parade but NYPD had other plans.  I got an attitude with a cop.  I was in an unpleasant mood for a while after that.  We started off down the street to find food for Eric.  The St. Patrick's Day revelers were everywhere - which did not help my mood.  We finally went to Five Guys Burgers and Fries.  I didn't eat because that's how I operate.  I cannot eat a big meal and then be expected to walk around the city.  Once I eat, I'm done.  Yeah, I know these restaurants are everywhere but we'd never been and finding a place for Eric to eat was getting difficult.  Cosme and Eric loved the food.  We walked for a bit but we really couldn't get anywhere because there were so many road blocks.  It was frustrating.  We took the subway to Brooklyn and grabbed a snack and drinks then walked back over the bridge.  Not long after that we headed back to the bus station (which was another half hour of crazy right there).  I know I've left stuff out but it was that kind of a day.  We didn't do a whole lot but we saw quite a bit.  I learned two things from this trip to New York... 1) It cannot be done in a day and 2) NEVER go on St. Patrick's Day.

the morning after

Boston we loaded up and drove to Salem.  There wasn't much open because the tourist season didn't start for another two weeks.  (If you happen to be going to Salem next week, you're in luck.)  We walked around and saw a few things and had pizza here.  (At this point I'm realizing these aren't the easiest days to be going without bread.)  They did have spinach squares that I ordered.  They were really good.  It probably wasn't the best selection though because I (keeping this short and sweet for the fear of TMI) had to miss out on The House of the Seven Gables.  I might not have been able to take the tour but I can say that reading several books has been added to the top of my to-do list.

Here's a random shot.  You'd never guess how much I like this area by the number of pictures I made.  Seriously, I really like Boston and Salem.  They are such cool places.

After leaving, we headed towards New Jersey.  We had no plans of driving in New York City and figured New Jersey was a fast and easy place to stay.  It was nice there.  Even though the hotel didn't have any non-smoking rooms available, they had recently remodeled and allowed us to make sure the room was okay.  We arrived in time for dinner.  We took the hotel shuttle to Outback.  I was totally bummed.  Seriously, Outback?  Why would I want to go to Outback when they are all over the place here?  I wanted something I could only get in that area.  Okay, okay... I wanted White Castle.  I know the whole bread thing was an issue but I was willing to take it off.  So, we went to Outback.  I admit it was good and easy to walk to.  Next stop... New York City.

and while we were

away...

Well, I don't really know what happened while we were away but I'm pretty sure it was something like this.  More posts on the trip coming tomorrow.

boston was cold and

wet... but delicious.

We knew going into this that Eric was going to try pizza from as many places he could.  The picture is from the first place.  The best?  This place.  I tried the toppings (and the wine) since I'm going without bread right now and they were delicious.  We also ate here (also delicious) but Eric only had the fried calamari.  While on the topic of going without bread, I took a couple of pictures of what I missed out on.

My mouth is watering now.  I couldn't fix the lighting on the second picture because the restaurant is that dark.  That's about it for the Boston pictures.  I didn't really want to get my camera out in the nasty weather.

so we finally get to

Boston.  The winter storm that was blowing in as we pull up to the hotel added to our crankiness.  We check in to our hotel only to find they gave our room away.  We have a a room with ONE double bed for FOUR people.  We were NOT happy.  They did let us use a rolling bed and luckily Mom brought an air mattress.  It was cozy...yeah, let's call it cozy. 

Here's a picture of the room with the portable bed.  There was just enough room to walk by and hit your toe each time.

Let us not forget Mom over on the air mattress in the entry way, just outside the bathroom door.

They told us they'd have the right room for us tomorrow.  Whatever.  To make a long story short, the rack in the closet broke when we put one bag on it, the floor was wet all along the window because of the rain, the toilet clogged up on paper and oh, did I mention it was a handicapped accesible room?  This means the bathroom was basically a shower stall with a tall toilet.  When we questioned the manager the next morning, she simply explained that there were a lot of walk-ins so they took all the rooms.  Ah, right.  Walk-ins void out all reservations. 

They gave us a room the next day.  It was better.  Except for the fact that the phone didn't work and there was no pot for the coffee maker (and probably only a few more things) the room was much better.

To give them time to clean a room for us, we started our cold, wet day in Boston.  I'll talk more about that tomorrow... if NYC doesn't wear me out.

NOTE: If this post doesn't make sense or there are more typos than normal, it's probably because my bedtime was about 2 hours ago.

day 1.5

1.5, you ask?  that's because we drove for 36 hours.  Anyway, here are scenes from the drive to Boston.

Getting closer, already in New York.

We drove through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama (there's a funny story there), Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and finally Massachusettes.  That was all one drive, three drivers and many bathroom stops.  We pulled into our hotel 3:30 Monday morning.  As soon as we opened the door, the violent wind slapped us with the cold rain.  There is some bad, cold, wet weather in Boston.  To make it all better, the hotel gave our room away.  They gave us a room with one double bed... for FOUR people.  More on that tomorrow.

Here's a story from Alabama.  We pulled over at some gas station around 3:00 Sunday morning for a couple of things, bathroom being one.  There was only one man working.  He kinda looked like Santa Claus, after hanging out in beer joints and pool halls and working on cars for the last 60 years.  Mom walks in first.

MOM:  Do you sell socks?

MAN:  Socks?  No.

Mom walks on to the bathroom.  Cosme walks in for the bathroom.  I go in, stop to look for Ben-Gay then head for the bathroom.  Mom walks out of the bathroom and I tell her to ask him if they have Ben-Gay while I go to the bathroom.  Mom walks up to the counter, Cosme follows.

  

MOM:  Do you sell Ben-Gay?

MAN: No

COSME:  (to Mom) What state are we in?

MOM:  What?

COSME:  What state are we in?

MOM: What?

COSME: What state are we in?

MOM:  Kentucky.  (Addressing the man)  Are we in Kentucky?

MAN:  This is Alabama.  I think you better get some sleep before you get back in the car.

There were a couple more things that were said but since I wasn't there yet, I'm not real sure what it was.  Everything was told to me while we were laughing how messed up and crazy the man thought we were. 

I'll post more about the Boston hotel experience tomorrow or the next day.  Right now we're off to Salem and then on to NYC. 

note to self

"you STILL don't like to use Match Light charcoal".  I don't know why I thought I'd like it any better yesterday than the first time I tried it.  Yeah, the coals were ready in no time but all of our food was thrown out.  We didn't finish our burgers because they tasted like they'd been marinating in lighter fluid.  To make it worse, the few bites we did have lingered with us for the rest of the evening.  A quick trip to Taco Bell solved it all.  Dinner served.  Okay, so maybe Taco Bell isn't the best or even close to it but it filled us up and we did have cake to top it all off.  I made a white cake with chocolate buttercream frosting.  (Okay, technically it wasn't white since I used the whole eggs but you get the picture.)

Oh, I also have to post what we had for dessert the night before.  I made a pecan shortbread.  It tasted a lot like the Pecan Sandies cookies so I think I might use the same recipe and make cookies of it one day. The toasted pecans in it were so good.  Anyway, I whipped up some cream to put on top and sprinkled strawberries over that.  The shortbread pieces were a little crisp to eat with a fork so it was easier to put a little less of the topping on and eat it like a slice of pizza.  Here's the shortbread with strawberries and cream.

I think I need to eat breakfast now.

the other day i did

yard work.  I cut a lot of things back.

I put all the brush on the side of the road for the trash truck.  They got most of it but a few pieces were left behind.  I took the garbage out this morning and was picking up the stray pieces to put in the garbage can.  I picked the last two things up and a little snake was all coiled up underneath it all.  I just remembered, that's one more reason I like to pay to have yard work done.

Actually, there was a snake on the side of the house when I was doing the yard work.  When I saw him on my shovel, I came inside to take a break and gave him time to get away.  I can't stand snakes and I don't understand why I have so many.  It seems like they're always in my garage too.

No, the picture I posted has nothing to do with snakes but is of some of the things I cut back the other day.  I didn't want to post a snake.  I can't stand the sight of them.

for the sake of each

of our comfort levels, there are certain types of movies that Eric and I will not watch with the other around.  We saw Brooklyn's Finest last night and liked it.  There were scenes that I'm sure made him uncomfortable as he sat next to me, probably just as uncomfortable as they did me.  I couldn't help but laugh through them.  You'd think we would have thought about that before we sat next to each other.  We all liked it though.  Also, we rented The Goods over the weekend.  I can't find a trailer for it but it was entertaining.  It wasn't the best movie (think Step Brothers and Talledega Nights) but it was entertaining.  Luckily, Eric saw that one before me so he knew ahead of time and said he didn't want to watch it with me in the room.  I took his word for it.

and then there were

muffins.  I already had them on the brain when I bought blueberries yesterday so I guess I didn't really need an excuse to make them this morning.  Here they are fresh out of the oven. 

Don't worry about all that stuff that's spilling over the muffin tin.  I know they look strange and not like your average muffin and that's because these have a crumb/streusel topping.  I know they also look messy but they actually fall right out of the pan.  If the overflow has an overcooked piece just break it off.  If not, crunch away at the sugary topping.  Here's one out of the tin and on my plate.

Yum.  I actually added about 1/2 a cup more blueberries than what the recipe called for.  Here it is cut open, just before it was smeared with butter and disappeared.

I love blueberry muffins.

it really doesn't seem like

a weekend morning when 6:00 looks like this...

 

or better known as the time my alarm goes off Monday-Friday.  (I'll blame the blurry picture on being tired.)  This wasn't even a picture of me hitting the roads at 6:00, this was me heading home.  (Ouch, right?)  I woke up before 5:00 so that Eric could be at the school to leave for UIL on the bus that was leaving at 6:00.  With a sky like this, at this point I was wishing I was at the beach.  I bet that would have been pretty.  One of these days I will be there as the sun comes up.  I am determined.

According to Yahoo, today is International Women's Day.  Does this mean cake is involved?  Maybe that's a good reason for me to bake a cake today.  Or, blueberry muffins sound good too.  Yeah, I think I need blueberry muffins... right now.

i finished the yard work

well, the yard work I planned on finishing.  Don't get me wrong, there is more to do.  Not much...but more.  My arms are still sore.  I'm not even going to lie.  A lot of times (especially when cutting back is involved) I pay to have it done.  Actually there are two situations when I definitely will NOT touch it.  First, when everything is way overgrown and just too overwhelming.  The second is when the poison ivy is out of control.  Okay, maybe there are times when it's too hot and I have a lot of other things to do and need a quick and easy fix.  Anyway, it's done.  Next on the list: dirt or sand.  (I haven't figured it out yet.)

Oh, and that morning walk?  It never happened.  By the time it was warm enough for me to be out, I knew I'd better get started on the yard.  And this morning's walk?  It's about to happen.

Now I show you Heidi, one of Lauren's two cats.

i need to do some work

in the yard today.  You know how the word on the street is things need to be trimmed back on Valentine's Day?  Well, it still hasn't happened around here.  I want today to be that day but I really have my doubts.  I'm tired.  I've realized I cannot take Zyrtec D before bed.  It ruins my whole night.  I woke up at 3, 4, 5 and then the regularly scheduled 6.  This is after not being too tired last night and falling asleep close to midnight.  I wouldn't blame it all on Zyrtec D but this isn't the first time that's happened after taking the stuff.  Anyway, after my morning walk, I might be too tired for yard work.  I'm just sayin'.

And for no particular reason, I decided to post this picture.  (You need to read that as Forrest Gump would say it.  Not that it makes anything any better but that's just they way it went through my head as I typed it.)

Yeah, okay, maybe not.  On that note, I'm off to start this productive day I have planned.

i went for a little drive this

morning.  I stopped in a cemetery and saw this...

as well as a new one posted here in the Undefined category.

i don't think i'd

care for any bacon flavored lip balm

but bacon flavored envelopes?

I'd love to try!  If you don't believe these things actually exist, you can see for yourself here.