Grandmommy Meets Elvis...sort of...

Our last few months in Memphis is spent with family and friends visiting us and us spending time with Andrew's family. The past couple weekends we had almost my entire family down. My lil brother came down with a friend from college and we enjoyed watching the first couple rounds of the men's NCAA tournament. They also got to do some sight-seeing on their own.

Last weekend, my Grandmommy finally made it down to visit with us and meet Elvis! We told her on Mother's Day last year that our gift to her was a visit to Graceland...something she has yet to check off. She loves her some Elvis and I'm so glad we waited to visit Graceland for my family. That was a treat we've been wanting to do for a while. While in Memphis, we have waited on tours and sight-seeing events for family and friends. In fact, we have more weekends ahead for some fun times with friends and my sibs. Trying to squeeze in as much as we can before we leave.

The tour of Graceland is almost an all day thing (which we weren't exactly prepared for), however, it was worth the $$ in my opinion (even though some say it's not all that). Graceland is the #1 tour spot in the state of TN. So, it is a must when in Memphis. In fact, my dad heard someone singing along to the videos and my mom and I saw people crying!!! I managed to find some coupons online before we headed out and saved $20!! I'm just so glad that my parents were able to bring my Grandmommy down for a unique experience. Now I can say that my all my grandparents came to Memphis :-) Photos below are just a few highlights...

Graceland (click to view webiste)

The tour included 6 different places (including the mansion) and a self-guided tour via electronics.
Waiting to head inside...
(FYI - Elvis purchased this mansion at 22 years old at $100k!!)

It was a beautiful day for the tour!

As you will see...the entire house...is 70's style!

Including the mirrored walls & ceilings in the stairway to the basement...

Probably my favorite room - ha!! Sooooo 70's!!

There were so many things we learned along the way...such as how many awards Elvis received!!!

I never realized how GOOD LOOKING and HANDSOME Elvis was! They were like the Angelina & Brad Pitt of the 70's ;-)

So cute, I just had to get Grandmommy a picture with a nearly, life-size portrait of Elivs.

One of his many glammed outfits! They also had a fashion museum of Elvis' styles.

Elvis along with his parents, brother (which I had no idea he had a twin brother!!), & grandfather were buried on site at the mansion.

Elvis' automobile museum...probably Tilden's favorite ;-) This was the Mercedes Elvis purchased for his wife, Priscilla.

Tilden's John Deere :)

This little restaurant was so cool, we had Grandmommy pick out her favorite Elvis songs and we tested out the record player...you put in a quarter, choose your song, then it pulls the record to play in the record player across the restaurant!

The most interesting part about Elvis' private planes...is that they had a parade to bring it to Graceland from the airport. People had to ride on the top of the plane to hold up the traffic lights! AMAZING!! Looked like LOTS of work.

Gibson Factory (click to view website)

Next time, I will book this tour in advanced. Took Clayton to tour the Gibson Factory, however, they were booked for all their tours in the morning!! Needless to say, he plans on coming back one more time before we leave. Pictures taken in the gift shop and edited by Andrew and I...

Believe it or not, this guitar was priced at $10,000!!

Girls Escape to ARUBA!!!

For my big sister’s (aka best friend) 30th birthday, she wanted to take 4 of her girlfriends to Aruba!! Needless to say, 5 of us girls from TN, KY, & SC met up at the Charlotte airport to fly 4 anxious hours to Aruba. While I DREADED flying (especially in a jet) to Charlotte, I was so relieved to finally be around my girlfriends for a little better comfort over the next 4 hours. We all left bright and early Thursday morning on February 25 and went from 25 degrees to 86 degrees many hours later!!!

While in route, we met a group of sisters who were traveling to Aruba to celebrate one of the girl’s 50th birthday; and the couple next to me was from Lexington, KY escaping for a weekend away from home stress while their kids were staying with grandparents. So you can imagine how many excited and happy people were aboard our flight!

Once we landed and stepped outside the Aruba airport, we tossed our winter coats, took off a layer or 2 (jackets, shirts) - I was about to strip off my shirt but my tan-less body wouldn’t allow me to show any skin just yet. Humidity was high but we were 5 happy girls about to have a HAPPY time soon to discover why Aruba is called “One Happy Island!”

The 1st night was spent wandering around at dusk, eating, giggling, and catching up. We just couldn’t wait for the sun to rise in the morning and thought twice about just staying awake to watch the sunrise.

Our 1st day was absolutely breath-taking - white sandy beach, aqua-blue water, and bright colors. The sun was so HOT, intense, but so relaxing!! I started my morning (before breakfast) spraying on Sport 30 sunscreen for I didn’t want to spend our short trip in pain.

Not only was the scenery a beautiful image sketched by God, but us 5 spiritual, Christian girls, sisters in Christ, dug deep conversations and got to know each other very well! Not a day went by where we didn’t talk about our Friend Jesus. We talked about our many blessings, challenges in life, values, beliefs, and even our families! We discovered all our parents are still married and how much God has provided for us and even brought us together! We prayed over every meal, including Leroux praying in Italian and our waiter joining us on our last night. There was no competition like 25 girls fighting over the Bachelor! We respected our differences and opened up to learn more about each other. This trip…was what we ALL needed and we plan on many more in the future, even with our daughters.

Our last day was on a Sunday. Since we normally go to church on this day, we decided to bring our own church together on the pier with Komis leading Romans 12. It was beautiful and humbling!!

Some Arubian Highlights (shown in some pictures above):
1. Dana & Leroux competing on who had the worst bathing suit growing up (both had very strict rules). Well, Leroux said she couldn’t top Dana’s – she had to wear a bathing suit with a skirt made by her mom. Leroux just had to wear a tank top over hers.
2. Watching the sunset.
3. Dana & Leroux attracting attention with their photography sessions (visit Leroux’s photography website here).
4. Accidentally crashing a corporate beach party our 1st night walking the beach & Dana steals name tag :) It was hard to not jump in and dance!!!

5. Lana getting so burnt…she had pitting edema + 2 (we had 2 nurses on board)!!
6. Celebrating Lana’s 30th – decorating her room while she was in the shower, rolling out the red carpet (literally, people were staring), and rolling up to the South Beach Lounge in a new black Cadillac to dance and party the night away for Lana!!
7. Going around the table at dinner and listing 30 wonderful things about Lana, the things we admire about her, and stories.
8. The waiter joining us in prayer our last night.
9. A little girl wanting to meet Miss 30 – the beauty queen!
10. Sharing the poolside with Iguanas!!
11. Beach volleyball.
12. The awesome, refreshing drinks – including the “Lana Special”
13. Meeting friendly people from all over – and a woman who said, “You can make more money in 5 minutes getting married than you can make yourself over a lifetime!”
14. Komis leading church on the pier.

15. Talking about our Friend Jesus!

The early morning BANG!!

Andrew's big day started off with an early morning bang!! I made sure the world knew my hubby turned 30!!!!!!!!!!!! Most people know that I get adrenaline off being sneaky or running around like crazy just trying to pull off surprises! I LOVED every minute of getting up at 6a to start decorating the apartment while he was snoozing, throw some personalized ballons in his car, paint his car, taking my lunch break to squeeze in picking up some YUMMY homemade cupcakes at a local family owned bakery, decorating the residents' room at the hospital and the school, and leaving some treats behind!

I already felt bad for traveling to Nashville for an interview for school and therefore, we had to drive on his birthday weekend. However, it all paid off...not only did I cook a flank steak for him a couple nights beforehand, he also celebrated in Nashville with my Uncle and Aunt, and celebrated at home with my family :) It turned out to be a great weekend to turn 30!!! He definitely deserves the BEST!!

I nearly didn't make this surprise, I walked by the cafeteria in the hospital and saw a group of blue scrubs hanging at a table and looked over to see that Andrew looked directly at me! I hid behind a wall for a second before I proceeded past the other half of the cafeteria window. Thought about just bringing in the cupcakes then but just "tip toed by the window" and kept walking. Luckily, he didn't see me and I broke into the clinic with the help of some staff :) Whew!!

They actually make personalized confetti...he got lots of it!!

Mom made him a special treat...chocolate chip pie - YUM!!

Manic Monday

Sunday’s sermon at Hope Church was about 4 Crossroads: choosing to walk alone, or journey with others; choosing to pretend or to be real; choosing the shortcut or the long road; and choosing comfort or change. Relationships are the place we find the challenge, encouragement, and comfort we need. Something Andrew and I have endured together these past several months. Dr. Morris referred to many verses that spoke directly to Andrew and I. Talked about being humble and patient (Ephesians 4:2), talked about using steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17). We’ve really had to be strong for one another during this time and some days we simply don’t talk about our future, some days we get frustrated, and some days are exhausting.

As I was sitting there during the last part of the message, I felt God speaking to me but said, "if this is You talking to me...I need reassurance, because me talking to myself doesn't really confirm anything." I was feeling more peace about our future (even though, a decision is still not made). I felt like wherever we go, we WILL make a difference and God puts us there for that reason – to share with others! Andrew has been calm throughout this whole new life-changing, decision-making time and we’ve both been back and forth on where to go and where God wants us. It’s so hard to follow Him and put aside what WE want and just wait for His call.

Today, Andrew walks out to go to school at 7:30a and halts after he opened the door…”are you serious?!” he yells out. Then a guy shoveling said, “yeah, no one saw this one coming.” While I still had about 15-30 more min of beauty sleep, he rushes and leans over me, “Honey, come look at your car, someone broke in your car!” He had a smile on his face so I halfway didn’t believe him…I finally stumbled out of bed and took the easy route and just looked out the window, snow was EVERYWHERE at least 3-4 in high! “What?!” I was upset, because I had been studying hard for an upcoming exam on Wednesday, and now…it’s just going to get pushed back! Needless to say, I crashed for some more sleep until he comes running in saying, “let’s go out and play” at 7:45a!! I’m usually adventurous, but this time…I need the sleep! However, he came back into the apartment with a bowl full of snow and started making snow cream!! I did manage to get up and have a YUMMY snow cream breakfast!!

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As morning went on, I went out to take pictures, hubby sarcastically yelled at me for having the door open…just for a minute!! Of course, I wasn’t happy since I didn’t complain the other night when he had the door open for at least 5 minutes to empty our vacuum cleaner!! Needless to say, I got right back to studying in a bad mood.

At 12:45p, right before heading out for work (unfortunately, hospitals don’t get off snow days), I checked the mail. I spotted a letter from Washington University, I took a very deep breath, and carelessly tore it open! The 1st sentence told me they were pleased to offer my admissions to the Occupational Therapy program at Washington University School of Medicine!!!! I almost didn’t read on until I saw they were also offering me a Merit Scholarship!!! Oh my, oh my…I ran in and yelled, “ANDREW, ANDREW!!! Listen to this…” I couldn’t even read it…I was shaking, my heart was pounding! I literally felt like I won the Super Bowl or a Grammy and already have a list a Thank You’s :) Andrew teared up, gave me the biggest hug, and expressed how proud he was of me all while I was saying, “I’m gonna throw up” or asked, “is this a trick?!” As many people know, I’m not so romantic at times like this, for this was a repeat for him (I reacted the same way when he proposed to me).

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I seriously did not know how to react! I called mom at home, on her cell, at work...no answer. Called daddy...left a voice message. Called MeeMaw...so thrilled she answered so I can tell her the news! So far, it's sinking in little, by little. I arrived a little late to work and my nervous system couldn’t handle much. In fact, I was so nauseous, sweating, feeling faint and just stared at my computer even after a couple hours. My hands were still shaking and my heart was still racing! I gradually told a few other people, but not many, because I just didn’t believe what I read! And now, I’m officially okay to say it, “I just got accepted into Wash U’s OT program and yeah…I’m NERVOUS!!”

Saturday night, my in-laws tricked me and Andrew played along!!! They threw me a surprise birthday party!! I LOVE them!!! Chris & Andrea definitely know how to be sneaky (because I am very hard to surprise)!

Andrew pulled off another surprise and showed up at work with beautiful flowers! Yes, mom, he got them at Kroger and put them together himself, including putting them in a vase we had at home! Although, I don't care much for flowers, this day...he couldn't have done better! It came with a card thanking me for all my hard work, support for him during this time, and just because :)

We were literally "iced in"!! So, we made the most of it...Andrew made an Ice Man, we went to the Movie & a Pizza place, "window shopped" at our island's hometown grocery, and ice skated in the street in our sneakers!!

Andrew being the good neighbor...putting down salt before the ice got worse :)