Week 21 - Hilton Head Island

We're a little late this week, but with Monday being a holiday, I think we deserve a hall pass. Well the Fiser 52 was back on the road again. This time it was to Hilton Head, SC. That's right...Atlantic Coast...No tarballs for us!

We left on Wednesday night for Hilton Head and luckily dodged a bad storm getting out of here. After two quick flights we were in Savannah and meeting Elizabeth's boyfriend for the first time. He got his first brownie points when he upgraded from a Ford Focus to a Toyota Camry. Trunk space is key when you are traveling with two females. We made the short trip to Hilton Head from Savannah and met up with Sarah's parents who so graciously let us crash in on their vacation. At that point vacation had officially begun.

Over the next four days we enjoyed plenty of activities and here is a summary of a few:

Tennis - Sarah's dad, Walter, and I played two world class three set matches. He was a tough opponent who almost wore me down in the 90 degree heat and humidity. Thanks for the good matches Sampras.

Laying Out - I didn't participate much in this activity, but Sarah and her sister Elizabeth perfected this art all week. I think they even got a little sunburn, which certainly turns into a tan! 

Golf - Walter treated me and James to two rounds of golf over the weekend. One of the courses was Harbour Town where the PGA stops every year. Wow! It was a tough course. I quit keeping score when I hit 100 on the 13th hole. Although my score was atrocious the course was the total opposite. It was unbelievable how beautiful it was.

Food - All the restaurants that we ate at were great. That is one thing I look forward to on every beach trip. The seafood was "oil" free and tasted delicious.

Big thanks to Sarah's parents for the great weekend! We had a wonderful time and look forward to our next visit.

Until next week...keep it real!

Week 20 - Starpalooza X

The Fiser 52 hit the road this past weekend. Of all places, we took the show down to Star, MS! I know what you are thinking, and NO we didn't see Faith Hill down there. In my opinion, we did one better, we met up with all of my old high school friends at the Ridgway cabin for some swimming, pickin', grillin', and just straight hanging out.

Here is a brief history of Starpalooza:
Back in 2000 all of my guy high school friends decided to escape Jackson for the weekend and enjoy a relaxing weekend in Star, MS. During that weekend, we decided to make it an annual tradition to come down to Star for a weekend and the name "Starpalooza" was born. All of us who made the trip down to Star that first year are now what we call "Founding Fathers". Well...here we are 10 years later and Starpalooza is still going strong. Some things have changed over the years; admittance of non-Founding Fathers, women, family, and children, but the basic premise is there...relax and enjoy a weekend away.

Sarah made the journey down with me for the first time, and from what I can gather she had a good time...(Sarah feel free to edit this comment if this wasn't true). We couldn't make it down on Friday night, but we woke up early on Saturday and made the trip. There is something about hitting the gates at Star that adds a little giddy up to my step. When we got to the cabin we started up all the activities for the day, swimming, corn hole, crawfish eatin' and sitting around enjoying old friends. Unfortunately, it was a quick trip, but a great one!

I'm keeping the details short because I want to profile the Founding Fathers of Star:

Robert Ridgway - Robert is the cornerstone of Starpalooza. It is his family's place that we get to enjoy every year...Thank you Robert! He currently lives in Miami working construction and has a wife named Brittany.

David Weems - David is the local logistics coordinator for Star. I like to think that he is Robert's eyes and ears in the Mississippi area. David is an attorney in Jackson, has a wife named Kyla, and the most handsome new baby Xan, which I should point out is the first offspring of the Founding Fathers.

Matt Herrington - Matt currently lives in Charlotte, NC. Hats off to Matt for making it to Star this year...He is getting married in New York to his fiance, Meg, on the Friday after Star. Matt is currently a fearless flight instructor who takes all sorts of people up for flying lessons.

Josh Evans - Josh is in the process of moving from Canton, MS to Jackson, MS with his wife Mary Elizabeth. They have two dogs and Josh runs a totally organic farm in Canton. He is responsible for Starpalooza going "Green" this year. Josh - Thank you for making sure that Star will be there for future generations.

Nate Richardson - Nate traveled the farthest to get to Star. He lives in Boulder, CO and works for Whole Foods. Nate is the master guitar player who entertains us with song during Starpalooza. It's not uncommon for Nate to pen a good story for a dramatic reading every once in a while.

Hu"Bert" Green - Bert currently resides in Shreveport, LA where he works in the oil and gas business. Thanks to Bert for being a master chef and providing our dinner on Saturday night. Bert is also the master "Who Let the Dogs Out" from the Hangover dancer. Sarah is still laughing.

Mark Steele (Founding Father Emeritus) - Mark was with us for the first six years of Starpalooza before cancer took him away. He was an excellent friend to all of us and is always remembered at Starpalooza through stories and songs. Not a year goes by that we don't reflect back on what Mark meant to us. I believe that Mark is an integral reason why we still get together every year for Starpalooza and for that we say THANK YOU!  

Some Classic Star Pictures of Mark

Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend and we will see y'all next weekend!

Week 19 - BBQ Fest and Redbirds Game

Big weekend my friends! Big weekend! It's almost as if we got a two for one this weekend. So let's get started...

Friday night we kicked off the weekend by heading down to Tom Lee Park to go to the most popular event in Memphis each year...Barbecue Festival. Even though there was a deluge that night, that didn't stop us from enjoying the smoky scents of BBQ and good times with friends. For those of you who have never attended BBQ Fest it is quite the scene. Imagine a huge tailgate with tons of tents and everyone smoking ribs, whole hogs, and shoulders. When you crest the bluff on your way to the river, there is a cloud of smoke that hovers over the park and it is one of the best smells ever! Thanks to Brian and Andrew for getting us in to the tent and letting us have a good time with y'all. It was also nice to have Craig Hey make an appearance, therefore he makes his debut on the Fiser 52 this week. We even ran into my old roommate!  After an enjoyable night hanging with friends and watching people dance like fools, we called it quits and headed home for a big Saturday.

Saturday morning rolled around and neither Sarah nor I witnessed it. We slept in until 11:00! I think the last time that happened was in college. We eventually dragged ourselves out of bed and hit lunch with the BBQ fest crew. We were all moving slow, but it was nothing that a Bosco's Germantown Purist pizza couldn't cure. When we finished lunch, Sarah and I had to do our Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond errands to make sure that we chalked the day up to productive. After we got home, it was time to get ready to go to the Memphis Redbirds game (Memphis' Triple A baseball team). It was our first game of the season and we expected to walk right up to the ticket booth and buy tickets...not so much. The line was extremely long and it wasn't moving, BUT it was our lucky day. A lady with a Horn Lake baseball shirt on came up to us and asked if we wanted tickets. I asked how much and she said free. We thought about it and turned them down...Yea right! We took them in a heartbeat! We got to enjoy the game for free and even better, it was a firework game. I will let the pictures do the talking.

Well I have to say, it was one of our better Fiser 52 weekends and we hope get a repeat in Week 20.

guess who we found hiding?!

Week 18 - Cookout and Brother Juniper's

Another weekend has come and gone, but the Fiser 52 lives on! The weather this weekend was unbelievable and we decided to make the most of it. I woke up early and headed to the most delicious place that you can go on a Saturday...Gibson's. I brought them back to the house for Sarah and my little sister Anna to have. After a quick filler of three donuts, Sarah headed to get her hair cut, I headed to play a tennis match, and Anna, well, I think went back to bed.


After our morning activities, Sarah and I got to work on some much needed yard work for our cookout that night. Four hours later the yard was spic and span with no more magnolia leaves and ready for guests to arrive.   We also decided to take down the fence that was guarding our new flowers from Wrigley...he's been good so far, let's hope it lasts!

But not so fast...Anna and I had to go and hit the tennis ball around a little bit since my match wasn't too grueling that morning. We got done with our match and it was back to the house.

When we got back to the house, Sarah and Mom had prepared all the side dishes for the cookout and the house was smelling quite nice. We showered up and our friends started arriving. We decorated the porch and enjoyed great friends over some food in absolutely wonderful weather. See for yourself...

You thought we were done....nope! On Sunday, Sarah and I headed to the early service at church, so we could get out in time to meet Anna and my mother for Mother's Day. The location...Brother Juniper's. This is one of our favorite places in Memphis and it was obvious that it was a lot of people's favorite place because it was an hour wait! We braved the wait and it was well worth it. After stuffing our faces with eggs, waffles, and omelets, we called it a weekend and Mom and Anna headed home. It was great, but tiring weekend. I think Sarah and I were both in bed by 9 on Sunday night, which is rare.

Well...that is all this week. We will see you for Week 19!

(our flowers are in full bloom - such a pretty time of year in Memphis!)

Week 17 - Bachelor Party

What a crazy weekend it was...and I don't mean the bachelor party of it. On Friday of last weekend, I headed out of town to go on a bachelor party for my college roommate. Sarah stuck around town and had a much needed low key weekend after being in Atlanta for work. The weekend started with me picking up my other college roommate, Lewis, in Nashville before we made the journey to Chattanooga to our mountain house that we rented. The house was much better than we expected and Friday night included a lot of old friends catching up and even some fire jumping.

On Saturday the crew woke up and ate an artery clogging breakfast prepared by Chef Lewis. After we got enough protein in our systems, we headed off to Brown Acres Golf Course...think Galloway Golf Course in Memphis, but a little bit of a step down. It was the perfect course for ten of us to hack around and enjoy each others company. I think there were a couple of pars made, but for the most part there were a lot of double and triple bogeys.

After channeling our inner Phil Mickelson's, we ate Hibachi and headed off to the bowling alley. Let's just say that my back still hurts from rolling so many games. With bowling complete, we headed over to the Electric Cowboy. I would dare say that half the people in there didn't have full sets of teeth. Regardless, we had a great time and I believe the bachelor thoroughly enjoyed himself.

When I woke up on Sunday morning, I was excited about getting back to Memphis and relaxing. Well I had to drop off Lewis in Nashville and mother nature had different plans for me. Yes, I got stuck in the flood in Nashville. I spent three hours sitting on I-40 before I was forced to exit. Luckily the exit that I was getting off on was the exit to my sister's house that she is in the process of selling. I got her realtor to let me in and decided to sit on the couch for a second and get a game plan. I headed back out and filled up my gas tank, bought two gallons of water, and a map of central Tennessee. I mapped out about 5 different ways out of Nashville and started trying them out. Six hours later, I found myself at the Papa Johns at the same exit that I started at and I was exhausted. I finally came to the realization that I was flooded in. By this time, the water had receded at Lewis and Katie's and they graciously let me stay in a house that had some furniture and cable. With the day behind me, I hit the sack and hoped for better driving the next day.

I woke up to a beautiful day in Nashville on Monday and an equally beautiful breakfast compliments of the Agnew's. With a full belly, I hit the road on my alternate route because I-40 was still shut down. 5.5 hours and 25 speed zones later, I arrived in Memphis. Finally I was home! In all seriousness, the flood in Nashville was a lot worse than I expected and my thoughts and prayers go out to those affected.

Sarah and I will be back together this weekend, so lookout for Week 18's Fiser 52 adventure!

Week 16 - Denver!

Sorry we're a little late this week getting our post up!  We've been busy busy.  This past weekend we got to go home to Denver to visit my mom, dad and sister and to celebrate my good friend Emily's upcoming wedding!  Gray and I flew to Denver on Thursday afternoon and arrived to chilly rocky mountain air!  We went out to dinner at one of our favorite little places in Littleton, Wild Ginger, and had some great Thai food.  On Friday my mom and dad both had to work so Gray and I were on our own.  We were planning on going on a hike but we woke up on Friday morning to freezing cold rain which quickly turned to snow!  We had gone over to the mall to look at some stores and came out to find our car covered with a few inches of snow.  What better way to spend the snowing afternoon than at the movies :)  Gray and I went and saw Date Night.  It was a cute movie and a good way to pass the afternoon!  It's funny to be in a movie theatre in the middle of the day on a week day.  That night we grilled out (in the snow) and Elizabeth arrived!

On Saturday we got ready for Emily's shower.  My mom and Elizabeth and I hosted a kitchen themed shower for Emily and invited some great neighborhood friends.  You won't believe the crazy Colorado weather but we actually ended up having the majority of the shower outside on the back deck because it turned into a beautiful day!  During the shower the boys all spent the afternoon at the bowling alley and enjoying lunch at a sports bar (their plans of fly fishing were cancelled because the mountains were still getting snow!).  Here are some fun pictures of our weekend.

Friday

Saturday

           

Emily & Leslie

The Guests Outside

Emily & Sarah

  Elizabeth & Thomas (Leslie's Baby)

After the shower, the boys all came back and joined us for a fun late afternoon on the back porch.

             

Bocce (a nearly impossible game with Deacon (my parents dog)!

We were sad to leave on Sunday but had a great visit to Denver and can't wait to go back!!

Week 15 - Juke Joint Festival

The Fiser 52 was back on the road again this weekend. We packed up our bags and the Roo dog and headed down to Clarksdale for the best blues festival in the Mississippi Delta. The Juke Joint Festival has been going on for about a decade (don't cite me on this) in downtown Clarksdale. It occurs every April and is perfect for a weekend of blues, food, and turkey hunting.

We arrived on Friday night and found my grandmother in her office, "the kitchen". As usual, she was whipping up a home cooked meal to get the weekend started right. Shortly after we arrived, my parents, Anna and her friend Brittany showed up. According to my grandmother's rules, a dinner with this many people calls for the fine china and silver. We stuffed our faces with steak and baked potato and then came the desserts...strawberry cake and pecan pie. I don't think I have ever left a meal at my grandparent's without feeling completely bloated. After dinner, the boys headed to the woods and the girls headed out to Ground Zero for some blues music. Now I don't know what the girls did, but apparently they had a great time staying out until 1 am.

Fast forward to 4:45 am and dad and I were waking up to go chase turkeys in the woods. Unfortunately I'm unable to fill this blog with details of a great hunt because we didn't hear anything! At least we saw a hen and three jakes. After hunting all morning we headed into town to join the girls at Juke Joint. When we got there we were greeted by the smell of fried food and the quirky lyrics of the blues. We scooted around the festival for a little bit before we headed back to my grandparent's to rest up b/f dinner and the night's festivities.

Anna & Brittany on the Clarksdale bus tour

After a little cat nap, we all loaded up and headed down to Madidi's in Clarksdale. For those that don't know, Madidi's is the restaurant that Morgan Freeman owns. We were hoping to see him that night, but I guess he was busy getting ready for American Idol this week since I just saw him on there. After our delicious dinner, my grandmother rounded the troops up and told us we were headed to see Super Chicken play at Ground Zero (also owned by Morgan Freeman). No lie...we show up and my grandmother charges straight to the front of the club to be on the front row. I know...it is sad when I can't keep up with my grandmother. At one point I saw Super Chicken look over at my grandparents and say Hi Ms. Harvey and Mr. Hal. It is great to have grandparents that are young at heart. By midnight, we were all exhausted and it was time to head home.

Our first row seats for Super Chicken

It was a great weekend with the family and I highly recommend that everyone who lives in Memphis drop down to Clarksdale for at least one night to soak in a night of the blues and fun.

On a side note - things are blooming in Memphis!  When we got home from Clarksdale we decided to turn our old outdoor fire pit/chimney into a garden.

Flowers, herbs and more!  We're hoping to plant some ivy to climb up the structure.

We're off to Denver...stayed tuned!