Memphis with the Wade Girls

This past weekend I traveled to Memphis with the Wade Girls; i.e. Matt's aunts and cousins and my sister-in-law, Lindsey. Matt's aunt Jane planned the trip way back in early summer. She bought tickets for all of us to see Beth Moore speak at the FedEx Forum downtown. For more about Beth, click here. The seminar was Friday night and Saturday morning until noon.

On Saturday we had lunch at Neely's BBQ, as in "Down Home With the Neely's" on the Food Network. I love Gina and Pat, a.k.a. "The Neely's" - they are really fun to watch on FN. And, I love BBQ. So, it was a win-win sitch for me. The food was awesome. We had a sausage and cheese platter to start - it consisted of cheese cubes, sliced sausage and dill pickle spears sprinkled with some kind of dry rub. I don't know how they cooked it, but that was some of the best sausage I have ever had. Then I had a pulled pork sandwich with spicy coleslaw on top, and beans (of course). Delish.

Then the shopping began. Memphis has a Pottery Barn outlet, Williams Sonoma outlet and West Elm outlet - all three connected. It's so cool. I will definitely be going back there someday when I'm really in the market for home stuff. After that Emily took Lindsey and me clothes shopping. Em is 7 months pregnant, and since she wasn't really clothes shopping for herself, she was happy to act as our personal shopper, picking out items we wouldn't normally pick for ourselves, and throwing us into dressing rooms to try them on. I ended up making some great purchases I wouldn't have gotten without my personal shopper. So, thanks Em! Let's do it again sometime.

We didn't spend any time on Beale Street, except to cross over it on our way to and from the FedEx Forum. I've never been on Beale Street, so I'd like to go back; and, I liked what I saw in other parts of Memphis - e.g. Germantown, where our hotel was located. So, I see another trip to Memphis in our near future. It's an easy 4-hour drive from Pontiac. Compared to our recent 44+ hours in the car last month, 4 hours is nothin'.