london calling

I've mentioned in previous posts that I have a cool job. International Tourism is now taking me to Manchester and London in the UK for a sales mission to promote Mississippi's tourism product. I'll be gone until Friday, June 29.


Due to inevitable jetlag, I'll probably post pictures and details from my trip at a strange hour on Friday or Saturday.

I hope Paul McCartney and Hugh Laurie are ready.

facelift

The blog's got a new look thanks to Jenny Holloway!

three days in the delta

One of the benefits of practically sharing a birthday with Kell is that we get to celebrate it together for 3 days. I decided that since mine is the 16th and his is the 18th, I get birthday privileges until noon on the 17th, and he gets from 12:01 p.m. on the 17th all through the 18th.
That being said, Kell and I decided to do birthday and anniversary this past weekend in Greenwood. So Friday afternoon, we loaded our bags and the pups and headed to Leflore County. After the twins were on their way to Greenville with Peyton (Kell’s brother), we went over to The Alluvian where my sweet friend, Haley, who still works there, set us up with a great room complete with gifts and cookies. She gave me some Archipelago soap and lotion in the brown sugar and vanilla scent. If you’ve never used or smelled it, you should – it’s delicious. Of course, no trip to Greenwood would be complete without a visit to the Crystal Grill, where we had dinner with our Greenville friends, Scott and Walt. Kell had TWO veal cutlets – the REAL reason we went to Greenwood.

Saturday, I had lunch with two of my most favorite Greenwood girls – Elizabeth and Steffany – and Steff’s son Sutton. I mean, look at this pumpkin. Are you kidding me? Don’t you just want to squeeze him?



After lunch, I picked up a Benji Burger for Kell from the Mockingbird Bakery, and we went shopping. For those of you not familiar with downtown G’wood, it’s a really unique little place. Here’s a picture of TurnRow Book Co., one of the coolest bookstores in Mississippi. (Claire, you would be in heaven – the top floor has a reading nook and coffee and pastry bar.)


I officially own a pair of nice blue jeans now. I’ve been putting off getting some until some weight came off, and I finally splurged on some. All you ladies out there know how hard it is to find some jeans that look as good as they fit. Not to mention some that not everyone else in the world has. Delta Blues are designed by a Greenwood cotton farmer (believe it or not), and they are so cute and comfortable. I was more than hesitant to spend the $ that they cost, but my sweet husband convinced me that I should get them. Thanks, Kell. I’ll of course have to get them hemmed, but that’s a minor issue to be resolved this week. They’re new and not everywhere yet, so check out the website to see if there’s a store near you. Plus, I love the thought of it being a Mississippi product.


As if we hadn’t eaten enough that day (yaya and Claire – you guys remember The Alluvian breakfast), we went to eat at Giardina’s, the restaurant adjacent to the hotel. I made the mistake of telling Kell they are famous for their pompano, and he ordered it not realizing it would be served whole. He was a little turned off by the eyes, mouth and tail, but after I peeled off the skin and told him that people with culture aren’t scared of whole fish, he tried to enjoy it. He ate the broiled shrimp off my plate, too, so no one went hungry.

Sunday morning, Haley treated us to The Alluvian Jazz Brunch (why is it this entire weekend revolved around food?). In addition to traditional breakfast foods, there was seafood gumbo (authentic – Jeffrey, the F&B guy is from the Coast), grilled NY Strip, pan-seared pork tenderloin, baked catfish (it’s the Delta, what do you expect?), truffled mac & cheese, smothered okra, lemon tarts, chocolate espresso cups, and more than I can remember right now.

Since it was Father’s Day, we left our little Alluvian home and went to Greenville to visit with Kell’s family, watch the game and pick up the little hoodlums. Since the Bulldogs didn’t exactly put on a show for us, we left a little early and headed home. Charlie and Olive played all weekend with their grandparents and their crazy “aunt” Marley, a Jack Russell terrier. As you can see, we were all exhausted from a fun weekend and were ready to get home for a nap.

they say it's your birthday

Jessica did this for her sweet husband Lee on his birthday recently, and I couldn’t think of a better way to honor Kell on his 27th birthday.

Top Ten Reasons I Love Kell:

10. He’s neat. I’ve never been one to really take the proverbial bull by the horns on all things clean (right, yaya?). Fortunately for me, I have Kell to do that. If he didn’t ask me to vacuum and straigten up, I’d never do it or I’d let it get out of control. My mother did not set a very good example.

9. He’s athletic. Kell takes his sports very seriously. Just ask the tennis strings he breaks about once a week. He’s intense when he’s playing tennis or golf or just watching the Bulldogs.

8. He’s handsome. He may not think so, but I totally do. He also looks great with a five o’clock shadow and messy hair. And don’t even get me started on the seersucker suit…

7. He pays our bills. I have no idea how much we pay for rent, utilities, cable, etc. Kell pays them every month and never gripes. He never even said a word about money when I didn’t have a real job for four months.

6. He’s smart. I’ve never met someone who knows so many statistics before in my life. You can pretty much ask him about any football, basketball, golf or tennis player out there, and he can tell you where they’re from and where they went to college. He also knows a lot about politics and Mississippi and reads a LOT.

5. He is his own person. Kell never pretends to be someone he’s not. He never feels like he has to say something just to hear himself talk. He’s the most sincere person I know.

4. He’s easy-going. This is one of the first things people notice about Kell; he gets along with everybody. Unlike myself, he is able to stay calm in stressful situations and never gets worked up (except for on the tennis court or golf course. See #9). Which is more than I can say for his wife (sentence fragment – I know.)

3. He’s a Godly husband. Because of him, we say the blessing every night before dinner. It’s not a big thing, but I think it speaks volumes about where his heart is.

2. He loves his family. I can only hope that if I am fortunate enough to have a son one day, he will be as devoted to us as Kell is to his parents. And he tries to act like he doesn’t love the twins, but he so does. Oh, and he loves me, too – at least he says he does.

1. He’s my best friend. We dated for six years before we got married, and I can’t think of a better way to have spent them.

Happy 27, Ray Kelly!

And to another love of my life: Sir Paul McCartney turns a sexy 65 today.
Happy Birthday to my favorite Lad from Liverpool!

happy father's day

Happy Dad's Day to my favorite father - mine. He's taught me everything I know about dealing with people, remaining graceful under pressure and his uncanny ability to "walk with kings and keep the common touch." Always putting only God before his family, my mom, sister and I feel loved by him every moment of the day.

Here's to you, Strat!

Happy Father's Day. I love you!

dawg dreams

I love Marshall Ramsey, the political cartoonist for the Clarion-Ledger. I recently discovered his blog and check it regularly. His everyman perspective on current events and general musings are really refreshing and quite funny. Not to mention, he's unbelieveably creative and talented - definitely things I admire.

Here's today's cartoon, and it's my favorite one to date.

nip it in the bud

Someone at work mysteriously left this photo of me on my desk today:


Yes, that is yours truly with Mayberry Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife (really an impersonator, but who cares?). He made an appearance at a tourism conference I recently attended and was really good. Check out his one bullet!

Don’t even ask about the face I’m making or why I felt the need to point my finger at the camera. Just go with it.

this has disaster written all over it...

Dwight with his own spinoff? Could this be the end of the Jim, Pam and Dwight triangle of antics?

He would never leave Dunder Mifflin...Right?

my new toy

I finally got an iPod! It's just a shuffle, but I'm pretty excited about it (I got the blue one after much deliberation). Kell has the nano, which has an actual screen and such, but I didn't think we needed 2 in our house. He always ends up with the more tech-savvy stuff. Anyway, I just wanted one to take with me on plane trips. And it's about the size of the one in the picture - I can clip it to my shirt in the airport and look cool.

After a short tutoring session from my husband, I immediately got to work on which songs on my iTunes I wanted to commit to my shuffle. I only can have 240 on there. Sounds like a lot, but once I started to go through my playlist, it got hard to narrow down. Plus, I've mentioned before how important it is to me to have a diverse musical repertoire.

So, what's on your iPod? What should I add to mine?

mississippi state! (whoo!) damn right!

Next stop - Omaha.

Over 13,000 fans watched State crush Clemson's College World Series hopes and dreams today - the largest in NINE seasons of Super Regionals (breaking the previous mark that MSU set only 24 hours earlier). And, it's only icing on the cake that we'll get to Omaha before the Rebs. Childish to say, I know, but great nonetheless.

No one does baseball like the Dawgs.

Here's hoping that Ole Miss gets beat by 15 runs both games against Arizona State!!

make up your mind already!

I am not in the business of feeling sorry for Paris Hilton. She screwed up, tried to beat the system and lost. For a couple of days. And to think I thought the saga was coming to an unsurprising close.

Paris was sent BACK to jail today. And, I have to say, I don't know that I'm cool with that. I can't convince myself that justice was really served here. No one should be released on house arrest, ready to get on with her life, only to be re-sentenced and re-incarcerated. Well, no one guilty of Paris's relatively minor crimes.

And was it really necessary to pick her up in a police car? I seriously doubt a famous face like Paris is any danger of a flight risk. I feel pretty certain she would have returned to court in her own vehicle if asked.

So, the sheriff, judge and California judicial system totally messed up. I hope he never tries to stay at a Hilton again.

birthday wishes

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday Dear Amy,
Happy Birthday to you!

Amy Katherine Eddleman is 26 today!

If you see this woman in the tri-county area,

wish her a Happy Day.

paris has left the building

In the words of the great John McEnroe, “You CANNOT be serious.”

Paris Hilton, after 3 days (and if you ask me, only 2 of those should count), is home with a brand new accessory. No, not a tacky handbag or a tiny, yippy dog – an ankle bracelet. Due to supposed “medical reasons” and “overcrowding,” she’ll be confined to her home for 40 days and will be under the supervision of a probation officer. Right. And Martha Stewart was jailed for a year?

If the L.A. County Sheriff’s Office wanted to make an example of Ms. Hilton, they totally botched the job. Rumor has it, she was refusing to eat the food served to her while in prison. I can’t imagine these eating habits are too different from her normal routine. And she clearly took her sentence seriously – she didn’t stay at the MTV Movie Awards the whole time. Just long enough to have an excuse to get her extensions re-done for her mugshot before checking in to the slammer.

So, let me get this straight: I could get arrested for drunk driving, convicted of driving on a suspended license, starve myself in jail and receive my get-out-of-jail-free card? No? That route is reserved for people with more money than brains? Silly me. I guess I’ll just accept my lowly existence as a peon.

How long until Diane Sawyer or Barbara Walters or Katie Couric (it’ll probably be her – she’s the youngest and “hippest”) end up at Paris’s house for an interview? How long until she gets a book deal? I can just see it – The Liberation of Paris: How to Be a High-Maintenance Heiress Behind Bars and Get Released After Spending Three Nights in a Pseudo-jail.

recent happenings

My apologies for disappointing all my loyal readers (all three of you) for being absent from the blogging world the past few days or so. Nothing too exciting going on in my life since my last post, but I’ll update on a few things.

This past weekend, my fun cousin Will and his fiancé, Meredith got married. The wedding was in Batesville, Miss. at a small church, and the reception was held in the booming nearby town of Como. Great food, great cake. It was pretty much a Hubbard Family Reunion and a veritable Who’s Who? of Panola County. I have no pictures from this event, so you’ll just have to take me on my word that I was there. Needless to say, my dad, Harris and I were the only Greeks for miles.

Monday my boss, Kristen, and I left for New Orleans for a site inspection for an upcoming event that Mississippi tourism is hosting during an international tradeshow (another chance for me to get to use my Japanese business cards). Since we worked so hard until lunch and had such a difficult drive from Jackson to NOLA, we wandered around the Shops at Canal Place until it was time for dinner. On a search for some new unmentionables, I found a great boutique! I am always on the lookout for unique clothes that not everyone will have, but I of course don’t have a lot of $$$ to spend like many other state government employees. Francesca’s had really great clothes at such good prices and tons of jewelry that was really different, too. I got this dress to wear to dinner that night.

When we got back to the hotel, I had to wash hair – quite the undertaking for anyone who knows me or my high-maintenance hair. While getting all my hair equipment ready, who do I see on the TV? My dear friend and fellow Rho Chi/Gamma Chi alum, Laura Buchtel McWhirter! She’s a meteorologist in the area on WWLTV, and I was so glad to catch her broadcast. Of course with a Mississippi State degree and a lot of talent and poise on camera, she did a fantastic job and warned me of the storm systems moving into my current area. Move over, Al Roker!


After I spent the usual 2 hours from shower to dry, “fixed” hair, we went to dinner at Luke, John Besh’s newest restaurant. For those of you unfamiliar with John Besh, he’s a great up-and-coming chef and restauranteur in New Orleans. He’s been the guest chef at a culinary weekend at the Viking Cooking School, so I naturally feel a bond with him and am compelled to support his endeavors. I had Seafood Gumbo a la Creole, Louisiana Speckled Trout Meunire with Sautéed Haricot Vert (fancy term for French green beans) and Walnut Bread Pudding with Irish Crème House-made Ice Cream. Everything was amazing, and I recommend Luke or any of Besh’s other NOLA restaurants if you’re ever in the area. The next day, we had a meeting and came back to Jackson. Not nearly as exciting or fun. I did, however, pick up a Hurricane Guide featuring WWLTV meteorologist Laura Buchtel at a Subway in Hammond, LA.

On another note, Happy Late Birthday, Ashley Crawford Jones! ACE was born 26 years ago yesterday. I wish I had a baby picture, but this will have to do.

(Darren with his lovely wife Ashley. Junior Miss would be so proud.)

Sorry my blog is so boring. I’m thinking of freelancing Heather to write my new material.