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.