What a weekend!

John and I definitely took advantage of the four-day weekend. My advisor and her husband invited us to spend the weekend at their lake house in Greers Ferry, Arkansas. It was a quaint little place. Peaceful. Perfect for a few days of much needed R & R. No cell phone signal. Didn't check my email for four days. It was nice to be worry free and away from civilization for a while. Hahahaha...so I better write this up before reality hits full force and I forget what a great weekend it was:)

Friday, May 27

We started out bright and early at 5:30 am. Even with a mug full of fresh brewed coffee, there was no staying awake for us. Thirty minutes into the trip, John and I were in dreamland. A few hours later, I woke up and started on a novel that I brought along with me (I sort of anticipated that John would be knocked out the entire drive over. hahaha). At around 10:30, we stopped at a local bakeshop in Harrison, AR: Neighbor's Mill Bakery and Cafe. Wow, it was so nice. Simple. But gosh, the aromas were just delicious! Aromas palang yun hah! I decided to have the Avocado Turkey sandwich (the spinach feta bread was wonderful!) and John tried the Smoked Ham and Cheddar on bronze honey wheat bread. Yummy!!! Of course, we had another cup of fresh brewed coffee:)

When we arrived at the lake house, we decided to snooze a bit. I already slept enough on the way so I just stayed up reading (being able to read mushy, no-brainer fiction novels is my R & R from technical papers and articles!). Around 5 pm, our hosts decided it was time to hit the lake. Wow, their boat is great! What a rush! We rode around the lake for a while. We were testing the waters when it started to drizzle so we decided to head back instead of taking a dip. Once we got back, Dr. Shanklin and I got busy preparing dinner. John was pretty impressed that for the amount of time we were in the kitchen (less than 1 hour!), we whipped up this dinner spread: teriyaki grilled pork steaks (with the help of Mr. Shanklin on the grill), rice, peppered green beans, fresh coleslaw, french bread, peach iced tea, white wine, and vanilla ice cream served with coffee cake topped with strawberries for dessert. As if we haven't had enough caffeine, we ate the dessert with some pretty strong coffee! hahahaha

Saturday, May 28

Another early start as we drove out to Memphis, Tennessee. We were supposed to have breakfast at around 9:00, then drive out about 10. But then, I got up at 8 to start cooking and lo and behold...there was no electricity! So instead of waiting around for it, we decided to drive out early and head to Dr. Shanklin's sister's place in Memphis. We got to downtown Memphis and the traffic was just awful. We decided to stay in downtown and change in the bathroom at the Pyramid (where her nephew's graduation was going to be). By this time, it was already noon but the Pyramid was not yet open.

So John and I decided to catch the trolley and head straight for Beale Street. We walked around some and found the mall...we sauntered in and walked out refreshed (that was the first time ever that I changed in a public bathroom in the mall! I hope it's not one of those that have the hidden cameras! hahaha)

On to Beale Street. John was in music heaven! hahaha. Beale Street is known as the Crossroads of American Music..home of the blues and birthplace of rock 'n roll! Bands playing on the street, people singing and dancing along, lotsa cool shops...we wished we had more time to get the total experience. (We will hopefully go back in the future. Dapat in May kasi it's the month for all the music events in Memphis! Gotta catch the great concerts!) We wandered into most of the stores and came out with several purchases: John's car plate with a set of drums embosed on it, the token keychain for my Mom's collection, 2 magnets for me (one was a dancing pig that said "Rockin' my tail off in Memphis" and the other, a drummer (of course!) with "Hot Jazz Beale Street" on the bass drum).

John and I decided we had enough walking and our stomachs were grumbling, hahaha. We settled for an outdoor table at the Hard Rock Cafe. The Joe Perry of Aerosmith Quesadilla was a real treat (and yes, that really was the name)! It had grilled chicken and pinapple drizzled with this tangy sweet mango peach hot sauce. Guacamole and sour cream topped it off. It was yummy in John's tummy!!!! The Wings Around the World was a platter of chicken wings cooked in three different sauces: spicy Moroccan, Asian sesame, and classic spicy bbq. Ummmm...goooood!

After lunch, we hung out at Handy Park Pepsi Pavillion to watch the band that was performing. Galing! Talk about the feel for blues! The bassit and guitarist were galing. Effortless! Reminded me nga of Ethan and Jeric. The drummer though, wasn't as impressive (biased ako, of course). After a few songs, we headed back to the Pyramid where we were to meet up with the Shanklins again.

Drove an hour to Dr. Shanklin's sister's for, what else, but MORE food. hahaha. We had a taste of the classic Tennessee bbq with all the fixin's...baked beans, colesalaw, fresh fruit salad, and a vegetable platter (fresh from Dr. Shanklin's dad's garden!). Plus we had a layered chocolate cake to finish the meal off. Stuffed...again!

We got home, sat around swapping stories over popcorn, and finally called it a night at around 12 am. We needed the rest because we were going to the lake for some water skiing in the morning.

Sunday, May 29

We woke up to the smell of freshly baked cranberry muffins and some pretty strong coffee (can't deny I needed it!). By 8am, we were speeding along on the water. Unfortunately, the sun wasn't being too cooperative that morning. Worse yet, it started to rain...definitely not good skiing weather! Headed back for home and snoozed instead. Lazy bums that we were! Anyway, Mr. Shanklin's brother and his family came over for lunch at around 1 pm. Another yummy meal: grilled southern ribs, coleslaw (it's a staple!), green beans, corn on the cob, and french bread. A mixed berry-topped angel food cake was the perfect end to our meal.


After spending most of the afternoon relaxing, the sun decided to smile upon us. We took the opportunity to go back on the water, ready for some skiing lessons--wet suit and all:) So after racing around the lake for a while, Mr. Shanklin chose a "warm" spot to get John and I suited up. John was supposed to go first. He got his feet in the water and decided it was way too cold to jump in. Dr. Shanklin stood up to test the waters and agreed it was NOT skiing temperature. Add to that the cool wind (not just a breeze!) that started to pick up. Blew the sun away too. In a matter of a few minutes, it got pretty cold out there! Part of me wished that I was brave enough to jump into the cold water...since I don't know when I'll ever get a chance to learn how to ski. But, the older folks firmly did not suggest we do it for fear of getting sick (John was already coughing). It started to drizzle and we decided we'll take their word for it.

We got back to the lakehouse and it was about time to start preparing dinner (yes, food again!). The guys relaxed while the ladies took charge of the kitchen. I made some fried rice with the left over teriyaki pork and corn, threw in some fresh asparagus, garlic, scrambled eggs, and finished off with some teriyaki sauce. Judy (Mr. Shanklin's sister-in-law) prepared the main dish: smoked chicken and garden vegetables in an herbed wrap topped with raspberry and mint vinaigrette. Dr. Shanklin took charge of all the side dishes and beverages. A choice of fresh fruit salad over vanilla yogurt, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, or strawberry shortcake was for dessert. Or in John's case, he took the sampler platter--a little bit of everything! hahahaha. (maybe I should invest in a weighing scale...hhahaha)

After a superb dinner, we sat around the dining table and played PIT..It was the marketplace version of 1-2-3 Pass. Instead of numbers, the cards had products on it like wheat, corn, barley, oranges, etc...and each commodity had points assigned to it. First to 500 won...a rather fun card game--especially because I won. hahahaha. I kept thinking it was pretty cool that John and I were getting along with them especially because we were almost half their age. We were teasing right along with them. Weird, but cool. It almost didn't seem like Dr. Shanklin was actually my boss and my major professor! hahaha

Monday, May 30

Morning came too soon, I think. It was time to go home....noooooooo! But alas, we started back for Manhattan at 6:00 am. Not that John and I really noticed much of the drive...we were knocked out most of the way home:) We got to Manhattan around 2:30 pm and it was back to reality. I actually went back to the office to check on some last minute things for the event I was facilitating the next day...Sigh,,,the vacation was too short!

BUT IT WAS CERTAINLY FUN WHILE IT LASTED! Thank you to the Shanklin's for a wonderful weekend!