10 Things - Memphis

I think it's pretty obvious that I Love Memphis. I am not from here, I've only lived here about two years, but this city has stolen my heart. These are ten things that I love. These are the things that really make me realize this is exactly where I'm meant to be.

< 1 > The Food

 Pretty sure you can't talk about Memphis without mentioning the food.

 I am having an absolute blast eating my way through this city!

< 2 > Baseball

We have spent many a night at RedBirds games. 

With the stadium smack dab in the middle of downtown, 

it's a great thing to do in Memphis!

< 3 > FedEx Forum

I guess I can't mention the RedBirds without bringing up the 

Tigers and the Grizzlies. We spend a lot of time

 at basketball and football games 

cheering on the home team - a GREAT aspect of Memphis. 

People really love their Tigers.

< 4 > The Orpheum

We've been to the Orpheum several times, and each time we have

 had an amazing time. I love that the Orpheum 

not only has musicals, 

but they also show movies during the summer. 

< 5 > The Levitt Shell

Outside concerts in the summer.. for free? Score one for Memphis!

< 6 > South Main

 I think South Main is my favorite part of Memphis. 

I sometimes feel like it's downtown Memphis's hidden gem. 

There is so much charm with the trolley and the art galleries

 and so much history. I hope I hope I move

 there (or close by) sometime soon!

< 7 > Elvis Presley

Before I moved to Memphis, I associated the city with Elvis Presley.

 Even though I though Elvis would be a little more prevalent than it is, 

I love the history and how people absolutely love the 

King of Rock and Roll.  Graceland is a definitely 

must see if you're in the area - Sun Studio is also a GREAT tour.

< 8 > The View

 

I will never forget the first time I drove down Riverside Drive

 and saw the Mississippi River, the bridge, and the pyramid. 

It was breathtaking. There's just something about this whole scene 

the I absolutely love. I don't think I'll ever get tired of driving

 down this road, Memphis really is a beautiful place. 

I don't think enough people realize and appreciate that. 

< 9 > The Zoo

The Memphis Zoo is really amazing. One of my favorite parts 

though, is Zoo Lights. They decorate the entire Zoo

 for Christmas. It's turned into a tradition for us to 

go and we always have the best time. I've never heard 

any other Zoo doing such a thing, it's so creative and fun!

< 10 > Beale Street

 

I imagine alot of people would say they love Beale Street because

 it is essentially an entire street full of bars and crazy shenanigans. 

Yes, it is fun for that, but my favorite part is the music.

I love how music seeps out of every single restaurant and bar.

 Even the alleyways have live music. I once heard somebody say

 that in Memphis, you feel music, you don't just listen to music. 

That may sound cheesy, but it's true.

"Walking in Memphis, walking with my feet Ten Feet Off of Beale" 

Usually hosted at Mom 2 Memphis and Ruby but

 hosted at The Eloping Stethoscope until August!

Christmas in July

Merry Christmas (in July)!! To celebrate this merry season, we went ice skating withe some friends. I will say, it was strange having to put on pants and long sleeves then go outside in the 100 degree heat. But, we had fun!

Jeremy was trying to teach one of our friend's sons how to skate...

and I learned how to skate backwards. 

It was a successful Christmas in July.

Book Worm

I have been such a book worm lately! I can't seem to stop reading. I had been in a book slump for a while. I felt like I was reading the same story over and over again with just different characters. In the past couple of weeks I have blown through several books that were recommended to me and that I would definitly recommend. I am out of my slump and now have my thirst for books back!

The Lost Wife

 If you want a light, happy book - don't read this. Yes, the story is sad, but it's beautiful and extremely touching. It's a different take on the holocaust. It's a story we don't typically hear. 

This quickly became one of my favorite books.

(I found this book through Sometimes Sweet where Amy wrote about it - thanks girls!)

Escape

I could not put this book down. It was amazing to see what Carolyn Jessop went through and how she escaped her life of polygamy. This book definitly opened my eyes. I had no idea there were people like this still today. In our country, no less.

(I originally heard about this book on Ruthie's blog - thanks for the reccomendation, Ruthie!)

Divergent

Did you love The Hunger Games? Well, this is exxxxtremely similar to that, so if you miss reading about Katniss, you can read about Tris and how she handles a dystopian society. I liked this book! It was a page turner and I really wanted to see what happened next. It's a quick read, but a good one, especially for summer.

(Thanks Paige for this one!!)

Next Up:

The Hangman's Daughter

Insurgent

I have to know what happens next!!! Divergent ended on such a cliffhanger.

The Night Circus

Have you read any of these books?

I'd love to hear what you thought!

Weekend in Austin - The Drive

A huge part of our weekend was the drive.. according to the phone it would take us over 10 hours. Well, it was right. We spent alot of time in the car, and even managed to do some fun things along the way.





Anybody want some donuts? Do you think he had them in the bed of the truck because it didn't say anything else on the truck!

On the way home we decided to take a little detour and drive through Dallas. We ended up parking and walking around the place where JFK was shot. This is such a huge part of American history and I'm glad we got to be there. Even if we were only there for about 20 minutes.

 

We also pulled off somewhere in Texas outside Dallas at a small little barbecue place to get some fried pies. We had heard that this place has amazing pies. It is a hole in the wall in the middle of nowhere but SO GOOD! 

 

Weekend in Austin - The Fun

As you can probably tell from my post yesterday, I had the best time in Austin!!!
Want to see what else we did besides eat?

We snuck onto the top of a parking garage to take in the breathtaking views of Austin.

We hung out on South Congress.

We wondered 6th Street - which is the Austin equivalent of Beale Street with equally as amusing people watching!

We toured UT Austin .. where Kevin is currently studying.

In addition to alllll of this we also went kayaking, got Jeremy hooked on Dexter, went to Ikea (there are non near Memphis!) and spent good quality time together. This is really the first time I've hung out with Kevin and Virginia for an extended period of time and I miss them! I can't wait to go back and visit!! 

Weekend in Austin - The Food

We are back from Austin!!! It took all day yesterday in the car but we are home. I have a bunch to share from our weekend so I'm splitting it into three parts. The Food. The Fun. The Drive. I had so much fun visiting Kevin and Virginia (Jeremy's brother and sister-in-law) and really loved spending time in Austin.

While we were there, they told us a quote, "There are three types of people in this world, those who live in Austin, those who wish they lived in Austin, and those who have never been there"

I believe it!!


When visiting a new place, trying the food is a definite must. Well, we ate. A lot. A big thanks to Kevin and Virginia for choosing such yummy places for us to eat!

Torchy's

We ate at a bunch of delicious restaurants while in Austin, but I will say that Torchy's was my favorite. I had the best taco I have ever eaten in my whole life. For those in Austin, I had the Independent and it. was. amazing. 


Rudy's

Rudy's was one of the place multiple people told me I needed to try. Now, I don't eat meat, but apparently the brisket was out of this world. Jeremy is still talking about how it melted in his mouth. I will say, the sides were really good and the atmosphere was fun! It's in a gas station. Yes.

Gordough's Donuts

Oh. My. Donuts. I have never in my life had anything like Gordough's!! First of all, love the fact that it's an adorable food truck. But seriously, these donuts were unbelievable. I wish there was one closer so I could try all the different flavors!!

Threadgill's

I loved the atmosphere at Threadgill's! It was vintagey and part of it is in an old train car. The Southern home cookin' type food wasn't so bad either. I ordered a vegetable plate, everything ended up being the same color but it tasted so good! There aren't really pictures from here!! We were all exhausstedddd by this point. Too much fun! hah


In conclusion. I'm not eating for a week! We ate so much. Thank you, Austin, for being so delicious!

Texas, Y'all!

We've officially hit the road to TEXAS!! I am so excited buttttt I still have a ten hour car ride to and from Austin. That part isn't so fun. We've stocked up on snacks, music, and games so we should be good to go! 

I hope you all have an amazing weekend! I'm sure I'll be spending alot of time on twitter (hello, ten hours) andddd I'm sure I'll be posting to Instagram.

If you aren't following me there, what is wrong with you you should! 

Twitter and Instagram : @alyssa_perrella

Send me tweets! I'll have plenty of time to read them and respond :)


Ps. Happy actually Birthday, Anthony!! 

To My Brother

Happy Birthday, Anthony!!!! 

Tomorrow you turn 19. Wow. Where has the time gone? It literally feels like yesterday that I was turning 19 and had just started my second year of college. You'll be starting in the fall and I am so so excited and happy for you. You are absolutely going to LOVE Villanova. I've said it before, but I cannot wait to live vicariously through you. 

I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow and enjoy your entire birthday weekend. 

Love you and miss you!!

 Ps. Keep your eye on the mail! Your present is coming :)

Oh, How Pinteresting - Austin

I'm going to Texas, y'all! (hah I'm practicing) That's right! This weekend we're going to Austin, Texas! Please excuse all the exclamation points, I'm just so excitedddd. I have never been to Texas (unless you count an airport) and I have been told numerous times that I'll just love Austin. We're going down to visit Jeremy's brother and sister-in-law who moved down there a little while ago. I think they're pretty excited we're coming, too :)

I don't know much about the Lonestar State or the state capital, so I did some Pinterest searching. It looks gorgeous! I can't wait to see it. I'm sure it'll be a sight for sore eyes after our ten hour drive.
 

Source: weddingmapper.com via Alyssa on Pinterest

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Source: via Alyssa on Pinterest