memphis, you guys

I went to Memphis last week to observe and evaluate teachers. I do this currently in New Orleans and it's a great part-time gig. It's really flexible and I get to stay somewhat connected to the schools while I myself am not teaching. When they needed a trained observer in Memphis, everything worked out so that I could go. It was really last minute and I don't think I took into account how hard it would be to leave the girls. But it happened. Sheesh! I cried so much leaving! While I had fun, and was challenged by the work, it made me realize that there is nothing like home. Even though the day to day seems mundane, it's really the greatest.

Being in Memphis for 4 days, working till about from 7-4, I had the opportunity to explore a bit. I mainly ate. That's considered exploring, right?

the schools // i ended up visiting 13 different ones. elementary, middle and high school.

 every school has a sign like this in front of their school; charming. 

you would never guess that this school is located on a street called American Way, never.

then I ate good food // BBQ and ribs and a few fat tires

this was the best

i ate this at the bar with like 50 other business men. it was awkward. 

so i scrolled through instragram like a dozen times. 

 the famous to the not so famous 

some of my schools were real far away, but coming from new orleans, i allotted about an hour and a half to get there. traffic and freeways function quite efficiently in memphis, so i arrived at most observations with time to kill. so waffle house was literally the ONLY thing that came up on urban spoon where I was. first time for everything. 

I've been looking for a good beanie, and it was real cold in memphis so I found this little number, on clearance no less. Good thing I had it cause it snowed for like 2.5 seconds and rained a lot, so this helped. And it's yellow, so I had to take a selfie. Probably too many selfless. With no kids to photograph, I guess I got bored. 

a couple things here: my hair was super straight the whole time due to not humidity so I wore it down the whole time, which I never do. I also didn't have to worry about Eliza ripping it out. the other thing, I wore the same thing everyday, only varying green pants with black, polka dot top with a leopard one, and scarfs. light traveler. that face is me on the last day, i really just wanted to be home. it's flattering too.

some fun/funny things I saw: 

 this church was in the middle of a neighborhood near a school i went to in not the greatest part of town, but i liked it.
i wonder what worship looks like here. 

and then there was this church. HOLY CRAP. i was on the phone with Ken when I saw this. "babe, i'm gonna have to call you back. i'm looking at the most ridiculous thing right now." you guys, what on earth?!?! i do wonder what worship looks like here, but less of the intrigue to wanting to join, more of wondering how weird it is. 

(at night, there are like 30 spotlights that surround it, juuuuust in case you can't see it.) 

the last day I had a few hours to kill before my flight, so I wondered around a funky part of memphis and found some street art and a great local used bookstore. 

 i took this picture for Avery. how rad is my 2 1/2 year old? Lincoln biographies make me think of her. 

and then I arrived at the airport 3 hours early. 

I JUST WANTED TO BE HOME!!!

one more selfie for you all. third day of yellow hart wearing. 

In conclusion, this trip was a good experience for me. I would consider myself independent, mainly because I'm opinionated. I don't even know if that makes sense. But, I did realize this week that I take for granted all that Ken does to take care of me. I haven't traveled completely by myself since junior year of college, and I have never traveled somewhere by myself only to arrive and still be by myself. I had to rent a car, answer those in the moment decisions, (do you want insurance? do you want our gas?) and then drive in a city I had never been to, at night, in the pouring rain. I was real scared, but I managed to get to the hotel. I checked myself in, checked myself out. Arrived at a different school each day on time, and figured out how to get there (iPhone saved my life). New Orleans has like one freeway. Memphis has about a dozen, and I went on all of them. I ate at restaurants by myself, made random conversation with strangers, and gave generous tips. I went to the same coffee shop each day, and on the last day the guy knew my order. Probably because I wore the same thing, and showed up at the same time each day. 

All in all, it was a good time, but man oh man, NOTHING beats being home with my family. Really, nothing. Not even the cross bearing lady liberty or really good BBQ. Nothing. 

And I didn't go to Graceland, or find Elvis.