Five Things

1. Save Davis-Kidd Booksellers.

If you're a Memphian, you may or may not have heard about how the building which currently houses Davis-Kidd is up for auction. It's my understanding that the auction has already taken place but there is apparently some chance of keeping the bookstore at its current location according to the stores facebook page if the Laurelwood Shopping Center can help the stores owners.
Davis-Kidd is currently the only non-used bookstore left in Memphis proper after the closing of Bookstar in January. Write an email, help save a book store. 

2. It's Music Time in Memphis

Abandon all hope for non-frizzy hair and put on your rain boots because it's almost time for the Memphis in May Beale Street Music Festival. Or for the people who actually live here, it's almost Music Fest Weekend. I have a unique opportunity this year since I'm interning for one of the sponsoring radio stations, I shall essentially be living in Tom Lee Park next weekend. This is one of the most anticipated Music Fests since I've been old enough to go forth and hear music in the mud with thousands of Memphians. The full line-up is here and if you're going, stop by the Q tent!


3. Speaking of Internships...
I have no picture for this but in case we aren't facebook friends, I thought i'd whore my blog out to solicit for summer interns. if you're interested in radio and can get school credit, email me your resume at rmiranda@memphis.edu. 

4. Harry Potter Mania

I've been what some people refer to as a Potterhead since about the seventh grade. The first time I read each of the books, I finished them in one day. I even went to the midnight release of Half-Blood Prince with some girls that lived on my dorm floor. It seems fitting that leading up to the release of the final film chapter of the saga (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2) I'd be knee deep in the books and films all over again. I'm writing a 15 page research paper on the books & films for my Children's Literature final. 
If there's a single person reading this blog that hasn't read Harry Potter, do it. If you live in Memphis, I will lend you the books. Asap.

5. The Chewbacca Dog

I'm quite certain that this is the only dog Adam would let me have and we would call him Chewie (of course). Life as a nerdy couple would nearly be complete, save for when we have millions of dollars and get a boat and name it The Millennium Falcon. 

Celebrity Baby Boom

I love babies, I love celebrity gossip and I love my blog. 

Seldom am I happier than when I can meld the three into one, particularly when I'm lacking inspiration to write as I have been the last week or so.

There's been a fresh wave of pregnant celebrities as of late and since my friends (Robyn) literally count on me to update my blog about this stuff so they can be aware I'm more than happy to do this public service. 

Bones is Having a Baby

the stunning older sister of Zooey Deschanel, Emily, and her husband, writer-actor David Hornsby are expecting a baby later this year. I think all Bones fans are hoping this will force a Booth-Bones baby and subsequent relationship into the works. Or maybe it's just me. Emily Deschanel is one of the only first time mommies on my list so an extra mazel tov to them. 

Put On Your Bossy Maternity Pants

30 Rock Actress-Writer-Producer Tina Fey announced last week on an Oprah taping that she was five months pregnant with her second child with husband, Jeff Richmond. I was pretty jazzed about this, their little girl Alice is so adorable and plus anything that makes Tina Fey (or Liz Lemon) happy makes me happy. 

I'm Honored to be a Big Sister!

Jessica Alba and her hubby Cash Warren are having another baby later this year. The picture is of her first pregnancy, with her now 3 year old daughter Honor Marie but I loved it so I used it. Next pregnancy, I'm definitely finding an excuse to wear a few gowns. Also, I'll be doing Nicole Richie's maternity fashion program of wearing maxi dresses & super enormous sunglasses. 

Other Celebrity Pregnancies: 

Tori Spelling & Dean McDermott are having their third child together and keeping the sex of the baby a suprise as they already have a boy & a girl (Liam is 4 & Stella is 2). 

i'm always a little weirded out by this coupling since Dean left his wife of 12 years (and their son) out of nowhere and took up with the also-married Tori. Ehh who am I to judge?

In other SNL-alum news, Maya Rudolph is expecting her third child with director Paul Thomas Anderson. They have two daughters, Pearl, 5, and Lucille, 1. Ever since I saw Away We Go with her & John Krasinksi, I love seeing her preggers in magazines so definitely excited about this one. 

In women-everywhere-please-stop-screwing-this-man news, Britney Spears' ex-husband, Kevin Federline, is now expecting his fifth child. Five children. Three baby mommas. One marriage. 

that's pretty much all i have to say on that one. 

And lastly, the WTF moment in the celebrity baby boom:

"Actress"-Model Kimberly Stewart, daughter of rocker Rod Stewart is expecting Benicio del Toro's baby. they released a statement saying that although they aren't a couple, they are both excited about the baby. 

ummm what?

Celebrities of the world (who are obviously reading this blog) go forth and procreate so that when I am lacking anything to discuss, there is always a filler blog waiting in the wings. 

Bluff City Dining

this week the Hinson family has done an inordinate amount of eating out.

we've had some fairly good excuses: catching up with friends, using coupons and gift certificates before they expire and the fact that Adam & I have way too exhausted to cook/grocery shop. 

We tried out a few new places and I thought I'd share them for the Memphian blog readers. 

Tao Too Asian Eatery

I had a craving for Thai food and since I didn't have plans to go to my sister-in-law's parents house any time soon, I had to go out to get it. Thanks to urbanspoon, I happened upon this little place located in Germantown at 2072 West Street in The Shops of Saddle Creek. I had the coconut chicken curry with rice and vegetables. 

It was delicious. 

Adam enjoyed the chicken fried rice and the crab wontons. Reed picked off of both of our plates as there was no kids menu and loved everything we gave him. 

A lack of a kids menu aside, it was actually very kid friendly. High chairs and booster seats were offered as were crayons to color on the paper table cloth. It was small & quiet with decor beautiful enough that manly man Adam felt the need to comment on it. Stop in if you're in the Germantown area (I'm trying the Lo Mein next time) for dine-in or take-out or if you live in the surrounding zip codes, they deliver. 

Majestic Grill

this morning reed & I had a downtown brunch with Ellie, Robyn & Bekah. I'd never been to this little Memphis treasure but I shall definitely be going back, particularly for the french toast. the Majestic is located in my favorite part of downtown Memphis, at 145 South Main Street.

while we played a game of musical chairs at the beginning of our meal, all was soon forgotten with the help of a bottle of champagne, a bottle of orange juice and a nice sized bloody mary (for me, the other three ladies enjoyed mimosas). 

Bekah got the pancakes. Don't they look yummy?

the Majestic has a nice patio that it was sadly too windy for us to enjoy today and often have events showcasing local artists & performers. 

 Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken

I actually ate here for the first time a few weeks ago with my dearest Alexis but I didn't blog about it then and I really should have. And the other places Adam, Reed &/or I ate out were the standard Memphis Pizza Cafe and Rain Sushi Bar & Bistro. And really, who hasn't eaten there?

Anyhungryhungryhippo, Gus's was amazing. The kind of amazing where you can only eat there every once in a while (mostly because it's fried food and who wants to get a heart attack?) because otherwise your taste buds will reject all other foods. 

Alexis & I each had fried chicken, obviously, with her opting for the white meat and me liking my meat dark (makes no sense if you've seen my husband) with fries & baked beans. I'll warn you, everything is on the spicy side. Adam's not a fan, he really can't handle more than two shakes of pepper though. 

And in case you're already a fan of Gus's, they're opening one in East Memphis on Mendenhall near Poplar. 

the other 3 locations are downtown (where Alexis & I dined) at 310 South Front Street, in Bartlett at 2965 North Germantown Road and in Collierville at 215 South Center Street.

All of that deliciousness aside, the best meal I had was at Heather & Ryan Pennel's house on Saturday night. Thanks Ryan & Allen.

fellow Memphians & blog readers, what's your favorite local spot to dine?  

taming the chaos

about three times a year (fall, spring & summer semesters) i have to do what I call "taming the chaos" of my family. for my fellow students out there, it's always challenging to coordinate a work schedule, a school schedule, a social life, perhaps a greek organization....it's hard. or at least it was until I became a mom/wife/student/intern-turned-producer whose husband has a full time management position.

i'm not whining. trust me. I know how fortunate a young family is to be employed, educated and still have some time together, particularly in this economy. 

actually, i'm bragging. 

my dear friend Nathan has long since been a strange combination of impressed & petrified of my organizational & time management skills that have only been more finely tuned since becoming a mother. 

And I wanted everyone else to share that mixture of awe and fear.

nathan & I looking a little bit like siblings. 

which is only fitting since his girlfriend (ellie, the best friend) & my husband look exactly like brother & sister. 

see what I mean?

anyways, in the face of all of that madness, i've found that i thrive in the situation and my organization skills are pretty top notch as of late. 

just to be a little bit more specific, here are the many elements of scheduling that I have to organize:

Adam's Work Schedule. 

i have to do my best to keep him as the opener most mornings (as that is where he is a rock star) while i work on a morning radio show. 

i also have to do my best to arrange around adam's weekly game night which is ever changing due to two of the players being university professors and another being a PhD student. 

Reed's Child Care Schedule. 

in case anyone doesn't know, reed is 2 and a half now. 

he goes to a parent's day out twice a week for about five & a half hours a day.

we love it, he loves it. he really thrives in the social interaction. 

however, sometimes life starts before the 9am drop off time (life like a morning radio show maybe?) and that's when creative scheduling comes in handy. 

My Class Schedule

the longer i'm in school, which who's really keeping track (please nobody keep track), the harder this piece of the puzzle is to manage. 

the higher division classes are harder to schedule because there are fewer of them, particularly in a program on the smaller side like journalism. 

my 1st semester back after having reed I took 15 hours. 

I stacked my classes primarily on Mondays & Wednesdays and then had 2 classes Friday mornings. 

this fall, i'm looking at 1 class monday/wednesday/friday, two classes mondays & wednesdays, two classes on tuesdays & thursdays.

Oi with the poodles already. 

The Morning Show

 this one is probably the most fun & the hardest to work into my life. 

adam opens every morning at Starbucks, save for his 2 days off a week (if that). 

he gets there at 4:30am. I have to be at the radio station at 5am. 

we have a small child. 

see the problem?

but i love it, so I tame the chaos. 

and in case you're wondering why dear Nathan has ever been scared?

it's my desk calendar. 

(complete with a color coded highlighting system)

the above + my iPhone are my biggest lines of defense in the war against disorganization. 

what keeps you organized? 

and would you like lessons in the art of arranging your life via color coded highlighters? cause i could teach that class. 

TV Time

I told all my faithful blog readers what was on my fall line-up and now that spring has sprung, it's time for an update. 

Bones

As is the case with nearly every popular show, I jump on the bandwagon 4-5 years late (except The OC, I was there from the get-go). Anyways, I've been in love with David Boreanaz since the third grade so I'm fairly surprised it took me this long to get into it but thank God for TNT reruns. It's far wittier than Law & Order and the sexual tension between Booth & Brennan is so thick you could cut it with that week's murder weapon. Tune in, friends. 

It's on Thursdays on FOX at 8pm.

Bethenny Ever After

 Formerly of The Real Housewives of New York City, Bethenny Frankel is a natural foods chef, author and overall bad ass entrepreneur. Can you tell that I like her? Her new show is about life after marriage & baby and how to juggle them both with running your own empire. (Side note: Adam got me a bottle of her Skinny Girl Margarita- it's delicious and only 100 calories a bottle. I may start drinking on the regular again). I find Bethenny hysterical and refreshingly honest and you get a Bravo reality show without the table flipping and bitch slapping you get with the Housewives shows.

Also, check out Bethenny's website for awesome recipes.
It's on Mondays on Bravo at 9pm.
On a related note, due to my awesome internship, I got to talk to Bethenney on Tuesday!

Big Love

I watched the first season when it originally aired and then went to live in the University dorms where students having HBO just isn't a priority for the folks over at Resident Life. 

With adulthood came the option to have Netflix and thus, I've been watching this wonderful series. Currently I'm in the midst of season 3 and it's just fantastic. Oddly, when TLC began to air the reality version, Sister Wives, I was just super creeped out.  Plus, for all the Memphis folks, it's a good opportunity to support our local gal, Ginnifer Goodwin.

I believe the series finale just aired (if you value your life, you won't tell me how it ends) but pretty much everyone has Netflix so that's where you should watch it. 

And in case I have any male readers, Adam is currently obsessed with BBC America. Namely, these two shows:


Top Gear

&


Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares

what are all of you watching? is there a must-see television (as Elspeth would say) show that I'm missing?

Sunday Funday

Today, I had the immense pleasure of a day with reed, robyn & ellie, 3 of my favorite people.
reed & i started out the day with our weekend usual: two breakfasts.
Breakfast number one was peanut butter granola & yogurt (with coffee for mommy, milk for reed) while for breakfast number two, we split a waffle with nutella spread on it.

reed then played trains while I straightened my hair thereby securing a good momma hair day.
Is there a Sunday that starts better than that?

then we traipsed over to the Apple Store since my iPhone wouldn't hold a charge and a very large thank you to the guy at Apple who fixed my phone and didn't make me pay for it :)
Right around this time reed started to ask where daddy was and since I felt like coffee could only help the day, we went to Adam's Starbucks for another round of coffee & milk and some kisses from daddy. And we ended up meeting robyn & ellie there after a while. 

One of Adam's co-workers, Kim, has a son (Aiden) who is about a year and some change older than reed but the interacting is still pretty good considering the gap in their ages.

Aiden & Reed hanging out on the Starbucks patio.

once assembled, the sisters haire + reed + me went on a shopping expedition, largely to take advantage of a Gap/Old Navy/Banana Republic coupon for 30% off all purchases that robyn managed to acquire. 

we hit up the poplar plaza Old Navy before venturing to Germantown for the Saddle Creek shopping center for visits to Indigo, Anthropologie, Gap & Banana Republic.


we each got something from somewhere without splurging beyond necessity, though it was close when I went into Banana and fell in love with a $98 dress (hey, it would've been $68 with the discount) but luckily robyn talked me out of it. 

though ellie & I communicate on an hourly basis and I talk to robyn several times during the week, it's pretty rare for me to see them even weekly due to scheduling conflicts so this was quite the treat.

how was your weekend, mr/mrs/ms blog reader? :)

It's Time to Eat!

There are those that may disagree but I do believe that we live in a world, particularly a country, where it is far easier and economical to eat poorly than it is to eat well and remain health conscious. I eat vegetables, I don't eat red meat, I can keep a safe distance from chocolate 27 days out of the month and I've managed to avoid the trap that most mommies of toddlers fall into, the notorious waist-line killer that is "Momma's Two Dinners." What saved me from the latter was knowing that a 2 year old doesn't require the same portion as a 22 year old but I won't get started on portion sizes in the United States- there isn't a soap box big enough.

With all of that being said, I still have weaknesses in my diet that cause me to have a few extra pounds that I'd rather not have. 

And my weakness lies in the five letter goodness known as CARBS. I love them. I love pasta, I love rice (preferably with tandoori chicken & vegetables) and I love them early and often. 

All of the healthy living guru's tell you not to deprive yourself and instead try and make what you like healthier and so I did just that. It was delicious and I'm about to share the fruits of my labor with you.


One of my favorite pasta recipes is one with a creamy pesto sauce, artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes with sauteed garlic and onions. The creamy part of the pesto sauce is achieved by combining pesto sauce (I used to use the pre-jarred Kroger brand) with sour cream. It tastes wonderful but it's not winning any awards for healthy cooking.


Here's the recipe for my made-from-scratch pesto sauce:

3 cloves of garlic
2 cups of fresh basil

3 tablespoons of pine nuts

a dash of salt & pepper

1/2 a cup of olive oil

1/2 a cup of parmesan cheese

there's not much prep aside from peeling the garlic. I use the quicky method of a food processor to make the pesto sauce. Add the garlic to the food processor and mince. Then add the basil, pine nuts, salt and pepper. Next slowly drizzle the olive oil in everything is pureed. Lastly, add the parmesean cheese.

Here's the recipe for the whole dish:

Mince garlic & onions and saute them (I use lemon juice for this particular recipe).
Substitute the sour cream for plain greek yogurt and add another splash of lemon juice. 

Add the artichoke hearts & sun dried tomatoes.
Slowly add the pesto sauce and then let simmer over low heat.
Pour over al dente whole grain rotini or penne noodles.
Add a bit of parmesean cheese and enjoy.


As you can tell, the second recipe is not an exact science- I'm a big fan of eyeball cooking for things like that. The simple substitution of greek yogurt for sour cream and whole grain for white pasta is definitely more nutritious and the change in taste is negligible, if noticeable at all. 

for anyone that has a weakness in their diet, I am now an advocate of making what you love and making it healthier, rather than not making it at all.