Another fun wedding

Last night Kenny and I traveled to Gonzales for Mike and Kim's wedding. The ceremony was short and sweet, in a cute little chapel at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center, and the reception followed at Elegant Affairs. A few of our friends made the drive to join in the celebration, and Mom and Dad S. were even there. The bride and groom looked very happy to have finally arrived at their big day. Congrats to you both, and have fun on your Caribbean cruise!

The happy couple

Brig, Ash, and me

Becky, Danny, Ann Marie, and Jason

Family photo

Kenny and Mike, practically lifelong friends!

It seems like just yesterday that we were gearing up for our own wedding, and here we are at our one year anniversary! We'll be spending it in the French Quarter, so look for updates later this week on where we decided to eat, drink, and play. :)

One year down, with many more to cherish

Thanks and giving and drinking our sorrows away

Despite being sick I had a great Thanksgiving this year. Kenny and I drove in from Lafayette on Thursday morning and went straight to my parents' house. We arrived early so there was plenty of time to play with Doug the puppy! Jeff is taking care of him while Erin is in Arkansas with her family, so there are currently 3 cats and 1 dog living together under one roof. It has certainly been interesting.

Me and Doug

Our Turkey Day group this year was on the small side (13 people); we only needed one table! The food was fantastic, as always, especially dessert. I love me some Mississippi mud pie, especially when my mom makes it. She even made a whole extra pie for me to take home! I am excited about that, but I know I'll end up eating the whole thing since Kenny doesn't like chocolate.....

Kenny, me, Jeff, Mom, Dad

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday, while Mom decorated the house for Christmas (which, as you may or may not know, is an ordeal....she has 12 big bins full of stuff), the rest of us watched LSU fall behind to Arkansas, then completely take control of the game, only to end up losing by one freaking point. We will not speak any more about this. Instead, a group of us went to Lager's to get some burgers and beer, a good solution for any time you're down. As I have said before, there's always next season!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday....only 26 more days until Christmas!

Ole Miss game

The game on Saturday certainly was not the way we wanted to end the season, but at least the weather was nice! The tailgate was a little bare, but the chicken and sausage pastalaya was yum. And scoring two free tickets to the game was great. Let's just hope next season will be ten times better than this one. :)

Ken and some pastalaya

Sean and Alan in their Ole Miss-like attire

Me with my "lettuce wrap"

Saturday afternoon in Tiger Stadium

Me and Kenny

Let there be Christmas lights

Even though it's really too early I had Ken put up our outside Christmas lights this afternoon. We weren't going to have another chance to do it until the second week in December, so today had to be it! If anything it was a good excuse for him to go to Lowe's and buy a ladder, which he's been needing. So the first stage of our Christmas decorating is done, and I hope to get a few more things to add to the outside of the house when I go to Sam's and Hobby Lobby tomorrow. I love the holidays!

Getting some use out his shiny new ladder!

"please stop taking my picture so I can finish this, woman!"

A surprise proposal!

On Friday night my brother finally proposed to his girlfriend of over 4 years. Kenny and I were so excited to hear the news! And the way Jeff did it was so great. The story's a little long, but let's just say a few of Erin's favorite foods, a cozy fire, and a new puppy were involved! See below for a pic of the happy couple, with their first new family addition: Doug the dachshund. Congrats you two; I already can't wait for the Big Day!

Latest book

I finally finished The Historian and am now on to The Clearing, by Tim Gautreaux. The novel is set in the swamps of Louisiana in the 1920s. The story is about the relationship between two brothers, one struggling with post-war trauma and the other just trying to bring him back home to Pennsylvania and his family. I'm almost halfway through, but this one has failed to truly capture my attention. Gautreaux devotes a good amount of time to describing the logging business, so at least I'll learn something new!

Apparently, real men DO eat quiche

I recently found a recipe for chicken, asparagus, and onion quiche and decided that it looked good enough to try making. Ken wasn't hugely excited about it, but he agreed to give it a chance. I made it last night and invited Bobby over for dinner and to watch the Hornets game. While the Hornets were a bust, my quiche was a hit! The three of us just about polished it off completely, and both boys are secure enough in their masculinity to admit they really enjoyed it. Like Bobby said, "if it tastes good, I'll eat it!"

Lunch with the parents

Mom and Dad are on their way from Houston to NOLA for the holidays, and they decided to stop off at my house for a late lunch today. And, since they're going to be in town for a number of weeks, they had the kitties with them! The two felines roamed the house and explored while the 3 of us ate. I was very close to having them leave Jem and Scout with me for the week, but I didn't think Ken would like it too much since he's allergic. Anyway, even though it was a short visit, I was glad they stopped!

Me with Scouty, who tolerates my affection, but only for a little while

Dad, probably on a very important call, on his day off

The Big Orange kitty: Jem

Weekend Update

While we didn't end up making it to NOLA for the game, I'm happy to say that the BMHS Crusaders won their first playoff contest on Friday night! And it wasn't pretty, but the LSU Tigers were able to pull off a W against Troy on Saturday. Let's hope we don't have as much trouble with Ole Miss this weekend. It's anyone's guess as to what happens. Oh, and the Saints won on Sunday, too!

We had a fabulous time in Biloxi with our friends. Shopping at the Gulfport outlets during the day, an exquisite massage at the Beau in the afternoon, an intimate dinner for 16 at Memphis Q, and gambling in the casino. However, I have decided that I am not a gambler. I got upset when I lost $60, and Karen informed me that I probably shouldn't gamble anymore if I was mad at losing so little. What can I say....she calls 'em like she sees 'em!

Birthday girls

Table One: Miche, David, Ken, Jeff, Kare, Brig, Robin

Table Two: Kelli, Bridget, Steve, Brian, Brouss, Greg, Shannon, Ashley

Kenny and me

Gettin' Cozy

Just wanted to quickly post a pic of our first fire of the season in our new house! It is mighty chilly outside tonight, but Kenny and I are nice and cozy inside, sitting on our couch watching Iron Chef America. We're both pretty tired from our fun weekend.....more on that tomorrow!

Chimes, cheese fries, and the casino

Last night Kenny and I drove to Baton Rouge for dinner at Chimes East. His sister Deb is in town for a few days, so a family dinner was in order. Despite Jaimi and Zac leaving early (I guess two-year-olds don't enjoy sitting around a restaurant table for 4 hours!), we had a great time catching up and telling stories. Deb and I even got birthday crab cakes, complete with a candle each. And, as always, the Chimes cheese fries were perfection. I wonder how long I'll have to wait this time to get them again.....

Kenny and I are headed to New Orleans this evening, and we're going to try to catch the Brother Martin football playoff game at Tad Gormley Stadium. The Crusaders (Kenny's a high school alum) are undefeated this season and hope to continue to win their way all the way to the state championships. Then tomorrow we head to Biloxi, MS with a bunch of friends to celebrate 4 November birthdays at the Beau Rivage. The girls will conquer the outlets while the boys conquer the golf course. After a massage at 4pm and sufficient female primping, we'll all rendezvous for dinner and a fun-filled night in the casino. I can't wait!

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday was my 29th birthday. I woke up to a surprise pancake breakfast that Kenny had made for me before he went off to work. He is such a sweetheart. After the yummy pancakes I was lazy the rest of the day, staying in my pj's and lounging on the couch watching movies. Not a bad way to spend a birthday, right? I received a delivery of flowers around 3pm, from Kenny, of course. See the pictures below; they are beautiful!

Eventually I had to go take a shower and get dressed for dinner. Kenny took me to Nash's Restaurant in Broussard, which is owned by the Barreca family. I had shrimp and corn soup to start and my entree was the pecan trout meuniere with pesto linguine. Kenny had turtle soup and maple duck with a peach brandy sauce. We also picked out a great Italian white wine: Ca Montini pinot grigio. Everything was quite tasty. And we arrived home to another surprise, a package on the front porch. My mom sent me a gorgeous fall wreath for my front door!

Thanks everyone, so much, for all of the birthday calls, emails, cards, and wishes. It's always a very special day for me, and I love hearing from so many of my friends and family!

Bama game

While it will ultimately be remembered as a loss, Saturday afternoon's game in Tiger Stadium was an exciting one. I, as I'm sure many others will agree, thought for sure we would get trounced hard by Nick Saban's Crimson Tide football team. The Tiger faithful knew going into this season that it just wasn't going to be our year. After all, we can't be National Champions all the time, right? Granted, we did lose, but we took the number one ranked team to overtime. To me, that says something. Sure, we still don't have a completely reliable quarterback and our defense could stand to make some better tackles, but we did show up to play this past Saturday. We just plain looked better than we did against Florida or Georgia. And that's good enough for me. A win would have been fantastic, but it was still great to be a Tiger fan in Death Valley this weekend.

As always, tailgating with the PODV was the highlight, and it was a near perfect day to be outside. And Jeremy did it again: this time the tasty treats included alligator sauce piquant, white beans with sausage, and marinated grilled pork chops. We are so lucky to have a professional chef as part of our tailgating group!

The Pirate Boys

Kenny very graciously offering me a taste of his alligator sauce piquant.

Kenny, Pat, Chris, Junior, Fred, Greg

Kenny and me

We had great seats, right behind the LSU bench. Thanks, Ashley!

Gardening is not for the weak

I plan to write about the LSU game at some point, but I had to do a quick post tonight about our Sunday. Kenny and I have spent lots of time getting the interior of the house the way we want it but had essentially neglected the exterior. So, as one of the many pleasures of being a homeowner, we spent most of the day working in our front gardens, which desperately needed the attention. And while we didn't plant anything new, we did apparently get the hard part out of the way: cleaning out and weeding. We got rid of dead shrubs, pulled out countless weeds, trimmed back the rose bushes (trying not to get stuck with their monster thorns), and moved a few plants around. After 5 hours we had a big garbage can full of stuff, a few ant bites, aching backs, and, finally, a presentable garden. I now understand why my parents used to come inside from a hard day of gardening looking like they needed about a week of rest and relaxation. Okay, perhaps I am exaggerating a bit, but seriously....it is tiring work. It won't be something I'll particularly enjoy doing, but the result and the sense of accomplishment are worth it. And I can't wait to see how everything we plant in the spring will look!

Recent reads

As you may or may not know, I love to read. I started young and just never stopped. I regret that my husband does not enjoy my favorite pastime; I only hope our eventual children will take after me and not him when it comes to books! My big problem is that I read too fast and thus am ever in need of a new book to delve into. I have developed a small stockpile, but I will admit that this hobby of mine isn't a cheap one. I think it's completely worth it, though.

I recently finished the two novels pictured here, and I enjoyed both of them. They are vastly different, both in topic and setting, but they are very well-written. I probably liked Cane River a bit more, mostly because it is set in Louisiana! Feel free to check out these two selections if you're looking for something new to read.

Two other novels I have recently read are Portrait of an Unknown Woman and The Dante Club, by Vanora Bennett and Matthew Pearl, respectively. I enjoyed the first, but I had such trouble finishing the second. I suppose it just wasn't my style, but I slogged through it because I don't like not finishing a book just because it's not my favorite. I'll try to keep everyone updated on what I'm currently reading, along with my own humble and meager opinion. On my nightstand right now is The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, and it is proving to be one author's take on the life of Dracula. One thing's for sure: this isn't your typical vampire tale.

Election Night

Bobby and Brouss came over for dinner last night (ground pork and olive ragu with fettucine - yum!), and they stayed until Obama finished his victory speech. It certainly was an historic race for president, one that many will remember for a long time. While I'm not usually all that interested in politics, you can bet I was hooked on all of the election coverage. It was hard not to be after the campaigns put forth by the two major candidates. And I have to say that John McCain's concession speech was delivered with extreme grace and humility. I truly hope the two parties can find a way to work together to fix all of the things that are wrong with this country. Congratulations to President-Elect Obama; now let's hope that change does happen!

Spooky, scary, and sweet

Even though we were a tad late, Kenny and I had a great time at Kelli and Steve's for Halloween. The food was fabulous...thanks again for having us! All of the kids were dressed so cute; I'm still sad I never got to see Grant in his Yoda costume. None of them lasted very long trick-or-treating, but since most are younger than 2, I think they had a better time playing than being dragged from house to house. Besides, there's always next year!

Group shot (thanks, Kelli!)

Madison

Molly and Julia