A Very Merry Christmas

Kenny and I drove into New Orleans on Christmas Eve and stayed through the weekend. We had a great time being with family and friends over those 4 days.

We went to the early Christmas Eve candlelight service at Munholland (where we were married!) with his parents, and then we went out to eat with my parents and grandparents at GW Fin’s. Surprisingly, I didn’t take all that many pictures while we were in town, but I did get a decent shot of the candlelight portion of the church service.

The next morning we were up early since Jeff and Erin had planned to be at the house for 8:30 so we could have our immediate family Christmas before the rest of the crew arrived at 10. Grams and Bop showed up first, followed shortly by QP and UJ, and we ate our traditional eggs with bacon Christmas breakfast. Yum.

We opened gifts, and then QP and UJ had to go off to visit others, while Kenny and I needed to get over to his family celebration. We had a great afternoon with his parents, grandfather, and Steve, Jaimi, and Zac. After just having loads of eggs and bacon a few hours before, we managed to find room for a delicious Christmas dinner at 2. I still can’t believe I had never had shrimp mirliton dressing before meeting Kenny….it is SO good, and I look forward to it every year.

Gifts with Ken’s family were interesting. You’d think since a 3-year-old was there he’d be all about the presents for him, but he actually wasn’t all that interested! He got some really cool things, though, and the adults might have been more excited about a few of his gifts than he was. All Zac really wanted to do was continue to “pose like the Wiggles.”

 

All in all, it was a great day. Much of my family was unable to come in this year since they’ll all be in for my brother’s wedding (in less than two weeks!), so that just means next Christmas will be even better. I hope everyone had as great a holiday as we did!

Our First Christmas of the Season

My dad’s side of the family always gets together the Sunday before Christmas to celebrate so we don’t have to worry about cramming another visit in on Christmas Day. This year we went across the lake to Covington and to my aunt and uncle’s house. It was great to see everyone again. We don’t gather all that often, so our H. family Christmas is a treat!

Thanks, Aunt Roma and Uncle Dana, for having all of us over. Everything was delicious, and we had a great time. Merry Christmas to everyone!

White Christmas at Le Petit Theater

Kenny and I were in New Orleans this past weekend to see a production of White Christmas. Both sets of parents were able to come with us, so it was a very nice family outing.

The show was at Le Petit Theater in the Quarter, the oldest continually running community theater in the States (94 years!). I used to see shows at Le Petit fairly often a number of years back, but I hadn’t been in a long time. It’s such a cute little intimate theater, and the performance was fantastic. So good, in fact, that Le Petit is thinking of making it an annual tradition. Sounds good to me! And they didn’t cut any corners: the last scene was complete with “snow” falling over the audience!

It was even more fun because a high school classmate of mine played one of the lead roles. She currently lives in New York, has been on Broadway, and has come a long way since our days at Mount Carmel. She has an amazing talent, and I enjoyed watching her shine on stage with an incredible supporting cast. I even got to say hi to her after the show; you were great, Julie! 

After the play the six of us went over to Muriel’s for a quick dinner before heading back home to watch the Saints game. Dinner was excellent as always, but the game unfortunately was not. The Black and Gold are now 13-1, thanks to Dallas playing an unbelievable game. We were never able to catch up to them after they got off to a very fast start.

I suppose this loss has been a long time coming, but that doesn’t make it any easier to digest. Perhaps it will provide the wake-up call the guys need to win out the rest of the regular season and head into playoffs focused and determined. Tampa Bay is up next at home this Sunday, and then we’ll just have to get by the Panthers in Charlotte on January 3. Come on, Saints; will this truly be our year?

North Carolina

I love North Carolina in the late fall/early winter. There’s very little humidity, opposite from what Louisiana boasts year-round. Instead the air is crisp and cold with just a bit of a bite to it, on account of the really cold temps not due to arrive for a few more weeks.

Of course I did not appreciate this true fall and winter while I was living there for three years. All I wanted was to go back to the humidity laden thickness of the Big Easy so I could see Kenny and my family. Hindsight really is 20-20.

I have been able to go back to visit a few times since I left the state, and I returned from my latest trip last Sunday. I was there for four nights and saw good friends in Chapel Hill and in Wilmington.

My younger adopted Chapel Hill sister, Elisabeth, had unfortunately contracted a bad cold a couple of days before I arrived, and right at the end of her sophomore fall semester of high school. Rotten, rotten luck. She’s doing much better now, but it was a hard week for her, being out of school but having no less work to complete before the Christmas holidays. My youngest adopted Chapel Hill sister, Margaret, had no such hindrance as being sick and was in rare form most of my visit. Highly entertaining.

The sisters hard at work

Meanwhile, I enjoyed the company of their two cats whenever I sat still in one place long enough. There is nothing like a soft and cuddly kitty on your lap on a cold night! Too bad Kenny is allergic.

Me and Callie

While Elisabeth alternated between coughing and studying, Jennifer, Margaret, and I did a lot of baking. Between cookie swaps at M’s school, parties Jenn was throwing in the coming days, and wanting fun desserts after dinner a couple of nights, we stayed busy in the kitchen. After all was said and done, we had thrown together a chocolate mud pie, a batch of ying-yang cookies, a chocolate mousse, and a batch of cheese petit-fours. Delish.

I did also manage a side trip to Wilmington to see my very good friend Jackie. I had lunch with Joanne, my old thesis advisor, right when I got into town, and then I headed to the radio station where Jackie is one of the morning show personalities to rescue her from work. When she was finally able to escape, we drove around town, shopped a bit, and laughed a lot. It was too short of a visit, but I’m very glad I got to see her. Love those underarms, Jack!

My last night was spent back in Chapel Hill. Michael stayed home with Elisabeth to help her study while Jenn, Margaret, and I went to Brixx, one of my favorite CH restaurants, for dinner. It also happened to be a night that two Blue Moon reps were there pushing their beer, and that worked out just fine for us. Jenn and I each got a free pint, and she even scored a t-shirt. Michael was very jealous when we got home. 

As always, it was a great trip that provided me with many good memories. Thank you for everything, my adopted family and Jackie! Until next time. :)

Two Years

Kenny and I were officially married for two years on December 1. Where does the time go? I feel like the wedding was just a few months ago!

Then again, a lot has happened in the past two years: honeymoon in Hawaii, two ski vacations, a few other road trips, move to Lafayette, buying our first house, two LSU football seasons, many fun houseguests, multiple weddings and showers, two birthdays each, and a couple of hurricanes thrown in for good measure. And we did all of that together. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Last year we spent the whole day together but this year Kenny unfortunately had an all-day meeting in downtown New Orleans that he couldn’t miss. We decided to get a room at the Westin so we could be close to his meeting place and to where we were having our anniversary dinner.

That Tuesday was a dreadfully dreary day, so I spent most of it safely ensconced in our room overlooking the river. Later that evening Kenny made his way back to the hotel to pick me up for dinner. We went to a fairly new place called Galvez. It’s on the second floor of a building behind the French Market, with a long main dining room and big windows along one wall overlooking the river. I bet the views are even better when it’s not pouring rain out!

We sat there for over two hours, watching the storm pass, reminiscing about old times, and generally enjoying each other’s company. It really was a great night.

Thank you, Kenny, for being my husband. You mean the world to me.

All About the Saints: 12-0 Baby!

Wow. What a fun ride this professional football season has been for the loyal fans of the team based in New Orleans. Our boys in Black and Gold are 12-0, officially the best record in Saints franchise history.

The last home game was MNF against the New England Patriots on November 29. Kenny and I (along with my parents) were lucky enough to score tickets. We started the party on Sunday evening at an unofficial Saints Pep Rally with the Nobles (the awesome band that played our wedding) at Rock ‘N Bowl. The guys sounded great as always, and Sir Saint even made a guest appearance!

On Monday afternoon we met up with friends at Erin Rose in the Quarter to pre-load and then made our way to the Dome to cheer the boys on to a victory. It was a great game; all of the fans were really spirited. I think it got louder in the Dome than I’ve ever heard it in Tiger Stadium, and that’s saying something!

While we had a bit of a scare against Washington this past Sunday, we managed to emerge victorious and claim our 12th win of the season. This Sunday it’s the Falcons we’ll have to get by in Atlanta, then the Cowboys at home next Saturday. I sure hope this fun and exciting ride continues for weeks to come!

LSU: 9-3

I will not speak about what happened during the LSU-Ole Miss game on November 21. Suffice it to say, we lost and our record became 8-3.

The Saturday night after Thanksgiving (not the usual Friday afternoon time; thanks CBS!), Ken and I were in Baton Rouge for the final home game of LSU’s 2009 season. We have really enjoyed being temporary season ticket holders this year, and we had a great time at the LSU-Arkansas game. We tailgated with my brother and his friends near the Lab School all afternoon, and then hiked over to Death Valley to see the Tigers finish their regular season 9-3.

LSU will play against Penn State in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Florida, on January 1, 2010. GEAUX TIGERS!!!

Family and Thanksgiving

Kenny and I always struggle around the holidays, juggling two families and trying to figure out where to go when. Everything usually works out fairly well, much to our relief.

This year his sister and her family were in town from California for Thanksgiving. (Yay!) We ended up going over to Ken’s parents’ house the Sunday before T-Day to spend some time with all of them, and because of that we decided to eat Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ house. However, my family always goes to a movie after dinner, so Ken and I took our leave and headed over to his grandparents’ house to spend more time with his family.

The day worked out pretty well, and we even escaped with his sister and brother (and their spouses) later that evening to the Bulldog, where my brother and Erin were with some of their friends.

Gotta love the family togetherness around this time of year! Here are some pics from our Thanksgiving week.

I haven’t posted anything in awhile because this past week and a half has been non-stop. I actually just got back home after a visit to family and friends in North Carolina, and there were many other events that happened before I left. Stay tuned for lots more updates in the coming days!

Couples Shower

This past Saturday was the couples shower for my brother and Erin. Their wedding date is rapidly approaching….only 6 and a half weeks to go until the Big Day! It was a great night; good times were had by all. Here are some pics from the party. Enjoy!

Sorry I couldn’t write more; I am frantically trying to get things together for our trip to New Orleans for tomorrow’s Turkey Day. A very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!