Book update

I finished The Clearing a while ago and moved on to a mindless read called Atlantis, by David Gibbins. It was a fun little adventure novel. Now I'm into Divisadero, by Michael Ondaatje. I am not very far into it yet, but this one is capturing my attention so far. It's about the interconnected lives of three unrelated people from California who were raised as siblings. Two girls and a boy, the three are close in their teen years, only to drift apart later in life based upon certain events. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Anniversary Wedding Cake

Since we were in New Orleans staying at a hotel on our one year anniversary, Kenny and I didn't get a chance to break out our wedding cake top until last night. I was very scared that it was going to taste freezer-burned and stale, but it actually survived its year-long cold confinement quite well. And I am so excited it did, especially since I only got one little taste of it on our wedding night. It is yummy!

Snow? In Louisiana??

Kenny came back into our room this morning before he left for work, which he never does, so I rolled over and wondered what the reason was. He kissed me on the cheek and asked if I wanted to come see the snow. Needless to say, I bolted out of bed, took one look out of our windows, and threw on a jacket and some shoes to go outside. Now, half an hour later, it has already turned to rain and the snow is starting to melt. But it was really pretty while it lasted!

I apologize for my appearance, but I had literally just woken up!

Our house....with SNOW!

Our street....with SNOW!

Our backyard....with SNOW!

O Christmas Tree, Part 2

MUCH better. We finished up with the tree late last night, and I found time today to wrap all of our Christmas presents and to clean up the mess we made. There truly isn't anything like a Christmas tree....it makes me smile just to look at it. And it smells so good! Here's the finished product!

O Christmas Tree

Kenny and I finally came back home on Sunday night after a week and a half in New Orleans, and we stopped at Home Depot for our Christmas tree before heading to the house. We got there just in time before they closed for the night and found a great tree (we hoped). Most of their trees were still bound up from transport, but the worker guy said those were the best ones. So we picked a tree that was the perfect height and crossed our fingers that it would look good once we got it in the house.


We left the tree in water in the garage Sunday night and then Kenny brought it inside last night so we could decorate it. He did a fabulous job with the lights and then we moved on to ornaments. We got a bunch as wedding presents (one of the perks of being married in early December!), so it was fun to rediscover all of them. My mom's good friend Lynne gave us a whole box of ornaments as a wedding shower present, but since they were all wrapped up in tissue paper, I hadn't looked at them until last night. Thanks, Lynne: you picked out some gorgeous ones!

It's a mess now, but it'll be pretty when everything's up!

Checking out all of our fun ornaments!

The finishing touch: a star from my mom

Merry Christmas everyone!

Saints Win!!!

The Saints beat the Falcons yesterday in a very exciting home contest at the Superdome. Kenny and I were lucky enough to get tickets in section 651 (thanks Sean and Leah!), so we were able to sit with the whole crew way up near the top. This was also my cousin Brian's first ever NFL game to attend in person. I'm so glad our boys could come away with a win for him! Now let's see if the Black and Gold can make it to the playoffs.....

Pre-game brunch at Allegro Bistro

Brouss isn't shy about staking claim to leftovers!

Me and Kenny

The Section 651 gang, plus Kenny

Baking Day

Today was my mom's first official Baking Day of the 2008 holiday season. Every year she makes about a dozen different kinds of cookies to give away to a list of people during Christmastime. She schedules about 3 or 4 days to bake, and she usually has company on all of them, either with family doing their own holiday baking or with friends who just drop by to smell the smells and taste the goods. Once everything has been made Mom puts together assortment boxes so that everyone can have a small sample of each kind of Christmas treat. She has thought of stopping this tradition since it is an extraordinary amount of work, but every time she mentions it in mixed company the reaction is always the same: "NOOO!!!!!"

Mom and QP

Abita Pub Crawl

Last night Kenny and I met up with some friends in the Warehouse District for an Abita pub crawl. We hadn't been to one in a long time, so it was lots of fun to do the crawl again. It also helped that all of the stops were within walking distance of our hotel! We didn't check out until this morning, so it was a perfect way to end our stay in downtown New Orleans. The stops included 7 on Fulton, Lucy's, Vic's, Ernst Cafe, and Grand Isle. Always a good time!

Me and Kenny

Me, Trisha, and Erin (my future sis-in-law!)

Kenny and Scott being silly....but the beer was a little foamy at Lucy's

I love this pic of Ken!

Kenny, Kat, Ryan, me, and Scott

Katie, Jay, Erin, Jeff, me, Kenny, and Trisha

Family festivities

While Kenny was in a meeting all day yesterday in preparation for the International Workboat Show at the New Orleans Convention Center, I joined my Aunt Paula (a.k.a. QP) and Mom for lunch. We were celebrating Paula's birthday at one of our favorite restaurants in the Quarter: Mr. B's. Her work friend James was also able to meet us, and the four of us had a great lunch. Happy Birthday, QP.....hope you had a good one!

The birthday girl

Birthday balloons!

Mom and me

And, since Mom was already downtown, she decided to stay and take my brother and me to dinner at La Cote Brasserie. This worked out well for me since the restaurant is located in the hotel where Kenny and I are staying for the rest of the week. The charbroiled oysters and steamed mussels were fantastic! I was stuffed after all of that, but Kenny and a few of his coworkers were right down the street at Emeril's for a late dinner after their meeting, so I walked over and joined them. Ken picked out a great wine called Belle Glos pinot noir, and I was made to try a bit of both the calamari appetizer and the veal entree. And who can pass up a free creme brulee dessert, especially at Emeril's? Not I!

Me, Mom, and Jeff @ LCB

Mom and I found out later that my Uncle Johnny (a.k.a. UJ) surprised Paula by flying one of her best friends into town on her birthday night. Jenn is very special to our family, so it is such a treat to have her here for a couple of days! Today the five of us went to lunch at a place called The Country Club in the Bywater area. It was nothing special, but at least the company was good! After lunch we headed down to Magazine Street and walked around for a few hours, including getting dessert at Sucre. Their coconut fudge gelato is SO good. We stopped at 5 Happiness on our way back to the Quarter to pick up dinner and enjoyed a leisurely evening at the Chartres Street Guesthouse. Both the Hornets and the Tarheels won big tonight, and QP declared herself the night's Rummikub champion. All in all, a fantastic night!

Mom, QP, and Jenn @ Sucre

One year down...

Yesterday was Kenny's and my first wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been a whole year since we got married! It sure was a fun 12 months, so we decided to celebrate the occasion right. We came down to the place where our reception was held, the Omni Royal Orleans, and stayed two nights in the hotel. We were given a great room on the second floor overlooking Royal Street, complete with a big balcony! We were out there as much as we could stand the cold and the wind.

Our great balcony overlooking Royal Street

Sunday night we walked around the Quarter a bit and stopped at a little Creole restaurant for dinner. After trying both types of gumbo (seafood and chicken/sausage), crab balls, and shrimp creole, we were sufficiently stuffed. On the way back to our room we picked up a bottle of wine at a corner grocery store and braved the weather for a bit to drink it out on our balcony. A great way to end our anniversary eve!

Sunday dinner in the Quarter

Our anniversary morning dawned bright and sunny, but we took our time and enjoyed being lazy for a few hours. For lunch we went to Hipstix on Tchoupitoulas, which I've been wanting to try for a long time. It was good, but Pho Bang is better and cheaper! After lunch we had a couple of hours to kill before our next planned event, so I dragged Kenny to the Riverwalk. We found him a great khaki blazer at the Gap, which he needed since the weather was much cooler than he thought it was going to be! And of course, what visit to the RW would be complete without a trip to the Fudgery?? One word: YUM.

Lunch @ Hipstix

Our afternoon outing was taking a tour of the New Orleans Rum Distillery on Frenchman Street. Neither of us had ever been before, so it was the perfect chance to see how they make their delicious rum. Julie, the newest distiller, gave us a great tour of the small operation, which is owned by James Michaelopolous. We had such a wonderful time! Afterwards, since the day was so pretty, we walked around the Quarter for an hour or so to work off some of the rum we had tasted.

New Orleans Rum Distillery

St. Louis Cathedral

Trying to recreate my bridal portrait in Jackson Square!

A pretty New Orleans entryway

When we arrived back at the Omni we found a surprise waiting in front of our door! The Omni's catering manager, Celeste, had sent us a bottle of champagne and 4 huge chocolate covered strawberries. We worked very closely with her throughout the wedding planning last year, and it was so sweet of her to send us an anniversary treat. Thanks, Celeste!

Champagne and strawberries

For our anniversary dinner we decided to return to the place Kenny took me before he proposed two years ago. It's a great little place (now in a new location on North Peters) called Iris. Sunchoke and cauliflower soup and roasted duck for me; steamed mussels and bacon-wrapped rabbit for Ken. Throw in a great bottle of wine from Chile called Pinot Black and we had ourselves a fabulous meal.

In the lobby of the Omni, all decked out for Christmas

Dinner @ Iris

Dinner @ Iris

Before turning in upstairs we stopped at the Touche Bar in the Omni for dessert drinks. This is the place that our families apparently shut down after our wedding one year ago. The two of us had never been, so we couldn't think of a better way to end our night this year! Happy Anniversary, Baby...I love you!