Next, please!

Well, it started out capturing my attention, but then it diverged into many different directions. Divisadero did not turn out the way I thought it would. Instead of being one story about three major characters, it was actually three stories, one for each. It lacked cohesion to tie everything together, so it definitely wasn't a favorite of mine. Oh, well....you never know 'til you try! I am moving on to Duma Key, by Stephen King, on my dad's recommendation. It seems to be more of a mystery/suspense kind of novel instead of horror, which is just fine by me. Here's hoping I'll like this one!

"Australia"

Last night Kenny and I went to see "Australia," which I've been wanting to see ever since I saw a preview. Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman have great chemistry, and the story is good, although a little slow at times (the movie runs almost three hours). And while a shirtless Hugh is always nice on the big screen, the best part of this movie was a previously unknown actor named Brandon Walters. He plays a young aboriginal boy called Nullah, and his performance is incredibly emotional and moving, with a touch of comedy thrown in for good measure. I hope "Australia" is only the beginning of a long career for Brandon.

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