Thanks Giving

I was tagged by Dana at Sweeping Through Life to list 5 things I'm thankful for. I really enjoy this Thanksgiving tradition so here you go:

1. My relationships with my Lord, family and friends. I'd say that's probably numero uno on most of our lists!

2. The ability to make such wonderful memories with my husband before we start having kids. I know a lot of people don't have the time with work and other responsibilities to just drop everything and run off to have fun whenever they feel like it so I'm hugely thankful for this blessing!

This past weekend, for JD's birthday celebration, we went to Biloxi to have dinner at Ruth's Chris (a super nice steakhouse if you're not familiar with it) and watch Darius Rucker in concert. Um, and maybe to shop at an outlet mall. (Somehow, even when it's his birthday, we end up doing what I want to do. He's good like that.)

The food and the concert were fabulous. It was a wonderful little getaway for us.

3. A job that offers great vacation time. Yay for two days off this week!

4. Fun Blog swaps. I've actually only done one so far but I had so much fun I'm looking forward to doing many others. My partner was Monogram Girl and she sent me three lovely scarves! The blue one is an infinity scarf, which I've been wanting to try for the longest time. I'm so excited I finally have one!


The Mr. seems to think I have a bit of an obsession with scarves but I have no idea what he's talking about. I mean, I think it's perfectly reasonable to feel the need for 13 (now 16) scarves in a state where the temperature stays in the 70s well into November and sometimes December, don't you??

5. Last but definitely not least, I'm thankful for YOU! Even though I'm super busy lately and not able to comment like I used to, I'm keeping up with you the best I can and your stories and comments never fail to put a smile on my face.

I probably won't be able to post the next few days so Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

Giveaway Winners

Sorry for the delay in announcing the giveaway winners from my post on Experiments in a Galley Kitchen! I finally got it together and had JD draw the winners yesterday then I spazzed out and forgot to post them.

The winner of the Target gift card is Sue from The Cotton Patch and the winner of the Starbucks gift card is Deelsu at Dee's Adventures! Apparently JD decided to make it fair and draw both an Alabama fan and an LSU fan! (Not really, it was totally random. Promise.)

Mrs. Sue, I'll be mailing your gift card and Dee, yours will come from Mrs. Potts.

Congrats to both of the winners and thanks to everyone who played along!

Weekend Fun

JD is off with a friend watching the Hornets play tonight. I decided since I'd be home alone I deserved a good (read: the greasier the better) dinner. I stopped by a local Mexican restaurant to pick up a quesadilla and when one of the workers told me in a heavy Mexican accent that I could take the carry-out menu I was looking at, I said, loudly and sloooowly while pointing at myself, "I take?" Ugh. I am such a moron. The fact that I could barely understand what he was saying didn't mean he couldn't understand (or hear, for that matter) me! He just smiled and said, "Yes, you're welcome to have it." I felt so stupid.

But anyhoo, the real reason for this post is I just realized if I want to recap what we did this past weekend, I'd better do it before this next one starts! Friday night our friend Erin (one of my favorites) drove in from New Orleans to hang out with me and JD. We went to dinner at our favorite sushi place then watched A Christmas Carol. The special effects were amazing, which made it such a fun movie to watch. I thought it was supposed to be a movie for kids but there were some parts that might scare small children. I hope more 3D movies come out soon because I thoroughly enjoyed this one! Erin and I tried to get a fun picture of us in the silly glasses to text to her sister but after a few attempts, this was the best we could get:

Kinda goes along with the whole special effects theme of the movie, right? ...no? Well, we're totally blaming it on the delayed flash on her phone!

It was sooo good to spend time with Erin, I don't get to see her nearly often enough.

I love you, Erin! Start a blog already! ;-)

Saturday, JD and I went with four other couples to the horse races in New Orleans. It was such a new, different experience. I loved it! We won a few bets and mostly lost, but it was so worth the money for the fun time with friends!

The only thing that cast a little shadow on the day was that a friend of mine told me the race horses are badly mistreated. We're such animal lovers it's no fun to think we supported something that could harm animals. The friends we went with were positive that the horses aren't mistreated so now I don't know what to think.

Do any of you know for sure one way or the other? I'd love to go back if the horses are ok but probably won't if they aren't. Let me know if you have any insight!

Here are a few pics from the day.

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Side note: I planned to draw the winner for my giveaway over at Experiments in a Galley Kitchen Friday night but now I'm not sure if I'll have access to the internet. It might have to wait until Saturday night, which just gives you an extra day to enter!

Hope y'all have a fabulous weekend!

A Scarf And A Guest Post... Not Random At All, Right?

Remember when I whined about this scarf being out of stock? I've been obsessively curiously checking back on the off chance that it would come back in stock but with no luck.

HOWEVER, I believe I found a scarf yesterday that, if not being completely similar, will at least satisfy my craving.

It's soooo soft, has the same gathers and colors and at $7 I just couldn't pass it up! I found it at Walmart, of all places.

(Please excuse the hasty car pic, I think you can at least get the general idea of what it looks like.)
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Now if you want a real post from me today, you'll need to go to Experiments in a Galley Kitchen cause I'm guest posting, y'all! Woohoo!

It's my first guest post to actually get posted on someone else's blog haha.

If you read the post and comment, you'll be entered for a little giveaway Mrs. Potts and I are doing. I stole this little trick fun idea from some other bloggers. Thought it would make the post a bit more interesting!

What are you still doing here? Go get entered! :-)

Happy Tuesday, y'all!

Happy Birthday, My Love

Today is the anniversary of the day my amazing husband was born! Like last year, he's not very excited about being another year older. Something about being in his 30s just doesn't sit well with him.

I, on the other hand, am beyond excited to celebrate his life and the fact that I'M the one, out of every single girl in the world, that he chose to spend the rest of it with. I actually like being married to a slightly older man :-) I'm often overwhelmed with gratitude and awe that I was the one God chose to bless with the honor of being JD's wife.

Being married to JD is SO much fun. I cherish our time together and look forward to many more happy memories in the future. We'll be enjoying some of those happy memories this weekend when we celebrate his birthday so I'll fill y'all in on the festivities later.

Until then, here are a few pictures from his birthday celebrations last year (we're aware that we take far too many car pics).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GOOSE! I love you so incredibly much.

Happy Blog #3

If you're interested in the origins of my Happy Blogs, you can check out this post which is from back in January, when I was ecstatic if I got one comment on my posts. Happy Blogs were supposed to be a regular installment but I've apparently only done one other one so far. I need to get with the program and do these more often!

1. 3-D movies. The only ones I've seen so far have been at Disney World but tonight we're going to see A Christmas Carol and I am PUMPED!

2. The diamond and aquamarine earrings JD bought me last weekend. His bro-in-law recently opened a jewelry store so we were able to get an awesome deal on them. This picture's not the best but they're gorgeous in person!

3. Terivs tumblers. Seriously the best cups, ever. End of story.

4. Fresh hair cuts. If you read this post you know the craziness I've been through trying to find a good hair stylist. Wednesday I decided to give a high school friend a try and loved her. Not sure why it took me so long to make the connection that she does hair and I needed someone to do mine. Seems obvious, right? You would think.

5. The song I currently have on repeat: Halftime by Ying Yang Twins. This song is played at Saints home games and it makes me want to stand up and get crunk just like the song suggests!

What's something that makes you happy? How bout the fact that it's Friday? Yay! Have a fabulous weekend!

A Little Of What I've Been Up To

I'm finally back! I missed y'all so much! It's gonna take me forever to get caught up with everyone. I'm reading as fast as I can but commenting might still be light for a little while.

I went to DC for work Nov 1-4 with a co-worker and really enjoyed it! I've been a couple times before so didn't really feel the need to see all the monuments again. We arrived Sunday and after we checked in and grabbed lunch at the hotel, we went to the American History museum and walked to the White House. I absolutely loooove riding the metro around DC! I don't know if it's because we don't have any kind of public transportation where I live or if I'm just a dork (probably both), but it's so fun to me!

View from the hotel

Taking the ginormous escalator down to the metro (turn your head left and if anyone knows how to rotate pictures on blogger, let me know. kthx.).



Capitol



We asked the lady at a kiosk right in front of this building what it was and she said she didn't know. Really?? You work here every day and you don't know what building you're in front of? Well whatever it is, we thought it was pretty.

In front of the White House. I'd prefer if you didn't try to click on this one to enlarge it; I have crazy eyes here and it's not my best look. Just sayin.

Washington Monument

Cool picture. If I do say so myself.

Sunday night we ate in Chinatown at Sushi Go Round because I was curious about the sushi belt. It was so neat! You just grab whatever goes by that looks good. They have different color paper plates and they count up your plates at the end to get your total.

Monday we headed to Georgetown to shop and look around.

Not really sure what the point of this is but it's cute!

We wanted to eat somewhere with a view of the water and the girl at Pottery Barn recommended we eat on the patio of this restaurant. Which would have been a great idea if the patio wasn't closed that day! I wasn't very impressed by the food but you win some, you lose some!

We walked down to the water after lunch since we couldn't see it during. Very pretty.

Tuesday was filled with meetings but we had a little break that afternoon so we decided to walk down to the zoo to see the giant pandas. They were both sleeping and we couldn't get any good pictures but we did see this cute little guy. I think he's a red panda.

Here I was with my co-worker at the "social" Tuesday night. We had appetizers at Zatinya (I think?). The chef had just been eliminated from Top Chef or Iron Chef or something like that. The food was great but there wasn't much of it so we may or may not have gone back to Sushi Go Round after!

After our meetings on Wednesday, we decided to go to the Spy Museum before we had to head back to the airport. We bought tickets for the interactive "mission," where we got to be agents and try to crack a case. It was fun until we were in the middle of the suspect's living room digging for clues and the fire alarm went off! We had to evacuate the building and after all the drama, we didn't have time to go back and finish so now we'll never know if we would've found the trigger in time to keep the huge bomb from exploding!

Here are the fire trucks in front of the building. Turns out someone had pulled the alarm. Way to ruin our fun, rude!

Friday JD and I drove to Alabama for the LSU/Bama game. LSU lost. And that's all I'll say about that.

JD's friend told me I looked like I was wearing a table cloth. Hmph.

Now I'm headed to read some of your blogs (in between catching up at work)! Happy Thursday!

Possible Mushiness Ahead

My loves! I've been a bad bad blogger lately. Just know that I'm aware of this and it makes me sad. I've gone from posting pretty much every day to maybe a couple times a week and my commenting has slacked off majorly. It's partly because work has seriously picked up (um I mean, not that I ever blog from work or anything) and partly because I feel like I haven't had much of anything exciting to contribute to the blog world.

The more of you amazing ladies I meet, the more I wonder why I'm even blogging! You're all SO good at what you do... whether it's fashion, hair and makeup, being crafty, discovering and showcasing the latest and greatest, having the cutest darn family ever known to man, having the cutest darn stories ever known to man, or being so funny it's not even funny... sometimes I wonder where I fit.

But then I realize that even when I don't "fit," there are so many of you who still love me enough to read my silly ramblings (and act like they're actually worthy of being paid attention to) that it makes me want to keep rambling away. Y'all are such a fun, happy part of my life and I don't think I thank you enough. So thank you.

For sticking around. For making me feel special. For making me smile, making me think, making me dream and wish and hope and grow. For being you.

I'll be traveling for a bit but I'll be back soon, hopefully with some fun stories.

{I wish I could.}

Love you friends, be back soon!

{pics: we heart it}

Ghosts of Halloweens Past

You'll have to forgive me if I don't exactly get excited about the whole dressing up extravaganza for Halloween. My parents never dressed me up or took me trick-or-treating as a kid. Halloween is not a holiday they like to celebrate. And I can't say I blame them. I just don't really get it. If you love it, more power to ya! I'm just not one to get pumped about witches and ghosts and goblins. And spiders! Dear Lord in heaven, don't get me started on the spiders! ::shudder::

I've actually only dressed up for Halloween on three occasions that I can think of and none of my outfits turned out to be wise decisions.

The first time, the guy I was dating went as Austin Powers and I was Felicity Shagwell. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I don't have a picture from that Halloween on my computer. Just picture me about ten pounds skinnier and tan with my hair dyed an unfortunate shade of dirty blonde, wearing a hot pink plastic-y (pleather? I don't know) minidress and five inch tall white hooker platform boots (whew, that's a mouthful!). The actual costume was fine as far as costumes go. I didn't look any sluttier stupider than anyone else at the party. The shoes were what eventually caused the problem.

My then-boyfriend got mad at me for some reason I cannot figure out to this day (Erin, do you know? You were there.) and started shouting at me, eventually yelling "EFF YOU!" in front of everyone and storming out of the house. Except he didn't really say "eff." When I replay the event in my head, the music comes to a screeching halt and the whole party whips in our direction, wondering what the EFF just happened. Maybe noone but Erin and my other friends who were there noticed but it felt like the whole party did.

We fought all the way back to his apartment and I eventually got so worked up I ripped that hooker boot right off my foot and chunked it at his head. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) I have horrible aim and it hit his TV instead, leaving a big white streak down the side of it. I have never since that day acted violently toward another human being but some people just bring out the worst in you, ya know?

My next costume didn't really even deserve to be called a costume. I was talked into going to a street party the day of and had nothing to wear. A girl at work had some angel wings and a halo she insisted I borrow so I wore them with a white dress. Those dadgum wings were SO stinking annoying in a big crowd! I kept having to say, "Excuse the wings. Sorry, did I just whack you in the face with my wings? Pardon my obnoxious wings." By the end of the night, they were tattered and gray and I ended up buying her a new set.

The highlight of the night was when this old geezer and I realized we'd worn the same outfit. Neither of us were very happy about it.

Another time I dressed up, a friend convinced me to do a joint costume with her and go as... wait for it... boobs. She had this picture in her head of exactly how we would make our costumes and it was going to be grrrreeeat!

Needless to say, they didn't really turn out the way she had pictured in her pretty little head. But oh did we try our darndest to make them look like boobs! We cut a huge bra in half (see the black things around our necks?) and even put nipple rings on them. Dear God, what were we thinking??

(And I can't even pretend I was too young to know better. The date on the pictures gives away the fact that I was 23 and had no excuse for going out in public like that!)

We got everything from, "Are y'all eyeballs?" to "I know! You're WHITE TRASH!" Funny thing is, those guesses all came from girls. Boys, on the other hand, would start jumping up and down like little kids in Toys-R-Us and yell, "BOOBS!"

Oh we were boobs alright.

Please make me feel better and share... what's been your most unfortunate Halloween costume choice?

Randoms

1. I'm terribly sorry if I shocked/offended/scared anyone out of their everloving mind yesterday. I made JD read the post and he cringed and said, "WHY would you post that?!" Um, I don't really know, to be honest. I think the pictures jumbled my brain a bit and I don't know... misery loves company, maybe?

2. Next May, an awesome group of musicians will be performing in Tiger Stadium. May 29 will feature Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Kellie Pickler, David Nail and Gloriana. And May 30 will feature Kenny Chesney, Brooks & Dunn, Jason Aldean, Jake Owen and Justin Moore. I'm not a huge fan of country but even I know it's a pretty big deal to have all these people together at once and I do plan to go. Don't be jealous, it's not every day lil ol' Baton Rouge has something this special going on! And you're more than welcome to come join the fun!

3. My Reading Buddy got moved to a magnet school. Happy for her, sad for me! She was just starting to open up and let her cute little personality shine through and now she's leaving me. She told me Monday would be her first day at the new place so I told her I'd visit her today and bring her a pressie. I called the school to make sure she's there and... she's not. They gave me the name of her new school, which I've never heard of, so now I have to track her down and try to explain to her new peeps why some random lady wants to find and meet with her. Should be fun.

4. My supervisor is taking us to lunch today to celebrate a new position one of my co-workers got (at another place of employment). The restaurant is Mexican and I'm thinking about ordering grilled fish. Is that even allowed?

5. I feel that since I burned your retinas yesterday, I should give you something pretty to look at today. So here you go.

Friends again?

Have a wonderful weekend, my loves!

{pictures via... you guessed it, we heart it}

Only In New Orleans (Warning: May Contain Nudity)

{There she was, just a walkin' down the street}

{singing do wa diddy diddy}

{dum diddy do}

{But ocifer, I'm not as think as you drunk I am!}

A co-worker of mine sent me these pictures of a lady walking down St. Charles. I figured since I was scarred for life, you might as well be too. Thought you might enjoy them as much as I did!

Happy Thursday, y'all!

30 Before 30

Have y'all heard of those 101 Things in 1001 Days lists? I've read about a few bloggers who are doing them and thought about joining the fun but 101 things just sounded like a whole heck of a lot to attempt so I never jumped on board.

But yesterday, I was inspired by Erin at Blue-Eyed Bride to make a list of things to do before I turn 30. It seems like a great defining point in life, not to mention 30 things seem a lot more doable than 101! Although, knowing me, I'll probably keep adding to the list and end up with more than 30 things on it. But it's my list so I make the rules, right?

I already have a "Bucket List" and some of those items got moved to this list in order to give me a kick in the rear to get started on them.

So far, here are my 30 Things To Do Before I Turn 30:

1. Catch up on making photo albums. This would include our wedding album (so sad!) and basically every trip we've been on since we started dating. Should keep me busy for quite awhile.

2. Completely clean out our home office and paint it. This room is basically a "junk room" at this point and I'm having the HARDEST time getting myself motivated to jump on it. It will eventually be a nursery and I DO NOT need to wait until I'm pregnant to clean it out.

3. Do 30 Day Shred for 30 days in a row. So far, the longest stretch I've gone is about 4 days so this one should be interesting.

4. Complete 10,000 page challenge. Not sure if anyone's noticed this on my sidebar but I decided to try to read 10,000 pages this year and I'm doing ok so far. I definitely consider it a goal worthy of this list.

5. Attend a horse race (and hopefully win something).

6. Read through the One-Year Bible. I've read the whole Bible before but not in this format.

7. Learn to play tennis. But first I should probably find someone who knows how to play and is willing to teach a klutz like me!

8. Learn to make yummy martinis. The flavored kind (lemon, apple, chocolate). Call me lame but I am not a fan of the "real" kind.

9. Have a baby. I have two and a half years left so nobody get excited just yet (Grandma!).

10. Do something nice for someone. Anonomously. More than once.

11. Buy an item of clothing, jewelry or handbag for myself that costs $400 or more. I can only think of two items in my closet that cost more than $100. They're both presents from JD and we found them each on sale for <$200. I'd love to really splurge just once, even though I'll probably feel guilty about doing it. Maybe it can be my 30th birthday present to myself.

12. Go horseback riding again. I was obsessed with horses until I was about 16. Then I went riding, got thrown off and broke my ankle. So we'll hope for a better experience this time!

13. Host a dinner party (preferably a Christmas party).

14. Have a picnic by the LSU lakes.

15. "Meet" my brother again. I haven't seen him since I was 14 and we just got back in touch this past February. I miss him.

16. Try at least one new recipe a month.

17. Start and maintain a travel journal.

18. Sponsor a child or join Mocha Club. This needs to be done sooner than later; it's been on my heart for a while.

19. Visit eight new bookstores. Borders, Books-A-Million and Barnes and Noble do not count.

20. Attend a concert or show I'm truly excited about.

21. Watch another play or musical.

22. Be a tourist in my own town(s). This would include Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Hammond.

23. Start at least one tradition for JD, me and that baby we're gonna have. Like Erin said, something they know we're going to do without fail.

24. Watch five classic black and white movies. I'm not really a fan but feel that maybe I haven't given them enough of a chance. I'll ask my mama what her favorites are.

25. Learn basic sewing skills (buttons, seams, etc). Mama will come to the rescue with this one as well.

26. Make some type of craft or piece of art to disply in my home or office. Hahahahaha this one should be good!

27. Send out a cute photo Christmas card. I've always wanted to do this and I guess I have more reason to now that I'm married!

28. Go to at least two more NFL games and two more MLB games.

29. Continue to volunteer with the reading program and/or find another volunteer opportunity.

30. Stay more in touch with my extended family.

I also came up with some things I know I may not be able to accomplish by 30 so I'm putting them on my "before I turn 40" list.

1. Ride on a sailboat.

2. Take a vacation with other couples.

3. Swim with dolphins.

4. Travel overseas. Preferably to Greece or Italy.

5. Experience a White Christmas.

6. Learn to salsa, swing or ballroom dance. Or all three.

Well, that's it so far! What are some things that would make it onto your lists?

{pictures via we heart it}