All things White and wonderful

L-O-U-I-S-I-A-N-A Tech DAWGS!

2011-02-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is doing Show Us Your Life: Alma Maters today so I thought I would do my first link up and promote my alma mater!

I am from Louisiana, but I do NOT bleed purple and gold and never will! This house bleeds blue and red and we cheer for the bulldogs! Matt and I both graduated from Louisiana Tech University in 2008. LA Tech is in Ruston, LA which is also my hometown! Ruston is a small college community that is also known for its peaches. Tech has a beautiful campus and lots to offer.

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Being from Ruston and going to college at Tech, I knew I would see alot of people from high school, but Tech never once felt like high school! I started out my college experience by going through formal recruitment. This is something that no one else in my family had ever done before so I was a little nervous, but looking back I'm very glad I made the decision. I became a member of Alpha Chi Omega and loved it! I made many lasting friendships and enjoyed having the social, philanthropic, and sisterhood activities all through my college experience. I still talk to a good number of my AX sisters and even help advise the chapter on Tech's campus. Matt was a Kappa Sigma at Tech and he too stays in contact with many of his brothers.

The AXO lodge on Tech's Campus

My AX sisters at my wedding

While at Tech I was a full time student and held pretty much a full time job either working at a gift shop or for a florist and babysitting. During my last year at Tech, I got to work for the Dean's office in the College of Business. I loved working on campus and loved the Dean's office because I got to know many of my professors. The Dean's office was probably also the easiest and least stressful job I held while in college. It allowed me to be on campus a whole lot more.

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The Clock tower

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This is one thing I looked forward to every spring....all the tulips that bloomed on campus.

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The Lady of the Mist

Tech has many great academic programs. I got to experience two while there (Biology and Business Management) and will possibly be seeing a third in the near future. A few interesting things that Tech has on campus are a planetarium and the Idea Place. Tech has a pretty good athletic program. You probably haven't heard too much about our football team, but we did have one football alum play in the Super Bowl this year. The Lady Techsters (women's basketball) are probably our most recognized and successful athletic team. They are actually undefeated so far this season. Tech is a great place to learn and there is always something to do on campus or in the Ruston community.

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Tech the Bulldog

Go DAWGS!

Stir up some YUM!!

2011-01-27T23:19:00.000-08:00

So I thought I would share one of my easiest and most requested recipes just in time for the Superbowl. For about the past 6 months, anytime I have needed a quick and delicious recipe this has been my go to. Every time I bring it somewhere someone requests the recipe. Let me add that I am by no means a photographer much less a food photographer!

Jalapeno Popper Dip
2 - 8 oz. packages cream cheese
1 cup mayonnaise (do NOT use Miracle Whip!)
1 1/2 cups grated cheese (really any kind works I like to use cheddar)
1 - 4 oz. can chopped green chilies
1/2-1 - 4 oz. can diced jalapeno peppers, reserve small amount of juice drain the rest (my local store does not have cans of diced jalapenos, so I use 10-15 jalapeno slices and chop them and about 1 teaspoon of juice)
bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients except bread crumbs.

Spread into a baking dish. I'm pretty partial to my LeCreuset pie dish that I got as a wedding gift because it is both cute and functional! Top with bread crumbs.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until dip is bubbly and golden brown.

Serve with chips or whatever you choose.

I made this for a party Matt had at work during the holidays and he was calling me before I could even pull out of the parking lot because all the ladies at work wanted the recipe. It is also a favorite with my beach trip girls.

I am preparing for a quick little overnight trip to Dallas tomorrow with all the girls from Matt's side of the family. A very special little girl turned 8 last week and we must celebrate American Girl style! Emily Grace, Matt and I (and of course Belle and Buddy) hope you enjoyed your special day we have enjoyed watching you grow up over the last 8 years! We can't wait to see where life takes you!

Emmy and Matt after a musical at her school.

Hopefully I will remember to take some pictures this weekend!

Going out with a Bang Part 2

2011-01-27T00:17:00.000-08:00

I have kept busy volunteering with a few different groups. I am in the Junior Service League and we presented Snow White to some of the area's younger students. We had a blast and I got to know some of the other ladies in the JSL.

Snow White cast
I'm the bluebird in the front! I had to really use my imagination for my costume!

Matt and I celebrated our 1st anniversary in November. We took a little trip to Dallas/Grapevine, TX and stayed at the Gaylord Texan. This place is pretty amazing. We got there the night they turned on all their Christmas lights and opened their ice display. Everything at the hotel was beautiful! Matt's bff Zach and his wife Laura met us there since they live in Frisco and went through the ice display with us. We got to see their beautiful house and go to Ikea before coming home.

The Gaylord's beautiful Christmas tree

This was our view as we sat and visited with Zach and Laura

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown ICE! display

Snoopy's ICE! doghouse

The nativity made of ice...this does it no justice at all!

We of course celebrated Christmas with both of our families. We always celebrate with Matt's family on Christmas Eve and with my family Christmas evening. Since both families live within 30-45 minutes of each other this isn't really hard to split our time between the two. I of course didn't even get my camera out at either, but I did borrow a few pictures from one of my sisters.

Me and all of my siblings: Heather, Amanda, Shasta, Me, Haley, and Kyle

Three generations: Mom, Maw Maw, and me

After Christmas part of my family got together to celebrate my little sis' 22nd birthday. She claimed she had never been to Chuck E. Cheese before and has always wanted to go, so that's where we took her. I think all the germy kiddos running around might have cured her from ever wanting to go back I know it did me!

Haley and all her prizes from Chuck E. Cheese!

2010...Going out with a Bang Part 1

2011-01-26T23:12:00.000-08:00

Wow...it has been a while! Nothing too exciting has happened lately. We have just been working and enjoy all life has to offer! 2010 ended peacefully! I did go on my girls' beach trip that I talked about before. We had a blast even though it rained everytime we tried to lay out on the beach and there were a few tar balls, but that didn't stop our fun! We would love to make the trip a yearly occurance!

Bethany, Haley, Amanda, Jessica, and I (Sara Grace is missing...someone had to take the picture)

Me and my baby sister

Matt and I went on a week long trip to Cancun in September with my oldest sister's family. We stayed at an all inclusive resort and just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. We walked down the beach one night and got to help release baby sea turtles. I don't know if we were just there during hatching time or what but they released these babies by bucket fulls! That was a great experience and something we won't soon forget.

Beautiful view!

Shasta, G, and Mark at an amazing seafood place!

This fellow got too close for comfort at the seafood place!

Bucket of baby sea turtles

Summer Reads

2010-07-24T11:25:00.000-07:00

So I am a little behind on reading my favorite author's (Sophie Kinsella) books, but guess what was sitting on my door step this morning...

Photos from http://www.amazon.com/

Time for me to catch up because she has another book in the Shopaholic series coming out in a little over a month. Yes she wrote Confessions of a Shopaholic and the book was way better than the movie!

And for a little southern fun...

Photo from http://www.amazon.com/

All of these will be fun, easy beach reads that I can bring along on my girls' getaway next month!

The BIG 80!!

2010-07-21T23:11:00.000-07:00

Happy 80th Birthday to my Maw Maw!! She is one of the craziest, funniest, most honest, and strongest slot machine playing, down home cooking, dancing queen, Chattanooga Choo Choo singing old ladies you will ever meet. If you don't know her or have never eaten her food you are missing out!! Maw Maw has requested a trip to the casino for her 80th, so if she is feeling strong enough most of her children and grand children that are of age will head on over to Shreveport to have a fun little time at the casino Friday night. We will celebrate with cake on Saturday.

This 80 year old can still get down!

MawMaw has 2 birthdays. The doctor that delivered her put her birthday as the 21st on her birth certificate, but her mom (Blue Mama) always told her she was born on the 22nd. I think I would trust the person that went through the pain and delivery to know when she had me.

On a side note, praise the Lord because she is almost done with her radiation treatments for her lung cancer...2 days to go!!

Happy Birthday Maw Maw!!

Shout Out to the Housesitter

2010-07-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

While Matt and I were in Little Rock, our home and pets were lovingly cared for by our FABULOUS house/petsitter my little sister. Haley has a blog of her own you should check her out here. I stole both of these pics off her blog, but this is what she and the pups did while we were away.

Buddy followed Haley everywhere and wanted her to be in his sight 24/7.

Belle pouted in her chair and didn't eat for a few days. She won't eat when I leave her with Matt, so that was normal.

I think they both enjoyed their time with their Weezie! Thanks for taking care of your niece and nephew and not burning the house down!

Little Rock-Long Post

2010-07-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

Matt and I recently took a 2 day trip to Little Rock. I had never been there before and it is only about a 4 hour drive from our house, so we hoped in the car and went. Matt went a month or 2 ago with his dad and they explored the city and watched a Travelers game. Matt came back from that trip with Little Rock added to his places I would like to move list. Sadly I only took about 2 pictures during the trip and both of them were of ducks! We got to Little Rock on a Monday afternoon around 5 checked into our hotel and headed out to eat and explore. We had dinner at a great little restaurant called Loca Luna. This place has been on Rachel Ray's Tasty Travels and if she says it's good then it must be, so we checked it out. Matt and I both really enjoyed the meal.

Tuesday we started our day off by having lunch at the award winning Whole Hog Cafe.

Photo courtesy of http://www.wholehogcafe.com/

You walk into this BBQ restaurant and all you see are trophies and awards everywhere, so you know it has to be good. We don't usually eat BBQ when we aren't in our little town of Minden because that is one of the only things the town has and you can get tired of it rather quickly. The food was so good! They have about 6 different BBQ sauces to choose from, so at first it is kinda like an experiment to see which one you like. If you are ever in Little Rock you must eat here!

Isn't this a true southerner's meal!!

Photo courtesy of http://www.wholehogcafe.com/

Then we went to the River Market and walked around. There were many vendors with fresh produce and arts and crafts.

Photo courtesy of http://www.rivermarket.info/

The thing I enjoyed the most at the River Market was a store called Ten Thousand Villages. We also visited the old capital which is now a museum and the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks.

Photo courtesy of http://www.peabodylittlerock.com/

We then explored more of the shopping in Little Rock and visited places like Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and a mall that had a Dillards in it that was like one I had never seen before. Half of Dillards was on one end of the mall and the other half was on the other end. Dillards is headquartered in Little Rock for those of you that didn't know that.

We also drove around and looked at some houses and even drove to a surrounding town called Maumelle to check out the houses there. We ended the day by going to a tapas restaurant called RUMBA. We didn't know when we planned on going there, but Tuesday is half price tapas night. The food was good there and the atmosphere was a little different, but we would go back if given the opportunity.

I did tell Matt that I could probably live in or right around Little Rock in the next few years...but we will see where the Lord takes us!

Is It Just Me...

2010-07-01T23:19:00.000-07:00

I saw this on a friend's blog and I definitely have these thoughts too, so I thought I would share it with my 2 faithful readers! Funny Things and situations that I think about:

There is a great need for a sarcasm font!
I wish my GPS had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option. I also wish it had a ghetto voice that would warn me if I got too close to a bad part of town.
More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me. Sometimes I don't even wait for them to finish because my story is just that good!
Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning around and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like look in a store window or look at your cell.
Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what was going on when I first saw it.
How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text. (I do not condone texting and driving, and I usually only do it when I am stopped because I'm not very good at it.)
Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".
I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?
Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. My last job selling insurance was the worst. Can you imagine giving and taking VIN numbers over the phone all day? "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm. ..Goonies and P as in .....poodle"
While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart. (Ok I have not done this one, but it made me laugh!)
Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
Shirts get dirty. Underwear get dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever or at least for about 3 days before washing them...you know you do it too!!
Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that they always wanted. 552 pictures? Don't mind if I do!
Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year? Did I really used to dress like that!!?!
Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....
You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.
I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room.'
I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Darnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste!
I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.
Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...
I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.
I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

Am I crazy or does anyone else think of things like these? What are you crazy thoughts?

Paint Job

2010-06-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

We did our first real update on the house last week. We painted the guest bedroom which is also my sewing/craft room. We painted it rye grass green. I have had the bedding for the room for about a month. I wanted something bright and cheerful because we have picked out darker colors for the master bedroom and office/man cave.

This is before. Taping is for the birds!!

This is after.

This is the new bedding and it looks like someone has already claimed the bed.

Now I get the fun job of putting all the furniture and stuff back into the room. I also need to find some wall decor for this room. Any suggestions? Hopefully I will have a few more updates to show you soon and maybe even some pictures of the nieces and nephews enjoying the pool!

Leading up to the BIG Day

2010-06-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

Leading up to our big day Matt and I took engagement and bridal pictures with our photographer Ross Frazier. The day we took our engagement pictures it rained about 30 minutes before our session, but we had already rescheduled once and I was determined we would be taking them that day. The day I took my bridals it was a pretty day until we go to our last location it started pouring. We sent my sister to the car for umbrellas right at the perfect time. My mom was stressing because I was going to ruin my dress, but it just repelled the water. The slide show is just a few of my favorites.

All of these photos are by Ross Frazier

Home Sweet Home

2010-06-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

Matt and I purchased a home at the end of last summer. We looked at numerous homes in the Shreveport/Bossier area, but could not find a place that felt like home. Growing up I was always a country girl, and my neighbors were always family literally they were my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and an old couple we adopted as our grandparents. We usually had to drive or ride the 4 wheeler to our neighbors' houses because they didn't live so close you could walk out the door and hold a conversation with them. That is until Matt and I moved to Bossier and lived in an apartment. Now that is a big eye opener. We knew no one in the apartment complex and really didn't care to. I finally met our next door neighbor about a month before we moved out, but I still never adjusted to living so close to my neighors. I think what really kicked us into house hunting was the issue of waking up to no water 3 times in a month unannounced while we were in the apartment.

This is our kitchen.

We couldn't have asked for a better realtor than Amber Floyd, and I would (and have) suggest her to anyone moving to Northwest Louisiana. Amber really made the home buying process as entertaining and painless as possible. She showed us numerous properties and was very patient with us.

We have a very open floor plan. This is the living room which is open to the kitchen and the dining room is right behind the fireplace.

After looking for about a month, we found our home. Our biggest concern was both of our commutes for work would be from Minden to Bossier or about 30 minutes per trip. Once we saw the home and weighed our options we were sold. We are about 5 minutes away from my in-laws and 35 minutes from my parents and 4 out of 5 of my siblings.

This is the back of the house. You can see what's inside this huge room in the next picture!

We have not really done much to the house yet. We will be painting and fixing a few things over the next few months. The pictures in this post are all from the realtor's online listing, so none of the furniture is ours.

Our indoor swimming pool which I can't wait to get ready for summer next week!

We have met most of our new neighbors. We live caddy corner to a Coca-Cola distributing plant. A few weeks after we moved in, we were welcomed to the neighborhood with a 6 pack of glass bottled cokes and tickets to the museum in town by our across the street neighbors who own the plant. They are really sweet Matt (his mom and her friend) has actually been over and had a coke with the elderly couple and was given a tour of the plant. I was at work and didn't get to enjoy that, but they were nice enough to let us take some of our engagement pictures with one of their old coke trucks.

Playing Catch Up!

2010-06-01T00:17:00.000-07:00

Wow...it has been over a year and one exciting year it has been! Since my last post we:

Bought a house

This is the side of the house. It is what faces the road, but isn't our front door.

I got my license to sell insurance and used it for a while, but had an amazing job offer I couldn't pass up.
Got married

www.rossfrazier.com

Honeymooned in Vegas

Joined the Jr. Service League
Became co-advisor for my sorority at Louisiana Tech
Added a new fur baby to the family (not really by choice)

This is Buddy the poodle mix. This is before he visited the groomer.

Most of these I will elaborate on in their own posts. We have done a ton more things, but these were the biggest and most memorable.

It's Wedding Wednesday again...finally!!

2009-04-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

Since my last post, we have now decided to move the wedding to a small town about 20 minutes away from Bossier City. We will be getting married at First Baptist Church Minden.

We have also decided on our new reception location. We will be having our reception at a brand new place in Minden called Orleans on Main. This place will not be open until September, but we did get to see the floor plans, and we know that anything the owner does is going to look great. The owner is my future inlaw's neighbor. The location is going to have a New Orleans theme, so this was a great way for me to incorporate a little bit of my cajun heritage into the wedding. Tuesday I will be meeting with a caterer and cake lady!

I met with my photographer Ross Frazier last week. I love him! He is absolutely great and so much fun. I can't wait for him to photograph the wedding!

Fur Baby Birthday!!

2009-02-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

Being the great dog owner I am...I forgot Belle's 3rd birthday! I have told you before that my dog is my child. So Happy 3 year and 1 week Birthday, Belle! In dog years she is now legal!

Wedding Wednesday

2009-02-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

Since I did create this blog to share wedding details, I thought today would be a good day to start sharing. I wanted to do something different and fun when I asked my friends to be my bridesmaids. I decided to throw a "Will You be my Bridesmaid Brunch." I have one bmaid that lives in South Louisiana and the other five are from North Louisiana, so getting everyone together wasn't too hard. My bmaid from South LA came in one weekend. I broke out my grandmothers fine china and the mix matched Waterford crystal that I have collected, and my South LA bmaid and I prepared some things like stuffed breakfast bread, chocolate covered strawberries, a fruit tray, and the red velvet butterfly cupcakes pictured in the previous post. As each girl entered, I gave them an envelope that contained a cute card in our wedding colors asking them to be my bmaid. I also gave them a cute little notepad and pen that I sadly have no pictures of.

I knew the brunch would give my bmaids a chance to meet and get to know each other. A few of them already knew each other because we were all Alpha Chi Omega's at LA Tech, but others were high school friends and my little sister. After brunch we strolled on over to the Louisiana Boardwalk and to a cute Bossier store called Fairway Gift Garden to enjoy some shopping and wedding talk.

I also gave each of my flower girls and jr. bridesmaids cards just like these. All 3 sets of cards had a different saying on them. If anyone would like to know what they said just let me know.

Me, Me, Me Monday!

2009-02-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

I decided that since I took the time to fill this out for facebook that I would save a little time and make it my post for the day.

These are very random and you will see that I love to use exclamation marks!

1. I am marrying my best friend on November 7th! We have 8 (would be 9 but one is too young) children in our wedding party!! I know I am crazy for that one, but they are our nieces and nephews and we love them all!! My baby sister is my Maid of Honor!

2. Matt and I dated for 6 years before we got engaged!!

3. I hate for different foods on my plate to touch. If I could I would eat off of a divided plate everyday!

4. My dog thinks she is a human. She is a Boston Terrier and her registered name is Carrie’s Belle of the Ball. We call her Belle for short. She knows her right from her left. Sometimes I think she knows them better than I do. She is the only child I will have for a very long time!

5. I am the 4th of 6 kids, and I will NOT have that many children!!

6. I love to get snail mail! I can hear the mailman open my mailbox every day, and I love to see what surprises he has left me (unless it is a bill!)

7. I love to bake everything but cookies! I really like to make cupcakes and dream to one day open a cupcake cafe! My favorite cupcakes are red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and if I might say so myself my recipe is the best I have ever tasted!!

Cupcakes I made for my Will You be my Bridesmaid Brunch

8. I just recently started a blog, but I never know what to write about. Usually I just write what I did that day.

9. I used to love horror movies, but now I will not watch them. I take after my oldest sister (Shasta) we are both afraid to be alone at night!

10. I like to do craft projects, but they never turn out the way I have them pictured in my head!

11. I was a clogger (as in clog dance) when I was younger. I clogged on national TV 3 times back in the day, and I also clogged at Six Flags every summer and at Silver Dollar City in Branson one summer.

12. If you are my friend and I tell you that I will call you so we can hang out, I hope you don’t hold your breath to wait for my call because then you would be dead! I never call my friends back to hang out. You should just call me and tell me the day you would like to see me and then I will show up!

13. I once broke my mom’s leg while in Mexico. I bet no one else can say that!!

14. I LOVE to travel. I don’t care where I am going or who I am with as long as it is away from North Louisiana.

15. I cannot wait for November 7th, so that I can change my last name to something that people know how to say! Herbert, He Bert, Haybear....none are correct it is said A Bear!! (Although when Matt graduated the College of Applied and Natural Sciences’ Dean said his last name wrong...how do you not say White right!?!?!)

16. Even though I have a degree, I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

17. If you ask me where I want to go eat in the Shreveport/Bossier area I will either tell you Sushiko or Longhorn. I love steak and sushi!!

18. I love dishes (fine china, everyday china, and fun salad plates) and crystal stemware. This could be because I worked around it for over 5 years.

19. I love to turn the radio up really loud and sing in my car while driving...and I don’t care if you see me!!

20. I love to run around and play with my nieces and nephews. It makes me feel like a kid again!

21. I absolutely HATE to clean. One day I will have a maid...I can dream!

22. When I go to Mexican restaurants I order the same thing no matter what Mexican restaurant it is. I always get sour cream chicken enchiladas.

23. When I was little I pretty much lived on a farm. We had horses, chickens, a bull, a pig, and dogs.

24. I like to watch the Disney channel if nothing else is on TV. Hannah Montana, That’s So Raven, Suite Life of Zach and Cody, Suite Life on Deck, Cory in the House...I’m not ashamed!! It does help me keep up with what my nieces and nephews like.

25. My mom and I have the same birthday. I was the best birthday present she ever received!

Super Sunday

2009-02-01T23:09:00.000-08:00

This morning our trip to church started out rather interesting. Everyone we passed coming out of the first church service was barefoot. This really had us wondering where everyone's shoes were going. During the service the pastor delivered a very good sermon about loving the Lord, your neighbor, and yourself. By the end of the sermon, the alter had everything from flip flops to very expensive ostrich boots on it. The pastor then told us that all of the shoes that were donated would be sent to the charity Samaritan's Feet or given to people in the community that needed nice shoes for job interviews or things like that. Did you know that 1/3 of the children in the world today are shoeless? This gives me a reason to go ahead and clean out my closet again and donate lots and lots of shoes that I don't need. I only have 2 feet I don't need 100 or even 50 shoes.

Doesn't it break your heart to see these two pictures together. To think that these poor kids have no shoes and then to see that one person has more than enough shoes to wear for a whole year without wearing the same pair twice.

This evening we had Matt's parents, sister, and niece over for a small super bowl gathering. We enjoyed some really yummy fajitas, snacks, visiting, and playing with Emily Grace.

Date Night!!

2009-01-30T23:19:00.000-08:00

Matt and I had a great date night tonight. We started by going to the Louisiana Boardwalk to eat at Saltgrass steakhouse, but it was a little too crowded. We decided we would eat at our favorite sushi place called Sushiko which is also conveniently located on the Boardwalk. We also went to see the new movie Taken. I was not sold on this movie, but agreed to go as long as Matt comes along on the 13th to watch the chick flick Confessions of a Shopaholic. Taken was actually alot better than I thought it would be, but probably not something that I will be purchasing on DVD.

(photo courtesy of yahoo movies)

I am really excited about Confessions of a Shopaholic coming out because I have read every one of Sophie Kinsella's books. She is by far my favorite author.

(photo courtesy of yahoo movies)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

2009-01-25T21:57:00.000-08:00

Today is my Dad's 53rd birthday!! Happy Birthday, Dad!

Fun and Freezing

2009-01-24T20:46:00.000-08:00

It was freezing outside today, but I had fun! I started my day out at Morgan's under the sea birthday party. Matt had to work all day, so he didn't get to participate in the fun. Sciport is a really fun place for both kids and adults. I did remember to capture a few moments of my 3 future nieces.

I also had a great lunch with Amy (Matt's sister) and Emily Grace (Matt's niece.) Amy is helping me organize the wedding, so we got in a little wedding talk. I finished the day out by shopping. I did pick up a few small things for the wedding like candles, but nothing too exciting. Maybe my topic will be a little more interesting tomorrow.

Fido Friday

2009-01-23T20:40:00.000-08:00

Today wasn't very eventful at all. I did a little grocery shopping and also picked up a Birthday present for a special little girl. Matt's niece Morgan is having her 9th Birthday party at Sciport Discovery center tomorrow morning. I know I am just a big kid at heart, and I cannot wait because I haven't been to Sciport in quite a few years.
Reading other people's blogs make coming up with topics seem so easy, but it isn't! So today I would like to introduce you to our dog Belle. Belle is our 2 year old Boston Terrier. She thinks she is a human and a princess. Belle was my Christmas present from Matt 2 years ago and it has been an adventure ever since. She is quite an intelligent little dog. She pretty much house broke herself and knows her right from her left. I'm not kidding one day I will put a video of her shaking left and right on here. Belle doesn't get much human food, but when she does her favorite is ice cream. She also loves to take bubble baths. I told you she thinks she is human! I am sure you will hear quite a bit more about Belle in the future!

First time...

2009-01-22T20:27:00.000-08:00

I have been reading quite a few blogs recently, so I decided it was finally time to start my own.

Matt and I will be getting married in November, so we have a few exciting things going on right now that we would like to share with friends and family. Stay posted to read future post about what I jokingly call my "road to the WHITE house."