All things White and wonderful

A Welcome and a Goodbye

2013-04-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome to all of our family and friends that decided to visit our blog after receiving our moving cards. As you can see, I am not the best at updating, but sometimes life gets in the way of blogging.

A week ago my family lost a very special lady. My 82 year old grandmother went to be with the Lord after a 3 year battle with lung cancer. She fought a good fight and finally her body just wore out. Over the last few years, we have watched on as her health declined, but her fiery spirit never did. She was joking with her nurses and family just hours before passing away. My grandmother was a firecracker and you never had to wonder what was on her mind because she was sure to let you know. She was also a great cook, and I am thankful that I spent an evening with her learning all of her cooking secrets. I will treasure the memories I have of her forever and will one day share my memories of her with my children. Thanks to everyone that showed my family support over the last week. Love you MawMaw!

MawMaw and Granddaddy on their wedding day December 29, 1950

MawMaw and Shasta (my oldest sister) back in the 80s.

MawMaw and I on my wedding day November 7, 2009

MawMaw getting down at my wedding reception.

You never know what children are going to say or how they are going to react. I do want to add a few sweet things that I want to remember. One of my younger nephews Hunter was just really intrigued that since MawMaw was in heaven she could walk and dance and do all kinds of things that she couldn't do in the last few years, but most importantly to him she had real teeth again. MawMaw never wanted any of us to see her without her teeth in, but we all knew that she had dentures. The first thing Hunter did when we got to the funeral home was run up to my mom and tell her all about MawMaw's new teeth. During visitation that night, Hunter made a little friend and he was sure to bring him up to MawMaw and tell the boy that she had teeth again. We also caught Hunter peering into the casket trying to check out her new teeth. The sweetest thing that I want to remember about the day we celebrated MawMaw's life also came from Hunter. We were riding from the funeral home to the gravesite and he looks at me and my little sister and says "Do you know what my favorite part of today was?" We both kind of looked at each other not knowing what was about to come out of his mouth. And he goes, "Seeing MawMaw."

White House Happenings

2013-03-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

Well ladies and gentlemen....we are officially in our new house. We don't have everything in its place and have not really decorated, but we are up and fully functioning minus a washer and dryer. Matt's parents have been gracious enough to let us wash at their house for the last few weeks. Once we get more things in their place we will share some pictures.
Buddy and Bailey love their new house and have adjusted quite well to all of their new surroundings. They LOVE the backyard, stairs, and ~~catwalk~~ dogwalk.

For some reason Buddy thinks that his place in the house is the fireplace hearth. Since we have had him, he has always been a barker and we are working on that since he is now a city dog.

Bailey loves to lounge on the catwalk or sit on the landing and look out the window above the door. She has officially found her voice. She never barked at the old house, but since moving she is picking up Buddy's bad habit. She has also picked up the habit of looking at herself in the mirror.

I have been trying to soak up as much time as I can with Maw. She has not been in the best health for a few years now and has lung cancer. Since the year has started, her health has started to noticeably decline. She is now pretty much confined to a hospital bed and cannot be left alone, but is still in good spirits most of the time. My sisters and I had a slumber party with her a few weeks ago and I think that we all had a great time.

Maw in May at my cousin's wedding. She is a hoot!

Matt has been working hard and still getting his MBA. He got to go on a work trip to New Jersey and New York since I last wrote.

The BIG NEWS...I have always been fascinated with house hunting and real estate, so before I decided to leave my job in Amite I started taking my real estate pre-licensing classes. I finished them in January and reviewed and studied in February. On March 9th, I took my real estate licensing test and passed! I contacted an Alpha Chi alumna that I had talked to when I first thought about getting into real estate, and she arranged a meeting for me at her office. I interviewed on Tuesday of this week and started training on Wednesday morning. So ladies and gentlemen, I am now a realtor with Coldwell Banker Gosslee in Shreveport! I have quite a ways to go in my training before I am listing and selling houses, but I am very excited. Everyone I have met so far has been really nice and encouraging and they all tell me what a great company Coldwell Banker is to work for.

A Bowl of Goodness

2013-01-28T22:19:00.000-08:00

This Louisiana girl loves her seafood! Every Christmas my dad's sister Aunt Nin gives us shrimp as a Christmas gift. She and her husband both work at a shrimp factory in South Louisiana. Matt and I always look forward to her gift because it is a very useful and unique Christmas gift. In honor of her gift, I thought I would share a very easy shrimp dish with you today. Remember I am not a professional photographer and most definitely not a food photographer.

Shrimp and Crawfish Bisque

2 lbs peeled shrimp or crawfish tails (most of the time I use shrimp only)
2 cans potato soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 oz. block cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 pt. half & half
2 cans creamed corn (optional)
1 can diced tomatoes and green chilies
garlic salt, salt, pepper, and Tony's to taste

Put all in large crockpot and cook on low for 3-4 hours.

Last week I made a batch of this and froze it because we will need some super quick meals while we are moving into the new house.

The White House Before

2013-01-10T22:55:00.002-08:00

Right now I am sitting in our new home watching four non-English speaking gentlemen run around with a blowtorch, some form of concrete, and a bag of sand....no I am not scared at all they seem to know what they are doing. I just wish my Spanish was a tad bit better for situations like these.

We have come a long way since purchasing our new house on August 30th. The house had been foreclosed on and uninhabited for over a year when we bought it. The neighbors have told us a few stories as to why the family before us lost the home and about the other family that built the home and lived here before them. We have met our neighbors that live to the right of us and across the street. Our neighbors beside us are a mom, daughter, and the mom's sister-in-law and all 3 are widows. Our mail lady affectionately calls them the silver foxes, so far they have been very sweet. The daughter comes over from time to time to see what kind of progress we are making. We do know that our neighbor across the street is a fireman and he too was very nice when we met him. I think we are going to really enjoy our new neighborhood. There seems to be a good mix of young families and empty nesters. We are currently finishing up our last few major things and should be moving in by the end of the month. Thanks so much to all of our family members that have helped us with the remodel. Both mine and Matt's dads have both been huge helps and have spent hours at the house helping us with numerous projects.

Here are some pictures of the house before and during our remodel:

View from the street before any changes were made.

We aren't changing much on the outside of the house right now. We did get a new roof and we are getting a new garage door sometime in the next week. We plan to change the color of the front door and get new shutters at some point when my handyman (dad) completes them.

I think the hardest part of our whole remodel has been choosing paint colors. Matt and I were originally going to paint all but the living room ourselves. We hired a painter for the living room and decided that he did a much better job than we did and he was very reasonable. We ended up hiring him to do the whole house. If you are in the market for a painter in NW LA we would highly recommend ours. While we were scrubbing the walls before the painter came and trying to get the home somewhat sanitary we did figure out that the former family had a champion booger picker/flicker on their hands (I know gross, but I'm not kidding at all) and they liked to eat what I hope was spaghetti and sling it on the walls too. The neighbors told us that the family also had a large black dog, but we could tell that just by looking at the carpet.

Living Room Before

Dining Room Before

This is what the living room currently looks like.

Since the top 2 pictures of the living and dining rooms, we have painted and they are currently working on our new flooring in both of the rooms.

Master bath tile before

Master bath tile after

I didn't get a before picture with it still installed, but this not so pretty green tile was in the master bathroom. Matt, my dad, and cousin Kagan spent a weekend ripping it up and replacing it with something that looks much better.

Kitchen before with our new dishwasher

The other side of the kitchen before

During remodel

Matt and I both love to cook, so we did the most work in the kitchen. When we bought the house there was no fridge, the stovetop was cracked, and the dishwasher was broken. We have replaced all of the appliances, gotten new countertops, a backsplash, new hardware, and painted the walls and cabinets. Our house in Minden doesn't have a pantry, so we are excited about the pantry and all of the storage in our new kitchen. I have quite a few new recipes lined up for that pretty new oven of ours.

We painted, put new carpet, and a new fan in our master bedroom and Matt's mancave, but I don't have any good pictures of those rooms. You will have to wait for all of the after pictures. The fans in all of the rooms were pretty u-g-l-y!

Guest bedroom before

Guest bedroom during

The guest bedroom's carpet was so bad that it had to be pulled up before the home could be sold.

Bonus room before (the fans are new)

Bonus room during

This is our bonus room which will serve as our TV area and my office/craft room. We haven't quite figured out how it is going to serve all of these purposes, but it is big enough and we will find a way.

Upstairs bathroom before

The only thing we have done in the upstairs bathroom is paint. There are a few other projects we would like to tackle up there, but we are going to wait on those.

We can't wait to get everything done and move in this month. Once we get settled I'll be sure to post all of our after pictures.

Buddy is very excited about his new house and yard!

Happy New Year! 2012 in Review

2013-01-06T23:05:00.000-08:00

Wow...2012 flew by! Happy New Year to my ~~little sister Haley~~ one faithful reader and anyone else that stops by from time to time! 2012 was not our most exciting year, but of course like every year it had its highs and lows. Here is the White's year in review:

In January I took a job that had me travel away from home every week. I was stuck in this little town in Southeast Louisiana called Amite. Amite is right between Kentwood (Britney Spears' hometown) and Hammond and is about an hour away from New Orleans. It has a few eateries, a Wal-Mart, and 2 hotels and that is about it. I worked with some fun and interesting people that became like family and made my home away from home more bearable, but I also worked with some people that made it not bearable. If you ever have to stay in the area, I highly recommend the Holiday Inn Express there. I practically lived there for 9 months and the ladies that work there are some of the nicest people you will meet.

I attended Mardi Gras in Houma with some of my family.

Matt and I enjoyed a trip to Savannah and Charleston (and lots of places between the two) with his parents. We visited Parris Island, Paula Deen's The Lady & Sons, Tybee Island, Uncle Bubba's, The Charleston Tea Plantation, The Firefly Distillery, Angel Oak, Myrtle Beach, and we even went to a minor league baseball game. We did relax a little while on our trip too.

The Lady & Sons

The park where the Forest Gump bench scene was filmed

Tybee Island Lighthouse with a storm rolling in

Angel Oak is the oldest tree on the East Coast.
You have to see this in person to realize the magnitude of this tree.

I still help advise Alpha Chi Omega at Louisiana Tech, so I got to go to St. Louis for their National Convention. I got to enjoy the company of two of my pledge sisters (as well as two of our collegiate members) on this trip, and we had a blast. We went a little early so that we could explore the city. We traveled to the top of the Arch, attended an outdoor musical production of Aladdin, toured the Budweiser facilities, and attended all of our convention seminars. We even got to hear our fellow Alpha Chi sister and Food Network star Melissa d'Arabian speak.

Touring the Budweiser Brewery with some of my sorority sisters

Budweiser Clydesdale

The Gateway Arch

Melissa d'Arabian

Alpha Chi active and alumnae members from Louisiana Tech

On August 30th (the same day hurricane Isaac came through LA) Matt and I purchased a new home. Since then we have been busy working on remodeling the house. We will be moving to Bossier City in the next few weeks. I will post about all our work on the house soon. This will help with Matt's very early commute to work.

The new White House

I got to throw a bachelorette party for one of my best friends in New Orleans. We had fun and were a very chill group. We had a nice dinner at Commander's Palace (bread pudding souffle is to die for) and then did a little dancing on Bourbon street. My family will never believe this, but I ate turtle soup and LOVED it! My little brother scored an extra ticket to the Saints game that weekend, so I got to attend with him and his girlfriend. It just so happened that little sis was at that game too and was sitting a section and a few rows over and up from us. Too bad the Saints didn't do so great that game, but that was a great way to kick off my last week of work in Amite. Matt and I decided that I would no longer travel for work starting in October, so I came home to help get our house remodel finished and start pursuing other opportunities.

The bachelorette The hat was her mom's when she got married in the 80s.

Just hanging out with Drew Brees

We got to enjoy a great season of Louisiana Tech football. We enjoyed getting to see all of our friends and family at the games, and it's even better when your team is winning. We won't talk about the end of the season...

Bailey

Buddy

Matt and I celebrated 3 years of marriage in 2012.

Buddy and Bailey (yes our dogs) hosted their 3rd annual Elf Workshop this year. Since we were in between houses, and I was not really sure where we would be when it came time for it I loaded up some of my nephews, niece, and 2 sisters and we headed to Santa Land in Tyler, TX instead of doing crafts and watching movies this year. We enjoyed all of the lights and each other's company.

Santa Land

During the week of Thanksgiving, I got to visit with some of my family that I have not seen in years. My cousin Angie, her husband, and 3 kids came in for a few days. Her brother Matt also came in, but we have seen him a few times in recent years. It was great to catch up and meet her kiddos.

I had the privilege of returning the favor and standing beside one of my best friends as she married her prince charming. I was honored to be her matron of honor. She had a beautiful wedding in New Orleans a week and a half before Christmas. We stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel and it was decorated beautifully for Christmas. Matt and I snuck in lunch at one of our favorite restaurants Emeril's NOLA before we headed home to prepare for Christmas.

The bride and I relaxing the night before her wedding.

Sorority sisters and I having fun the night before the wedding.

Right before second lining down the streets of New Orleans.

The Roosevelt decorated for Christmas

Matt and I at the Roosevelt

We got to spend Christmas with both of our families. We attended my uncle's Carter Dysfunctional Family Dinner as we try to do every year. We celebrated Christmas with my family on the eve of Christmas Eve because my brother and his girlfriend were in from South LA then, and as usual we spent Christmas Eve with Matt's family. We did not have big plans for Christmas day. Matt had to work that morning, and I spent a good bit of the day visiting with Maw Maw. The weekend after Christmas my dad's sisters came in from South LA, so we celebrated once more.

Other than all these things this year, Matt is still going strong with his MBA program and is still working in the hospital lab. Buddy and Bailey are still the best of buds and are still as spoiled as ever.

We can't wait to see what 2013 will hold for our family. Happy New Year to you and yours!

Princess Bailey turns 1!

2012-09-25T13:24:00.001-07:00

Yesterday our newest addition Bailey turned 1. She has been the perfect addition to our family and the best pal for Buddy. She is the biggest 60 pound baby and is the clumsiest dog I have ever had. Even though she doesn't have a tail she chases her nub all day! Buddy tolerates her even when she pulls him around by his tail.

Maddy and Bailey the day we got her. Bailey was only 4 lbs here.

Snuggling with Buddy

Best Buds hanging out

She still thinks she is smaller than him.

It's my 1st Birthday!

2012

2012-09-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

2012 started out with a little bad news for us. I got laid off from my job that had allowed me to work out of our home for 2 years. I am an oil and gas landman, so we knew the day would come because you can only look for oil and gas in one spot for so long before you have to move on. The next week I took a job in a very small town in Southeastern Louisiana that is 4 hours away from home. Every Monday I drive to work and check into a hotel, and every Friday I drive back home to enjoy the weekend with Matt and the dogs. I'll tell you all about the little town I've been in later.

Since most of my time this year has been spent 4 hours away from home, the year has been pretty uneventful. Matt and I have both been busy working. Matt is pursuing his MBA with a concentration in health care management, so he is staying busy while I am away. I have gotten the chance to see some of my South LA friends and relatives more than usual since being down here. I did get to attend Mardi Gras in Houma with my family this year.

My dad and I at Mardi Gras

Matt and I went on a trip to Savannah and Charleston with his parents over the summer. I got to go to Alpha Chi Omega National Convention in St.Louis since I am still helping advise the chapter at LA Tech. These trips will of course get their own posts. We celebrated 3 big birthdays in our family this year. Matt's mom turned 60 this year and she wanted to celebrate in a way that all the kiddos would enjoy, so we took a quick weekend trip to Six Flags. My oldest sister Shasta turned 40. We also celebrated Maw Maw's 82nd birthday with a surprise party. When you get to be her age every birthday is a big one!

Melissa and Kaden on the carousel

Maddy and Emmy with Bugs Bunny

Look Whoooo's 82!

Wow...now we are caught up except for a few big trips and events.

Catch Up Catch Up 2011 Part II

2012-09-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

Let's see if I can catch us all the way up...
After Amy got married the family went to Gulf Shores, Alabama. We have been here many times before and usually go every year.

I got to go to a few Palette Parties with my sisters and friends.

This picture totally shows my family's personality!

I got to return the favor and stand by one of my best friends as she married the man of her dreams. I didn't take any pictures at the wedding, so here is a throwback from our high school days.

Circa 2001 or 2002

We celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with both of our families. We also held our 2nd annual Elf Workshop for all 9 of our nieces and nephews plus 1 great niece. The Elf Workshop is technically hosted by our dogs and it is just a day that we spend doing fun Christmas crafts, games, and watching movies. We have done an ornament both years and this year we did a snow family out of their handprints.

Each kid did their own little masterpiece.

Last for 2011, but certainly not least...we added a new family member with 4 legs. Our precious little Bailey was brought into our family in November and has been a perfect fit for us. She and big brother Buddy are the best of pals even though she is 6 times his size now.

The day we got her. 11-4-11

Buddy checking out his new sister for the first time.

Best Buds

Happy Fall Y'all Part I

2012-09-20T23:46:00.000-07:00

Fall officially starts Saturday, but here in Louisiana it will not really feel like fall for a few more weeks. The weather has been beautiful here for the last week cooler in the mornings and evenings, but still HOT during the day. Last year in October Matt and I took a fabulous week long trip to the North East and Canada with his parents. Since I have been day dreaming about sitting on a huge front porch overlooking the mountains and fall leaves, I thought I would recap our trip.

We flew into Rochester, NY, rented a car, and were on our way to explore.

Our first stop was Niagara Falls, NY. Wow...is the best way to sum it up. Looking at pictures you just don't realize the hugeness and grandness of the falls. This is definitely a must see for your bucket list. I was absolutely amazed at how close you can actually get to the falls. In some places you can pretty much stick your hand in the water.

My inlaws A&D

Our next stop was Canada. We went to Toronto and Montreal. I did not take many pictures in Toronto, so on to Montreal. For some reason on our trips with A&D, we always end up in the prettiest churches and cathedrals.

Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral
The inside of this cathedral is beautiful, but none of my inside photos turned out good. You can see the inside here.

Olympic Park

Notre Dame Basilica

Our next stop was one of my absolute favorites. We spent the second night in Burlington, Vermont then got up early and explored all it had to offer. We started our day at a delicious place called the Skinny Pancake. They try to use all fresh local products, and I could really go for a frumple cake about now. After the Skinny Pancake, we headed to Church Street to do a little shopping then it was off for our big adventures for the day. Our first stop was the Cold Hollow Cider Mill. We sampled fresh cold apple cider straight from the press, enjoyed hot apple cider donuts, and did a little wine tasting. They had the perfect picture set up with the old blue truck in front of the mountains. We even had to order cider when we got home because it was soooo good.

The press

Our next stop after filling up on the cider donuts was an old wooden bridge.

We drove a little ways to the Cabot Cheese Creamery. We learned all about their cooperative and how they make cheese. The day we were there they were packaging sour cream and making pepper jack cheese. I will say we buy Cabot products anytime we get the chance now.

After visiting Cabot we enjoyed the fall leaves and drove to New Hampshire. The Mountain View Grand in Whitefield, NH had the best view from their front porch. All we did in NH was spend the night and enjoy the view from our top of the mountain resort.

From here we headed to Maine, and I will tell you all about the remainder of the trip with my next post.

Catch up Catch up 2011 Part I

2012-09-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

Wow...it's been a while. So over the last year and a half we have done quite a bit. So I'll try to quickly recap in pictures...

We sadly lost Belle our first 4 legged baby.

I went to Vegas with my oldest and youngest sisters.

I went to Los Angeles with one of the Alpha Chi Omegas that I advise for a recruitment training.

Matt's sister Amy got married and we welcomed Rick and his girls to the family.

We went on a few fabulous trips during 2011, so I'm going to post about those next.

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!