HAPPY 2 YEARS

J and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this past Monday.  I cannot believe how quickly these 2 years have flown by.  It feels like May 16, 2009 was just yesterday.  There we were exchanging vows at St. George's on St. Charles in front of all our friends and family.  Then celebrating and dancing the night away at the Audubon Tea Room with an elephant, alligator and owl in tow! We decided to keep things simple (and cheap) this year by celebrating at home.  J made an absolutely delicious dinner, we exchanged gifts and then cuddled on the couch while watching a movie.  It was a wonderful evening at home!  J and I decided to follow the traditional gift rules so this year had to be cotton related (1st year was paper, 3rd year will be leather, etc.).  J bought me a beautiful cotton boll wreath off Etsy.  I have wanted one for years and was so surprised when I opened the package.  It's beautiful and I already know exactly where to hang it.  I bought J a 100% cotton Vineyard Vines shirt and made a card with cotton bolls drawn on front.  We have certainly had our struggles (living apart for 9 months being one of them) but God helps us to love each other sacrificially and unconditionally every day.  I'm so grateful to have J as my husband and best friend.  Happy Anniversary baby and cheers to many more to come!

my very own top chef

(what do you think of the apron, dad?  we <3 our cub!)

one of my favorite meals of all time... shrimp & cheese grits

100% cotton button-up & handmade cotton boll card

cotton boll wreath

picture perfect :)

GREEN THUMB

I was originally going to make the post title... WHAT DID THE CARROT SAY TO THE WHEAT? LETTUCE REST, I'M FEELING BEET.  And J's post title suggestion was DOWN & DIRTY IN NOLA.  All excellent ideas but I ultimately went with GREEN THUMB.

I woke up this morning and it was a gorgeous 70 degrees and sunny.  I could hear birds chirping and the Cabrini church bells in the background.  It was time to weed the garden!  I planted a few flowers/plants 3 weeks ago but there was already a lot of weeding to be done.  Not only did I pull weeds, I also picked up quite a few chicken bones (disgusting!), cigarette butts (yuck!) and clumps of black hair (gross!).  I'm hoping randoms walking down Orleans are to blame and not the new neighbors.  Below is my after pic (I forgot to take a before).  It may not look like much but it's much better than the 4 foot weeds that used to rule the roost. J is going to cut some wood posts this week so I can create a little border.  It's on his Honey Do list along with hanging up our American flag.

One day I hope to have a garden more like this...

BETA ALPHA PSI

Tonight was the annual Beta Alpha Psi Spring Initiation Banquet.  "What is BAP," you ask? Straight from Wikipedia... BAP is a national honors business organization for highly successful accounting, finance and information systems students and professionals. That's my J... "highly successful!" :) The organization has over 300,000 members worldwide. Famous BAP alum include Mr. Arthur E. Anderson, founder of the accounting firm Arthur Anderson. At one point, Arthur Anderson was one of the "big 5" accounting firms among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG. It all went downhill in 2002 when Arthur Anderson surrendered its license to practice in the U.S. after being found guilty of criminal charges relating to the firm's handling of the auditing of Enron. Hmm, maybe that's not the best example of distinguished alum. How about Mr. T. Coleman Andrews? A good ol' boy from Virginia, former IRS commissioner and a 1956 U.S. presidential candidate. Not too shabby for a life's work.  So... getting back to the banquet... we socialized with fellow BAP initiates/members, ate dinner catered by Portobello and listened as the 2011 officers welcomed the 2012 officers.  A big congratulations to J and all the other new BAP members for maintaining their GPA and completeing the professional and community service hours!  Way to go y'all!  A few photos from our evening...

J & his (temporary) BAP certificate.  The real

certificate will arrive in the mail this summer.

J & fellow BAP initiates Gray & Nicholas

J & Me :)

SWAMP PEOPLE

FIRST: God Bless America!!

"The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children." President Obama

REGULARLY SCHEDULED POST:

One of my best and dearest friends, Miss Kiersten Rogers, is in town right now visiting friends and family.  We met in high school and lived together for 4 years at LSU.  A majority of my favorite memories involve her in some form or fashion.  A Louisiana native, Kiersten moved to Colorado after college and now calls Denver home.  And while she doesn't listen to psychedelic rock, embrace the sexual revolution or use magic mushrooms, Colorado has certainly brought out the hippie in her :)

The two of us spent Saturday morning at the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park & Preserve walking the Bayou Coquille Trail.  It was wonderful to catch up and see some swamp creatures along the way.

We saw snakes...

We saw baby alligators...

We saw medium sized alligators...

We saw big alligators...

I absolutely love this last picture of Kier... So pretty...