CHI-TOWN

As of last week, my parents are no longer Minnesota residents. A quick recap of their lengthy moving past.... Maryland to New York, New York to Alabama, Alabama to Louisiana, Louisiana to Arkansas, Arkansas to Minnesota, Minnesota to another city in Minnesota and last but not least, Minnesota to Illinois. That's right ladies and gentleman, this is their 7th big move! Can you believe it? They said goodbye to the suburbs of Minneapolis and are saying hello to the suburbs of Chicago! Now instead of a 20 hour drive my parents will be 15 hours away from NOLA. Good thing we have J's parents "close by" with only an 8 hour road trip, right? What we wouldn't give to have some family nearby. Wishing lots of GOOD LUCK and FUN MEMORIES to my Mom & Dad on their next big adventure in the Windy City! Get unpacked quickly. I don't know about J but I'm ready for some deep dish pizza and a Cub's game!

old house in Victoria, Minnesota

 

new house in Glen Ellyn, Illinois

(the one in the middle with the dark brick and wood door)

YOU AIN'T NOTHIN' BUT A HOUND DOG

J and I drove to Memphis, Tennessee last Friday... home of the blues, birthplace of rock and roll, barbecued pork capital of the world, home of Memphis in May and location of Elvis' Graceland!  We spent the weekend celebrating the nuptials of my childhood friend Kristen Beazley (now Mrs. McGlasson!). Kristen and the rest of the Beazley family (Father: Tom, Mother: Kappi, Sister: Dede) moved next door in 1986 when my family lived in Reisterson, Maryland. I have great memories of growing up with the Beazley girls! We shared clothing, watched Hey Dude on Nickelodeon, sang along with the Beach Boys, vacationed in the Outer Banks, got soaked on repeated rides of Canyon River Rapids at Hershey Park, ate lots of Cup O Noodles and played regular games of Kick the Can with the rest of Walgrove Court. I cried when Mr. Tom got a new Headmaster position and the family moved to New Jersey. My 2 best friends were gone :(  Lucky for me, our parents managed to keep in touch, without the help of Facebook and cell phones mind you.  Some feat, right?!  And now here we are 25 years later...  So lots of congratulations to you Mr. & Mrs. McGlasson!  Thank you for letting us share and take part in your special day!  Hopefully Dede will get married soon and we can do it all over again!

In addition to the Beazley crew, J and I got to see my parents this weekend!  We had not seen Keen Kaiva and Brian "Mos Def" Huff since Kyle's winging this past February in Pensacola.  4 months is too long :(  And... the icing on the cake... wait for it... we got to see Benjamin and Alisha!  We had not seen Benjamin since his return from Iraq so it was wonderful hanging out and spending time with the two of them.  You'll notice Kyle is not in a single photograph below.  He was missing in action... busy flying naval helicopters in San Diego or something like that ;)

Without further adieu... pictures from our weekend in Memphis...

6/10/11 - rehearsal dinner at Ronnie Grisanti

6/10/11 - Alisha, Benjamin, J & me at the rehearsal dinner

6/10/11 - Kristen, me & Dede at Fox & Hound after the rehearsal dinner

6/10/11 - J is an avid ping pong player

6/10/11 - the bride & groom partaking in wedding cake shots

6/10/11 - Benj, me, J & Alisha playing pool

(I made 3 shots in a row!  My new record!)

6/11/11 - wedding day breakfast at the Beazley's gorgeous home in Midtown

6/11/11 - Dad, J, me, Benj, Alisha & Mom before breakfast with the Beazley fam

6/11/11 - we squeezed in some time for a tour of Elvis' Graceland Mansion

6/11/11 - Elvis was so fashion forward with those jumpsuits!

6/11/11 - Elvis' final resting place

6/11/11 - father of the bride

6/11/11 - Benjamin, Dad & J

6/11/11 - wedding reception in downtown Memphis at the Madison

6/11/11 - Kristen & Michael cutting the cake

6/11/11 - definitely one of my favorite photos from the weekend...

Mom & Dad on the rooftop of the Madison

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...

KBH TURNS 24

My youngest brother is 24 years old today.  That's me up above holding him as a newborn.  Look how cute and tiny he used to be! J and I love you very much Kyzie Doo Berry Boy.  Hope you are having an extra special day and I'm sorry we can't be there in sunny San Diego to help celebrate!

EASTER GREETINGS

We hope everyone had a very HAPPY EASTER!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...

1 Peter 1:3

03/23/11 - Mark, Anna, & K @ Parkway Bakery & Tavern

03/23/11 - Me & Bayou @ City Bark

03/24/11 - My Easter colander from K... I mean the Easter Bunny

03/24/11 - Me before church in my awesome blue pants

ECO-CAFE & BISTRO

Straight from their website... www.ecocafeno.com

"At Eco-Café, we strive to be 'Fresh–Green–Friendly'.  Our location, 3903 Canal Street, was a 80 year old casualty of Hurricane Katrina.  We purchased the building in 2009 (having sat vacant and deteriorating since 2005) and refurbished it in a green – friendly fashion.  You will find many of the original features of the building still present including original wood floors, most original windows, and pocket doors."

J and I went to Eco-Cafe for breakfast this morning and it was delicious!  It was a beautiful morning and we thought about biking there but decided against it at the last minute.  Biking would have meant me riding a bike with no rear brakes.  I pictured myself braking too hard with the front ones and flying over the handle bars.  So the car it was.   While a majority of the menu items are healthy, we just had to try the fried chicken and waffles.  We both highly recommend it!  And the side of cheese grits was pretty amazing too.

All-natural, deep fried, chicken breast served in-between waffles,
stuffed with strawberries, and drizzled with honey

BONJOUR

We've been having more beautiful weather in NOLA!  Lots of sunshine and temps in the upper 70's/low 80's.  Unfortunately, J and I had to stay indoors and hit the books.  But look how nice our study space was....

Amazing, right?!  It's a local coffee shop Uptown called Rue de la Course.  Built in the early 1900's, the building was originally the Carrollton branch of Canal Bank.  I love that a majority of the original architecture was preserved.

So.... Getting back to our weekend....

We studied at Rue de la Course all Saturday morning until our tummies finally started to growl.  Then we packed up and headed over to Ecole Bilingue de la Nouvelle-Orleans (EB), a French-immersion elementary school, for a quick lunch break with friends.  It was the weekend of the annual Fete Francaise at EB, a free festival celebrating French culture, food and music.

Here is the school....

Having fun with Lisa & Adam....

My delicious lunch.... Mussels au bleu and Frites from Les Deux Papas....

Once we finished lunch at EB it was time to head out and get some more studying in before 6pm church.  Manley Miller, one of the Associate Pastors, preached that evening and we always enjoy his sermons.  Sunday morning and afternoon included more studying (no surprise there) and Life Group/Bible study later that evening.  A photo from LG/BS.... Look how cute Jumi & Megan are....

I actually took 3 shots with my iPhone and Jumi was so serious in each one!  Megan is pregnant (obviously) with a little girl that she and her husband Chase have decided to name Jude.  Josh and I are very happy for them and can't wait to meet Jude come June.  Megan and Chase are going to be wonderful parents!

Hope everyone has a GREAT week!  Until next time....