It's Official....Summer is here!

It's soooo hot!!! Later this week it's supposed to be 97 degrees. Saturday morning, Allison, Jill & I went walking at the lakes. This has become our Saturday morning routine. Like I said, It was hot. I was extremely proud of us because even with the heat we managed to cut 5 minutes off of our time. After the walk it was home to get ready for my nephew Logan's 2nd birthday party.

We had such a good time watching all the kids run wild! The party was at Logan's house & his mom & dad had  an "inflatable". When I was a kid it was called a space walk. I don't know who renamed them inflatables & bounce houses but whatever. 

He loved jumping!

This is Logan with his friends Riley & Lane. Dean & I are Lane's Godparents. His mom is my BFF Vicki.

There were also kiddie pools & water guns.

I'm not sure what Logan liked more.

Logan & Lane

Then it was time for cake!

My SIL Lydia, made the cake. I thought she did a great job. It tasted good too.

He grabbed some icing as soon as he got close enough. He almost burned his lips because he hasn't quite mastered the concept of blowing out candles.

He enjoyed his cake & ice cream! Then there were presents!!

That's Jordan  helping Logan with his gifts. He's Logan's cousin & Godfather. Logan did a good job opening his gifts until he got to this one.

Once he saw what his mama & daddy gave him it was all over. Luckily, when his back was turned for a second his Nonk (Uncle Dean) grabbed it & put it out of sight so he'd open the rest of his gifts.

This is my cousin & Godchild, Dylan. He's getting to the age where he's not interested in pics. I think he's too cute!

Brooke is Dylan's little sister. She's also my Godchild. Yes, I have lots of Godchildren! All but 2 of them were in attendance.

The bucket of water was to attempt to keep wet grass out of the space walk.

Another pic of the birthday boy. I bust out laughing everytime I look at this one. The theme for his party was Curious George. Logan LOVES him some George! His mama got those cute little George glasses & all the kids were wearing them. He makes that face a lot. Everytime he does it I immediately think "What you talkin' about Willis??" HA!! I always loved Different Strokes. Logan  looked like a little California surfer boy with his sun bleached blond hair, board shorts & ridiculously dark tan for a 2 yr old. You can't tell in the picture but he is soooo dark. His Tante (me) is really, really jealous!!

This is Amira. Her parents are friends with Scott & Lydia. She has the most amazing eyelashes & she's really tiny.

She was mesmerized by the hanging decoration things that Lydia had. I've probably mentioned before that Logan is a bit of daredevil.

No, he didn't just put one foot on the side of the INFLATABLE pool & get in. He managed to balance himself on the edge standing with both feet on the side & then he'd jump in. He thought this was the funniest thing in the world. Then the slide was moved to the pool.

If anyone's wondering, Logan has a thing about his shoes. He wants them on ALL THE TIME. Even when he's in the pool.

Then he jumps out & lands.....

in the mud puddle!! There's no doubt about it, he's ALL BOY!!

Saturday was our niece Camille's, birthday. Camille is Dean's brother's daughter. They live in Texas so we didn't see them this weekend. This is Camille when she was at our house last year for her birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMILLE! We hope you had a great day & got to do something fun!!

Toodles!

Weigh In Wednesday

This week has been tough! It's really hard to get back into a normal routine after being on vacay for a week. Yogalates was HARD Monday. I will NEVER skip a week again. I know they (who is "they" anyway?) say not to ever say never but I'm saying it & documenting it here. I could've gone a couple of times last week but I chose not to since I was on vacay. I've learned my lesson.

So, I weighed in today & I am happy to say that I'm exactly what I was 2 weeks ago. I took Wendy's advice & didn't bring the scale with me to the beach so I didn't weigh in Wednesday. We didn't eat horribly on vacation but there were drinks & fried food  & a couple of chocolate shakes involved. I planned to be back on track for the weekend but we had a graduation party to go to Saturday. More drinks & food  (some of the best potato salad I've ever had). I'm down 15.2 lbs. Anyway, my goal was to not gain & I didn't so I'm happy.

Today I went to Yogalates for the 2nd time this week. It was hot. 91 when we started & 93 when we finished.  I've staked out a spot by the back door because the teacher opens it & there's always a breeze. Some ex-marine guy got there before me & took my spot. That brings me to another discovery I've made. There are several ex-marines that go to class. NFL players too. They all struggle with the workout. It makes me feel like I'm really doing something.

My friend Allison is on a diet & she's supposed to drink 100 oz. of water a day. I decided to keep track of how much I drink in a day. I've been averaging about 85 oz. I don't know how she manages to do 100.

Moving on....Today is Little Man's birthday!

My nephew & Godchild, Logan is 2 today. This is a picture his mom sent me a little while ago. It made me laugh. He's soooo cute & funny! We love him so much. His party is Saturday & I can't wait to see him in action.

For some reason I haven't been able to comment on blogs for the last 2 days. I am reading though.

Toodles!!

Back to Reality....

Once again, it's Sunday night. Not just any Sunday night. Sunday night at the end of vacation. I have to go back to work tomorrow. Such a bummer. We had a great vacation. We spent an afternoon at the outlet mall in Foley, AL. Dean bought 2 pair of shoes & I didn't buy any. I was disturbed by that. I also bought some work out shorts, tanks & sports bras. I spent more money at the Reebok store than I did anywhere else. That was also disturbing.

The beach was so relaxing. We had cool but beautiful weather. Of course the day we left it was much warmer but that's ok. We were able to walk to several restaurants & the condo is right next to the Flora-Bama. We went there one night for Bushwackers & people watching. I think we may have talked to Taylor Swift. This chick looked JUST LIKE HER. Dean said it wasn't her because he didn't think Taylor would be drinking a Bud Light. I don't know about that but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have been saying "you all" which she said several times. Afterwards, I started thinking about it & maybe she was trying to be incognito. I guess I'll never know. Well, unless TMZ shows a pic of her at the Flora-Bama!!!

This bird was freaking me out. He kept wandering around & wasn't the least bit scared of people. Y'all know how I feel about birds.

We went to Orange Beach, AL & stayed in a condo at the Phoenix X. We've stayed here a couple of times before & really like it.  This was the view from our balcony.

I couldn't believe how calm the water was the first couple of days we were there. Normally, we can hear the waves crashing from our room but not this time. It got a little rougher later in the week.

We got home Thursday afternoon. Friday, we went & saw Bridesmaids. I convinced Dean that it wasn't a chick flick & he'd enjoy it. Yeh, well not so much. The thing is, I didn't really enjoy it that much. Don't get me wrong there were funny parts but I'm not a fan of bathroom humor. So while everyone else in the theater was carrying on like they've never seen anything funnier I was trying not to gag & had my eyes closed. Apparently, I'm alone in this opinion because several of my friends saw it & loved it. I just don't get it.

Yesterday we had a graduation party to go to for our neighbor, Alexandra. She graduated from high school today & will be going to LSU. The party was fun & as usual there was great food. I ate some of the best potato salad I've ever had. I was even asked to make banana pudding & I did & it went off without a hitch. Those that have been reading for awhile know that cooking isn't my strong suit. Well, who am I trying to fool, putting ingredients together that doesn't require cooking isn't my strong suit either. BUT, judging from the very small amount of the DOUBLE recipe I made that was left, it must have been pretty good. Unless, people put it on their plate thinking it was going to be good & then didn't like it. Hmmm. That's highly possible too. Oh well, several people told me it was good so I'm going with that. 

Last Sunday Dean's cousin, Tyler graduated. We went to his party & there was a delicious CAKE!! I love cake. Really, I love icing. Tyler's cake came from Ambrosia Bakery. If you're ever in Baton Rouge you must must must go to Ambrosia & buy something. They're expensive but delish!!! Tyler's cake was white cake with turtle filling & buttercream icing. Sooooo good!!! 

Enough about food.

Toodles!

Daphne, AL

We're on our way to the beach! Yay!! We stopped for lunch in Daphne at a place called Bimini Bobs. It was delish! They had the most awesome cole slaw!! They call it island slaw. Yum!

So while we were eating a waiter starts to sing Happy Birthday to someone at the table behind us. Wow! I've never heard anything like it as for as waiters singing goes. It was almost like he was an Opera singer. I don't care for that style but he did have a good voice. It was funny.

That's it for now. Blogging from an iPhone isn't conducive to long posts!

Toodles!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Worried??

I've been asked this numerous times a day for the last week. Why you ask? Well, if you don't live around here or you don't watch the news, you wouldn't know. The Mississippi River is high. Like really high. As of this morning it was 43.4 ft. & it's still rising. It won't crest until the 22nd. The average for this time of year is  about 23 ft. Big difference huh? The reason this is disturbing is that the levees in Baton Rouge range from 47.3 to 51 ft. The crest is expected to be at 47.5 ft. The reason people continue to ask me if I'm worried is because I live 2.5 miles from the levee. With that whole "as the crow flies" business it's probably only a mile away. We don't have flood insurance. The river has never ever been this high & our area has never flooded. I'm no weather guru by any stretch of the imagination but from what I understand this is caused from all the snow in the northern part of the country this year. Yesterday afternoon I stopped at the levee to look at the water.

The pictures aren't great. It was cloudy. This is area of the levee that is right across the street from LSU's Vet School.

See the piece of the asphalt in the corner of the picture? That's the top of the levee.

See the splash? That would be a dog. Some morons were throwing balls into the water & the dog was chasing it. Because of these morons & others like them as of 7:00 am this morning the levee has been closed.

This is looking north towards downtown Baton Rouge.

This is looking south which is the direction that we live.

So to answer the question, no I'm not worried. There's not a thing we can do. We wouldn't flood unless the levee broke. We know that's possible. That's what caused all the problems with Hurricane Katrina but the levee is being patrolled several times a day to check for any problems. The Morganza Spillway will most likely be opened tomorrow which will allow the water to go down about a foot. Now this creates a lot of problems for people in that area. It's really sad that they have to make a decision on who to flood. The areas near the Spillway are less populated & are all small towns. Very, very sad.

Dean & I had plans to leave for Orange Beach, AL Monday. My plan is to go to the beach, have some drinks & not worry. We'll be home Thursday in time for all the hoopla surrounding the river's crest.

Toodles!

Weigh In Wednesday

I always weigh in on Wednesday. My thought process behind this is that if I have a "bad" eating weekend I have a few days to straighten up before weighing so I won't get discouraged. You may remember that I gained a pound last week. Well, this week I lost 2.2 lbs. I'm very happy! Especially, considering we ate at Mike Anderson's Friday night. It's my all time favorite restaurant & we had a gift certificate so that made it even better!!

Since I've been doing a lot of walking I really need new tennis shoes. I've had some lower back pain after the walks. The pair that I've been wearing are probably 5 yrs. old. I don't wear tennis shoes often but they've gone to Disney twice. That means they've got A TON of miles on them. I decided that I wanted to go somewhere that looks at my feet & recommends what would be best for me. A lot of people recommended  Varsity Sports. It's a locally owned store & they have a running club & all that stuff. Apparently, this is where all the serious runners shop. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me, who is just a walker. Although, Wendy is harassing me to start running. That's another story. So Friday I went to get some shoes. If you've never been to one of these stores, they tell you to take your shoes off & they watch you walk. Then they had me balance on each leg. Then the two guys made a funny face & said "hmmmm". Figures. Not that this is surprising because I've learned that there's nothing normal about my body inside or out. So, the "diagnosis" was that I don't have enough stability in my left foot. I don't step correctly, my foot rolls. I knew something was up because the soles of my shoes wear funny. I also have a narrow foot, no surprise there. What was a surprise is that I've always worn an 8 or 8.5 & my foot measured a 9! Then they said if I want to run I need a 9.5. WTH?? They brought out several shoes that provide extra stability. I tried on Brooks, Mizzuno & Asics. By far the most comfortable were the Brooks.

These are the Brooks Adrenaline GTS. I was able to get them in the narrow width. They were so comfortable. I wore them when Allison & I walked Saturday & I can definitely tell a difference. I really would've liked something with pink or red but they didn't have any in the type of shoe I needed so I'm dealing with the blue.

Toodles!

Something Borrowed

Saturday was a crazy day. Not in a bad way though. It started out with a 3.5 mi. walk with Allison. The weather was great & it wasn't  too unbearably hot. After the walk it was home to shower & get dressed. I was meeting  Allison, Wendy & Jennifer at the movies to see Something Borrowed. I love Emily Giffins books but the Something Borrowed/Something Blue series is my favorite. We've been waiting for this movie to come out for a really long time. On the way to the movies I stopped & picked up Mother's Day gifts. Yes, I know I waited until the last minute but I've known what I was getting & I knew that the stores were on  my way to the movies.  The movie was great!! It's been several years since I read the book so I don't remember everything that happened but the movie seemed to follow the book really well. I plan to read it again soon. I generally like to see the movie before I read the book. That way I'm not disappointed in either. I definitely recommend the movie. Even if you haven't read the book it's great. I hope Something Blue comes out fairly quickly.  After the movie I was off to the mall to pick up a graduation gift. Then I headed to Vicki's house for our book club get together. As usual there was tons of good food. I tried to refrain but the little pinwheels get me every time. Then Vicki made this blackberry cobbler stuff that was really good & she had cake balls. I thought I'd be able to resist the cake balls. They seem to be all the rage around here & to me they're just ok. Well, someone was eating a chocolate one & she commented that they weren't like cake balls she'd had before & that there was a lot of icing. Here we go. I have a thing about icing. I LOVE IT! I can't ever have too much. Now, not just any icing. Butter cream icing is THE BEST! If I go somewhere that has cake & it has that whipped icing I'm really disappointed. Vicki bought chocolate ones & "white" ones at the bakery. I tried a white one. O.M.G.!!!!! It was like a little ball of wedding cake! ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!!! I ended up having 2. That doesn't bode well for losing that pound I gained last week but I couldn't help it. As usual we spent more time talking about other stuff than we did talking about books! HA! We spent a lot of time demonstrating Yogalates moves & talking about the movie.

Toodles!

Soooo Embarrassed!

I'm all about full disclosure on this whole exercise/weight loss thing I'm trying to do. That being said, I gained a pound this week. I'm frustrated. Not so much that I'm going to give up but just a little frustrated. I'm blaming it on the weekend although I didn't eat bad. Maybe it was that 32 oz. daiquiri?? Anyway, lots of the things I've read talk about plateaus & how you need to switch things up. So that's what I did. I added a 4th Yogalates class this week. Not only did I do 4 classes this week but I went 4 days in a row. So, I get to class yesterday & there is a camera & extra people hanging around. When I say camera, I don't mean a little digital, I mean a TV CAMERA! WTH??? My first thought was that they were finishing up. Several LSU football players take Yogalates & there have been segments on the local news about it. I thought this was one of those. Not so much. It was a local TV station & one of the reporters was going to take our class while another guy filmed. They're doing a segment on the morning show about "Extreme Workouts". Those people that know me personally would've never expected me to workout much less do something EXTREME! Well, I definitely thought about leaving but I was there so I just got my little spot in the corner as far away from the camera as possible. It never occurred to me that the guy would walk around with the camera filming. Let me tell you nothing screws up your concentration on a move like when you look up & a camera is a foot from your face. At this point I'm just praying that I end up on the editing room floor & if I don't maybe nobody will recognize me. UGH!!!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Toodles!

Crawfish!

I can't believe it's Monday again. I'm really tired today. I had some sleep issues this weekend. I'll be pretty close to dead by 2:00.

Dean & I went to the LSU game Friday night. They won but it was pretty boring. They played Kentucky & they're REALLY bad.

Saturday morning was the neighborhood crawfish boil. Dean & the guys went to pick up the crawfish & I went to walk the lakes with Allison, Wendy & Jill. It was a great day to walk because it was really windy & the sun wasn't out so we didn't get especially hot. Then it was home to get cleaned up, then down the street to the crawfish boil. This pot was their home before they went into the boiling water.

The kids love to play with them before they meet their maker.

Stafford is such a little girlie girl I was shocked that she was playing with them.

Everyone really enjoyed the crawfish. This was the first time this season I had any. I think I ate about 10. I like them but it's such a pain to peel them & my fingernails get stained & they don't fill me up. I just don't like to work that hard for food. I really enjoyed the broccoli salad that someone brought though! Wendy is shaking her head while reading this....

Notice the expression on Amelia-Ann's face? That would be because Dean is quizzing her about her boyfriend & the little boys that were knocking on her door while he cut the grass Friday. She's in for a long dating life once she's old enough between her dad & Dean. I feel sorry for her.

See this contraption??

This would be where they put the crawfish when they rinse them before boiling them. Our friend Dennis, who's driveway was the boiling area, rigged this up Friday night. There's a drain in the wood. Then there's this...

This is Dennis' backyard. One end of the PVC pipe is connected to the table thingy where the guys were washing the crawfish & the other end drains into the ditch that runs along the back of the lot. Pretty smart huh??

I think we stayed out chatting with the neighbors until about 9:00 Saturday night. Have I mentioned that I love where we live because I love our neighbors so much??

Sunday, Allison & I walked the lakes again. We tacked on an extra 1/2 mi. so we walked 4 mi. After our walk we met Wendy at Jimmy Johns for lunch. Wendy had to work so she wasn't able to walk with us. This was our first time at Jimmy John's. It was good. I had a veggie & cheese sandwich without the bread. It was all wrapped up in iceberg lettuce. It was really good!

Last night we went down the street for dinner. Kitzia is Mexican & she's a wonderful cook! There were some crawfish that were boiled but not eaten so we peeled them & Kitzia took the meat & made Ceviche. I'd never had this but it was soooooo good.  It would be the perfect light lunch on a really hot day. It's a cold salad type thing that has crawfish, onion, lime juice, cilantro, tomatoes, green olives, avocado & olive oil. She said generally it's made with raw fish. Yuck. It would be great with shrimp or crab too.

That brings us back to today. Monday. BLECH!! 

Toodles!