The 8 Hour Graduation Party!

Our weekend was super busy. When I got back to Baton Rouge Saturday I had a few errands to run. When I finally got home I HAD to take a nap. We had a graduation party to go to at 5:00. I knew it had the potential to go late. I had no idea just how late. I'm really glad I managed to get in that nap.

The party was for our 3 neighbors that graduated from LSU Friday. We love Anna, Allie & Alexandra & have watched them grow up the last 10 years. It's really hard to believe they're college graduates. 

There was a ton of Cuban food. Allie & Anna's mom is Cuban. It was so good! After most everyone left & it was just our group & some of the girls friends, the dance party started. 

They have these often & there are several "routines" that are just hilarious!

Me, Anna & Hillary

Hillary, Alexandra, me, Anna & Jordan

The girls celebrated with a shot of Fireball.

I brought them a bottle of champagne. Notice the change of clothes. It was too hot to dance in their party clothes!

Anna & Ashley (Logan dubbed Ashley "that crazy girl" several years ago at the beach)

Ambrosia Strawberry cake. It's delicious! Hard to tell in the picture but aside from a wedding cake, I've never seen a cake this big before. It was huge! There wasn't a bite left either.

These were my favorite!

Plain, iced sugar cookies. I thought the tiger paw was too cute.There were none of these left either.

Doberge cake. I had a small piece of it too. Again, nothing left.

The party finally broke up at 1:30 am. Seriously. I was exhausted. So exhausted that I managed to get in 2 naps on Sunday. I'm not that lazy I just hadn't recovered from Friday night yet. I saw a meme on Facebook that said "I can still party like a rock star, I just can't recover like one". DEAD ON!

We had another graduation party Sunday night. Dean had to go to Texas for work so he missed it. Thankfully, since it was Sunday night it didn't go too late. I got home at 10:00. Of course that's late for me. 

This party was for Devin's high school graduation.

Seeing this face made me happy! I had a hard time figuring out graduation gifts but she was excited when she saw the Tory Burch logo. 

There was tons of delicious Greek food & I finally got to taste the Berry Chantilly cake from Whole Foods. I LOVED IT! I think I liked it more than the Ambrosia strawberry cake. 

I had a rough Monday. I was soooo sleepy all day but I had stuff to do after work. I was going to Logan's t-ball game but it was rained out. I went & had a mani & pedi to get ready for our trip. We leave today! I also got some packing done. 

Tuesday morning I drug myself out of bed & ran. After work I had dinner with Allison, Jill, Vicki & Amanda.

We took this with the new selfie stick. Still need some practice. We ate at Brewbachers.  It's very close to LSU's campus & this was our hangout when we were in our 20's. We loved this place so much. We were there AT LEAST once a weekend but usually more than that. Before a baseball game, after a football game, during a baseball rain delay, etc. They have great burgers & all sorts of other good stuff. Back then our most favorite thing to get was fried cheese sticks! It was announced a couple of weeks ago that they're closing May 31st. There are other locations in town but none have the memories this one has. 

We were even able to sit at our favorite table. We always loved Better Than Ezra's song Circle of Friends. It was one of those songs that wasn't released as a single & they never sing it in concert but it just seemed to fit us & we loved it. The first time we sat at that table someone (probably Allison) said something about a circle of friends were sitting in a circle & of course we laughed. Just silly girl stuff but it stuck & we sat at that table whenever we could. There was A LOT of Dr. Pepper consumed at this table over the years. We haven't been there as a group in years. For whatever reason we also meet up somewhere else. I'm so glad we were able to get together for one"last hoorah"!

Then it was home to pack, again. I just really hate packing. It stresses me out. Regardless of what I get packed the day we leave I end up throwing extra stuff in because I'm scared I don't have enough. I think I did better for this trip but that remains to be seen.

We're traveling in waves. Jackie, Dennis, Anna, Allie & Hillary are leaving BR at 11:30, stopping to have lunch & then heading to the airport. Dean, Cliff & Alexandra are picking me up at work at 1:00 to go to the airport to meet up with the others. Sheri & Amelia-Ann fly out tomorrow because A-A has exams. Scott & his daughter Maddy are flying out later tomorrow because Maddy has exams too. I'll be glad when everyone is safe in San Juan. 

We fly out of New Orleans. We'll be in San Juan until Saturday when we board Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas which will be our home until May 30th. This is the AAA Grad Cruise celebrating Anna, Allie & Alexandra's LSU graduation & it's been planned for a year. I didn't think it would ever get here!

I'm going to try & post in San Juan but once the cruise sets sail I'll be out of touch.

Have a great week!

Toodles!

The Main Event

Friday after work the girls met at & off we went to New Orleans. I picked up Starbucks on the way because for whatever reason I was wide awake at 3:00 am. There was rain, there was traffic but we made it. Apparently, there was a ton of stuff going on in New Orleans so it was difficult to get a hotel room. Thankfully, Allison had a connection that not only got us a room at the Maison Dupuy but he got us a fabulous deal! So we got all checked in & started getting ready when we had a knock on the door. I opened the door to see a little guy holding this. 

Wine, cheese, preserves, strawberries, grapes. baguettes, chocolate & water. It was delicious! We snacked while we got ready for our dinner reservation. 

Since traffic was so bad we were running a little late. I called the restaurant to see if it would be a problem to push our reservation back a bit & the guy that answered the phone said "Are y'all going to the show?" when I answered yes (not knowing which show he was talking about) he said "Oh yeh it'll be fine". We finished getting ready, called Uber & headed out. Much to our surprise 95% of the restaurant was female & it was very obvious they were all going to the same show we were! It was sooooo loud & everyone was taking pictures. It was a fun atmosphere.

We had dinner at Johnny Sanchez. It's a Mexican Restaurant owned by John Besh & Aaron Sanchez. I'd looked at the menu before we went & was not impressed. It looked really weird but we'd heard good things about it. So glad we tried it. It was DELICIOUS!!!

Allison & Jill

Me & Allison & her Walmart Weave 

Vicki & Me

It was really humid so the hair was not looking its best & I have no idea who I was looking at. 

Happy Hour Margarita's with Don Julio!

Vicki had a Coke. How cute is the bottle!

I had the Arroz Con Pollo  

slow roasted chicken enchiladas, crispy rice, roasted tomatoes avocado, cotija cheese, serrano

Delicious!

The restaurant was really close to the Smoothie King Center so we walked to the concert after dinner. That was probably a mistake seeing as how we chose cute over comfort in the shoe dept.

When we got to the arena & the chick scanned our ticket & said "go over there & she'll give your bracelet" we were all a little surprised. We knew we had good seats but we were not aware of needing a bracelet. 

At that point I was thinking that maybe our seats are better than we think. 

As the usher ushered us to our seats I KNEW our seats were better than what we thought. FRONT ROW! Vicki made the comment that she thought the Usher made a mistake. We knew we had the front row of our section but we thought the section was further back than it was. It was FABULOUS!!! 

We timed our arrival perfectly. About 10 minutes after getting there Nelly started. 

Nelly had a busy night. He opened this show & played from 7:15-8:00, then he was at a club in Baton Rouge to perform & Scott Disick (I had to explain to Dean that "Lord Disick" is Kim Kardashian's older sister Kourtney's baby daddy) was the emcee for that show. Then Nelly was going back to New Orleans to perform at a club there that stays open until 4:00 am. We found that little tidbit out when we were walking in the arena & girls were handing out flyers. I jokingly asked if he had a helicopter to get back & forth from Baton Rouge because traffic's so bad. Those poor girls just completely missed the humor & told me he has a tour bus. 

Next up was TLC. They were super popular in the '90's & early '00's. It was only T (T-Boz) & C (Chilli) because L (Left Eye) died in a car wreck awhile ago. You may remember her from back when she was dating former NFL star Andre Rison. She also burned his house down. She said it was an accident but when you set a pair of shoes on fire & then leave I'm not really sure what you expect to happen but whatever. (Yes, I have a brain full of useless information which probably explains why I can't seem to remember anything that I actually need to remember). 

Here's Chilli

and T-Boz

The outfits were interesting. I think they were going for a Mardi Gras look.

Once they finished, Jill & I went & got drinks & when we came back it was time for New Kids On The Block - The Main Event - That's what the concert was called & also the reason we were there. 

This is Joe McIntyre 

He was on Dancing With The Stars one season & on the show The McCarthy's. 

This is Donnie Wahlberg -as some people like to say - the 2nd most famous Wahlberg. He's Mark's brother but he's also on Blue Bloods & he's married to Jenny McCarthy.

. 

Allison absolutely loves Donnie. Always has. When Jill & I went to get a drink the security lady (who thought Allison was hilarious - Allison told her she was wearing weave from Walmart & it was making her hot) told Allison & Vicki that around the 4th or 5th song Donnie was going to come off the stage & walk in front of where we were standing. I'm honestly surprised Allison didn't pass out right there. So the whole time I'm counting songs in my head so I can be prepared with my camera & then here he comes. Down the stairs, towards us & then this happened. 

He grabbed Jill & sang & then kissed her on the forehead. I really thought Allison was going to die. He walked in front of us & shook me & Vicki's hand. 

Vicki & I also got to shake hands with Joe!

Once the concert was over Vicki discovered that she was in the selfie that Joe took!

The boys dance a lot.

So then this happened.

I hate the way I look in these pictures which is typical but it's a monumental even so I have to get over it. Jordan Knight was pretty much the love of my life when I was a teenager. He came down off the stage right in front of us!

Vicki was the photographer & she captured what was my teenage dream come true! Back in the day my room was wallpapered with their posters, we camped out for tickets, we went VERY early in the morning to a record store in a bad area of town because we knew nobody knew about the place that would want tickets. We followed their tour bus, we hung out in parking lots hoping to meet them & we were extremely jealous of the girls we knew that traveled around to see them & did get to meet them. It only took 26 1/2 years but I got my picture!!!! 

At some point Jordan's brother Jon came by & we got a hand shake. Jon is on Amazing Race. 

We were sad for the show to end but it was an amazing night! I laughed probably more than I've ever laughed. Generally when Allison's around there's a lot of laughing. Combine that with the fact that her shoes were NOT made for walking & when we left the concert she walked barefoot to where we were catching our Uber. I had the good sense (it doesn't happen often) to put a pair of flip flops in my bag. I didn't make it through Nelly before I changed. Needless to say we went back to the hotel, sipped some wine, ate some cheese & as Allison would say "basked in the afterglow!" 

This was the chocolate the hotel sent up.

It was 2:30 a.m. before I fell asleep. For some reason at 5:30 I was wide awake. I managed to sleep a little bit longer & then we all got up to get ready for breakfast. We went to Elizabeth's in the Bywater area of New Orleans. It's described as being very "hipster" which translates to "weird". 

We started off with mimosa's

in a plastic cup. 

We shared some praline bacon. Y'all!!! SOOOOO GOOD!

I had the Eggs Florentine - Creamed spinach, fried oysters over potatoes, topped with poached eggs & hollandaise.

It was delicious too. We shared a waffle.Mainly because it had strawberries & homemade whipped cream.

We were stuffed & tired & decided the only cure for that was big Dr Peppers in styrofoam cups. 

FYI - McDonald's serves their ice tea in a styrofoam cup & you ask for your Dr Pepper to be put in one too. 

The entire trip was just too fun!

Toodles!

Hump Day!

I know the hump day commercial is old but it still makes me laugh. 

Yesterday I got up bright & early to run. The plan was 4 miles.

I did 5. Every now & then I feel good & can keep going. Tuesday was one of those days. 

I neglected to show y'all this.

Another view

That would be a burn from steam. All this happened because I was going to actually eat a hot dog. I may eat 2 hot dogs a year. Sunday Dean cooked ribs, sausage & hot dogs on the Green Egg type grill he has. I like my bun toasted. I'm picky that way. Well, seeing as how nobody thinks I can do anything cooking related I thought I'd toast the bun without asking someone else (Dean) to do it. I mean really, how hard is it? Judging from my arm, it's pretty hard. 

I had NO IDEA how heavy the lid to that thing was. I opened it, steam came pouring out, it hurt REALLY bad, I kinda screamed & dropped the lid. I swear it hurt for hours. I actually went into our yard & broke off a piece of aloe vera & rubbed that on it. The only thing that made it feel better was the cold water in the pool. The burn goes up the side of my hand towards my thumb. 

So what did I learn from this?? APPARENTLY, you're supposed to open things just a bit to let the steam out. I heard the parents saying "like when you open an oven". Yeh, well, I open an oven. I don't open it part of the way & let steam out. I knew nothing of this procedure. So yes, it's been proven once again that I'm challenged in the kitchen & on the patio. I've vowed not to do anymore cooking.

This was my morning snack along with some peanut butter crackers.

I'm not doing so well staying away from the Dr. Pepper these days. Being sick & tired, literally, has made it hard. This morning my mom had a heart cath done bright & early at 5:45 a.m. I got out of bed at 4:00. Notice I said I got out of bed at 4:00 & not that I woke up at 4:00. Normally, I wake up at 4:30 so I didn't think 30 minutes earlier would be that big of a deal. I even went to bed at 8;30 last night. Well, I woke up at 1:15, went back to sleep, woke up at 2:15, went back to sleep, woke up at   3:15 & did not go back to sleep. UGH. Thankfully, the heart cath went well.

 If I'm awake at 7:00 it will be a minor miracle. 

Toodles!

Fudge, Flowers, Family & Fun!

We had another busy weekend. It started Friday night. Dean & I had dinner at Mike Anderson's. We hadn't been there in awhile & it was really good. After dinner we went to the LSU game. They won so that was good. Saturday morning we had a ton of errands to run. We got up early & got everything done. 

After Mass Saturday we went to Caliente to celebrate Cindy's birthday.

 A little mango margarita. It's become my go to at Caliente.

Waiting for cake. I was the planner of the night & I was told DO NOT get a cake. Brad (Cindy's husband) was going to get it. Epic Fail. He completely forgot. Those are his words. So Cindy's daughter went to Nothing Bundt Cakes to get something but you know, it's Mother's Day weekend. They didn't have anything left. So Baskin Robbins ice cream cake it was. Apparently, 22 year olds don't know that when you buy a cake out of the case you can still have them write something on it. Cindy had a plain white ice cream cake that didn't say anything. I will be taking care of the cake for future birthdays. After the birthday dinner we went back to the ball park for the LSU game. They won again.

Sunday I got up & went for a run early. It wasn't early enough. So humid! I guess summer is officially here.

My parents, Dean's parents & Scott, Lydia & Logan came for lunch & some pool time.

Logan loves when someone throws him around the pool!

I don't know what Logan was doing but I'm pretty sure he was giving me some sort of orders. LOL.

After lunch Dean & his parents went to LSU's game. When Dean came home he had fudge for me.

Our Godchild was at the game & he sent me the fudge for Mother's Day. It was delicious!

I talk about all of our friends that are our neighbors & their kids a lot. We spend a lot of time with them. Amelia-Ann & Alexandra live next door to us & we all moved in the same week. The girls were 6 and 12 when we moved in. These sweet girls brought me flowers yesterday for Mother's Day.

Tulips are my favorite. I thought it was the sweetest thing ever.

We had a great day with our families but we ate WAY TOO MUCH. That means I was up bright & early this morning to work out. 

It was arm day & they were very shaky when I finished. 

Hope y'all had a fabulous Mother's Day!

Toodles!