Easter Fun

For the first time in the 17 years that I've worked at The Advocate I had Good Friday off. We had a great weekend & I ate great too. I don't mean I ate great food for me. I mean I ate great tasting food that is incredibly bad for me. May I present evidence #1
As a kid Gold Brick eggs were my favorite!! I picked up some stuff for Logan & the candy was 75% off BEFORE Easter & we all know I'm not one to pass up a good deal. Included in that good deal was a "white bunny". I haven't had one in YEARS. Like probably 20. I bought myself one & I had good intentions. According to the nutrition label the bunny was 5 servings. I already had the servings divided in my head. Then I started eating. I don't remember exactly but I think it only lasted 2 servings. Dean had a couple of bites.

The main thing I wanted to do Friday was to eat lunch at Roberto's. You know "Home of the best shrimp po-boy EVER EVER EVER"?? It lived up to the billing once again.

Awhile back I saw a post on FB about Zaycon Foods. They sell organic meat at really cheap prices. They would be in Baton Rouge on Good Friday selling boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.79/lb. That's cheaper than plain old hormone injected chicken when it's on sale here! How it works is you place your order online & they're in your city for one day for a couple of hours & that's when you pick up the chicken. It comes in 40 lb. cases. Me being the domesticated person that I am was all over this. Little did I know how much 40 lbs. was. So Friday afternoon Dean & I sat in a Church parking lot in downtown Baton Rouge & picked up our chicken. It was all very organized. A refrigerated truck parks, they set out orange cones to make a "drive through". They look up your name on the iPad & then load your chicken in your car. The man with the iPad said we were going to cry when we eat this chicken it's so good. I can't imagine that but ok. This is what the case looked like.
They even put plastic down in your car in case the box leaked.
It was in several bags inside the case. We got our handy dandy vacuum sealer out & went to town.
This was my biggest issue. I don't like to touch raw meat. I held the bags open & Dean put the chicken in & then I sealed them. I did get some chicken juice on me & that's just soooo gross. BLECH!!!
Our handiwork.

Once all the chicken was taken care of I went for a run. In case you didn't know, a fried shrimp po-boy & french fries is NOT proper pre-run fuel. I was so sluggish & blah. It was a tough 3.5 miles but I did it. I had some soreness going on so I decided that an ice bath would probably help a lot but since I didn't have any bags of ice lying around & really that's a lot of trouble I'd just get in the pool. The water is COLD so it would be like an ice bath right?
It was cold. Not quite as cold as I was expecting though.

Everyone will be happy to know that before we picked up our chicken we picked up these
Maybe my bad luck with the postal service is a thing of the past. On my way home from work Varsity Sports called to let me know my shoes were in. I'm sure I've whined about the blue before. I have to get a narrow shoe & Brooks only makes the narrow in one color. It just so happens that for the last 3 years they're ALWAYS blue. Different shades of blue but blue nonetheless. Have I ever mentioned that I'm not a big blue fan? Well I'm not. I do like this blue better than the previous blues. I even tweeted Brooks that I need a different color. They assured me they'd pass along my comments to the development dept. so next year if they aren't blue I'm to thank!

Saturday we were up bright & early. We were going to an Easter egg hunt with my family. It's a huge thing with inflatables & food. My parents Church sponsors it & everything is free.
Before we left for the egg hunt Logan opened his Easter gift from us. We got him a beach towel & a chair. We're going to the beach next month. He was happier about the candy.
There was someone selling bunnies. I'm guessing the Church didn't give them permission to do that but the kids enjoyed holding the little babies. I saw zero sales taking place. Apparently, everyone had the same idea as my brother, "DO NOT EVEN ASK" was his response when he saw they were being sold.
Logan was ready to get his eggs! There were 50,000 eggs at the egg "hunt". Each baseball field was divided up by age so there wasn't big kids running over little kids.

After the egg hunt we had lunch at a pizza buffet & it was sooo good. Told ya I ate a bunch of not good for me food. Pizza that taste like cinnamon rolls??? Yes please! Logan is almost 4 & it's so funny to listen to him participate in our conversations. He was very excited about the chocolate pizza. He's hilarious!

Sunday we went to early Mass & to Dean's parents for lunch. Everything was delicious & I ate way too much. There was roast, ham, potato salad, cole slaw & cake. My mom made my favorite coconut cake. Soooo good.
If all that food wasn't bad enough I ended the day with these. sigh.

Toodles!

Coming to you live from....

My sofa. If you check back tomorrow at this time I'm willing to bet I'm still here. That potential sinus infection I spoke of Friday looks like it's becoming a reality. I got some steroids today so I'm hoping this will be gone sooner rather than later. I've got lots of stuff going on this week, an eye doctor appt., a Christmas dinner, a Christmas party, a hair appt. & I must get my nails done sometime this week. No time to be sick.

Friday night was my office Christmas party. I managed to medicate myself enough to enjoy it. The party was at my boss' house which is AHHHMAZING!!!!  Custom built, 7000  sq. ft. of pure amazing. Seriously, completely gorgeous!

Saturday, I was not feeling so great & all I did the entire day was wrap gifts. It took me the entire day and YES, Dean's gift is still missing. I'm beginning to think it's not in the house. Thankfully, if that's the case I'm not out a lot of money. It was one of his cheaper gifts!

Sunday we went to my parents & hung out with them & Logan. This is one of Logan's favorite past times.

He's playing boats. The blue comforter is his water & the quilt is his boat ramp. If you sit in the "water" he's quick to tell you to "move, that's the water".  He loves this dog that our Godchild Lane gave him.

Logan's a dare devil. He also has a one track mind. Everything has something to do with a boat. At one point he was sitting sideways on the dog pretending like he was fishing & he started yelling "get the net!". Can you tell his mama & daddy spend a lot of time with him fishing at the camp? It was so funny!

Last night I went to Mass. That didn't work out so well. In the span of about 20 minutes I had 2 coughing fits. You know the kind that causes your eyes to water like crazy & make your nose run? All while sucking on cough drops to make sure it didn't happen. The ridiculous part of the whole thing is that I hadn't coughed at all before that. I finally gave up & came home. Hoping God gives me credit for making an effort! The more ridiculous part? I didn't cough again until I laid down to go to sleep. So annoying.

Toodles!

31:45

Anyone wondering about the title of this post??? Not only did I run my first 5K, I had a decent time. Way better than I hoped for. 

Dean took this picture after I'd crossed the finish line.  I was towards the back of the pack when we started & the finish line was also the starting line & the clock was at 57 seconds when I got there so to me my time was 31:45. Regardless, it doesn't matter. I had such a good time.The 5K was the first ever for St. Joseph Academy which is the only Catholic all girl high school in Baton Rouge. My friend Sheri is an Asst. Principal there & is who convinced me to run. It was fun running a route that I wasn't familiar with. Periodically throughout the route the St. Josephs cheerleaders were cheering us on, the city police had traffic stopped all along the route which was also great.  The only downside is my hip injury that I dealt with last week is back with a vengeance! After talking to our friend that was the Atlanta Falcons trainer many years ago, I've been diagnosed with a deep hip flexor strain. Stretching & resting is the prescribed course of treatment. So I can go to Yoglates but no running. I didn't even ask how long I can't run. I really don't want to know. As happy as I am that I finished yesterday, I bummed that I can't run.  The Reindeer Run is the beginning of December & I really want to run in it. We'll see I guess.

My brother Scott & sis in law Lydia also ran yesterday. They've both done 5K's before. Scott came in 2nd place overall. We'll never hear the end of it I promise you.

Scott's the tall one.  Lydia had her best time too. It was such a pretty day. A little chilly but it was nice. Dean was in charge of keeping Logan occupied while we ran. They were at the finish line as we each crossed it. Here we are after the race.

No, that's not the peace sign, that's the #2 sign. NEVER. HEAR. THE. END. OF. IT. After the race there was tons of food & smoothies. I know I don't have anything to compare it to but I think it was a great race environment. Logan certainly enjoyed himself.

Yes, that's a donut he's eating & jambalaya in his lap. He'd take a bit of the donut & then a bite of the jambalaya. Then he threw in a couple of sips of my smoothie.GROSS! Apparently, while Dean was in control, he ate a little bit of a banana, a little bit of an orange & some goldfish!  The kid loves to eat.

Toodles for now!!

Ready for the weekend.

Yeh, I'm well aware that it's Monday & I just had a long weekend but next weekend is a 4 day weekend. We're going to Dallas for the LSU/Oregon game & I'm ready to go. We're staying at the team hotel & I discovered this weekend that there's a Starbucks inside the hotel!! I'm very excited that I can have green tea whenever I want!

Speaking of green tea. I really wanted one this morning but I didn't have time. When I got to work I realized that I forgot my tortilla that I use to make a wrap for lunch. I guess I'll be having Subway. I hate when I do stuff like that.

Friday, Dean & I were both off. I'd finished Week 2 of the C25K on Wednesday but I decided to do another day Friday morning. I wasn't sure if I was ready for the 3 minute runs that come with Week 3. Afterwards, we ran errands & had lunch at Roly Poly. I love that place. They have about a million different types of wraps & every one I've tried is delicious!

Friday night we went to our neighbors for pizza & wine. They all wanted to hear about Dean's Alaska trip. We always have such a good time when we get together. Yes, I ate too much pizza. I LOVE PIZZA!! Then there was this......


I know this is an awful picture but you get the idea. It's Key Lime Strawberry cake with coconut all around the sides. It was DIVINE!!! I got this little treat at Sam's.

Saturday morning Dean & I went to the Zoo & watched Logan while Lydia ran the 5K they hosted. Logan was being shy when they got there.


Logan is so funny. He tells all the animals hey & bye. When he saw the runners go by he joined them. That kid is fast! He picked up the cups that the runners threw on the ground at the water stop & put them in the recycle bins. Thankfully, about that time we made it to the playground & he played & played. He had his little 9 year old friend, Maddie, with him & it was a day of monkey see, monkey do.


After the zoo we spent the day in our pool. Logan wore himself out.


He was about to fall asleep standing up.

Dean grilled some of the salmon he caught in Alaska Sat. night & some of our neighbors came over & ate. It was really good.

Yesterday, after Mass we went to Louie's for breakfast. Louie's is a local hole in the wall type place that's basically on LSU's campus. I had a veggie omelet with salsa & it was soooo good!!!

Last night I went with a couple of friends that live in our subdivision & we did day 1 of week 3 of C25K. I was soooo excited when I finished because I was able to do the 3 minute runs. Cindy even talked us into doing an extra 3 minutes & I did it. This was the first run that I didn't have any shin pain. Maybe I'm getting used to it.

Toodles!

Sunday Funday

Sunday, Dean & I got to spend the day with Logan. We picked him up bright & early Sunday morning. We stopped at LSU on the way to our house. We wanted to see if that lazy tiger might be awake. We were in luck! I was so excited to see him pacing along the fence.

The first thing Logan said was "Water!" He loves water & saw the waterfall in Mike's habitat before he saw Mike.

Once he spotted him he was in a trance!

I was very excited when he headed in for a swim. I've wanted to see him swim forever.

The sun was so bright it was causing a glare & it was really hard to see what I was taking pictures of. That would be why fence is in the way.

He came right up to the wall where all the kids were.

Logan stood there & watched & then immediately turned around with his arms up for Dean to pick him up. He didn't cry but I think Mike's size & the fact that he was nose to nose with him at one point freaked him out a bit.

He didn't swim long. I guess he just wanted to cool off.

Logan with his Nonk (Dean). Who, by the way, he refers to as Tante (me) yet when you say "Where's Nonk?" he points at Dean. Too funny!

I think if Dean would've let go he would've climbed the fence. After that Mike went to nap in the shade & we went home. We played outside for awhile & Logan had a snack. Apparently, the snack wasn't enough because he went back to the pantry & started pulling things out. We fed him lunch & played some more. Later, Logan & I went & met my friends Vicki & Allison to walk the lakes again. I knew Logan would enjoy it because he loves to be outside & we always see ducks. As usual he was very excited to see the water & a boat. We walked awhile & saw these little guys.

We finished the 3.5 mi. walk, which by the way is hard when  pushing a 30+ lb. kid in a stroller! We loaded up to go home & I wanted to take a picture. Well, when Logan saw me pull the camera out & I turned to him he said "NO" & covered his face with his hands. WHAT?? Isn't he too young for that? I managed to get this one which I thought was really funny!

We were both hot. The temp was 86 or 87 Sunday with a heat index of 91. You should've seen me. I was a hot mess if I ever saw one. YUCK! We drank plenty of water as we walked though. We were almost home & I looked back & saw this.

About 30 seconds later this happened.

He must have really been exhausted because I was able to take him out of the car seat & lay him down in the house without disturbing him. We had such a good time with him. I can't wait to do it again.

Toodles!

Another Short Weekend!

Friday night we spent our evening at LSU watching the baseball team win. It was close but hey, a win is a win. Saturday morning we had a guy coming to strip & re stain our front doors. This was a job that I was planning to do myself but I haven't gotten around to it & the guy did several of our neighbors. He did a good job &  gave us a good price so I hired him.  Well, they guy was supposed to show up between 9-9:30. Guess what? He was a no show. Not only a no show, a no call. When I called him he didn't answer. I left a message & he never called back. Sooooo aggravating.

I went to my parents. Me & mama went to Lancaster House. This is a place that is only open one weekend a month & it's about 5 mins. from my parents house.  I got a thingy to put outside but I forgot to take a picture of it. After that I went across the street to my brother & sis-in-laws to visit & play with Logan. He was showing off for me.

This little 4 wheeler has the gas on the handles so while he was in this pose he was riding around the yard.

This was one of the few times he was still.

He loves the big 4 Wheeler too. It goes faster.

I love that sweet little face!

Excuse the finger in this picture. I was trying to take the "no hands" picture. I see plenty of ER visits in their future with this kid. He's such a dare devil!

This 4-Wheeler has a gas pedal. Yes he was moving in this pic too.

Then he moved on to the slide. I swear it makes me tired watching him.

With his daddy.

I think the expression on his face in this one is hilarious! I can't believe he'll be 2 in May. I don't know where the time has gone.

When I got home Saturday Dean & I went & had pizza. There's a fairly new place called Red Zeppelins. I had a Groupon or Living Social gift certificate. It was really good! After pizza we went to the LSU game. What a debacle that was. 16-3 & LSU wasn't the one that scored 16 runs. Not good.

I decided to forgo the Sunday baseball game to go walking. Allison, Wendy & I are all dieting/watching what we eat & exercising. We "walked the lakes". The lakes are at LSU. We walked down Sorority Row & through the neighborhood surrounding the lakes & LSU. It's a really pretty walk. Most of the houses are gorgeous &  fairly huge. It's almost 3.5 miles around. As Allison says, "the great thing about walking the lakes is you have to walk all the way around". After our walk we had lunch at Mellow Mushroom. We all did so good just having low cal salads & we drank a ton of water. We ate on the patio. We had a lot of fun. Yep, fun while exercising. Imagine that! Basically, I spent the entire weekend outside. Kinda amazing for me.

Happy Monday!

Toodles!

Mike The Tiger

I've mentioned in previous post about LSU's mascot, Mike the Tiger  & had several people ask me about this.  Yes, LSU has a LIVE Bengal Tiger. The current tiger is the 6th one LSU has had. The previous ones have lived anywhere from 17-20 yrs. Mike VI will be 6 yrs old this year. The last weight that I heard was 460 lbs. but he should grow to be around 600 lbs. LSU always had a small cage (2000 sq. ft.) that housed Mike. Several years ago it was determined that this wasn't sufficient. A fundraising campaign began & a $3 million habitat was built. YES, you read that right, 3 MILLION dollars!! The new habitat is in the same location as the old one but it's 13,000 sq. ft. I've yet to understand why a tiger needs a better home that the majority of humans in the world but whatever.

I've been out to see Mike tons of times & he's always asleep. Laziest tiger ever apparently. Sunday afternoon I brought my nephew, Logan out to see him. Logan LOVES to be outside & he loves animals. Mike was asleep. Of course. Luckily, he was sleeping out in the open so we could at least see him. Logan's reaction when he saw him was to point & say "WOOOW". It was hilarious. I can only imagine how mesmerized he would've been if Mike was walking around or playing in his pool. People say he does those things & there are pictures to prove it. Maybe one day.

I still took some pictures.

Logan was checking out Mike.

He was also checking out all the kids that were around!

How can he sleep with all of those people looking at him??

Mike's Habitat & his swimming pool. Logan was eyeing Mike's ball. He loves balls!

Logan was in the process of "giving up" his pacifier & for some odd reason there was one in the water. Thankfully, he didn't see it or hear the little boy screaming that there was a nunnie in the water!! Crisis averted.

Another shot of his habitat.

Being that all you saw was his back here's a shot I got from mikethetiger.com. He's really pretty.

You know, I said that I've never seen him awake. That's not entirely true. Before all the home football games Mike is loaded into a trailer & he's paraded around the stadium with the cheerleaders on top of the trailer. He roars, the crowd goes crazy. So, I've just never seen him awake in his habitat. Apparently, he's really spoiled too. There have been several football games that he didn't make because "he didn't want to get in his trailer" says his Vet. Hmmm, he didn't want to? WTH??? Throw a steak in there & move it buddy! After all, riding around Tiger Stadium is his ONLY job!

I'm linking to Outdoor Wednesday.

Toodles!