Weigh In Wednesday

I'm very excited today. I lost 2 pounds this week!! Even with the bread from Little Village!!! My total loss is 19.4 pounds. We leave for the beach on July 15th & I was hoping to lose 5 pounds before we leave. This 2 really helped that goal.

Something else that helped the goal is my new found love for Italian salad dressing. Ever since I was a kid my mom would tell us to try things that we didn't like because our taste change. So true! I never ever liked Italian dressing. I always want the fattening ranch or honey mustard. My neighbor brought me some home grown tomatoes this week & I ate one with salt & pepper & Italian dressing & it was so good! Last night I had a salad & used it.  It's half the calories of the other dressings I like.

Today is our neighbor Alexandra's 18th birthday. We're all going to dinner at the Chimes tonight. I LOVE Chimes. Love, Love, Love! I'll have to make wise choices which is difficult for me when I'm somewhere I love.

That's it for now.

Toodles!

Woe is Me!!

Friday night Dean & I went to dinner with a bunch of our neighbors. Chimes is one of our favorite places & it's practically on LSU's campus. That means if you go anytime that school is in session you have to wait a long time for a table. Dean is not a wait for a table kind of guy. Especially, when it's an hour or more. School starts one day next week so we took full advantage. It was delicious as usual. I had crab cakes. Did I mention they have the best hush puppies ever???

I just want a pair of black boots with a wedge heel that I don't want to pay a fortune for. Is that to much to ask?? Dean & I went shopping today. We went to the Outlet mall first. The Coach store was having a big sale plus I had a coupon. I've been wanting one of those cross body bags. I wanted it for our trip to Disney because it's so convenient but I ran out of time beforehand. I found this one.



It was marked down & then 50% off the marked down price plus I had my 20% off coupon. I got money for Christmas from my parents & Dean's parents so I used some of it to buy the bag. We have plans to spend a day in New Orleans for Mardi Gras with friends & that will include a lot of walking. This bag will be perfect for carrying my camera, phone & lip gloss.

Back to the boots. After the outlet mall we went to the regular mall. The ONLY tall black wedge leather (I don't want suede) boots I could find were Steve Madden. I LOVED them but not $130 love. Well, actually I did love them that much but being that I have 2 other pair of black boots I didn't really think I could justify the price. I did learn something. If you want Steve Madden, don't buy them at the Steve Madden store. The boots were $199 there & on sale for $130 but at Dillard's the regular price for the same boots was $130. I've scoured the internet to no avail. I'm hoping Dillard's has a big sale soon!

Speaking of Dillard's, look what they have.




Have y'all seen these? I was DYING laughing. I can't imagine men buying Spanx. Too funny!

I was in a pizza mood so we decided to go to California Pizza Kitchen. We've never been there before & it was close by. Well, remember what I said about Dean not being a wait for a table type of guy? Yeh, well there was a 30 minute wait for a table. Needless to say we moved on. We went to a local pizza joint, Schlitz & Giggles. Well, it may be a franchise I don't know, but 2 former LSU basketball players own the 2 in Baton Rouge. It was really good. They have these things they call Knots. It's dough tied in knots & baked with garlic & all kinds of cheesy goodness. They accidentally brought us the dessert knots which are DIVINE!!! There's this buttery, creamy sauce stuff with powdered sugar that you dip them in. O. M. G. Sooooo good! Anyway, we just ate those. It was no big deal but the waitress came & told us that the kitchen made the mistake & she brought the appetizer ones to us. They were delish too!

After lunch we came home & I took a little nap before we went to Mass. It was a lovely day.

Toodles!

What I did for $1.00 Ornaments!!!

So here's the thing, I HATE Walmart. Like really hate. Hate so much that I haven't been to one in several years. I don't count Walmart Neighborhood Market as Walmart. We do our grocery shopping there. I know it's technically Walmart but it's not the same as walking in a huge Walmart Super Center. I was perusing blogs Friday & was drooling over Sarah's Christmas decor. Imagine my surprise when I saw that she bought those adorable ornaments at Walmart. For a DOLLAR!!!! UGGGHH, what a quandry. I NEEDED that Church. I have about a zillion different ornaments but I don't have any churches. So what's a non Walmart shopping girl to do???? Yep, I called my mom. HA! She went to her Walmart & found the ornaments but sadly there were no churches left. She picked up some of the others for me. Yesterday, when we went shopping my mom convinced me that we should try another Walmart. She said we could go in through the garden center, which is where all the Christmas stuff is, and we wouldn't have to go into the actual store.  I sucked it up & off we went. I found this. 

YAY the Church!!! The only problem is they only had it in lime green & blue. The blue was BEAUTIFUL but I don't have another blue thing in my house. I mean, like, NOTHING. I don't have any lime green either but the tree in my kitchen is a mixture of ornaments & it has some regular green. I wasn't leaving without one so I figured the green would be the better choice. I was right. It blends in fine.  

After Mass yesterday I met my friend Vicki & her little boy Lane at Chimes to eat. Lane is our Godchild. We had a good time. We hadn't been out together in awhile.

Lane & I took a picture in front the tree at the Chimes. I came home afterwards & got some gifts wrapped.

This morning when I went out to get the paper I saw this.

Yes, that would be toilet paper. Then I noticed that my neighbors house was rolled. Ours was not but the wind was blowing about 250 mph.

This is the neighbors tree. Needless to say I was outside in the freezing 47 degree weather picking toilet paper up because it had blown pretty much everything from their trees into my yard. I thought it would be a good idea to get it all up before it blew into the pool & we really had a mess. This is the kinda stuff that happens when Dean goes out of town. Annoying.

I'm trying to decide what to do now. Wrap more gift or take a nap????

Toodles!

Gap & Goth

Last night we went to watch our neighbor, Allie, play Volleyball. She's a Junior in high school & is really good. Her school played the school that our other neighbor is the Asst. Principal at. We were all there & we had such a good time. It's been a long time since I've been to a volleyball game. Our friend Katie played at LSU & we went to a lot of those games but it's been years. There have been some rule changes in those years. The team doesn't have to be serving to score anymore. I like that because it makes everything go faster. Allie's team is undefeated in their district but the team they played last night is in a higher classification. We were all expecting it to not be even a little bit close. Surprisingly, Allie's team won the first game, match, whatever you call it but then lost the next 3. The three they lost were really close, all by 2 points. I was sad to see them lose BUT I was really happy it was over because those bleachers in the high school gym are NOT comfortable AT ALL.

I noticed something while watching the games. Volleyball uniforms are really ugly. Seriously. Have you seen those shorts they wear? They must be uncomfortable because they girls are always tugging on them. Someone needs to come up with a new outfit.

Of course as with every event with this group of  friends we had to go eat. After some discussion & when I say discussion, I mean Amelia-Ann vetoing several places because of their level of "creepiness", we decided on The Chimes. We all love this place. It's always very hard to decide what to eat there because everything is soooo good. They have the best burgers. I decided on a combo of fried fish & shrimp because I knew I'd have leftovers that I could bring for lunch today. Of course, I'd forgotten that Wendy & I have a lunch date at Chick fil A today. I don't know if y'all have heard but the last Twilight movie is being filmed in Baton Rouge & New Orleans. This was a hot topic at our table because all the teenagers are stalking the cast. There have been tons of sightings around town. The girls were all in a tizzy because I made the comment that I think Taylor is the only one I'd recognize.  I read all the books but have no desire to see any of the movies. I went completely out of my comfort zone by reading the books. I really enjoyed them but I really don't need to see it on a big screen. This led Amelia-Ann to make this statement: "Mrs. Traci, THE GAP has gone GOTH!!". She was very disturbed by this. Apparently, she saw the confusion on my face because she launched into this big spiel about all the weird stuff they had in the store the other day. Consider this a public service announcement if you shop at The Gap & aren't into goth!! I suggested to her that maybe they weren't actually goth, maybe they just had stuff for Halloween.

Of course this little outing led to me getting to sleep way past my bedtime which means of course that I'm tired today. Oh well!

Toodles!!

Game Day

I told you that Friday night I was going to eat well since I had Cheez Nips for lunch due to the unfortunate incident of my real lunch being stolen. We decided to go to Sammy's. LSU is out & summer school hasn't started & it was 6:00. We didn't think crowds would be a problem. We were wrong. There were about 30 people standing around outside waiting for tables & there were NO parking spots. By that point I had my heart set on seafood. I love seafood & this whole oil spill thing has me nervous that soon there won't be any. Luckily we have some fish & shrimp in the freezer. When I say luckily, I mean THANK GOD for my inlaws!!! I don't know what I'd do without shrimp. Anyway, we decided to try the Chimes. I love the Chimes but crowds are usually a problem there too. Normally, I don't mind waiting a bit. Dean however, does not like to wait to spend his money. Of course there was the unfortunate lunch incident so I needed to eat in a hurry before I got grumpier than I already was. Thankfully, we parked, walked in & they seated us immediately!! Thank God for small favors!!! It was delicious & we even got to watch the Ole Miss game on TV. I also have a whole to go box of seafood treats!!!

Yesterday, Dean went to his parents to help his dad run nets. Vicki & Lane came over to swim. The weather was beautiful & the water was 88 degrees which I think is absolutely perfect. After we swam awhile & listened to the LSU game we had a picnic, as Lane said. Vicki & I had Brewbachers & Lane had McDonalds. It was delightful. Lane was very excited about his Shrek Happy Meal.

After lunch we came inside & watched the last couple of innings of the LSU game. They won! Vicki emailed me this picture of Lane from the way home. It didn't take him long to pass out.

I may have taken a little nap myself. Our friends invited us join them for dinner at Marcello's. It was our first time to eat there & we really enjoyed it. The place was a wine bar that expanded into a restaurant. When I say expanded, I mean added a few tables. It's a bit of a hole in the wall but I like that about it. There were 6 of us there & we had a great time.

In an interesting turn of events, LSU has swept through the SEC tournament this week & is playing for the championship today. Just think, last weekend they were fighting just to get into the tournament! I'm going to go ahead & go on record AGAIN & say that I DO NOT think LSU will be hosting a regional next weekend. There are lots of people out there that do. Even if the losing  regular season conference record, the 8th seed in the tournament & fighting to get in the tournament don't convince you, the fact that there was no email from LSU saying to submit your credit card for tickets in the event of a regional should. We will see.

The game is at 1:00 & the neighbors are coming over to watch. Geaux Tigers!!!!

Toodles!