More Christmas!

Dean & I hosted Christmas at our house. Like I said before, we had a ridiculous amount of food. This is some of it. Lydia, Dean's mom, my mom & part of my uncle. I'm sure they'll all be thrilled when they see this. Yes, we eat on paper plates. Don't judge.

Logan enjoyed his food when he wasn't too busy to eat.

The kids were very excited about opening gifts.

Yes, that's my brother, Scott, grouped in with the kids. If you know him you know just how appropriate that is. My cousin Brooke was patiently waiting with them.

This appeared to be Logan's favorite gift. A Hummer with a bass boat & trailer. He has a thing for boats. More of the chaos.

I don't know why the earlier pictures are so dark. Logan was so serious while he was opening everything.

My daddy & my cousin's hubs, Scott. Yes, we have 2 Scott's, a Lydia & a Leslie. It gets confusing at times.

Logan spent a lot of time like this. That's Dean's mom in the background.

There was something like a 80% chance of rain Sunday. Thankfully, the weather people don't know what they're doing & we didn't get any rain after about 5:00 am.  The older boys played football for awhile. This is my cousin Dylan.

And his brother Brendan.

I didn't do too well with the picture taking this year. At least I got some. For those wondering I never found Dean's gift that I lost. I'm hoping it's going to turn up when I least expect it. I did get him this.

It's a wine refrigerator & it's difficult to photograph because the door is a mirror but it doesn't look like a big regular mirror. It's very nice. Excuse my reflection. I couldn't figure out a way to take a picture of it without me in it. Anyway, I got it for Dean but he continues to point out that it's a together gift......That's what happens when you're hard to shop for. HA! For those feeling sorry for him that he didn't get his own gift, don't. I got him a very nice Saints "Sideline Shirt" & a set of Washers. It's a game that you play outside. I didn't know what it was until about 6 months ago.

Toodles!

1 Week

Can you believe it's one week until Christmas? This year has flown by for me but November & December have passed at an amazing pace. It's wild. Friday, Dean & I were off so we ran a couple of errands & then went out to lunch & to the movies. We saw New Years Eve. I hadn't heard good reviews but for me that usually means I'll like it & I did! It was very cute. Friday night we went to a Christmas party at our neighbors. I swear there's not much better than walking next door for a party. Especially, at this time of year when traffic is horrendous.

Saturday night was another party. This time it was with Dean's extended family in Bayou Pigeon. For those that don't know, Bayou Pigeon is a place & it's where Dean grew up. We ate! There's always plenty of good food & Dean's cousin made one my favorite dessert - ooey gooey bars! Santa even made an appearance!

Dean's cousin Cody loved Santa.

His sister Emma was not a fan. You could hear her squeals of distress from the back of the house! She came out & claimed her gift once Santa was out of sight!

Dean's other cousin Sam liked him too.

Although, she loved her M&M's more! I didn't get many good pics. I'm not thrilled with my camera. It seems like if the lighting isn't perfect the pictures are crap. Oh well.

Today was a true day of rest. We got up early & went to Mass & did our grocery shopping for the week & other than that I did nothing. I'm still not completely over whatever this is that ails me so I medicated myself & laid on the sofa reading & watching TV. It's back to work tomorrow & I actually have to work all 5 days this week. Definitely not excited about that.

Toodles!!

Back on track....

Somewhat. I gained a few pounds over the last few weeks since I wasn't able to exercise because of my hip. Last week I was seriously contemplating a visit to the Doctor. My neighbor/athletic trainer didn't think it was necessary unless I wanted a cortisone shot. Um, no. I don't take cortisone shots when I'm sick because they keep me awake for days & I don't do good without sleep. Not to mention, they HURT! Apparently, my hip heard this conversation because within days it was feeling MUCH better. I didn't go to Yoglates last week because I knew I'd be doing a lot of ladder climbing when I was decorating for Christmas & I thought the combination of it all may be too much. I climbed & climbed & all was well. I'm still icing it at night just to be safe but I'm about ready to stop because it's cold here & laying around with a frozen bottle on my leg isn't fun. To all my northern friends - YES, IT'S COLD!! The other day it didn't get out of the 40's all day! I went back to Yoglates Monday & was able to do everything without pain. I'm a little sore but I think that has more to do with no exercise for weeks than the hip. I'm going back today.

My house is all decorated for Christmas. I need to take pictures. I've done a ton of Christmas shopping online. More than I've ever done. I don't like to pay shipping but this year pretty much everything has been free shipping & if there was a charge it wasn't much. I still have a few things to pick up.  I plan to get started wrapping this week & get my Christmas cards taken care of.

Of course, as with every year, when I'm Christmas shopping I end up picking up some things for me. I mean who can pass up the sales??? Yesterday, Reebok extended their Cyber Monday sale. Tons of stuff was on sale plus there was a code for 40% off your total order & there was free shipping. My kind of sale.  I got a couple of pair of their running shorts that I love & some tanks. I think I'm about to order a yoga bag that I saw too but I can't find a coupon code for the shipping. We'll see. Do y'all shop for yourselves at Christmas?

One thing I've managed to refrain from this year is buying Christmas decor. I swore that this would be the year I didn't buy anything. I have so much stuff. I really don't need anything else. Over the weekend I made a wreath with supplies from previous years. The only thing I didn't have was a wreath hanger, I know it's not necessary but it's easy & a couple of little sticky up (don't y'all love my descriptions?) things for the top of the wreath. I also needed 2 new candles because for whatever reason candles on my dining room table melt without being lit & then the shape gets all wonky. I went to Hobby Lobby after work yesterday & got only the things I needed! That never happens! YAY ME!!

Toodles!

Christmas Day

For the last several years we've hosted Christmas at our house. Dean cooks seafood gumbo as the main course & there are lots of appetizers & desserts. Dean's parents & my family all come over. I was very excited to see this little one!

 Isn't Logan's sweater so cute?? We were so surprised that he didn't touch my big tree. My smaller tree in the kitchen did get his attention though.

I thought this was so funny how he was just sitting in the window chilling, then he got a little closer & BAM he wanted to touch!

Dean's gumbo was good as usual.

Logan liked it too. Of course there isn't much Logan doesn't like! Then we opened gifts.

These are my cousins, Brooke & Dylan.

Can you tell Dylan is over the picture taking?? Logan loves him some Brooke!

How sweet is that? I think everytime she stood still he gave her a hug! This is Logan with his Nonk.

Logan with his Nona (my mom).

This is me with Logan & my cousins, Dylan, Brooke & Brendan. All 4 of these kids are my Godchildren.

I hope whoever was holding the camera that we're all looking at sends me a copy of this. It was quite a feat to have all 4 kids looking in the vicinity of the same camera & also keeping Logan still long enough to take it! This is my brother Scott with all the kids. He's Logan's dad & the cousins Godfather.

Yes, Scott's wearing a Griswold Family Christmas t-shirt that he was oh so very proud of! He's a 33 yr. old kid! When you ask Logan for a kiss he gives you a big open mouth wet kiss that pretty much amounts to him licking you. It's the sweetest thing ever if you don't mind a little baby slobber.

Dean is not a big fan of baby slobber!!! HAHA! It was really cute!

I'm off today but Dean is at work. His holiday is Monday which is really annoying. He gets more vacation time than I do & more holidays so it's a real bummer when one of the holidays we both have isn't on the same day. How am I spending my day? Well, I was supposed to be going to lunch with my friend & Godchild & getting my nails done. Instead, I'm waiting on the washing machine repairman to show up. The washer is working but it's doing some funky thing where it won't automatically go into the spin cycle. So here I sit. Tonight we're going to a party at a friends house. Very casual & they live around the corner so as long as it isn't raining we'll walk. What about y'all? I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!!

Toodles!

A Tour

Yes, it's another post about Christmas decorations. I'm linking to Kara's blog for

This is her first party & it's anything Christmas this week. I love Kara & her blog! She's funny & a FABULOUS decorator. So that's why this is another post about Christmas decorations. Not to mention that I'm not having the best day. Forgetting the maid is coming & turning the alarm on only to go speeding home from work after only being there 30 mins. to get there 2 minutes too late doesn't lead to a great start to the day. Anyway, Christmas makes me happy so here we go.

Welcome to our house!

I did the garland & wreaths & my hubby hung it all up. The topiaries came from Sam's a couple of years ago.

 This is the table in the breakfast area. It's an iPhone pic so it's not very clear. The server in the background has my Nativity on it. I did a post about it already.

Another iPhone pic. This is an iron Christmas Tree I got one year after Christmas. The penguins I bought this year at Z Gallerie just because I like them. I know they don't go with anything really but I like them. I added the little bows around their necks. They remind me of "back in the day". It's a long boring story for anyone that doesn't know it already but suffice it to say one of my friends knew EVERY.SINGLE.WORD of Billy Madison & recited it OFTEN!

This little tree is in the hall bathroom. I bought it at Lowe's last year for like $5.00!

This is the built-ins above the TV. Nothing fancy.

Here's a close up of The Holy Family. I bought it at an after Christmas sale too. It's gold but not quite this shade. It's really hard to get good pics of decorations.

The chandy in the dining room. I had some extra ornaments so I put them here.

The "Big" tree in the living room. It's decorated in burgundy & gold. I promise it's not crooked.

The "Big" tree during the day.

Another view at night just because I like it.

The smaller tree that I have in the kitchen. It's done in red, green & silver & has all of our ornaments that we've collected on trips. I bought this tree on sale at Hob Lob after Christmas last year.

This has  nothing to do with Christmas but I won a giveaway from Kara! The candle smells so good & the cookbook looks like there are some recipes that I may be able to do!! The roosters are salt & pepper shakers. Aren't they cute?

In 25 hours we'll be leaving for Disney!! It can't get here soon enough.

Toodles!

Public Enemy #1

Or maybe just Traci's Enemy #1!!! I know everyone is sick of hearing about the birds but they obviously know how much they annoy me & are enjoying it!!!! I've talked about the birds here and here & multiple other times I'm sure. So yesterday morning when I was locking the door I saw something out of the corner of my eye & when I looked up it was a stupid bird & it went swooping by & scared me half to death. Fast forward to last night. Yesterday was Dean's birthday & we went to Flemings for dinner. When we got home Dean was unlocking the door & I told him about the stupid bird from earlier & he said "it's sitting on the speaker now". I look up & sure enough there's a bird up there. Lovely. I went inside & got my camera. I thought it would be gone but nope, he was still there.

Now, since when do birds just sit there & look at you when you're 2 feet away?? What kind of stupid bird is this??  Fast forward to this morning. When I'm leaving for work I looked up & the bird is STILL there. He wouldn't look at me this time. I'm wondering if maybe I blinded him with my flash last night. Either that or he's laying eggs up there. Whatevs.

So back to last night. We went to Flemings for dinner. BEST STEAK EVER!!! We've been a few times before & it's ALWAYS been fabulous. It's on the same scale as Ruth's Chris & Sullivan's but to Dean & I there's no comparison. If you have one near you I highly recommend it for a special occasion.

Today I'm leaving early & I'm off tomorrow. Very excited about this. Dean is going to get the Christmas trees put together & I'll decorate all weekend. Tomorrow we plan to do some Christmas shopping.  It should be a good weekend!!

Toodles!!!

Happy Halloween!!

When you're 37 years old, you shouldn't feel like I do the day after Halloween. Seriously. I didn't run wild from house to house or even indulge in a ridiculous amount of candy. I only had 1 tiny 3 Musketeers. I did however have 4 glasses of wine which apparently will cause a massive headache in the morning. I've taken 3 Advil & had a Dr. Pepper & I still feel like total crapola. Ugh. Not to mention I'm exhausted from all of the weekend activities!

Friday was my birthday. Dean & I had dinner at Mansurs on the Boulevard. SOOOOO good. We had the crab cakes for an appetizer. I'm on some sort of crab cake kick (say that 3 times fast) lately. LOVE THEM!! The lettuce wedge was one of the best I've had. Probably because it had lots of dressing with lots of blue cheese crumbles in it. For me the more dressing the better. Then for my entree I had the Shrimp Vacherie which is seafood stuffed shrimp that are fried & served with Creollaise (a sauce that was to die for) & rosotto. I really enjoyed it!

Saturday, I went with my mom & did some shopping. I didn't buy much but we went to a store in town that's going out of business & they had a ton of Christmas stuff. Everything was 50%. I picked up a few things but this place is really expensive for the most part so at 50% stuff was still pricey. We ate a late lunch at the Chimes. Yes, if you're a regular reader you know that we ate there Wed. night! I wanted a cheeseburger & theirs are really really good plus my mom had never been there so off we went. DELICIOUS!!!  Dean & I went to Mass Saturday afternoon. Our Church Fair was this weekend so after Mass we hung out there. There were a ton of people that we knew so it was fun.

There's a Christmas store in town that's going out of business that was having a 50% off sale. This store is like the other store we went to Sat. in that they're pretty expensive. I'm guessing that has something to do with why they're both going out of business. Anyway, I picked up a few ornaments there too. The place was full of stuff but I didn't find a whole lot that I liked which is really unusual.

Halloween is a really big deal in our subd. Before Trick or Treat starts there's a party down the street with food & drinks & train rides for the kids.  We went down there for a little bit & then just a few houses down from us a neighbor cooks jambalaya & has desserts & chips & dip so we hung out down there most of the night. All the neighbor kids looked really cute but only a few would pose for pictures. This is Amelia-Ann as an "80's girl".

Here's Amelia-Ann & Allie. They didn't plan to both be 80's girls!

Amelia-Ann & her cronies, Gretchen & Maddie. I don't remember what Gretchen was supposed to be but Maddie was a dead cheerleader & apparently, she kept laying on the ground playing dead. I missed it but Dean witnessed it. They're too funny!

Amelia-Ann isn't shy can you tell??

This is our Godchild Abigail. She was Barbie. I think she'd just about had enough for one day!! That's her twin Gavin in the background. He refused to be in the picture.

Me & Anna were hanging out watching the "Fashion Show" that we weren't notified of. Amazing what some of the moms were wearing. Dresses & knee high boots. Really cute stuff but good grief they were walking the neighborhood trick or treating with their kids! I did have my hair fixed but it was HOT so I pulled it up.

Dean & Allie were talking Volleyball & discussing strategy. 

We had a really good weekend but I sure hope this day goes by fast because I need to lay on the sofa & recover!

Toodles!

It's Over

I can't believe it's 2010. When I was a freshman in high school there was a teen club in Baton Rouge called 2010. We used to think that was so funny because it was such a long time away. It's really weird that it's here.

I'm not making any resolutions this year. It's just something I fail at every year. I'm just going to try & be a better person & stop stressing out over things that I have no control over.

We went to our subd. progressive dinner on New Years Eve like we normally do. We had a lot of fun! I actually made it to midnight which is something that rarely happens! I then proceeded to sleep for 10 hours thanks to the Actifed I took before bed. On New Years Day LSU played in the Capital One Bowl. That was one ugly game. From the weather, the condition of the field to the actual play of the teams. Penn State won. I think the only time I got off of the sofa was to get something to eat & drink & to go to the bathroom. I don't know if I have a cold or sinus infection or what but I've felt bad for a week.

Christmas is officially over at our house. Saturday, Vicki & Lane came over so that we could exchange presents. Lane gave his paran & I a gift certificate to Mike Anderson's which is our favorite place to eat! We went & had lunch at Brewbachers & then came home & hung out awhile.



Dean & I went to Mass Saturday afternoon & then had dinner at Casa Maria with our friends, The Abadie's. Heather & Jacob opened their presents & posed for a picture.




Today, we took the Christmas tree & all the deocrations down. I miss not having my tree to look at.

I just saw on the news that the weather is going to be horrible all week. Like highs in the 40's at best which is one of the worst things I can think of. The thought of it makes me cold. It's times like this I wish I didn't have to get up early & go to work. Who am I kidding, this is one of the MANY times I wish I didn't have to get up early & go to work!! I'll never get well at this rate. I just have to keep thinking that 2 weeks from this moment I'll be on a cruise ship leaving New Orleans for sunny, warmer weather!!!!

Toodles.