Weekend in New Orleans

Spring Break was quite eventful this year, but the best was saved for last when Collin, Bryan, and I traveled on Thursday to New Orleans to spend a few days with Micah and Rhyne. We had a wonderful time. Thursday night, we had pizza and watched a movie before calling it a day. Both Friday and Saturday were jammed packed every minute with sight-seeing, shopping, or eating. Bryan crashed on the couch at his sister's apartment and Collin and I spent the night at the Providence Guest House, a property of the seminary. Here's a recap of our itinerary.

Friday

We began the day with a tour of the Garden District driving down St. Charles. The houses and gardens were beautiful and we saw an occasional trolley car.

We drove to the West Bank and crossed the Crescent City Connection which spans the Mississippi to see Micah's school and she also drove us by the church they attend.

We stopped off at a drum shop for Bryan to do some browsing.

We spent the afternoon at a shopping center. We took in Kirkland's, Dress Barn, World Trade Market, Pier I, and the guys took in Best Buy. I am somewhat envious that Micah has such great shopping opportunities in the big city.

We headed back to the apartment, picked up Rhyne from his day at the seminary, and went to Landry's Seafood for dinner. We had a great meal and enjoyed dining outside on the deck with a fantastic view of Lake Pontchatrain.

Saturday

We began early once again. Bryan had never been in the French Quarter so we headed out for more sightseeing. We had quite a walk stopping off at Jackson Square. The cathedral was beautiful and the horse drawn carriages are always captivating. People were everywhere.

I'm always taken by the buildings, balconies, wrought iron, and plants.
We perused the market district and saw trinkets, t-shirts, jewelry, galore, but Bryan was taken by one particular display that had a lot of instruments hand crafted. He selected a couple of them to bring home.

By this time, we were hungry again and sought out another unique cafe in the quarter to have lunch. We walked backed to the car and headed to Baton Rouge. Our destination goal was the campus of LSU. Bryan was interested since we were so close. It's a beautiful campus and it was huge. Another university to add to his list of those toured. We headed back to stop off at a Tanger Outlet Mall where Micah and I enjoyed the afternoon and the guys had an equally good time across the interstate at a massive Cabela's. We reached the city about 7 and had dinner at New Orleans Seafood and Burgers.

Sunday morning we packed up and headed home. We took the Causway to come home to enjoy the lake; it's beautiful and Bryan had never been across.

The weather the entire weekend was beautiful; sunny and in the 70s and 80s. Wish you could have been with us.

Marcia

March Madness

It's been a long time since a post update. With the arrival of March, it seemed my life turned into one of mayhem and suddenly, here we are near the end of March. The daily routine keeps me busy, but looking back, here's the list of extras.

1. Bryan has had a number of things going and I've spent some time helping him with projects for school and for church.

2. I always have a Mary Kay Open House in the spring and fall. As I checked the calendar, I could readily tell I had to get in gear a little earlier than usual to get ready and host the event which came off the first weekend in March.

3. My boss got married and our staff hosted a wedding for her. There was much to do, but I specifically did all the photography of shooting, and then cleaning up and processing the photos. You would be surprised to find that it can be quite difficult to find an appropriate album that will hold the photos. One afternoon, I went to a number of different stores before finding something suitable.

4. The school quarter ended and there were grades to calculate and post. Also involved were two late nights of parent/teacher conferences which kept me at school one night until 6 and another until 7. This makes for a very long, tiresome day.

5. Our 10-year old cat, Nala, isn't doing well and there have been a number of trips to visit the vet.

6. Then there are simply other various and sundry calls of duty; haircuts, securing license tag renewals for three vehicles, committee meetings, dental appointments, and Mary Kay meetings, just to name a few, above and beyond that of the the usual day's work, laundry, and house hold chores.

I've been stressed and I've been tired.

But, on a positive note, I celebrated a birthday this month, and my family and friends made it so special. I received a number of beautiful cards and e-mails along with some lovely gifts. I received some money, some decorative pieces from Hobby Lobby, note cards and "froggy" condiment knives, and Collin gave me a gift card for a one hour massage. I asked Collin if he thought I needed some "de-stress" time? My mom had a birthday as well and it was a special treat for me to take her to lunch at San Francisco Bread so we could celebrate a little together.

Spring Break has finally arrived and am I ever glad. Yesterday, I worked in the yard and cleaning the patio most of the day and also helped Collin a little in the shop. Working outside is a favorite activity of mine and I always look around and feel a great satisfaction in seeing the accomplishments of the day. I'm thankful for a warm, sunny day for productivity, because today it's raining. Tomorrow doesn't look to promising, but I can always do housework in the rain, and I think tomorrow there will be plenty of time to focus on my domestic chores. Not only do I expect to succeed on some projects on the home front, but Wednesday, I'm cashing in on my birthday present from Collin, and then, the last part of the week, we're headed to New Orleans to see our kiddos. I'm excited.

Another bonus this weekend, we had out-of-town guests; Jeri and Misha from Tuscaloosa. Jeri is our cousin and Misha might as well be. It was good to visit and catch up.

I always like to include photos in my blogs, but I've been so busy, I haven't had the camera out in a while. Perhaps, I'll make pictures over the next weekend to share, and maybe I'll have pictures very soon of the progress of the yard, patio, and spring flowers as the season unfolds. Thank goodness for warmer temperatures and budding trees.

Feeling better already,
Marcia