Best Weekend Ever

We had an AMAZING weekend that started out with birthday dinner at my parents' house in Hattiesburg. We headed down Friday afternoon and had a great time spending the evening with family.

Saturday we got up bright and early and went south to Lumberton for Derek and Gary's skydiving adventure! The weather was iffy, but it turned out to be perfect and they had so much fun! The peanut gallery (including me, of course) on the ground had an equally fun time watching. Here are a few pics...

After they were done we came back to Jackson to get ready for my birthday dinner out at Ro'Chez in Ridgeland. We had never been there before, but we absolutely LOVED IT! Great food, great friends, lots and lots of wine... it was incredible.

Here's Chef Roache going over the menu for the night...

Thai Pork - Peanut Satay of Pork Tenderloin served atop Thai Slaw on a Sesame Cracker
Chicken & Shrimp Dumpling - Moose of Smoked Chicken and Shrimp formed into a Dumpling served on Baby Lettuce with Sesame Dressing
Polynesian Filet - Jerked Filet Mignon on Roasted Potatoes and Onions Smothered with Coconut Hinted Demi
Citrus Scallop - 5 Spice Seared Scallop on Pineapple Fried Rice Finished with Roasted Citrus Butter
Bourbon Berry Crêpe - Bourbon and Berries in a Crepe with Ice Cream

We had our own private dining room beside the restaurant and right after the third course my favorite local musician Ralph Miller made a surprise appearance and entertained us for the rest of the evening. It could not have been more perfect!

We had to take a group picture Chef Roache and Ralph in it before we left. :)

It was a wonderful end to an absolutely incredible day... I can say that I will welcome my 29th birthday with a big smile on my face tomorrow. We truly celebrated in style!

First day of fall

Today is the first official day of fall, and I am more than ready to welcome a new season. I couldn’t be happier that fall is in the air! It’s my favorite time of year (now if only the weather would reflect the actual season here in Mississippi, we’d be good...)

The summer of 2009 was a long and hard one from the very beginning. We stayed extremely busy for three months straight, which wasn’t a bad thing, but I know I’m not alone in saying I’m very ready for a change. Sometimes a change in season is all you need to change your outlook on things, I think.

The only sad part about leaving summer behind is the thought that all our beautiful plants that Derek has taken such great care of might only have a few more months to live. He has been so dedicated to keeping them watered and happy, and in turn, they’ve bloomed all summer long. Maybe now that my parents have a nice, new greenhouse in their backyard they wouldn’t mind fostering their “grandplants” for the winter. :)

Now that fall is officially here, I greet it with open arms as I get ready for firepits and fireplaces, red wine, long sleeves, warm socks, holidays, fleece blankets and hot chocolate. My only complaint is that we’ll say goodbye to our frequent visits from fireflies…

I can never pass up a good porch party!

We headed to Vicksburg yesterday for a shower for Lauchlin and Olivia. We saw lots of old friends and stuffed ourselves silly with plenty of great shower food.

Afterwards we headed back over to their house for a good, old-fashioned porch party. Back in the old newspaper days I spent many a late night on that screened-in front porch, and it's been entirely too long since the last time. We talked, laughed, told stories and even decided it would be a good idea to decorate ourselves with some temporary tattoos (why, I have no idea, but I spent half an hour this afternoon scrubbing my butterfly off). It was great!

And an extra special treat of the evening was an inaugural game of Rock Band - BEATLES! It was so much fun! It's definitely on our must-have list now. I doubt we can even wait until Christmas. :)

It was a fun night, and it was just like old times. Congratulations, Lauchlin and Olivia! I'm happy for you two, and I can't wait until your big day!

Oh, Lynyrd Skynyrd, I'm so sorry...

I just had to share this, especially after watching "Glee" last night. I'm not quite sure what to think, but I thought you'd feel the same way. I mean, seriously??

DISCLAIMER: If you, by chance, have ties to Clinton High School's Attache' Showchoir, I'm sorry if this offends you. I'm not saying these kids aren't truly talented, but some songs should just be left alone and not choreographed and split into five-part harmony...

Happy Birthday times two!

This week we're celebrating two very special family birthdays... my mom's was Saturday, and my father-in-law's is Wednesday.

My mom and I will have a belated celebration in a couple of weeks in between her birthday and mine on the 28th. We're going for dinner tomorrow with the Greys for Gary's birthday.

To both of you, a very, very happy birthday! We love you very much!

Hello, Lover...

I have an old guy named Joseph Pilates to thank for my new found love of fitness. I went to a Pilates Reformer class yesterday for the first time, and while I felt a little awkward when I couldn’t quite catch on to the inhale-exhale timing, overall, I loved the way it made me feel!

Once I got focused, I found myself very relaxed. All I could think was, why haven’t I tried this sooner?

I’m very, very sore today, but it’s a good kind of sore. My hips, thighs and sides are a little achy, but any exercise that makes me that sore without breaking a big sweat is right up my alley. Plus, you do it barefooted, which is even better! I feel very "new age." :)

I’m going again tomorrow. And Saturday morning, too. Hopefully I will actually stick with a real exercise plan this time. We shall see…

Atta Girl

I'm patting myself on the back this morning because after a long-awaited two and a half years (almost to the day), I finally got a promotion at work, effective today. State government can be tricky as far as promotions/reclassifications go, so I'm pretty excited.

Derek's mom would have called this an "atta girl," so I'm calling it that myself. If you don't toot your own horn, then who else will? :)

Lovely Labor Day Weekend

We started off the long weekend by heading out to the lake on Saturday morning… it was a beautiful day, and it was so much fun to have a family day out there with a few babies running and crawling around. Ryan Hadley was there, as well as Trey, Melanie and Jane Reynolds, plus Ben, Kristen and Mary Hogan. For once, we non-parents were outnumbered! :)

After spending most of the afternoon on the water, we had some great ribs on the grill with all the fixin's and then took the boat out after dark to ride over and listen to a few members of The Chill (our wedding band and one of my all-time faves) play at a house down the lake. Sometimes there’s nothing like dancing barefoot in your bathing suit on a Saturday night!

We headed back Sunday morning and enjoyed a lazy afternoon watching the Ole Miss game followed by some HGTV (for Derek) and Lifetime (for me).

We slept in Monday morning and I ran a few errands before getting some food together to take across the street for a cook-out at Ben and Tina’s. It, too, was a family event with Baby Brady and our friends John and Susan and little Eli. Was someone trying to send us a message this weekend or what? Ha!

A few hours later and bellies full of a smorgasbord of food, we put on our pajamas, watched an hour of “House Hunters” and were both falling asleep on the couch by about 9.

It was such a nice weekend. It was nice to do something low-key like that instead of a having a three-day party. It was even fine with me that we spent the majority of the weekend around a bunch of babies… I guess it comes with the territory of being in my last few weeks before my last year of my 20s. We are getting O.L.D., and I’m proud of it. :)

Random Thought Thursday

It’s quite a boring but busy week our way, so I thought I’d write a Random Thought Thursday post to share what all has been going on here lately…

• CAR - Monday the insurance adjuster came to look at my car, and the good news is that the case seems to be moving along as it should, even though the towing company has not been very cooperative. He estimated the damage at just over $1,000. Long story short, they’re still processing the claim from us, but he assured us it would be a favorable ruling, even if the other party doesn’t provide their insurance information… The claims rep I’ve been dealing with is as frustrated with the towing company as I am. He actually hung up on her when she called to get his info. She called him an idiot. I obviously agree.

• BABY – I’m totally in love with Baby Brady across the street. We went over Monday night to visit with Ben and Tina and meet Ben’s mom from Canada. I know it’s been a tough and tiring few weeks for them, but he’s already grown so much! He’s adorable and I’m ready to baby sit.

• BIRTHDAY – My birthday is a little over three weeks away. Whoop Whoop! I’m excited and ready to ring in the big 2-9, although there will be no Back To College Party this year. I will act my age by having an “adult” birthday party with a nice dinner out and some wine. Nothing too crazy so I can save up my energy for the Dirty Thirty Party next year. You just wait…

• TV – I’m definitely ready for my shows to come back on!! I got super excited when I saw that “Glee” was new on the schedule for last night until I realized they were just showing the pilot again. At least next week I’ll be able to watch a new episode, plus a few other silly shows Derek doesn’t watch with me (90210, specifically). The rest of my faves will premiere in late September, coincidentally the week leading up to my birthday AND the week Derek is in Chicago for work. I will probably go cross-eyed from watching too much TV that week. On the upside of waiting on all the premieres, I learned how to fight back against a terrorist hijacker on a plane last night on “Surviving Disaster” that Derek made us watch. I even know how to fly a commercial airline now if I had to. Interesting stuff.

One more day till a THREE DAY WEEKEND, kids!! Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll try to actually post some photos soon (if you're even still reading this by now).