Wii made a good investment

If the past week is any indication of its future, the Wii will essentially pay for itself in no time. Derek has found a way to sneak in an hour of Rock Band here and an hour there every single day. I think our band, Touch of Grey, is flying solo on tour with just the lead guitarist, so I guess the lead singer only joins the tour on the weekends. She must have a day job. :)

He put down the guitar last night for a little while and we actually played the normal sports games – bowling, golf and tennis. We tried baseball, which wasn’t that much fun, but the others really were. Too bad only my right arm is getting the exercise right now. Hopefully we’ll invest in some new games soon so we can add some more variety. It’s really addictive, though, regardless what game you play.

Even Bentley is getting in on the action. Every time we would hit the (imaginary) ball or throw the (imaginary) ball down the lane, he would bark. I think he was confused and thought that somewhere in Wii Land we were throwing the (imaginary) tennis ball for him. Poor dog… :)

Aw... fond memories...

Last night as I was watching The Bachelor, I got to thinking about the legacy of that silly show. It’s been on for about eight seasons or so now with very little success of finding true love for the bachelors or bachelorettes.

The spring semester of my senior year of college, we would watch The Bachelorette every Wednesday at Meredith, Melanie and Kelly’s apartment. We’d have six or eight girls piled on the couch oohing and ahhing over Trista’s choices. I looked forward to it every single week. I think the hostesses were all trying Weight Watchers that semester but Wednesday night was cheat night. :)

My first date with Derek was actually after The Bachelorette one night. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings and drank beer and played video trivia. It’s quite a coincidence that the season during which I met Derek was the one season that’s actually produced a successful marriage on that show. Thanks for the inspiration, Trista and Ryan. I'm forever grateful. :)

Homebodies or hermits?

If I thought we were homebodies last weekend, this weekend we must have been hermits. Besides Friday night, we didn’t really leave the house all weekend long, and I totally enjoyed it!

Friday night we went to dinner at Crechale’s for Olivia’s birthday. It's essentially a Jackson landmark, and it was a lot of fun. We had never been there before, and it has quite the atmosphere. I don’t think anything has been changed since the 1950s. It’s definitely a little hole in the wall, but the steaks were delish, and the company was fun, so we had a great time.

Saturday we enjoyed the beautiful weather by opening up all the windows and the door to the deck and letting in the fresh air. It was so pretty! I went up to the used book store and bought a couple of books and spent all afternoon sitting outside soaking up a little sun and reading my girly books. We played with the Wii for a little while. Derek’s getting to be quite the pro at the Rock Band guitar. We’re especially good at Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way.” Ha!

We kept it low-key Saturday night on the couch. We watched a movie, and I could barely keep my eyes open past about 9:30. So sad… I’m getting older by the day! :)

Derek played golf yesterday, and I did a little grocery shopping and cleaned the house. It was a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon. The whole weekend was great. It was nice to stay home the majority of the time, especially knowing that things are about to pick up with plans for the next four or five weekends in a row. Sometimes there's just no place like home. :)

Who wouldn't like an extra holiday??

Just found this on the Times-Picayune website. It's a petition by Zatarains to make Mardi Gras a national holiday. Their goal is to get 100,000 signatures by Mardi Gras this year, which is only 19 days away (trust me, I'm counting it down...)

http://www.motionformardigras.com/

They only want your first name and the initial of your last name and your city. They don't even require an e-mail address, so sign away if you'd like another holiday added to our calendars!

What a week...

I don’t think I could be any happier that today is finally Friday. This has been such a rough week. Work has been crazy, and I spent Wednesday night and yesterday on the Coast for Christy’s dad’s funeral. That was tough. She was so comforted to see her friends, though, so I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

We’re ending the week with a birthday get-together for our friend Olivia tonight. She’s the big 2-8, and I’m really looking forward to relaxing and catching up with her and Lauchlin. I stole this picture from their blog, but I really think it shows how artsy she is. :)

Happy Birthday, O!

On another note, our Wii came in yesterday, and Derek spent HOURS hooking everything up and playing Rock Band last night. It’s supposed to be a beautiful weekend, so maybe we can alternate our hours between getting some good sunshine on the deck and playing battle of the bands. I doubt we’ll leave the neighborhood all weekend, and actually I’m totally fine with that. Let the weekend begin!

Coming of Age

My heart is very heavy this week over the death of a friend's father. He was 57 and lost a battle with cancer. There have been very few times in my life when I’ve had a friend lose their parent, and I think the magnitude of the situation really hits you.

It’s more common at our age to lose a grandparent, which is hard enough to deal with but somewhat easier to accept given the fact that we were fortunate enough to have them in our lives for more than two decades. But while we grieve for the loss of our grandparents, our parents grieve over the loss of their mom and dad.

To be put in that situation at 28 or even younger is a hard, hard thing to comprehend. It’s like it immediately pushes you into adulthood, whether you like it or not.

I know you can never truly realize how short life is until you’re faced with the loss of a loved one who was taken too soon. It has a way of making you reevaluate your life and what is important to you.

My thoughts and prayers are with my friend and her family this week more than she will ever know.

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had a nice, relaxing weekend at home this time around... Friday night we went over to Drew and Kristin's to grill out and play Rock Band. We're now obsessed... so much so that we ordered a Wii online yesterday AND Rock Band to play when it comes in. It wasn't a spur of the moment decision though, we have been talking about getting one for more than a year, and we thought that would be a perfect way to spend some of our tax refund. :)

So, anyone who wants to go on tour with us in our living room, come on over. I have this fear that no one will hear from us for days, and someone will finally venture over to check on us and they'll find us without showers, without food and with our eyes glazed over begging to play just one more song. Yes, it's that addictive.

Yesterday we enjoyed the beautiful weather outside with a few friends at the Crawdad Hole. It was just a tease of Spring being right around the corner. We took it easy last night and visited with Ben and Tina for a little while before calling it a night about 10. Guess we're getting old.

Today I haven't left the house, and it's been SO nice. I've been able to catch up on laundry and even fit in my Sunday afternoon nap while watching a Lifetime movie. It's my paradise. I couldn't care less about the Super Bowl, so I'm doing a few things around the house while the game is on and sitting down to watch the commercials in between. It's a little backwards, but that's what girls like to do.

I'm not ready to go back to work tomorrow, but at least I was able to have a great, totally relaxing weekend beforehand. Once Monday gets here, I'll be workin' for the weekend once again. :)