It's Carnival Time!!!

We celebrated Valentine's Day this year with the Krewe of Elks Carnival Ball in Hattiesburg. We go every year with my grandparents, and each year seems to be more fun than the last. First, I need to explain that this is no dinky Mardi Gras ball at the Elks Lodge. This group of Elk (or is it Elks?) has a swanky lodge on more than 1,000 acres complete with a lake (appropriately named Elks Lake.) They built the lodge in the 1960s I think, and while it may be just a little outdated now, it was definitely top of the line back in the day. I grew up going swimming and camping out there with my parents and grandparents. It was THE place to go. :)

Anyways, back to the Carnival Ball... This was the 43rd annual royal presentation. They have a king and queen and court just like any other Mardi Gras Krewe. My grandfather, Pap, was King Elk VIII back in 1973, my parents were in the Court back in 1980 when they were pregnant with me, and I was a page to Queen Elk XX and XXI when I was a little girl. So, needless to say, it's definitely a family tradition. :)

Here's Pap with his queen, Rosie, during the presentation of the former kings and queens.

Here is a picture of Derek and me with Granny and Pap.

And here's my favorite shot of the night... Derek getting some lovin from the ladies... Notice the crazed look in Rosie's eyes. I think she was ready to fight me for him last night. :)

We had so much fun, and it's always a great way to kick off the Mardi Gras season. I think we're ready for New Orleans now! :)

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.