Carnival Ball

This weekend we took a little trip down to Hattiesburg for the 45th Krewe of Elks Carnival Ball with my grandparents. This was our fourth year to go with them to this, and we always have fun!

This year's theme was "Under the Sea," and the decorations were gorgeous! A good time was had by all.

Here's my favorite pic of the night, Granny and her friend, Emma Rose. This woman is a total hoot, I promise. :)

Calm Before the Storm

I'm trying to enjoy some quiet time while it lasts because the next couple of months are about to be insanely busy for us! Between work travel, Taste of Mississippi, weddings and "world traveling" we'll be in fast-forward through mid May.

I promise I'm not complaining, just preparing. The good news is I'll have PLENTY to blog about! Stay tuned! :)

Ain't no party like a hot tub party...

Friday night we were invited to enjoy the BEAUTIFUL spring-like weather by spending a few relaxing hours in a friend's hot tub. Um, can we say I was in heaven?

This hot tub was amazing. It was huge, had different colored lights, water fountains, speakers around the headrests, THE WORKS... We put some aromatherapy bubbles to make it even better, and it was fabulous. The picture above was taken from a Blackberry, so it's not the best and we look like we all have red devil eyes, but you get the idea.

The best part? We totally had a Glee-style karaoke sing-off in the hot tub. Don't be jealous. It was entirely too much fun for just four people on a "low-key Friday night."

Is there a better way to enjoy a beautifully clear and warm February night? I don't think so. :)

Spring Fever

The weather this week has given me MAJOR spring fever. I know it's just mid-February and we'll likely have another cold snap/frost before spring officially arrives, but with temperatures in the 70s, it's hard not to imagine sipping an Abita Strawberry on my back deck in flip-flops.

I LOVE this beer. I'm usually a boring Miller Lite drinker, but this Strawberry Lager is sooooo tasty. Last year we brought a couple of six-packs with us to Florida and would drink one after we got back from the beach in the afternoon. They're so refreshing! No, this is not a paid endorsement, nor am I a lush. I just like this stuff. That's all.

Anyways, I hope to get in some Vitamin D therapy this weekend at some point. Maybe some good, quality time at the Crawdad Hole will help. Right now I can't get outside fast enough. This weather makes me want to skip class and ride around with my windows down and sunroof open listening to Better than Ezra and Afroman like I did in college. Oh, the fun...

Until then, my pasty white skin will wither away under these non-flattering flourescent lights. Too bad I can't move my work outside for the day like we sometimes would move class outside. I didn't know how good I had it back then. :)

Katherine and Paul sitting in a tree...

This weekend I helped celebrate Katherine's upcoming wedding with a super nice bachelorette party in New Orleans. We stayed at the Ritz, which was a first for me, and it was LOVELY. :)

Friday night we went to dinner at Mr. B's then out for some fun on Frenchmen Street. I finally found my long-awaited Abita Strawberry beer, so that combined with some great live music made me one happy girl.

On Saturday we went to brunch at Elizabeth's Restaurant, which was absolutely FABULOUS, then walked down Canal Street Saturday afternoon for a few afternoon drinks at Lucy's Bar. It was such a beautiful day down there!

We had Katherine's lingerie shower before a late dinner at Bayona, which was an extra special treat. I'll have you know that this chicken finger girl actually tried sweetbreads during dinner, so you should all be impressed. If you don't know what that is, it is the edible glands of an animal (like the thyroid gland, lungs, etc.) This particular dish was veal. I know, right? I'm sooooo not adventurous, but I figured if I was going to try it, this was the place to do it!

We didn't leave the restaurant until nearly midnight Saturday, so we just came back to the hotel and had some quality girl time (which included trying to play Light As A Feather, Stiff As A Board) and finally fell asleep around 1:30 a.m.

It was such a GREAT WEEKEND down there! New Orleans was packed for the Mardi Gras Marathon yesterday, and I'm telling you, the weather could not have been any more perfect.

Now less than three months until the wedding!

Brrrrr

This was poor Bentley this morning. He still wanted to play ball even in the snowy/icy weather. He never gives up.

This is the THIRD time in a month that we've lost half a day of work to "inclement weather conditions." At least this time we actually got some pretty, fluffy-for-a-little-while snow. It was so peaceful to sit by the fire and watch it snow last night. I felt like I was at a cabin in the Rockies. So quiet and beautiful. It didn't last long, but it was nice while it lasted.

Anyways, I'm getting major spring fever. I need some Vitamin D therapy in a bad way. One afternoon of sitting in the warm sun would do wonders for me right about now. Hopefully that will come sooner rather than later. Until then, I'll bundle up and let my teeth chatter. Surely it can't be for too much longer...

Church

I may have mentioned before that our New Year's resolution this year was to find a church home. It's been something that we've wanted to do for a while, so we started out fresh in 2011. So far we've visited three churches, and I think we've found "the one" for us.

First, a little background... I grew up at Parkway Heights UMC in Hattiesburg. That was my home church, and I was very active in the youth group. Once I started college, I tried the Wesley Foundation a few times, but really just drifted away from church all together. Derek and I were married at Parkway Heights but were young and living in Vicksburg and enjoying our weekends too much to sacrifice Sunday morning sleep at the time. Awful, I know, but I'm being honest.

Once we moved to Jackson, we talked and talked and talked about it, but we just kept postponing. I figured we would find a church once we had kids and go from there. The past few months we talked more and more about it, and we really didn't have an excuse not to go anymore. Our weekends aren't as wild and crazy as they used to be, and we're home a lot more now. Plus we both just felt urged to go to church. And so began our New Year's resolution...

Growing up Methodist, I knew that's the kind of church in which I was comfortable. Derek's religious background is Catholic, but he, too, just wanted a place that we both felt like we belonged. It's all about compromise once there are two of you trying to find your middle ground.

An old friend of mine from my youth days at Parkway Heights is now the pastor at St. Luke's Methodist Church in Fondren, so I sent him a Facebook message about a month ago to just get his take on it. He said it's an old (built in 1930) church with a mixed congregation of older folks and young couples thanks to the recent Fondren revitalization and that the services were more traditional with the choir wearing robes, singing hymns we grew up with, etc.

We checked it out for the first time a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it. We loved the size of it, the location, the people, and just the overall feel of it. We both felt very "at home" there and were surprised to even see a few friends there, too.

The first sermon we heard there was actually about my old PHUMC youth director, whom we all loved deeply and still remember. He was tragically killed in a car accident when we were in junior high, and it was heartbreaking. I started crying quietly during the sermon, and I took it as a sign. I think it was God's way of telling me that we had found a new home there. It was a great feeling. I can't tell you how good it feels to actually be EXCITED about going to church again.

I've always been pretty quiet about religion, and I don't really share my thoughts and opinions with too many people. I just think it's a private thing for the most part, and I probably won't talk about it again on this blog. But just this once I thought I'd share my story, as well as our enthusiasm for turning over a new leaf in our lives.

Don't get me wrong... I still love my weekend sleep, but I think now I can devote Saturday to catching up on my Zzzz's and save Sunday for a little one-on-one time with God. It's a great way to start the week. :)