Winter wonderland

Hunting for chippies

Exploring the great white wilderness

Back home and wrapped in a warm towel.

Birthday Bonanza

Better late than never... This blog post was written in January of this year, and I've just now gotten around to adding the pictures and posting it. BTW, I hate the "add a picture" feature and formatting tools on blogger. I'm giving up on making this look presentable. Hope you can read it all messed up!

I realize that I can't really call myself a "blogger" if I only write a blog once every six months. I am not going to pretend that I'm going to start writing blogs all the time, or even every few weeks. I am, however, going to write a blog about the amazing birthday weekend that just took place. I knew Scott could be charming, but he definitely outdid himself this weekend.

I was planning on spending my 29th birthday in Baton Rouge with a low-key weekend, having movie night with Scott, Bethany and Dave on Friday night, and dinner with the Empsons on Saturday night. When Tam called to reschedule dinner on Friday night, I thought Scott and I would just go out to dinner and a movie and call it a night. Boy, was I wrong.

When I woke up Saturday morning, Scott had put out a card for me that said Happy Birthday (in Spanish, so I still don't know what the printed card says) with a note that told me to pack a bag and be ready to leave the house by 11am. No word on where we were heading...
I packed my bag, as well as about 14 pairs of shoes since I didn't know where we were going, and we got on the road (15 minutes early, I might add). The weather was amazing -- sunny and 65 degrees, which makes it the best birthday weather I've ever had!

We arrived at our first destination -- Liuzza's, a neighborhood joint in NOLA. And when we walked in, I was surprised to see Scott's mom and step-dad already there with a cake, balloons and presents! We had a great time, and great food, and great conversation. And a cute little cake :-) YUM!

After lunch we headed to the WWII museum, and spent 3 hours there with Scott's parents. It was a great learning experience for me (since I forgot everything I learned in high school), and it made me really appreciate what our veterans did for the nation and the world.

After that, Scott and I got into the car, and drove around NOLA for a few minutes taking in the sights. We found a place to park at the Holiday Inn (which is where we ended up staying Saturday night) and got back out on foot. The weather was perfect, people were everywhere, and it was a great night to see NOLA. We stopped and window shopped the art galleries, and then headed toward the Mighty Muddy Mississippi River. When we got there, I was cofused and surprised to see Tamara and Ryan just "hanging out" by Jackson Square. Surprise # (Ok, I've lost count) -- Bethany and Dave agreed to babysit Luke so Tam and Ryan could come for a night out on Bourbon with us!

We had a great dinner, and then headed to Tropical Isle. Why Tropical Isle, you ask? The Hand Grenades, of course! Instead of trying to detail the shenanigans in writing, here's a little montage that'll give you the general idea....

On Sunday morning, Scott took me to a brunch buffet. It was just like the dining hall in college -- Sunday mornings were the BEST days at the dining hall. Sunday brunch buffets may be one of the best ideas ever!

After breakfast, we wandered around NOLA with Mr. Tom and Ms. Jeri, doing a little shopping and experiencing the French Market. I think my favorite stall at the market was for Bedford Falls Headware (you can see their headbands here http://www.bedfordfallsheadwear.bigcartel.com/). Totally impractical and something I could never pull off, but fun nonetheless.

For the big finale, it was off to play the ponies! Scott's final surprise was an afternoon with more friends and family. Although it was lots of fun, I can't say I won enough to retire from my day job. Here are a couple snaps of the fun:

On the phone with my bookie...