Bayou Country Superfest

I took a trip back to Baton Rouge over the Memorial Day weekend to visit with family and check out the Bayou Country Superfest. I had a blast but, as always, the time flew by way too quickly!

Highlights from the BCS included performances by Josh Thompson, Luke Bryan, & Trace Adkins to start with followed by an awesomely fun performance by Sugarland and then Time McGraw. The event itself was held in Tiger Stadium on Saturday afternoon - needless to say it was a tad bit hot out there, but fortunately our seats were on the west side of the stadium so we were in the shade. I went with my mom, Aunt Debra, cousin Jill, & my aunt's neighbor and had a chance to make some rounds to see some friends.


On Sunday mom & dad had a little bar-b-que to get the family together while I was in town. Because it's summertime, it's hard to round up the whole gang, but it was still really nice to see everyone that was able to come. Unfortunately, time really did fly on by too quickly and before I knew it, it was time to head on back to Jacksonville. It sure was a nice little getaway though!

Surprise, Surprise!

Although President's Day weekend didn't quite go according to plan, it was still a weekend to remember! The original plan was to fly to Dallas Saturday morning to attend a friend's wedding and then fly out that night, but due to a flight cancellation Saturday morning I completely missed the wedding. The second part of my weekend still went off without a hitch though, and proved to be exciting for all involved!

Mom's birthday was February 22nd, so dad and I concocted a plan to take her by surprise! Had the Dallas part of my trip worked out, I would have flown out after the wedding and headed to Baton Rouge that evening but, since it didn't, I ended up in Baton Rouge a little earlier than expected on Saturday. Anyway, my aunt & uncle picked me up and brought me back to their house where my mom was lured over and quite shocked when she discovered me there too! Honestly, I thought I had blown my cover earlier in the day, but fortunately my mom is a very trusting person and believed my lies haha. 

Because it was President's Day weekend, I already had Monday off of work and decided to take an additional day to stay through Tuesday. Although I had a few extra days than normal, time still seemed to fly by, but we crammed in as much as we could! Hikes through a new park, crawfish, king cake, birthday celebrations, time with friends I haven't seen in far too long, and good times all around! 

GEAUX TIGERS

As most people know, ever since I began working here in sunny Florida, I've had an on-going rivalry with my co-workers who are avid Florida Gator fans. A few weeks ago, LSU played and successfully defeated them in a notorious nail-biter game. It was glorious :) All week leading up to the game I proudly displayed my abundance of LSU gear around the office and wound up making a bet with the VP of our company (which he obviously lost) leading to an amazing day the following week during which he had to wear an LSU shirt of my choosing :) Anyway, Sayre and I actually got to go down to Gainesville for the game, and I'm sooooo glad that we did! Aside from experiencing the thrill of the game, we also got to reunite with one of our fellow NYLFers, Erik, that we met all those years ago in San Jose as well has his fiance. They were great hosts and we had such a great time tailgating with them! 

The following weekend (last weekend, actually) I flew over to Baton Rouge for a whirlwind trip to visit with family and friends since we won't get a chance to go there for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year. Time flew by waaaaay too quickly, but it's always a treat to go home. I hadn't been to an LSU game in Tiger Stadium in 2 years, so I was so glad to have an opportunity to be there. I know it's hard for people that didn't grow up around the SEC to understand why everyone is sooooo football crazy in the south ;) but I guess for us, it's more than just a game - it's a community experience & an all-day event. Even if the game doesn't start until 7pm, everyone goes out to campus that morning to tailgate & catch up with old friends. It doesn't matter who you are - if you walk around campus for just a little while on game day you're bound to run into people that you know. It was just so much fun tailgating with Stacie & her friends & seeing old familiar faces. It brought back such great memories from my precious days at LSU.  :) Anyway, as game time approached, I met up with my mom and off into the stadium we went. That was the first LSU game she had been to since before I was born! We had great seats (thank yooooou once again stubhub.com) & a great time. We got home a little late since it tends to take awhile to move around the city once the game is over and 92,000+ fans are trying to leave, but when we got home dad was still awake so the three of us spent some quality time chatting about the game and looking at pictures before heading off to bed. Sunday came & went with a little more time spent visiting with family & then I was right back on the plane headed back to Jacksonville. Like I said before - it was truly a whirlwind trip, but I'm so glad I got the chance to go! 

So, what's next for us? Well, Sayre's wrapping up SWO school next week, we're going to try to use our passes to Disney World sometime in November, Thanksgiving & Christmas will be here before we know it, and then a new year will be upon us bringing about all sorts of new adventures! It's crazy... I know I say it all the time, but I just don't know where the time goes. 

Weddings and Birthdays and Crawfish, oh my!

Last week I went back to Louisiana for a few days for my birthday while Sayre was on yet another underway. I know, I know... it was terrible for me not to mention that I was going to be there before, but I was in town for such a short amount of time that I decided just to lay low and spend some time with my parents. I had actually planned this trip before I got my new job after hearing that Wicked was playing in New Orleans. I'm so glad they let me take a few days off since I had already gotten my airline tickets as well as tickets to see the play. It was such a whirlwind trip, but I managed to get my hands on some crawfish, a delicious cookie cake, and see the azaleas all over town in full-bloom all before heading back to Jacksonville and then up to Georgia for Brandon & Ginny's wedding!
(See more pictures I took in Louisiana here.)

Their wedding day could not have been more perfect - clear blue skies, a crisp breeze, and a lovely crowd of friends and family to celebrate the happy occasion. Sadly, because Sayre's ship schedule changed, he had to miss the wedding. He was so heartbroken and felt so bad because he had to also relinquish his duties as best man, but I was glad that I was still able to go to witness Brandon & Ginny exchanging their vows. Fortunately, Paul and Abby generously offered to give me a ride to the wedding so I got to spend some time catching up with those two as well as a bunch of other great guys and gals from Sayre's Naval Academy days. It was so nice to see everyone again, but the weekend just went by too quickly! I guess we'll just have to try to make a trip over to Pensacola sometime soon because it seems as though quite a few people have ended up down there.
(See more pictures I took at their wedding here.)

Sayre returned home on Monday, but we still haven't had a chance to celebrate my birthday together. We've got a few ideas for some fun adventures to remedy that this weekend though :) I'm looking forward to it!

Mardi Gras Mambo

It's that time of year again! Mardi Gras is very quickly approaching (February 16th, to be exact), and I have been desperately craving some good old fashioned King Cake, which is a customary treat that goes along with all of the other Mardi Gras traditions. Now, I'm not someone that really condones or appreciates the things that are typically associated with Mardi Gras a-la Burbon Street; however, the fun family-friendly parades and festivities along with the overall happy and uplifting spirit of the season are what I enjoy the most! Since I was recently telling my mom (ok, maybe more like whining to her ;)) about the fact that I can't find a decent King Cake anywhere around here in Jacksonville, she and my dad sent not just one but TWO King Cakes to Sayre and I! Sweet! Unfortunately, they are no longer in existance because Sayre and I have enourmous sweet teeth, but to be honest, they actually lasted a little longer than I thought they would. To the left is one of the King Cakes in all its glory packed up perfectly enabling it to miraculously avoid destruction in its journey here to Jacksonville.

Yes, that is a Manny Randazzo King Cake :) Arguably one of the best King Cakes around! If you're new to this whole Mardi Gras business and want to know more about it, here's a link to the Wikipedia page explaining more of its history. Read the top paragraph and then scroll down near the bottom to read the paragraph under the "United States" heading.

Thanksgiving

Sayre and I had a wonderful time visiting my family in Louisiana for Thanksgiving. I wish that we could have stayed longer, but we'll be back very very soon for Christmas festivities! Although I really wanted to spend some time visiting with my friends while we were there, we just didn't have enough time to try to round up the troops this time around, so instead we spent those few days gobbling down some turkey with family and enjoying the great outdoors since the weather was so incredible.

On Thanksgiving day, we went to my cousin Elke's house. It was so nice to be able to actually sit down and chat with everyone. Last time we were in Louisiana, we were in the midst of Hurricane Wedding and our heads were spinning in too many different directions to be able to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the good company of family and friends. The food, of course, was scrumptious! Oooh I can't even begin to tell you how long I had been dreaming of turkey and stuffing before Thanksgiving finally arrived :) We were both gloriously full once the day was over!

Aside from stuffing our faces with food, we spent a lot of time fishing in the lake in my parents' backyard. Sayre's really been missing that lately, so he was happy to be able to cast a bit out there. Unfortunately, the only two fish that were caught the whole time were tiny little brim fish that my mom happened to reel in. Regardless, we still enjoyed ourselves relaxing by the water. Dad also took us out to a shooting range one day which was pretty fun. We shot his .22 shotgun as well as my grandfather's old handgun from WWII. Well, technically the boys shot the handgun... mom and I just stuck with the shotgun :) Handguns scare me. Anyway, overall, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.