Face Stretches

This is what I do when I am bored at work. I was having a writer's block type moment while working on a project and decided I needed to stretch my face some!

Hogs for the Cause

Saturday was the 4th annual Hogs for the Cause fundraiser at City Park. It is a large gathering of different teams/restaurants creating yummy pork dishes in hopes of earning the title "Grand Champion". There are non-competing tents as well. Sucre takes the gelato truck out to offer sweet treats for the crowd. Along with the plethora of food options, there is live music as well!

Brie and I went to check it out and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon taking lots of Hipstamatic pictures! Due to the excessive amount of rain during the week, the field that the event took place in was still rather swampy but despite this minor set back there were a ton of folks out getting their pork-eatin' fund-raisin' party on!

Oaks with a temporary mini-lake

Lucy's booth had games that we played and won fun things like this toy whale :)

Working on our tans

The turn-out looked great!

The 610 Stompers had a dunking booth game!

I went for it and tried The Company Burger's "Tongue Slider"

Me with my Tongue Slider and Amy

The event is a fundraiser for Pediatric Brain Cancer. I have not heard any numbers yet, but I hope they raised a ton of money to help lots of families in need!

The Hunger Games: My Review

Saturday afternoon Brie and I gathered all of our pent-up excitement and anticipation, pre-purchased our IMAX tickets to ensure us seats, and headed to the theater to see The Hunger Games! We have both read the books (Brie has completed them twice), watched every trailer that has been released, played tons of Sporkle trivia games about the trilogy and waited eagerly for the release of the movie. Unfortunately after sitting through nearly 2 and 1/2 hours of film, we were left wanting so much more.

Perhaps if we had not read the books and knew the details we would not have been as disappointed by the cinematic interpretation of Suzanne Collins' story. After much discussion about what we did and did not like, we boiled things down to: poor acting (we had a hard time feeling bad for Katniss), lack of character relationship development (Katniss & her mom?), bad camera shots (a TON of up-close, jerky shots), and changing the story's details (where was Madge? Why wasn't Haymitch's alcoholism addressed more?). I am extremely surprised that the film has received such high ratings. Not even because they took so many liberties with the original story, but the overall movie on a basic level was not that great.

Overall: disappointed. We came home and ended up watching Twilight: Eclipse, and though the entire Twilight Saga is cheese-central, at least the films (minus the first, God-awful one) are decently made. Will I see the next film in the Hunger Games trilogy? Probably. Will I pay the extra dinero to see it in IMAX? Absolutely not.

I'm So Cool

My first ever business card! I have 500 of these babies to hand out--who wants one? Hehe :)

ANDREW!!

The other week we were blessed with a visit from our good buddy Andrew. When he was down in December I was swamped at work and didn't get to hang out very much so I made sure this time around was different!

Nothing compliments a snazzy suite like a beautiful ax

Keeping it classy, we enjoyed some lovely cocktails at Apolline on Magazine

Our multi-course dinner was fantastic!

Speaking of fantastic food: we had our first boil of the season!! I don't think I could ever get tired of eating crawfish

We wrapped up his weekend trip with some friends and some beers at Bulldog

Andrew always knows how to have a good time! Looking forward to the next time he is in town :)

St. Patrick's Day Fun

The day of all things green was a gorgeous day here in Nawlins! Brie and I swung by a friend's house on Magazine Street to join the festivities.

Despite the fact that you can't see it, Brie and I were both wearing copious amounts of green clothing!

This guy partied his clothes right off!

A sea of green

Zucchini bread to celebrate!

Sloppy Neat Freak

I think I have come to the realization that I am a sloppy neat freak. I hate clutter and disorganization in any area of my life with one exception: my bedroom. Frequently my boudoir looks like a bunch of tiny bombs went off all across it. A pile of dirty clothes here, a stack of papers there. Unopened mail, yesterday's shoes tossed a side, clean clothes that just didn't quite make it back to their correct drawer. Stuff is everywhere.

I suppose my rational can boil down to this: my bedroom = my space; if it is messy I am to blame. However, if the kitchen/living room is in disarray well that could certainly be someone else's fault. Communal areas should be kept tidy for appearance sake as well as general consideration for the other folks using the space. Having said all of this, I desperately need to get off this computer and clean my room up! It is getting scary gross in here!!

Travel Troubles

Though I would not consider myself a "frequent flier" I have certainly increased my time in the air since moving to Louisiana and luckily have never experienced any issues. That is until my most recent ride in the sky.

I intentionally schedule my flights home so that I leave very early from LA on my first day and very late from VA on my last day so that I can optimize the amount of time I am at home and do not waste an entire day in an airport. That being said, I missed my 6:00am flight home and had to hang out at the airport until my newly scheduled 9:30am departure. I learned a few lessons from this incident: 1) Friday 6am flights are popular and therefore, it is crucial to pre-check in online/arrive early and 2) It is nearly impossible to sleep in an airport when employees make announcements over the intercom every few minutes.

Not only did I miss my initial flight but I nearly missed my connection in Charlotte because the lady who put me on the later flight gave me 9 minutes to get from one side of the airport to the other! Thank goodness that plane was a little late so I had a few minutes to catch my breath before boarding.

Both of my flights were rather turbulent due to the wind and tornado warnings! None the less I eventually made it to Virginia in one piece.

The weather continued to work against me on my return trip. Lynchburg to Charlotte was no problem, but my second flight was delayed by 3 hours! There was "air traffic congestion" that caused my 10:30pm flight to depart at 1:30am. Sigh. I had a heads up on this delay so I made sure to have my computer with me so I could watch Dexter while I waited!

All-in-all: too much sitting in airports, buuuutttt at least my luggage managed to keep up with me :)

Catch Up

Let's catch up shall we? This is what's been up with me:

I came back to work last week to this super bright sign! How sweet!

Easter is in full swing at Sucre. We decorated these big plastic eggs with fondant for the windows at the stores. Mine is the cute purple one with the orange ribbon!

Sunday evening Brie, Evan, AV and I drove around Lake Pontchartrain to Manchac, LA to have a very southern fried dinner at Middendorf's. I whipped out the Hipstamatic to document this rendezvous.

The men waiting for their seafood

Dear Lord what a plate! This is the fried seafood platter: you've got oysters (which I hesitantly tried and still greatly dislike), shrimp, a ton of catfish, an over-stuffed crab, hush puppies and french fries underneath it all! Yeah, there are definitely leftovers still in the fridge!

Really? I know I just had a birthday but I don't think 26 year olds qualify for AARP benefits?!

Celebrity sighting: Brie, Zach, his roommate Will and I were enjoying a glorious meal outside of Rum House this evening when Samuel L. Jackson stopped to smoke a cigarette and wait for his friend beside our table.

Going to the Chapel...

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be a part of Whitney & Mike's wedding day! I have not been to Virginia Beach in years so it was nice to get away to somewhere different.

The beach is nice to look at in February...but NOT warm!

Kerry, Whitney & Lindsey getting ready at the hotel room. I loved the bridesmaids dresses; they were gorgeous and flattering on everyone!

Mr. & Mrs. Babb's first dance as a married couple

Whitney & Me celebrating her big day!!

I loved their "guest book" idea: everyone was asked to put their thumb print on the tree and write their name with it! I think it turned out really awesome!!

I was so glad I was able to share in their special day and wish nothing but a life time of happiness and love for the cute couple!!! On their program at the church they had the following quote:

"This day I will marry my best friend, the one I laugh with, dream with and love..."

Mardi Gras Round 2

While work took up most of my time this year and I did not get to go to nearly as many parades as I did last year, I managed to squeeze a bunch of fun into Mardi Gras day! I opted to sleep in and not rush to see Zulu or Rex but met up with everyone for our traditional Krewe of Julu jaunt from Bridge Lounge to Frenchmen Street!

Airplane art

We caught the beginning of Rex near Canal Street

The Krewe of Julu making its pilgrimage through the CBD

Brie, AV, Me & Daniel showing our Fat Tuesday spirit

Aftermath in the Quarter

We could not have asked for better weather to celebrate the end of Carnival Season. It was a great day of drinking, walking, and fun with friends...certainly a nice change of pace from my crazy work schedule.

Muses & d'Etat

I may have missed a bunch of parades but Muses was not one of them! The all-female Krewe tends to be a favorite for many including myself. Their main theme are heels/shoes...since they are women and all!

You can't really see her, but Patricia Clarkson is at the top of the shoe!

I luckily had a connection this year and was thrown one of the coveted Muses Shoes!! I did not realize until I got it home that there is a big ol' gold spider on the tip of it!! I am deathly afraid of spiders...but I do love my shoe!!

Some of the fun ladies marching in the parade between floats

Ain't this the truth!

Brie, Max, Zach & Me enjoying d'Etat! Not sure who the guy is on the far left?!

I sported some funky nails for the end of the Mardi Gras season! They were the sticker-no paint/drying kind that are really popular right now!