Bring It On TS Lee!

Tropical Storm Lee can bring it on! Like every other person in town I headed to the grocery store Friday evening to see what I needed before I buckled down for the rain. The bread and toilet paper isles were pretty bare, but I didn't hit those items up. I decided I needed the following: simple snacks (in case the electricity goes out), bottled water (I can't be without my agua!), a trashy magazine (gotta keep up with the latest celebrity gossip), and some Malibu Black plus mixers (to keep things fun).

Of course in seriousness, I do have a flashlight, batteries, toilet paper, candles, a lighter, gas in the car, important documents gathered together, and I am following the weather closely via TV & my phone. Thus far the rain has not been that bad where I am, though I know other areas not far from me are getting pounded. For me all of this rain has induced lots of sleeping and reading!

Back to the Market

I finally made it back to the Hollygrove Market the other day. The market's limited hours of operation and my crazy work schedule has made getting there difficult so I was glad to have the chance to stop by this week.

I ended up with mushrooms, peppers, rice, cucumbers, 2 types of pears, peanuts, butter beans, sprouts, limes, herbs, and a bag of okra (I forgot to include that in my picture).

It was cool to see the different types of things they were offering as opposed to earlier in the summer. They had sugar cane rods available but I wouldn't have a clue what to do with it so I did not purchase one! I don't know what to do with the butter beans--I have never had them before so I will look up some recipes unless anyone has any suggestions?

A Quick Visit

This past weekend I made a quick trip to Lexington to see family and enjoy the lack of extreme heat! I flew into Lynchburg Thursday night. Here is a mini picture tour of my visit:

Nice puffy view from the plane

I made many trips to my LB's (Bryan's) new bachelor pad. Picked up laundry, took laundry back, watched dad mow the grass, washed his dishes. This kid has it made!

Visited an old family house that has been renovated. (This room is still very 1920's)

Watched the sunset over the mountains.

Enjoyed some chuckwagon steak at the Lexington Restaurant. Nothing in the place appears to have been purchased since the 1970's but the food is always delicious!

Did some good ol' fashioned rock shoveling!

Watched LB get dirtier than I thought humanly possible.

Ate at Kenney's not once but twice! Soooo worth the drive to the top of the hill!

Caught Grandmaw learning how to grow a donut plant ;-)

I greatly enjoyed the cooler weather, the yummy food and seeing lots of family!

Traveling Revelations

When I travel I tend to have tiny epiphanies and/or learn random things. Here are some of my most recent revelations:

• I nearly never use my high beams since moving to the city
• Airlines should seat the poor folks in the back first so that they do not have to shuffle by the wealthier passengers in the front
• I have no desire to become a pilot, flight attendant, or other airport worker
• It is fairly difficult to explain what I do for a living to other folks
• Chickens can in fact swim
• Coconut Pineapple ice cream is delicious :)

VA Bound

I am typing this post via my phone while I sit in the Charlotte airport waiting for my flight to Lynchburg. I have put in a little over 40 hours at work since Monday to get everything done and taken care of so that I can enjoy a 3 day weekend at home! With all of the strange weather/natural occurrences I am hoping to survive my trip North! I was told by a co-worker prior to departing NOLA that I cannot use a measly little earthquake as an excuse to not be back to work on Monday! I'm not as worried about an earthquake causing a delay as I am concerned that Irene will put a kink in things. But I can't think about any of that right now. My mind is more occupied with making sure I see lots of family, getting to eat some Kenny's chicken, loving on Lucky & Little Kitty and trying to relax as much as possible! So until Monday I am work-free, family-full and loving it!!

d.b.a

Friday night AV and I headed to Frenchmen Street for some zydeco tunes. We hit up d.b.a to see the Pine Leaf Boys perform good ol' Cajun music.

Pine Leaf Boys (Grammy nominated!)

Decor at the bar.

Picture time!

Zydeco music = smiles :)

Say Cheese

Wednesday, Thursday & Friday there was a photo shoot going on in the packaging room at work. Sam, Tariq's brother is Sucre's go-to photo guy. He and Jess, the Visual Branding Manager were shooting all of the products for the new website and upcoming holiday campaign. I had no idea it could be such a lengthy process! While I attempted to get my work done in my newly modified area they set up chocolates, macaroons, cocoa, pecans, marshmallows, toffee, gift sets and more.

The most perfect of the perfect ready for their close up!

The holiday gift box collection all set up.

Getting the lighting correct.

Sam & Jess making sure everything looks good.

Checking the picture on the screen for any flaws.

It was fun to see how they set things up and adjust angles and lighting to showcase everything perfectly. I will be excited to see what things look like once they are on the website! You can check out Sam's other food photography here!