… and we’re back!

I’m baaack!

What started as a short break due to impatience while writing a single post (followed by a hectic few years of helping my husband launch a new business) led to a very lengthy break from blogging.

Well, the dust has finally settled (and we’ve gone through some major life changes) and I find myself looking for creative outlet and possible sounding board for a few new, more personal, creative ventures. So what better time to dust off the cobwebs and bring back the ol’ blog.

I’ll have pictures and some more regular updates coming soon. In the meantime please check out the project that’s been receiving all of my time for the past 3 years here. It’s pretty awe-some, if I do say so myself.

 

Posted in Work | Tagged | Leave a comment

Cruel Shoes

Anna knew She had to have a new pair of shoes today, and Carlo had helped her try on every pair in the store. Carlo spoke wearily, “Well, that’s it. That’s every pair of shoes in the place.”

“Oh, you must have one more pair. . . .”
“No, not one more . . . . Well, we have the cruel shoes, but no one would want to try . . .
“Yes, let me see the cruel shoes!”
“No, you don’t understand, you see, the cruel shoes are . . .’
“Get them!”
Carlo disappeared into the back room for a moment, and then reappeared carrying an ordinary shoebox. He took off the lid and re moved a hideous pair of black and white pumps. But this was not an ordinary pair of black and white pumps; both were left feet, one had a right angle turn with separate compartments that pointed the toes in impossible directions. The other shoe was six inches long and was curved inward like a rocking chair with a vise and razor blades to hold the foot in place.
Carlo spoke hesitantly, “. . . Now you see . . . they’ re not fit for humans . . .” “Put them on me.”
“But… “Put them on me!”
Carlo knew all arguments were useless. He knelt down before her and forced the feet into the shoes.

Cruel shoes, cruel world. I love Steve Martin almost as much as I love shoes.

I have, and always have had, a weakness for shoes. Flip-flops, stilettos, wedges, and ballet flats. Designer and bargain basement. My parents did not believe in brand names and in my youth I used to scour the racks of PayLess and Target for the most classic and verstile (and least bargain-looking).

When I got my first job in high school my first purchase was a pair of Tommy Hilfiger’s. They were a cross between Jack Purcell’s and K-Swiss – and I literally wore them every day of my junior year until the fell apart. In college I discovered Nine West’s beaded flip-flops, then Juicy ballet flats, followed by Coach wedges and so on.

My tolerance for the discomfort of the particular shoe can be directly correlated to the cute-ness. I can tolerate the most excruciatingly painful of shoes (thank you ballet for forcing me to squeeze my feet into horribly painful wooden toed shoes for days and weeks and months on end) if they look good, or better yet if they make the outift.

So imagine my shock and displeasure when, after waking very early (and throwing on an old and long worn out pair of flip-flops) last sunday to catch all of the World Cup coverage with the fam, I happened to break several bones in my foot .

How did I accomplish this? Well, while trying to prove to my husband that I could beat him in a foot race with him running up an escalator and I running up a staircase I lost a flip-flop, and lost my footing, and subsequently kicked a concrete step with maximum force while traveling at (my) top speed.

So here I am … stuck sporting this:

Touché cruel shoes, touché.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Fugly but Comfortable…

It’s official – the impossible has happened. Somewhere in the world pigs are flying.

Whatever illusions I had of being somewhat fashionable have been shattered. I’ve crossed over to the dark side.

What, might you ask, is the dark side? Uggs – quite possibly the world’s ugliest and most unflattering shoe ever designed.

And I’m afraid to say that they’re here to stay. My time in the south has ruined my tolerance to even the mildest of cool temperatures, and my feet have never before been so snuggly warm and comfy. So, my apologies fashion world, but I’m afraid that from here on out my winter trips to the arctic north of the Mason-Dixon Line will require these puppies:

6627-643911-p

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Playing Catch-Up

So… I’ve really been slacking in the blogging department as of late. Life has been hectic and at the end of the day blogging is the last thing I want to think about. Of late, however, life has been especially busy and tense and blogging seems a welcome break.

So with that said, here’s a recap of life since my last post:

Hubs survived a night in the ER and a bout of food poisoning

food-poison

O had surgery on his knee

6260_514650674294_53300431_30721996_2895205_n(Not to worry – he’s fully recovered and better than ever)

We toured the Washington wine country with D & J

photo-5

We spent many a night (and day) wandering Seattle and taking advantage of the perfect summer weather (and the Pike Place Market).

photo1

We took in some great shows (Bellow the Belt, Catch Me if You Can, Wicked, etc)

catch-me(Aaron Tveit and Leo Norbert Butz were A-maze-ing)

Celebrated my 27th Birthday.

e-bday

Caught up on some reading (for business and pleasure)

reading(obviously this one was for pleasure)

Hosted an LSU tailgate at Husky Stadium
tailgate
Celebrated our 1st Wedding Anniversary (in Paris! Hubs completely surprised me with an anniversary trip)
anniversary

Made the big drive back to New Orleans and broke down (and subsequently spent 2 days) in Sioux Falls, SD.

granite-city(were we spent a lot of time tasting beers and watching football @ the Granite City Brewery)

Took lots of pictures of the worlds handsomest dog
o

We also: saw Ben Folds with the Seattle Symphony and Rufus Wainright (solo) at the Seattle Symphony, spent lots time with friends and family (and met all of the new babies), hosted a Bacon Party and celebrated Hubs’ 29th. Not too shabby for 5 months.

***

We also lost our beloved mailman Roy (someone very near and dear to our hearts and O’s BFF) to a tragic car accident. On Saturday, September 26 Roy was pinned to his mail truck (while covering an extra shift) when a car blew threw a stop sign on St. Charles Avenue. On Friday October 2, 2009, Roy passed away from complications from his injuries.

Roy was one of the kindest, most magnanimous, and big-hearted human beings one could ever hope to encounter. To meet Roy was to have an instant friend. He delivered more than the mail. He delivered a little piece of himself – day in and day out Roy delivered a little sliver of sunshine in what was often an otherwise bleak or unremarkable day. He shared in our happiness. He sympathized with our misfortunes. He was the charismatic heart of the Uptown business community. In a world where it is easy to grow distant and cynical, Roy kept as all connected – physically and emotionally connected. He made life cozy.

Please keep Roy and his family in your hearts and prayers in these difficult times..

Posted in Friends, New Orleans, Seattle, Travel, Uncategorized, Work | Leave a comment

The Big Drive

Every spring/summer we load up the car, put the dog in the back seat and make the cross-country drive from New Orleans, Louisiana (husband’s hometown) to Seattle, Washington (my hometown). Every trip we try to take a different route to see new sites and cities.

We’ve seen and done a fair bit on these drives to Seattle and they’re becoming an annual “vacation” that we really look forward to (the same can not be said of the drive back to New Orleans – there is something wretched about going back – it seems to take 1,000 times longer). We’ve watched a taping of the Jay Leno show from the floor seats, visited old college friends, spent an evening strolling the boardwalk on Huntington Beach, visited Disneyland, toured the Reagan Library, discovered out favorite wineries in Napa (that’s you Casa Nuestra, Ehlers, Hall & Pina!), taken in local markets/street fairs and seen just about every rest stop and billboard our routes have to offer.

leno(@ The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, June 2008)

Back on June 6th we hit the road for Summer 2009. We made it in 3(ish) days, with overnights in Dallas, Texas (Thanks James & Amy!), Cheyenne, Wyoming and Missoula, Montana. We hit just about every Chick-Fil-A on the route (so that husband could get his fix before entering the Chick-Fil-A-less Northwest, spent several hours visiting my sister over lunch in Bozeman and saw snow(!) in Wyoming in June!

img_0282img_0286

img_0296(Snow in June!)

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Strolling Up Royal Street

Last night the husband, sister-in-law and clerk/bf headed in to the French Quarter to partake in the NOWFE Royal Street Stroll. As always, it was a blast – lots of great wines to taste and some delicious food.

royal4

royal11royal3

Of course, no trip to the French Quarter is complete without a hurricane at Pat o’s.

Posted in Friends, New Orleans | Leave a comment

Bon Voyage, Miss Jane!

15My mother-in-law was a very young mom — she had my husband at the age of 16 — and as a result she never got the chance to go away to college, or to partake in any of the traditional college experiences. Two years ago, when her youngest child graduated from college she decided that it was high time she went and this morning she departed for a semester abroad in Greece.

We’re so excited for her (and proud of her hard work and determination).

Congratulations Miss Jane! Have fun and take lots of pictures for us!

Posted in New Orleans | Leave a comment

Life’s a Beach

My husband’s law clerk, and sister-in-law’s boyfriend, Seth, graduated from Law school on Friday, so Saturday we grabbed some friends, loaded up the dogs and beach gear and headed 4 hours east to Santa Rosa, Florida.

We ate too much, drank too much and got way too much sun — it was perfect!

5028_785589230955_23419263_47224694_3958522_n

4543_777505900015_23444191_46813979_3709332_n

4543_777505855105_23444191_46813973_4818075_n

img_0256

img_0258

Posted in Friends, Travel | Leave a comment

The Graduate

Three years ago a lowly first year law student approached my husband for a job, and recognizing that he had no previous experience in law he offered to do the job for free. We quickly realized what a hard worker (and asset) he was for the firm and made him a paid employee.

Since then Seth has been an invaluable clerk to my husband, working full-time and getting through law school… he even found time to woo my sister-in-law — the bosses little sister — Jennifer.

Tonight he graduated law school and we’re please as punch (and quite proud).

n27410905_40829803_8309928

(Seth and his beautiful girlfriend/my sis-in-law Jenn)

Congratulations Seth!

Posted in Friends, New Orleans | Leave a comment

Hot-Lanta!

So, I didn’t make it to A-Town for my 5 year reunion, but I did manage a spur-of-the-moment roadtrip this past weekend.

Scott and I decided to make the trip while en route to a movie on Saturday afternoon, and after a few phone calls to get a sitter for O and a quick trip back to the house to pack we were on our way. We made great time and managed to cruise into Taqueria del Sol (my first true love) for dinner with two of my favorite people by around 9 PM.

We spent the next 3 days visiting all of may favorite haunts and catching up.

img_0238

Scott enjoying his favorite breakfast. None of the Chick-Fil-A’s in New Orleans do breakfast – we ate here every morning of our stay (except Sunday, of Course)!

img_0240

305 East Ponce de Leon – my former Home Sweet Home

img_0245

Decatur Square

img_02461Heaven… I (heart) these girls.

photo21One last taco-stop on the way out of town.

I cannot believe how much Atlanta has changed in the 3 years since I left – or how much I miss it.

Posted in Friends, Travel | Leave a comment