It's Fat Tuesday Yall

Down in New Orleans
Where the blues was born
It takes a cool cat
To blow a horn
On LaSalle and Rampart Street
The combo's there with a mambo beat

The Mardi Gras, mambo, mambo, mambo
Party Gras, pambo, mambo, mambo
Mardi Gras, mambo-ooh
Down in New Orleans

Oh yes ladies and gentlemen...Fat Tuesday has rolled around for another year. It's time to wear the purple, green and gold!!!! Unfortunately I will not be in New Orleans to partake of the festivities....sigh. Now, I love holidays, and Christmas is my favorite hands down, but coming up for a close second is Mardi Gras!!! I think it is even better that when my #1 holiday ends on January 6th (aka little Christmas), my #2 holiday begins at midnight of January 7th...how great is it that my holiday celebration doesn't have to end? Now many of you may be wondering why I would pick Mardi Gras as my #2 holiday. Don't judge :) I know it has all these drunkin, naked rumors (well their not really rumors, they are truths) but that only takes part in the French Quarter and mostly on Bourbon Street and when I think Mardi Gras, I do not think there.

Now, I have attended Mardi Gras for as long as I remember, so I am pretty sure my whole entire life...well except for the last few years while I was off at school - however I did celebrate with KNEWBS and we had mask, king cake, and beads! Anyways, Mardi Gras is just a fun time of year. There are parades, balls (where you get to dress up like a princess), parties, KING CAKE (which by the way I have had NONE this year - ugh - I am really wanting one from Randazoo's), great music, and at the parades you jump up and down screaming "THROW ME SOMETHIN' MISTER!!!!"....really it's kinda silly to do this over some plastic beads and cups and an occasional moon pie. But boy oh boy is it FUN!!!!!!!! We have a local Mardi Gras parade at home - Nerieds. But I really like to go into New Orleans to watch Bacchus, Endymion, Orpheus, and Rex (the King of Mardi Gras). Now the parades really start rolling the weekend before Mardi Gras weekend (last weekend) and this past Friday through today (Fat Tuesday) is called Mardi Gras weekend.

All this writing has me ready to get my hanky out for a second line, drive on down to the Big Easy, get some Popeye's fried chicken and watch the floats roll by. Maybe I should call in sick today. hmmm it's a thought!

I once read that Mardi Gras is not something you can vicariously live through someone else...it is something you must experience for yourself. (I agree)
If you ever want to experience Mardi Gras, you know who to call. I am going to apply for teaching jobs in the New Orleans area so you will have a place to stay! (if I get a job there.... bonus with a teaching job in that area....a week off for Mardi Gras!) Oh and when I do Mardi Gras it is completely family friendly


So in the words of Al Johnson...

All because it's Carnival Time, oooooohhh, it's Carnival Time....!

Oh Well it's Carnival Time and, everybody's having Fun

Right Now, it's Carnival Time, oooooohhh, Carnival Time....!

Oh Well it's Carnival Time and, everybody's having Fun

Trying to catch the prized beads!!
a Mardi Gras Duke


2010 King of Mardi Rex (Right) meets the King of Zulu (left) - their meeting is a Mardi Gras tradition. The meet on Monday (Lundi Gras) to officially begin Mardi Gras (not that we haven't been celebrating for a over a month now)

Throw your hands up and yell THROW ME SOMETHIN MISTER!

For the guy that had the "Colts ... dat who" bumper sticker

As yall know, I am a Saints fan. It took them 43 years to make it to the super bowl and boy oh boy was it a great game. I really thought I was going to have heart failure in the first quarter...at one point I told Leanne, we are going to have to get out our paper bags. (For those who don't know...for years - 42 to be exact- the Saints haven't been the greatest team and their fans, faithful as they are, would wear paper bags over their heads to the games). However, the Saints play two ways...one they start off strong and lose it after the half or in the 4th quarter ... two the start off slow and finish strong. This was a finish strong kind of game. The game in itself was a great one. Both teams played strong and pretty clean (there were only a few flags thrown and most of them were for false starts-I would be a little anxious too if I were playing in the super bowl). Many thought the Colts would take the game and run. However, they forgot was a strong quarterback Drew Brees is. He lead his team to victory. However we must not forget how Peyton messed up and allowed our defense to become the offense and grab an interception to seal the deal and the victory.
When this happened, everyone at the super bowl party I was attending jumped up, screamed, laughed and hugged - it was the greatest moment!

It is amazing how one team has brought together a city and given them hope again. So way to go Sean Peyton for being a great coach, Drew Brees for having a great and accurate arm, Reggie Bush for being able to catch, Hartley for your kicking leg, Tracy Porter for making the interception and the rest of the team for doing your job! Oh you know how people say Brad Pitt should run for mayor in this election (see Voodoo post), well now they want Brees to...I'd vote for him. So Who Dat! Let's do it again next year!!!!
Leanne and I showing our excitement when the Saints won!!!
PS...
I can't forget to mention the commercials. I say Doritos wins hands down for the best commercials this year. Bud light dropped the ball this year with theirs. But Snickers gets 10 gold stars for having Betty White get tackled... ok I love BW but that was hilarious...hmmm...I should find that commercial and post it.

Cooking up a Storm

Over Christmas my mom and I had some serious bonding time... we shopped, vegged out, and cooked. She and I both love to cook and sometimes it is a battle of the chefs when we are in the kitchen together. On this particular day, we decided to make homemade french onion soup and a fig and date roll. I made the soup and my mom made the roll. Here we go....the onions
the soup
the crusty buttery bread for the soup that takes 30 minutes to bake
finished product
ready for the oven
roll it
rolling some more
perfection!

Wild Rumpus at the Feeding Frenzy

Christmas morning is usually a ton of fun. This year Jen wasn't there because she is now a nurse and had to work :( In my family we all do our individual family things at our own houses and then everyone comes to my mom's house around 10:00am for brunch and exchanging gifts. Now in order to feed everyone (usually 25 or more people ) my mom and I start cooking strada on Christmas Eve. It is a 4 hour process to make it. Since I has started helping my mom, I have learned that I really don't like strada. Maybe it is because I have to crack, beat and scramble 15 or more dozen eggs. But everyone else loves it so we do it. Once everyone shows up, we visit, relax and then the feeding frenzy begins....
Bayou's first Christmas...she is hoping some of these are for her!
Jayden enjoying some hot chocolate... I love this kid!
Nana and her 3 great grand sons!
Olivia, Jayden and Sofia claim a spot on a sofa.
Hanging out in my mom's art studio
Cousins chatting in the kitchen
Silly boys
It is a race to get in line for food....I just stand back and watch
Now that Bryce is a teenager, we almost have to make his a pan of his own! Seriously the kid eats three plates heaping full and he is still a twig.
Who needs a chair when you are eating strada???
We should invest in more seats...nah
Street spilled hot chocolate all down his cute white santa shirt...but being shirtless did not keep him from enjoying the festivities!
Everyone enjoying their gifts

Even big kids like to play with legos

Cousin love - Anna, Sofia (who are 15 and 13 and both taller than me, not that that isn't a hard thing to do), me, Bryce and Smage (Adrienne)
Shortie, Smage and me
Little cousin love

a little voodoo in the big easy

Over Christmas break, my bestie Lynley came home from Logan, where she is getting her masters. We hung out a bunch. One day we went to one of our favorite cities... New Orleans! We shopped, ate beignets, had lunch at Port of Call, went on a voodoo/grave yard tour (she is taking a folk tale class this semester so it was research for that class). It was not worth the money. Our tour guide took us to the oldest or second oldest grave yard in the Quarter. We saw Marie Laveau's grave, some guy that gambled away his millions from the 1800's, and Plessy's grave (from Plessy vs Ferguson).Oh she also showed us this grave that the front came off and we could see a rotting corpse - gross. I felt it a bit disrespectful and probably should have called the grave yard keeper or whoever, but I didn't. After that she took us by Armstrong park, which was across the street from this Voodoo Priestest's temple we were supposed to go to. Our tour guide told us about people being murdered in the park and then pointed to the building we needed to go to, then she left us standing there in not the best part of the city...great. Our little group crossed the street to the voodoo temple and it was locked. We could see someone in there but nothing. We all stood around for about 20 minutes and Lynley and I decided to leave and go get a burger at Port of Call. Which by the way was 100 times more enjoyable than that tour. We were both disappointed. I suggested next time we go to the voodoo temple and tell them we are with the tour group, just so we can complete the tour. We'll see. After lunch we wandered the Quarter some more. It was close to Christmas and random people were belting Christmas carols through the streets. Oh I love that city! We left when it started getting dark and went Uptown to the Creole Creamery for icecream. Then we went to Lakeside Mall for some shopping/more beignets/people watching. It was a great day.
River boat on the mighty Mississippi River
Breakfast at Cafe Du Monde
Jackson Square
Shopping at the French Market
Street art
Makeshift jazz band singin the tunes of Christmas
famed water meter cover
St Louis Cemetery Number One

Marie Laveau's grave (well at least they are pretty sure it is...there are two in this cemetery-they think the other is her daughter)

Best burger and potato at Port of Call
Creole Creamery - I had the sampler of lavander honey, cookie dough, creole cream cheese and mint dark chocolate - I really really liked the lavander honey
Lynley having an Ice cream fudge sundae

The heading on a paper at the Creamery...now they are saying Drew Brees for Mayor...Who Dat!

Proud Member of the Who Dat Nation!!

Ok yall... 4 days and counting to the Super Bowl and praying hard that the New Orleans Saints bring home their first ever Super Bowl win - it would be great to get a ring with your first trip to the Super Bowl. This is a great Saints Super Bowl trailer made by a Saints fan. I hope yall aren't too sick of my extreme happiness of this moment in history!!! I promise to blog some real stuff soon!

Black and Gold Superbowl Baby!!! WHO DAT!!!!

Oh my goodness... I don't think my stomach has ever been so nervous as it was last night as I was watching the New Orleans Saints play the Minnesota Vikings for the NFC Championship and a slot in the Superbowl. Seriously, one heck of an amazing game played by both teams. Oh and no, I am not a fan of Brett Favre, even though he is from Kiln, Mississippi (just 15 minutes north of where I am from). However, the old man ate some turf last night as the Saints defensive line sacked him time after time. I sorta felt sorry for him when it took him a few minutes to get up off the field and hobble to the sideline to have his ankle taped. Ok, you are 40, it is time to really retire, these young bucks are going to take you down for good here soon. I will give him props for saying in an interview that last night would have been a win win situation for him, being raised a Saints fan, as all children from the MS Gulf Coast are. Now, the Saints started in 1967 and it has taken them 43 years to make it to the Superbowl. I am proud to say that I witnessed football history last night! Here is link to a video taken by some friends that were with some people I know that were sitting in the end zone as the winning field goal was kicked during overtime! (Please note that some of the people in this video are slightly or really drunk as were most of the people in the Super Dome and they are kinda retarted when on camera-no nudity or anything but you've been warned-oh and make sure your volume is up so you can hear how the Dome sounded last night)

Winning Kick

So in two weeks it is Superbowl party time and this year is a reason to actually watch the game and not just the commercials. It should be pretty exciting as they face the Colts and Peyton Manning (a southern boy). GEAUX SAINTS!!!! Who Dat? Who Dat? Who day say they gonna beat them Saints? WHO DAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Little White Flakes of Happiness

Yes folks, snow....snow is falling from the sky tonight in Jackson. Sweet! It makes me happy. I like walking in the falling snow and standing in it. I was shopping this evening as the first (and probably only) snow fall happened, and every time I walked out to my car I would start humming Christmas carols. I don't know what it is about snow that makes the Christmas season all the more better, but it does. Here are a few pictures I snapped on my phone...enjoy!

COMPLETE SLACKER.... I know..But here, I will catch you up!

Ok yall, I have been a slacker on my blog... please accept my apologizes! Right now life is pretty much the same ol same ol... work work work. I get to school at 6:30am and leave somewhere between 4 and 6 (usually closer to 6). I bring a bag of stuff home with all the intention to do something...and nope, it sits on the floor by the door where I put it when I come in. I am so exhausted all the time! I just want to sit on my couch and watch a movie, and that is what I do. I have made a few friends at church and a couple of girls at work (that are also first year teachers and have pretty much the same schedule I do). Sometimes on the weekends, I go to the farmers market and the public library on Saturdays. I know, I have an exciting life right?

Well, most weekends I travel down to Hattiesburg and hang out with Leanne and Branson and their kids. On Saturday mornings we go to the kids sporting events and in the afternoons, Leanne and I have girl time and go to Dirt Cheap and get cheese dip, while Branson being the fantastic husband he is, stays home with the kids. Thanks Branson!! Also, this guy I have been sorta seeing comes up from the coast every now and then and we spend some time together :) The other day Leanne and I were talking about how we have been friends for 16 years now (since 9th grade)...it doesn't seem that long. I am truly blessed that she is one of my best friends! I am heading down there again this weekend. We might go to the progressive dinner her Relief Society is doing or we will go to a movie. We will probably end up driving to the coast Saturday afternoon to help another friend of ours from high school move. Not exactly what we had planned, but Jenny needs our help so we are going to help the best we can.

I did get to go home for Thanksgiving. I had the whole week off, which was FANTASTIC! My mom and I went Dirt Cheap shopping and I got some amazing deals: a Weight Watchers scale (that does body fat, water weight, bone density, etc) for $2.00, a big square Brita that stays in the fridge with a spout on it with 3 filters for $1.50, a clothes drying rack for $1.oo and a ton of other little things for a nickle and a dime each - this is not a typical Dirt Cheap experience, my mom and I happened to hit it on a day when they had a few rows of 95% off merchandise (all Target stuff!). My mom and I had a blast while I was at home. Oh she also loves me so much that she is keeping my cat for me right now and taking her to the vet to get fixed next week! Thanksgiving dinner with the fam... no big deal. It was the first time I have been home for Turkey Day in 3 years and I have decided to go out of town for Thanksgiving from now on. Next year - Logan, Utah to spend it with my other best friend, Lynley. That is where I should have gone this year. But if I did I wouldn't have gotten the great Dirt Cheap deals I did. :)

Oh, I also haven't seen anyone in my family, besides my mom, since the end of July/beginning of August and NO ONE mentioned that I was looking skinner... hello! I have lost 20 pounds and 2 more over the break! Not one, you are looking good, have you lost weight? Nothing. Crud, people I work with and see me everyday ask me if I am losing weight because they can tell... did I mention they see me everyday too?? Ok, sorry for my rant. I needed to vent. Sorry yall were the ones to have to hear it!

Now I am focusing on the next 2 weeks and 2 days (no, I am not counting down or anything) until Christmas break. This week has flown by and this weekend will be busy. Next week is full of exciting learning and next weekend, Lynley flies home for the winter break from Utah!!! I am picking her up from the airport here in Jackson and driving her down to Hattiesburg. Then one last week and two weeks off! Score! My kids are getting wilder by the day and I have to get more strict/mean however you want to look at it. I have pulled the Santa card and told them I get a call from Santa every night to see how they were in class. It is working on some and others nothing. Sigh. These kids are so hard core that Santa doesn't even work on them!

Speaking of hard core kids, I am now having to deal with a certain little girl and boy that keep sticking their hands down each others pants! I have called parents and the boys dad told me that the boy said he didn't do it... hello I saw him do it!!! So the dad doesn't think it is his son and I need to get my students straight. Ugh. Well, today the librarian caught them doing it and she was going to call the parents. Maybe he will believe me and her... probably not. The girls mom says she is a tomboy and would never do anything like that. Hello, you are a hoochie momma and your 5 year old is just like you... a tomboy? right. Yesterday, I told another little darling angel to go sit down and finish his work and he told me 'whatever'. I about blew my top. I grabbed him by the back of his shirt as he was walking off and had a few words with him. Seriously, these kids have no respect for ANYONE!! It is scary to think this is the future of America and the world. Is it bad that I can look at some of them and say: future jailbird, drug dealer, pregnant at 14 (or younger)? Most have such potential and talk about being doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, etc and I can see them doing it. They are the ones with parents that care and are active parents. Others say they want to be this or that and I pray that they can get out of the environment they are in and achieve those dreams and not repeat the cycle of life they are being brought up in. I know I am complaining a bit, but really I have grown to love each of them for who they are. I want them to be able to achieve their dreams and to succeed in all they do. I don't want them to fall victim of their environment, peers, family, or society. Some (most)days some of them make me nuts but everyday they make me smile. I love that I can yell, fuss, discipline them and they overlook that and still ask for hugs and tell me they love me and I am the best teacher ever. I have taken a line from the book Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and tell it to those that are having bad days (and to myself): Today was a rough day, tomorrow will be a better day. Teaching is tough, but I am trying my best to do what is best for them. I want school to be a fun and safe time for them. I want them to be able to be kids while they are in my care, they are only 5 and 6, but many have to deal with things that I wouldn't want to deal with once they leave school. I am glad I am able to have this experience, because it is nothing I have ever been around. I was raised in a completely different world from what many of my students are being brought up in. I don't just mean the times we live in either. I am thankful for the parents I have and for the the environment I was able to be brought up in. I am thankful for the love, support and understanding I received from my parents. I am thankful they were active parents that cared about my education and my well being.

I am sorry this has been so long and a bit of a rant at times. I promise to be a better blogger and not store it all up for once:) Thanks for listening or should I say reading! I love you all!

1 week and counting!

I am so super stoked for next Friday to be here! Why you ask? Well, I get an ENTIRE week off for Thanksgiving! Now for some this may not be a big deal, however, I HAVE NOT had a break from my darling little students in 10 weeks! Yes, no fall break, no early dismissal, no teacher workday, I didn't even call in sick (I know, I am dedicated), nothing. I love all 26 of their darling little personalities and all, but I am READY for a break!!!! I hope next week flies by!