Stacey and Jett's Wedding

K and I headed out early Friday morning after getting J dropped off at school for Seaside. We made it to town around 4:00 and had some time to relax before getting ready for the rehearsal dinner. It was raining when we got there and Stacey decided to hold off on the rehearsal til Saturday. Lauren, Chris, Khaki and Katherine met us at the beach house and we headed to the Old Florida Fish House around 6:30 and met up with the rest of Stace and Jett's family. Dinner was delicious. I had the house grouper special, which was sauteed grouper topped with some buttery, crabby, shrimpy sauce. It was phenom! After dinner, we migrated to the bar area where a band that played old school music (like dad use to listen to on KVIL in Dallas). The band was even better than the food and we camped out there until the wee hours of the night. After that, a few late nighters gathered at the beach house for more dancing, celebrating and some late night dips in the pool. I surprised myself and was able to get up and hit the pavement by 8:30am and get my 7 miles in. I was glad I did it too, after sweating out all the poison, I felt a lot better :) When I got back to the house, I spent some time relaxing under the gazebo on the roof in the hammock before spending some QT with Stace.

We rode our bikes to the town square and hung out at Bud and Alley's talking and eating smoked crab dip.

Here are the little concession stand airstreams that I loved so much....What am I talking about? I love everything about that town!

Across the street from Bud & Alley's.

Views from the top deck of Bud & Alley's.



We had to cut it our wonderful time in the Seaside Square short though because we had a lot to do to get ready for the wedding. As we were riding back to the beach house, it started raining again. Marlane was at the house when we got back and her and Stace started cleaning up while I went and bought some last minute things that we forgot to get. When I got back, Lauren and the photographer were there and we started helping Stace get ready. The guests started arriving around 5:00 and by 5:15, we had everyone on the sand including Stacey. I wanted to rush everyone because it had stopped raining but there were some bad looking clouds and wasn't sure how long it would last. We were back at the house by 5:40 and enjoying some cocktails. The rest of the night was another house party like the night before. K and I had planned on riding our bikes back to the town square on Sunday and shopping and eating seafood and hanging out until early afternoon but we woke up that morning to heavy rainfall. We showered, packed and hit the road and made it home in time to watch some football and grill out steaks and boudin :)

Here are some more pics from the wedding weekend:

After wedding house party

Photographer, Chris, Lauren

The Bride and I

Prom pics on the beach

Rehearsal dinner

Jett made a wonderful speech

Brother and Mom watching Stace enjoy her night

Marlane danced all night long with us "young ones" :)

Chris, Jett and K 

 K and I taking a dance break

 Stace and Lauren not taking a dance break

 Chris and Lauren and NO NACE

 The gazebo on top of the house

 The Wedding Centerpiece

 K carting around the wedding guests

 Here comes the bride!

 Vows

 Mr. and Mrs. Williams

 The weather held out perfectly

Enjoying the after party!

The rest of last week

I got up Wednesday morning, did an ellip/strength training session and then made J and I a yummy breaky sammy.

It had been a while since I had time to make these. I found some time at lunch to relax and get a pedi.

Can't have my toes looking bad at the beach! After my pedi, I ran over to Smooth Moves and picked up a gyro before heading back to work.

I got back to work in time to get a happy from Amber! Meet Seymour :)

She got this for me since my little cactus had to be thrown out because of the fruit flies.

After work, I picked up J and we headed to church for dinner and class.

Thursday was a morning workout, pasta bowl at lunch and Swanky's takeout at dinner with a lot of packing and doing laundry in between.

Florida here we come!

Lots of Pork

Dinner with J at mom and Roy's last night. Mom bought a honey baked ham and made some white beans, cornbread and salad.  I was super tired and couldn't wait to get home and go to bed. I got up this morning and did 45 minutes on my new workout machine.

It was a bit of a disappointment....way too easy, not enough of a workout so I added some stair stepping every other 5 minutes to up my heart rate. I hate that I spent $100 on it and didn't save the box until I knew if I liked it or not, but I had nothing to do with the box but throw it away when I was cleaning for the open house. Oh well, it will be something good to change things up every once in a while, just have to make sure to pair it with something else. Breakfast was an almond butter and sliced strawberry sandwich. Marcy emailed after I got to work wanting to meet for soup since she was feeling under the weather. We went to our favorite soup hangout, Noodle Doodle DO, and I tried a new soup.

The Chinese BBQ pork noodle soup. It was good but not as spicy as I hoped. After catching up with Marcy and slurping my soup down, I had to run to Target to exchange some pants I bought for J last weekend. On my way there, I had to swing my McD's for a cold treat since it isn't soup weather at all!!! 94 degrees today :)

That little cone hit the exact spot I was looking to hit. Back in the office now, wrapping up some things before quitting time. I didn't get a chance to go by the house at lunch and check on the pork chops in the crockpot....I may be sick of pork by the end of today!



Staying so far behind

I've been doing horrible keeping my blog up to date. Wednesday night after work, J and I headed over to church for the beginning of the middle of the week sessions for fall. Before Wednesday night church, Hope serves a homemade cheap dinner for everyone. I wasn't too excited about that night's dinner when I saw the menu in an email but it surprised me and was super good. I had chicken pot pie, orange and feta salad and some of the best green beans I have ever eaten. After that, J and I split a piece of chocolate cake and it was worth every little calorie. I can't believe I stopped with only a few bites! Here's a look at part of the crowd that gathers for Wednesday night dinners:

The whole gym looks that way from 5:00 until 6:30....I cannot imagine cooking for all of those people but I'm glad they do it. After dinner, J went to his 1st Kids Small Group and I went to the 1st class of Real Discipleship class. The class is going to be done by Craig, Eli and our new assistant pastor. Craig did the 1st class and ran through Genesis and Exodus. I really liked his step back and look at the big picture version. I tend to get too caught up and lose sight when there are too many details given to me.

Thursday morning was an elliptical workout and then off to In Service for my last day this year (thank goodness!) Clay was in class with me and we went to Panera, where I snagged a chopped chicken cobb salad and a Cuban chicken panini for lunch. After work, I took J shoe shopping since he had been complaining about his tennis shoes hurting his feet....I guess so! I had the sales lady measure his shoe size and that boy is wearing a size 8 in men's now. Poor thing was having to force on those kid sized shoes. I am going to go broke if he doesn't take a break from growing soon! After our shopping spree (did I mention I bought a new stair climber?) we went home and snagged ole K and headed up to Swanky's for some dinner. I had the chicken enchiladas, J had the quesadilla and K had the chimichanga and 1 of my enchiladas. That place has become one of our faves! Friday was spent at work in a frazzle. Got started on a project that had a deadline of that afternoon and almost didn't get a lunch. I finally managed to slip away to Fino's and enjoy a veggie sub.

I tried the soft bread for the first time since my front tooth still doesn't feel 100% and damn I have been missing out. I really think I like it better than the regular bread. This was all I had left:

I didn't like it at all :) After work Friday was the Cooper Young Fest 4 miler. J, K and I ran it and had so much fun. J did the whole thing and barely broke a sweat. My heel had been hurting pretty bad and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to run but I got there and got excited and went for it. I wound up running 3 1/2 of the 4 miles and my foot was actually fine, it was my knee that did me in. I guess I've been walking weird to compensate for my heel that now I have done something to my knee. I keep telling myself to make a doctor's appointment and keep forgetting until it's a time like now when they aren't open. After the race, we went to Huey's to grab a bite and a few beers. I had the chicken and pineapple kabob dinner.

Saturday morning, I got up and headed out pretty early to get my 6 1/2 mile walk in. I didn't track my route before leaving and wound up doing 7 miles instead. I was pooooooooped! I learned from that walk that there is no way from here on out to do these long walks without eating something first. The weather was beautiful though and besides feeling like I was going to pass out during the last mile and a half, it was a wonderful walk :) Seriously, if K would have been at home instead of playing golf, I would've called him and had him pick me up on the last mile. After my walk, J and I grabbed lunch at Holiday Ham and then slid on down to the new yogurt place, LoYo.

I had heard a lot of buzz about it and been telling J about it and promising to take him but I didn't understand what all the hype was about. Now I do! It was amazing and they had more toppings than you could ever dream of and I had total control over how much went on my yogurt, which when we are dealing with caramel, needs to be a lot! After that, we ran some errands and then headed over to the Longs' to watch some football. K met us over there after golf in time to watch LSU smack down MS State. We hung around there until about 10 or so and then went home to bed. We got up Sunday morning and had to get busy cleaning the house. We had an open house from 2-4 pm. The Cowboys' game started at noon, so we left the house at halftime and headed to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the rest of the game while our house was open to the public. After the horrific game, I ran to the grocery, J and I went to church and to Barnes and Noble for new books and then back home to eat some leftover gumbo and finally watch the 1st new episode of Survivor from last week. Bed time was early after such an eventful weekend and I got up this morning and rocked my body with Sean T's DVD. Breaky was a throwback to the good ole days when Mom use to make it for me:

A good ole egg salad sammy hit the tummy nicely. I spent all day interviewing candidates for the open clerical position in the office and think I found a wonderful employee. Hopefully Wilma will be starting soon and bringing a lot of personality to the office. Headed out now to Mom and Roy's!

Rents, Karate, Sushi, Race Packets

After work Monday, I went over to Mom and Roy's for dinner and to hang out. Roy grilled some burgers and I helped Mom with some of her computer stuff. J and I toured the neighborhood on the golfcart before leaving. That boy loves driving that thing. Tuesday morning, I had the same breaky but not the same workout as Monday. Sean T totally rocked my body so I skipped my yoga session that I had planned. I swung by Easy Way on my lunch to pick up some produce since there was absolutely none in the house. I put it to great use for lunch!

I made a sandwich with hummus, baby portabellas, habenero & jalapeno cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato, onion and cucumber backed up with a romaine salad topped with chipotle ranch and wasabi ranch wontons (my all time favorite unhealthy salad topper!)

I also got those little hot peppers from Easy Way that are smokin'.

After work, I took J to karate and got in some exercise while he was in class.

My heel has been feeling so much better and with the Cooper Young race coming up Friday night, I felt like it might be OK to do a little jogging so 1 1/4 pf those 3 1/2 miles were jogged and I am paying big for it today. My heel has felt like electric daggers are running straight through it all day. THIS SUCKS! I don't know how to just walk. It's so boring sometimes and makes me feel like such a wimp and seems like such a waste of time when I could just be jogging. Clearly nothing is going to heal while still running though. I am considering making an appointment with the podiatrist. Anyways, I was still able to work up a great sweat and lose some tension. After J and I were through, we ran by the new Lenny's that opened at Mendenhall and Poplar and picked up some cheap eats for dinner. They were offering $4 subs so we grabbed us and K a sub and headed home to catch up on some Big Brother.

I decided to sleep in late again this morning at about 1:00am last night when I changed my alarm from 5am to 6 am for some unknown reason. Maybe because my muscles were still achy from Sean T? I cut up some cantaloupe for J and I. I packed his with some almonds for his snack and mine went along with some cheese toast on rye for breaky. Mel picked up our race packets before lunch and I met her, Chuck, Chris and Trimboli for lunch at Pacific Rim. I had 2 of my faves! Ocean Pyramid and the house salad with crab.

I had to steal someone else's picture off the net since I didn't take one of my own.

Also this week, I started tracking my calories in and calories out with an app on my iPhone. I've done great since Sunday and have lost a pound. I got up this morning and decided to see what my measurements were now...I have been very scared to do this for a while but dug in. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but not the numbers I wanted to see. Surprisingly though, they were the same measurements I had at the end of 2004. I don't remember being this big since right after I had J so that made me feel a little more hopeful about getting back to where I was. It's only a few inches for heaven's sake and a clothes size. I got this :)

Relaxing at the Lake!

After work Friday, I grabbed the dogs and headed to Pickwick to meet K. He went up that morning to do some work at the hunting camp. I got to the lakehouse in time to get the car unloaded, have a beer, find out about K's day and then we were off. We went to the Clubhouse at the golf course for the seafood buffet...Mom and Roy had it a few weeks ago and said it was good. We hung out in the bar, watching people and drinking a few cold ones while we worked up an appetite. Granted, the food was good (what fried seafood isn't?) BUT I will never eat it again. I went to bed Friday night with the worst stomach and woke up with it still hurting and my fingers and eyes horribly swollen. It must have been swimming in sodium. I felt horrible! K and I got early starts, he headed off to the camp and I headed to Goat Island to get my 6 miles in.

The hills were gargantuan and they kicked my ass. There was not a dry spot on my body when I finished. Even my ponytail was drenched but I was impressed with my time. I still managed to keep an almost 15 minute mile pace with all the hills.

It was a beautiful day surrounded by the lake and all of the foliage and Mother Nature.

And this was the view when I was finished, as I stretched! How can you not enjoy that?

I stopped at the store on the way home to pick up sandwich fixins for lunch and then spent the rest of the day on the back deck reading my Jen Lancaster book while K watched college football. All of the games I was interested in didn't come on until 6:00 so I had plenty of time to chill :) I came inside in time for a little nap before the LSU, Texas, Tennessee and Alabama games came on. We ordered in pizza and hung out at the house the rest of the night.

Sunday morning was an even more beautiful day!!! I popped outta bed, ate a piece of cold pizza and ventured out to ride the hills this time.

Ooooooooo weeeeeeee, that was a tough one. The hills are even worse on the wheels. I did all I could do and then went back to the house and chilled the rest of the day on the back deck with my book. I'm seeing a pattern :) I got back in town in time to pick up J and meet Heather and Shane at church for the Stirring. It was a good service with Rudy Howard being the guest preacher while Eli was out of town. After church, J and I went to Tops to pick up some BBQ and headed to the house to watch the sorry opening game for the Cowboys. It was a ridiculous game, they beat themselves as usual and I went to bed for more angry about it than I should have.

I got up this morning and did 45 minutes of Sean T's Rock Your Body, made some cheese toast on rye with a banana for breaky, our casa is in serious need of a grocery trip!!!! Been working ever since....

This week, quickly...

I thought I was catching up at work and then remembered I've been so busy, I haven't blogged the whole week. Guess the catching up hasn't completely caught up yet. I got to finally see Heather for a little bit Tuesday when we met for lunch at Sekisui. after work, J had karate and I got in a quick 3 mile walk to complement my morning yoga. I cooked a good German meal of kraut and sausages Wednesday night after an elip workout. After that, we laid low around the house and caught up on some of our TV we missed over the holiday weekend. Thursday I had a meeting with the Gibson County DA at the FBI about an upcoming trial and then K and I went and looked at Matt's old house that he is desperately trying to sell. It's awesome and I really, really hope that it's in the cards for us to get it. The house sits on about 5 acres off of Hwy 64 out towards Fayette County. It is a great looking house with a huge stocked pond, an amazing deck for entertaining that goes out over the pond, 2 barns and lots of space. The house and land appraised for $425,00 and Matt is willing to sell it to us for $300,000. It is such a steal and I want it to work out for us so bad. Sell Verosa, dammit, sell!!!! J had karate and I went on a 9 mile bike ride while he was in class. After, we picked up dinner from Panera and watched some football.

Last week's trip to LA and all the snack food we had has wreaked total havoc on me. I have had a huge sweet tooth all week. Look at part of this bull shit I have been doing to myself:

And this was only a quarter of the damage I did with the Oreos!

Self saboteur! What's wrong with me?????

Labor Day with the Cajuns

This is a small picture of the hell I orchestrated and endured last week:

I hope it is a long, long time before I ever have to deal with that again! Thursday night was a lot of getting ready for Labor Day in Louisiana. I managed to make some whole grain crusted tilapia, roasted broccoli and rutabaga fries for dinner though.

K and I were packed and ready to roll when we picked J up from school Friday. We made it to Toledo Bend around 11:00 and stayed up an hour or so talking to Betty and Dale and the girls. The rest of the weekend was craziness! We hung out at the pool, kayaked, went boating, cooked lots of food, ate lots of food, did some fishing, terrorized Big Bass on the golfcarts, played with all the puppies in the campground, built fires and visited all the crazies in the camp: Danny, Chad, Mike, Vicky, Tommy, Yvonne and others I'm sure I am forgetting. Here are some of the pics:

It still amazes me how being on the water makes me such a happy camper :) BUT even better than the water, I was so happy this weekend everytime I thought about how much I love being around the Lavergnes. It is so great to have a boyfriend that has a family that I actually like and enjoy being around!

We left Toledo Bend yesterday morning and made it home in time to get unloaded, eat a snack and relax before bed. On our way home, K went a little out of the way to show me a town in Louisiana that he's been telling me about forever that he knew I'd like. He was right! Natchitoches is a small town that I would LOVE to live in!!! I'm hoping we can go down and spend a weekend there soon.