Baseball. Big Business Launch. Crawfish. New house?

After work last Wednesday, K and I took J and Leegan to baseball practice. We strolled around the walking trail at Cameron Brown while they practiced and then headed to Abbay's for dinner after. J was out of school Thursday and Friday so he came to work with me Friday and got to meet the Sheriff.

He thought he was VIP and the Sheriff also gave him some swag so it was exciting for J! He had his 1st baseball game that night and it was FREEZING! They lost but it was still a fun game to watch. They played good and at this age group can steal bases now so it made it more fun to watch.

Steal that base

Swing batter, batter, batter

Bringing it on home. I think I need to use my other camera with the sports setting for baseball games!
Friday, J went to his dad's while I worked and K headed to Birmingham for his annual golf trip with the guys. Baseball practice that night and then Susan came to town for my Big Business Launch weekend. She made it in that night and we got things ready for Saturday. The first event was at Mom's and then we had a little bit of downtime. Grabbed a bite at Panera, got J dropped off at Leegan's and made it home to freshen up. 2nd event was at Katie's. The day was a huge success, I sold $3500+ worth of products and hope everyone falls in love with them like Suz and I have. We were up at 6:30 am to get the day going and didn't finish at Katie's until after 10:00pm but it was a lot of fun. I got to see a ton of my girls and spending the day with Susan is always red velvet cake!

R+F setup at Katie's. I was so glad to have Susan with me, I learned a lot more about the products that I didn't already know and absolutely could not have done it without her! After everything was over, we were starving so we grabbed some seafood nachos at the Half Shell before collapsing in the bed. We got up Sunday after sleeping in and had A LOT of stuff to enter in the computer. We finished that and decided crawfish for lunch sounded awesome. Headed to the Cajun Catfish Company and went to town!

Our waitress was a really cute young girl named Tiffany. We talked to her quite a bit and Susan kept pushing me to approach her about joining the business but I resisted. Didn't think she would be interested. We were getting ready to leave and Tiffany asked us if we would be willing to let her do our hair and makeup for a photo shoot to build her portfolio. She is a cosmetology student and getting ready to intern in Chicago with the makeup artist from Wicked. WOW! Susan totally felt it. We told her about the R+F business and she seemed interested in that too. I've sent her information for a seminar coming up this weekend so I we will see how interested she really is. Susan left later that afternoon and K got home early that evening. Monday I had dinner with J at Mom and Roy's. He was suppose to have a game but it was rained out. Tuesday was AYCE Crawfish so J, K and I headed back to Cajun Catfish Company. I saw Tiffany there and she still acted interested in the biz. I also received my business cards that Betty and Kathy designed for me and they look GREAT!

Can't wait to start handing these out. Yesterday was another gross rainy day but I got to have lunch with my boy and his friends. It was family chapel day so I grabbed some Bogie's and had lunch with one of the loves if my life. We went to chapel after and that put me in a better mood. After work, K and I went to look at Angie and Tom's house. They put an offer an a house in Shady Grove last week and put theirs on the market over the weekend. They have made so many improvements and upgrades and I fell in love! We are going to put ours back on the market next week and see how things go. I would really LOVE to buy Angie's. Last night was dinner and movie night at home. I made the buys some deer sloppy joes and we watched Toy Story 3. It was a good one. I haven't worked out in over a week because of my knee. It is still really bothering me from the 7 mile run/walk I did back in February and has actually gotten worse since last week. I am really scared about what's wrong with it but have a Dr appointment tomorrow and will know more.





Wolf River Bridge Trail. Ghost River Kayaking Trip. Baseball, Baseball, Baseball.

After work last Thursday, I hopped on my bike and hit the greenline. I took it through Shelby Farms to check out the new Wolf River bridge. The new area south of Walnut Grove is beautiful.

I can't believe all the work they have done over there and can't wait to get back and explore some more of it. It was a great bike ride and a good workout. So happy spring is here :))))

Friday, I had enough time to go to the gym at lunch and do a pilates class and fit in 30 on the bike. After that, I made sure to get back to the office in time for the Tigers game. 1st round of the NCAA tourny, playing Arizona. They lost at the very last second by 1 point....it was such a good/close game and my nerves were shot. They may not have moved on but I was proud of their effort. They did a lot better than anyone expected them to, can't wait to see how they do next year since  almost everyone is a freshman this year and they made a ton of improvement. That night, K and I took it easy since we were getting up early Saturday morning but it was Fish Friday so we ran up to Pacific Rim for sushi dinner before going to bed early.
Saturday - We got up way earlier than we usually do because we had a date with the Ghost River and some kayaks. We made it out to LaGrange around 9:30 and hit the water about an hour later.

The route we took was a little over 8 miles long and it did my arms in! We had a pretty good current while we were on the river but the mile and a half that was on the lake was all us, no help. I was never so happy in my life to get back to some current.

We stopped at "The lunch spot" to grab a light lunch with some of the others on the river before getting to the lake. Thank goodness I had some fuel in me or I may not have made it. The day was beautiful and we had a great time, even though the water was filthy from all the rain we had and we saw several snakes.....Yuck! After kayaking, we went down the road to check out the board walk that was in the state park and then headed home. We were all fizzled out and knew we wouldn't be doing much that night so we were glad to see a new Netflix movie in the mailbox. Our Saturday night consisted of the movie and a pie from Broadway Pizza.

The movie was very suspenseful and pretty good until the last 10 minutes and the ending ruined it all, it wasn't an ending at all and left us more confused than we were in the middle of the movie but the pizza was a winner!!
Sunday - I decided to try out a new church, I'm still searching for some place that feels like home. I use to feel that way about Hope but I'm kinda starting to feel that they have gotten too big to handle things now. I went to Highpoint and wasn't impressed. I have friends who absolutely love it but it all felt too over the top for me. After church, I met Mom, Roy, Sis and John at Houston's for some lunch and then made a YoLo run since I am free to break my Lent on Sundays. I got a huge bowl of yogurt with butterfinger, white chocolate chips and Reese's cups for toppings.....needless to say I felt sick when I was almost through with it so K helped me finish it off. We spent the rest of the afternoon being lazy. J came home from spending the end of his spring break with his dad.
Monday - Finally got cable run to my office, soooo happy :)

I left work early to pick J up from school. We made a pit stop at Old Navy for a few things before heading home. J had baseball practice and I went to the Republican Career Women's meeting to listen to Amy Weirich, our new DA, speak and then I went to Weezer's 70th birthday party at Mel's.
Tuesday - I was in a total funk all day and forgot to bring my gym bag with me to work so I wasn't able to go work it off but was able to get in a nice walk along the river.

Was still feeling a little down when I got home and didn't feel like doing anything so I curled up on the couch with all of my Criminal Minds episodes I haven't seen and did nothing but veg out while J played basketball with Leegan and K tried to figure out what we should do for dinner.
Wednesday - I felt a lot better today. Got a lot of work done, met K for lunch and got a spray tan. About to head out of here to take J and Leegan to baseball practice and maybe try to rollerblade around the park while they practice. Hope I don't break an arm!

Dinner with an old friend. Noonday Lenten Service. Miss Cordelia's.

Kasey Craig called me last week and we talked forever catching up and decided it had been too long since we had seen each other so we made dinner plans for last night. We met at Genghis Khan after work.

I was pretty sure I had been to Genghis Khan in Nashville but wasn't sure because I didn't think it was all that great but ever since the one in Memphis opened people have been going on and on about how great it is. Well it was the same restaurant as the one I went to in Nashville and I still don't understand all the hoopla about it but it was great to see Kasey and we decided we wouldn't go 2 more years without seeing each other.....
I got home and worked on my iTunes library for a while and watched some basketball with K.

I woke up this morning with no time for a workout and barely enough time for a shower. I didn't have time to pack a lunch either. At lunch , I went to Calvary's Noontime Lenten Service and the place was packed.

The speaker today was Dr. Marcus Borg and is apparently a pretty big deal, has published 20 books. I had never heard of him but he was a great speaker. After the service, I ran to tan and go for a spray and to Miss Cordelia's for a sammy.

Goats in the garden with avocado added...Yum!

The weather was beautiful so I went to the Riverwalk park to buy a few more minutes before going back to work. The river is up really high right now from all the snow melting up north.

St.Patty's Parade. Great weather. Baseball. Crawfish. J comes to work. Friends and Family.

K came home from Orlando Friday night. We were both exhausted from a long week and decided to hang at the house. I decided to try my hand at making some crawfish enchiladas and a salad since beef and chicken were not an option since it was a Lent Friday.

I thought they were pretty good but K LOVED them....said they were in his top 5. I had some of the leftovers on Saturday for lunch and they were better after having set. I had planned on going on a long bike ride Saturday morning but my hip was still a tad bit achy so I decided to let it rest until I felt no more pain, just to be on the safe side. K and I did some things around the house and then took J and Leegan downtown to the St. Patty's Parade.

J and I hanging out before the parade

We headed home after the parade and the boys played some hoops while I made one of Aunt Kathy's recipes.

Any idea? Cajun shrimp dip!!!!! So yummo :) We munched on that while we got stuff together to grill out burgers. One of my favorite things ever happened Saturday night while we were sleeping, Spring Ahead! Nothing better than changing the time back to where we get more daylight.
Sunday morning, J and I met mom, Roy, Sis and John at church. J had baseball practice that afternoon and K did some yard work while we were away. We are about to fix up our front yard landscaping and fix up the backyard with new furniture, so he was doing some prep work for all of that. We went out for dinner since I was on the run all day and didn't feel like cooking. A little PF Chang's got in our bellies.
Monday - I slept in since I stayed up too late the night before. Wasn't adjusted to the new time yet. J was on spring break so he came to work with me. He helped me with some of my office chores, we went to Calvary's Noontime Lent Service, had some lunch at The Flying Fish and went to check on the Peabody ducks. We did a little more work after that and then it was time to go home. I loved having my buddy at work with me, I didn't get too much done but he definitely made my day brighter. Dinner was red beans and rice that I had simmering in the crockpot all day and then I spent the rest of the night doing some R+F work while the guys watched basketball.
Tuesday - J hung out with mom while I worked yesterday. I made it to the gym on my lunch hour and it felt so good to work out again!!!!! I did 30 minutes on the bike, 15 on the inclined treadmill and 15 on the part elip/part stairstepper machine. I recently downloaded Netflix on my iPhone and watched an episode of Dexter while cardioing. It made the time pass so fast and I really enjoyed it! I usually get really, really bored on cardio machines so this made me so happy. I actually would have stayed another hour just to watch another Dexter episode if I had had the time. K and I had plans to meet Mom, Roy and J at the Cajun Catfish Co. for dinner and then I talked to Katie and Heather and they wanted to come too so we had a big crawfish eating group last night. The crawfish were really good and had gotten a lot bigger since last week. I'm not sure who ate more me, Katie or J but I'm pretty sure we came real close to eating as much as Roy and K.
Wednesday - I took J to his dad's this morning to spend the rest of spring break with him. I went to the gym at lunch and planned on just doing a pilates class but when it was over, I was jonesing to watch an episode of Dexter so I split another 55 minutes between the elliptical and the bike.

Solo Night. A GREAT Office.

I had the night alone last night since J was at hunter's safety class and K was still out of town and I was kinda excited about the me time too. I prepped a super easy one pan dinner.

Parmesan encrusted tilapia and roasted green beans.

Fresh out the oven

As soon as dinner was ready, I gathered the pups and sat down to a movie I've been wanting to see for a while:

What a little shit that Zuckerberg was....or at least portrayed as. It was pretty good but I found myself losing interest and wound up watching it all just to see how it ended.

Today started off pretty cold, really cold actually but it turned into something very wonderful. I met Marcy for an early lunch at Sekisui since it is Fish Friday. When we left, the weather was so great there was no way I could go back indoors so I grabbed my computer and set up a fantastic office at the park.

I wish I could work outside every time the weather is nice. When I was in the 5th grade, our teacher would do class outside every once in a while when it was nice and I wore her out begging to have class outside ALL. THE. TIME. Guess I have been hooked since a very early age.

Calvary Episcopal Lenten Service and Margo's New Do!

Last night was a whole lot of nothing with K out of town. Luke came over and played some ball with J while I worked on my Rodan + Fields stuff. it got late and we fixed some easy peasy dinner (turkey sammies) and watched Modern Family and some crazy show that comes on after it. I slept in this morning, even though my hip feels so much better, I am still scared to use it, got J off to school and took Margo to the new haircut lady. I went to the Lenten Lunch Services at Calvary Episcopal and it was a great service. The church is absolutely beautiful.

Today's speaker was Reverend Ollie Rencher who works at Church of the Holy Communion and serves on the board at MIFA. He was very good. He talked of self examination and how we had to look truthfully at ourself and our relationship with God before we can make it better. He made some really good points. Reiterated this is a season of repentance and self examination and some of the things we need to do during this season is pray, fast and practice self denial. I HAVE to remember that this season. I am always gung ho at the beginning of Lent and then slowly slip away and forget all about the prayer and self denial. Just bring it to God....everything! That's what this is about, right? I hope to do it all the way through this season. I really enjoyed the service and felt a service and daily message in the middle of my work day is just what I need to get through this season reflecting on God and Jesus and what this whole thing means! For the past 88 years they have had a noontime lent service every day during the week and they serve lunch also. The "cafeteria" had a wonderful aroma coming out of it but I didn't have time to stay and eat because I wanted to get Margo picked up so she didn't have to stay at the vet's clinic all day since she isn't too crazy about being there. I couldn't wait to see my baby since it has been so long since she has had a professional cut and what. a. surprise. I. got.............

So clearly the groomer cannot read minds but she doesn't take things completely literal either....when I said, "Take it all off", I meant cut her all over leaving about an inch of fur but she heard shave her to the skin and leave an inch of hair on the tips of her ears. Oh boy! She is not too happy with this look, I do not think ;) I got her home as quick as I could since surely she felt nekkid and made me a quick turkey,cheddar, lettuce tomato and ranch wrap on whole wheat with a few pita chips on the side before heading back to to work.

Hip sprain. Crab legs. Fat Tuesday. Ash Wednesday.

So far this week, I have used my brain and done the right thing instead of what I want to do. I have not worked out and I HATE it but these strains and overuse injuries are killing me and I finally realize that I have to rest to heal. After Sunday's WALK (which I did so I would not hurt myself since the last long RUN did my knee in for weeks) strained my hip to the point that I almost couldn't walk yesterday. Jeesh! I guess since my knee is still a little tender, I overcompensated using my hip in some sort of crazy way.

Monday night - went to Mom and Roy's for dinner with J and Mom made one of my faves :)))))

K was not happy that he missed this one!

FAT TUESDAY - I wish we were in LA to celebrate but we are in TN and it was cold and rainy and the mood just wasn't the party mood it should be on Mardi Gras but it was still Fat Tuesday and I was determined to do it up, at least a little, before giving it up. This year I am giving up alcohol and sweets for Lent. Oh boy! This could turn bad :( No workout on this day, this was the worst my hip hurt since Sunday...So bad that I actually used my chair at work to SIT at my desk. Both my guys had plans for the night (J at hunter's safety and K had a client dinner) so I was able to get some alone face time with Melanie, which NEVER happens between the kids and the grown kids, so I didn't mind the guys being busy. I had a couple of hours free before meeting for MM so I decided to go ahead and make myself a little sugar drunk before giving it all up.

Lovin from the oven is RIGHT!

I intended to have 2 cupcakes and be done but got inside to find 3 of my faves and decided why decide between the 3, especially on a day of indulgence, and go for all 3.



Chocolate decadence, red velvet and classic

 They were all soooooo good and I felt a bit of a sugar overload when I was done but not for too long. Mel and I met for a few beers and some boiled crawfish and I made sure to indulge on the mudbugs.

The dead soldiers

It felt like I ate 33 pounds of the mudbugs but it was so good! I am trying to catch up with K on how many crawfish we have eaten in a lifetime ;) When I got home K and the babies were chillin' and being so good!

Lexie Lou in her boyfriend's lap



Margo lovin her momma

Wednesday - got up early but not for a workout. Had to get the house picked up for the maid to come clean.....ummmm yeah Mom, I finally understand that logic! Breaky was an egg, cheese and mustard deli thin. The weather was still rainy and dreary and it just felt like a pho kind of day to me so Amber, Jen and I headed to Pho Vietnam for lunch before picking up a bunch of stuff for the Pink Eagles girls group fundraiser.

#16, my fave!



Heather's 40th, Crawfish make it to Memphis, Lazy Sunday (except the 6 miles)

Thursday Night - J was gone to Hunter's Safety again. I made K and I some Parmesan Tilapia, roasted broccoli and a baked potato for dinner and we caught up on some recorded shows...Modern Family and Survivor.

Friday - Breaky burrito with lots of salsa first thing.
Pilates class at lunch and then came back to the office and had the other Lenny's sub that I bought yesterday to give to Happy the homeless guy but then couldn't find him. The afternoon went on and on and on and on but finally came to an end and it was time to get J dropped off to his dad and to get ready for Heather's birthday party. We met everyone for dinner and appys at River Oaks. There was a great turnout there and we were given the back room so we had enough room to get up and mingle and be loud and not disturb too many people.

Me and the birthday girl.

K and I taking a break from the yummy sliders and mac & cheese to pose with the Birthday Girl.
The party at River Oaks started winding down a little after 11 and was headed to Brookhaven but K and I went home. I hadn't slept well most of the week and had a really bad strained muscle in my neck and wanted to go to bed.

Saturday - We woke up Saturday morning to super low temps and lots of rain which was perfect because with my neck, I didn't feel like doing anything. We lounged in bed until around lunch. I cooked us some boudin with toast and jelly and we transferred to the couch. We watched some basketball and the latest Netflix movie we had.

It was pretty stupid but there were some very funny parts. Memphis played ball late that afternoon and I did my taxes while we watched the game....$2475 coming my way!!!!! Thank goodness, now I don't feel so bad about the $1000 I just sank into my skincare business. After last week in LA, we were having some serious crawfish cravings so we headed over to Cajun Catfish Company for dinner and they had just what we were looking for!

And we did some major damage too!

It was some pretty good stuff too for being so early in the season :) I was a happy camper when we left.

Sunday - I woke up Sunday morning with every intention of going to church but the cold, dreary weather and my neck kept me in bed. K ran to Old Venice Pizza and picked us up some lunch.

Venice Trio and Mardi Gras Pizza hit the spot. I lounged around on the couch a little more but then started getting a case of cabin fever and took Margo out for a walk. We hit the greenline and she did great! 6 miles for the little rug rat!

When I got back, I started prepping the drunk chicken I was going to cook for dinner and waited for Lexie Lucifer to be dropped off. Going to have a crazy visitor for the week while Eve is in Seattle. J made it home and the drunk chicken made it out of the oven for chicken wraps with sweet potato fries.

We caught up on the last episode of Survivor that we had recorded and went to bed with no issues from the crazy dog visiting :)

Monday - Slept in a little this morning. Tried something new with my smoothie. I've been reading a lot of health blogs lately that say to use spinach in your morning smoothie to add more vitamins and minerals to it without affecting the taste. It sounded pretty unappetizing to me but I finally broke down and tried it and guess what? It didn't affect the taste at all, even though it did affect the color! I forgot to snap a picture before consuming it all.

Mardi Gras and More

Thursday - The storms came as promised. The boy was a nervous wreck especially when I had to load him and the dogs into the bathtub. The wind and storms were pretty crazy for a bit and the TV went out so I put J in charge of watching the weather guy on the computer and taking care of the pups while I watched the show from the porch and K was trying to sleep off a migraine headache. I felt so sorry for him! What a time to get one of those headaches....but we survived everything and the pups were very happy to have K back.

Friday - We left bright and early for Lafayette and made it to the hotel around 2:30. We stayed at The Courtyard by Marriott Lafayette, LA. It was an older hotel but had been updated a little and was very clean so we were satisfied with it and J loved it because there was an indoor pool! Mom and Roy and Sis, John and Tay made it in about an hour later. We relaxed at the pool before meeting K's family at DI's Cajun restaurant, one of mine and K's favorite places to go when we head "back home". (I've gotten so use to hearing K call LA "back home" that I call it that now especially since I never left home and have never had a "back home".)

This was the first time my family and K's met and it couldn't have gone better. DI's was the perfect place to have the "event"! It was totally relaxed and so much fun. My family loved it as much as I do and everyone got along so well. We started off with a few drinks and listening to the band playing that night, Al Roger/Terry Cormier and Louisiana Pride.....Roy was immediately in his element and was loving the band, especially when the spoons were busted out. After dinner, everyone hit the dance floor for a little fun.

Kyle and Kristina were the first to go but it didn't take long for everyone else to get out there.

After the band was finished for the night, they were kind enough to take a picture with us.

On a scale of 1 -10, I would rank the night at about a 17!!!!! I am really so blessed to have such a wonderful blood family and such a wonderful boyfriend's family. I could not ask for better people to have in my life :)

Saturday - I hit the hotel gym and then K, J and I grabbed a po boy before meeting the rest of the family for a full day of Mardi Gras parades. We staked out a spot early at the corner of Vermillion Street and Jefferson Street and had it for the rest of the day and night. It was the perfect spot to see the Krewe Des Chiens and the Krewe of Carnivale en Rio parades.

Krewe de chiens was the dog parade and so stinking cute. I swear one of the best parades ever!

King Gumbo

Court Jester

The Rio Krewe was a party krewe and pretty exciting...they even have Elvis as a part of the krewe.

This was J and Roy's first Mardi Gras and to tell  the truth, I don't know who had more fun!!!

In between parades, we made sure to have a few people save our spot on the corner and would take turns wandering.
One of the "holding down the fort" shifts.

J and I found an awesome fountain for him to cool off in.

J, K and I found a seat on the patio at Agave for a snack.

Taylor found some beads that may have been the biggest I have ever seen.

We also found some time for some family pics:

Everyone had the BEST TIME EVER!!! Mom and Roy said it was the most fun they have had in a long time and my family adored K's family and K's family adored mine so it was such a great weekend for me too :))))
After the parade's, J, K and I hung out at the pool and hot tub and soaked our sore pigs before going to bed.

Sunday - we hit the road early and made it home in time for me to unpack and get a few chores done!

Monday - Traumas of Law Enforcement training class at Bartlett. Dinner with the boy at mom and Roy's. Spaghetti and Italian spinach. No workout.

Tuesday - Worked out to my Dancing with the Stars DVD in the AM.
Training class.
Lunch with my man at Fresh Slices, grilled portabella panini and creamed spinach.

J had hunter safety class with his dad. I seared some tuna and picked up some Fresh Market pasta salad and regular salad for me and K's dinner.

Wednesday - Workout P90X yoga in the AM
Training class.
Leftover salad and pasta salad and a little hummus on pita chips for lunch

J and I had some errands to run after work and I didn't feel like cooking so it was a TOPS BBQ night while we watched some Tigers Basketball.

Thursday - THANK GOODNESS IT IS THURSDAY!!! Training classes make for the longest weeks...Worked out at the gym before lunch: 30 minutes bike, 15 minutes treadmill (4mph, 2.5 incline) 7 minutes stretching.
Lunch was a Lenny's sub

And a little bit of work to do before it's time to call it!