Happy Birthday Cassady Hope!

My baby niece is 3 years old today! She is an absolute joy and brings sunshine, smiles and laughter to my life!!

A Stitching Update

I feel like it has been quite a while since I've done any blogging about my favorite hobby, cross stitching.  But I have some fun stuff to share!

The polar bear piece that I finished around the New Year is finally framed!  It looks so good!  I do believe that I am going to keep it for myself and hang it in my bedroom!  The frame is actually navy blue.  Not sure why it looks black in the picture as I took it in natural light.  I love this piece and it pops even more in person.  I wish you could see the "sparkle" in the fabric!

I got the above piece framed at Acadian Corner in Metairie.  Love that place.  When I was there to drop the piece off to be framed I picked up two Mill Head Buttons & Beads kits to work on, at some point, for Mardi Gras.

Purple Mask

Teal Mask

And finally, some progress on Dragon Knot 2!!!  I have finally completed 12 pages of this project.  Only 4 more to go with 2 of those pages not even covering a quarter of the page!  I hope to finish it this year.  At least that is the goal.  Then the decision, how to finish it?  Frame it?  Make a pillow out of it?  A wall hanging? 

In addition to all the stitchy goodness, I've been reading too.  I finished Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I highly recommend it.  If you like crime novels.  I think that is what I would classify it as.  I typically don't read that type of genre but the book was a gift (Thanks Jill, it was an awesome read), my friend must know me better than I know myself!!! I also read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  Awesome book!  I loved the creative thinking behind the disappearance of the Roanoke colony, the reason behind the Civil War, who John Wilkes Booth really was and well, just the life that Abraham Lincoln secretly led. Another recommendation!  And last, but not least, I am reading the book behind the new tv series, GCB.  It is similar but different.  So far I've enjoyed reading the book and watching the show!!! 



Mardi Gras

Yes, I am a few weeks late on this post but better late than never!

This year I spent Mardi Gras weekend with my friend Jenny from work and her family and friends.  A whole new experience for me. 

The original plan was to drive down Saturday morning and we would then head out to see Endymion (huge Saturday night Super Krewe parade).  Jenny's husband Phil and a few of his friends were riding this year so we were going to go watch them.  Then Sunday was to spent at with Jen's family and friends watching the day parades. 

Well, half of that plan happened!  The forecast for Saturday called for rain, rain, and more rain.  Now the weather forecasters in New Orleans were swearing up and down that the rain was going to end by 2 or 3 pm and that the parade was going to get off on time.  Let's back it up to last year: last year the Saturday of Mardi Gras was another wash out.  It rained so much it flooded!  Sunday was an absolutely gorgeous day though.  Because of the rain, the Saturday parades were rescheduled for Sunday and Monday.  The plan for Endymion was that it would go after Bacchus, another super krewe.  The problem with that was that the parade was still running at 2 am on Monday morning!!!  So due to last year's fiasco, they were not going to do that again this year. 

I drove down to New Orleans about 10 am on Saturday in the pouring rain, well at least in Baton Rouge.  By the time I got to Metairie (around 11 am) it was just overcast.  I made a quick stop at the LNS, Acadian Corner, then was on my way to Jenny's (I'll post pics of my purchases in another post!).  The rain finally  hit New Orleans about 2 pm and it poured!!!  We kept close watch of the news of whether the parade would run.  They pushed back the start time from 4 pm to 5 pm.  I believe it finally started at about 5:30 pm.  In the rain.  With lightening.  We weren't sure who was crazier, the ones who were riding in the parade or the person who allowed it to roll!!!??

Jenny and I suited up in our rain gear and headed out to see Phil and the guys in the parade. 

We got on the road and the rain started to come down even harder.  At that point, we made the decision to head to the nearest drive-thru daiquiri shop and then head home!  The remainder of the evening was spent in our jammies, sipping on daiquiris while watching the parade on tv!

Sunday ended up being a beautiful, kind of chilly day.  We had a great set up where we had a table in a school gynasium where we could set up food and drinks and all day access to clean bathrooms (this is very important!!!).  Concessions were also sold.  Anything you could want, red beans and rice, sausage poboys, hamburgers, hotdogs, etc etc.  They even sold soft drinks, beer and wine. 

The day started at 5:30 am as we had to leave by 7 am to get our spot in the school parking lot.  Parade start time had been moved up to 9 am since some of the Saturday parades had to be incorporated into the Sunday line up.  It was a good day of food, drink and laughter! 

Best seats!!!  At the top of a ladder!

Now I can't not make another comment on the food that we had!!  On Saturday we had sandwiches made with Mardi Gras bread.  Oh yes, this is a tradition that Jenny insists on continuing.  The bread ("Kids bread") is made by a local store in New Orleans. 

Then, I had at least 3 different kinds of king cake over the 2 day span.  If not more!  I actually lost count as there was plenty of king cake on Sunday.  This picture is just of the ones that Jenny had at her Mom's house.

Another weekend of Mardi Gras fun, come and gone!  Cannot wait for next year as it is always a good time!