I'm sick

I so did not want to get sick...but I am sick. Wednesday, I stayed in bed all day - I've been taking NyQuil at bedtime and hoping that I will wake up and it will be all better. But so far, I am coughing and feeling really yucky. I've set a deadline in my head....If I am not better by Monday, I will go to the Doctor and beg for a shot, steroids, anything to help me kick this. I can't let it linger, I have to get better. Although, I stayed in bed Wednesday, I was up in the evening and helped the girls and our friend Dana put some of the flowers together for the wedding. They look beautiful. We worked on some of the flowers for the Sanctuary and the pew flowers.

We are working our way through the wedding "to do" list and making progress. So far, so good.
Please pray for me. Thanks!

What's going down....besides the temperature?

The weather is COOL here in New Orleans. Quite a change for us. I do enjoy the crispness, but along with this weather change it has caused me to have a terrible sore throat. I woke with it in the middle of the night and just started praying....I so don't want to be sick right now.

Last night we all rallied together and started moving Ashley's stuff out of our house and over to Jose's. Brittany was scheduled to have a new bedroom suite delivered today and we wanted to move her stuff into our new "guest room"..(Ashley's room.) Poor Ashley, she is very sentimental and gets attached very easily. When she was little, she would cry when we had to leave our hotel room after vacation. So last night when she came back into her room and there was a new bed and her stuff was gone...she teared up a bit.

Packing up the last of her stuff.

Yesterday, Mindy and her new baby Jacob came over for the day to hang out with Ashley and help us finish the wedding favors. He is such a cute baby....one month old.

Jose stopped by to see Jacob too.On Saturday, Macy's returned to our area with two new stores. They had a line up of stars to help celebrate the Grand Opening. We worked really hard all week and got everything on our "to do" list finished so we could go shopping on Saturday. It was fun and Brittany and I made sure we got photos of everyone and some video.

Gavin DeGraw

Tyler Florence from the Food Network (love him)

Carter Oosterhouse from Trading Spaces...actually he was at Dillard's, not Macy's.

Tommy Hilfiger

Clinton Kelly from "What Not To Wear"...he was great and he moderated a fashion show as well.

Of course, Martha Stewart - signing her new $45.00 book. We just took pictures for free.

Just Married...not yet!

On Sunday afternoon, Ashley and Jose were blessed with another wedding shower. This one was at Jose's church. The place was decorated so nice and there was great food and a beautiful cake that someone from the church made. Bride and Groom hats
The cake was delicious - very moist, kind of like a tres leche cake.

Fleur de lis and Christina Lee

Today Ashley and I continued with Wedding Prep. We went to the French Market downtown to pick up some charms to make our own "cake pulls" and boy was it crowded down there. I guess it was the beautiful weather and maybe some conferences in town and the Blues Festival. There were lines down the block to get into Cafe Du Monde. We couldn't find street parking and had to pay just the like the tourist. But we were able to accomplish our task and be in and out of the Quarter in less than an hour.

We came home and after a glass of iced tea and a little time on the swing we got started on making the homemade candy favors. Very tedious work and now I know why they charge so much for them at the candy shops. We are half way through and will finish up another day.

Just when I thought I could sit and relax, my little neighbor Christina came over. If Christina can get to me through whoever answers the door and actually make her way in our house...she is in heaven. Everyday she comes knocking - even though her mother is constantly telling her, "don't bother Ms. Trish." Well today was her lucky day, I had her come in and play with Quincy and help me fold clothes. She always asks to play the piano and like I said it was her lucky day, so I let her and she loved it. She stayed a long time and then we finally went out and enjoyed another fire in our fire pit. Her mom bought everything for S'mores and half the neighborhood was in the yard enjoying the sticky treat.

Needless to say, I am exhausted this evening...LONG day! But in a few minutes I am going to curl up on the couch and flip the remote until I can't keep my eyes open.

Friday!

Well this week has flown by - so much was accomplished, but still so much to do to finish the wedding prep.

Everyday now we anticipate the mail so we can go through the RSVP cards. How exciting. I am only allowed to open them if Ashley is not home, otherwise she wants to open them. We got five today and she was next door at Jose's house (it will be their house together soon), so I opened them and then walked them next door for her to see. Technically she wasn't home:)

We are planning a Fall Festival Block Party in our neighborhood for October 31st. So today I made the fliers to pass out and tied up loose ends. It will not be a huge event, but several of the neighbors are helping, so I don't have to plan a whole lot....since my time is consumed with another event! Our neighborhood is a popular Trick or Treat area, so we expect there will be a lot of children enjoying the fun.

The weather is cooling off...in the 70's and low 80's - so pleasant. I am loving it.

This afternoon we went to Gonzales, LA to the Tanger Outlet Mall for a little shopping with Ashley and Jose and then we went to eat at Outback. Brittany left today after work to go to Alabama to visit her boyfriend. Justin has a brother that is getting married 0n November 15th as well. So Brittany will join their family this weekend and attend two Wedding Showers for them.

Brittany and Justin

Electric Slide

Okay, so last night I said that I was going to have a bowl of soup and watch the Presidential debate. Well, those were my intentions....but instead of the debate, our family practiced the "Electric Slide".

Terry is determined to have all the steps down before the reception so he can join in on that dance. I had actually been practicing back in the summer with my girls and then with some of the neighborhood kids. It is a great workout - really gets the heart rate going.

So, even though we missed out on the final debate, our time was well spent. Terry has mastered the steps and he is ready to dance at the reception. He is still expecting to practice his first dance with Ashley in the coming days.


(This is a picture off the internet....not us, nor anyone we know...but they are doing the "Electric Slide"!)







Ashley and I finished up some final shopping for the wedding today - buying the isle runner, guest book, bubbles, flowers, etc. Everyday we are checking more things off the "to do" list. I feel like my whole life is on hold at this point - we reference time by "before the wedding" or "after the wedding"....but regardless of the time, effort, and even frustrations of this event, I am determined to enjoy every moment of it.

Taco Soup

Today I ran several errands and ended the day by meeting Brittany at David's Bridal to finish with her dress. When I got home, I made a pot of Taco Soup from a recipe that my niece Melissa has been raving about. It is really good. It is Paula Deen's version and can be found here at Recipezaar.

I changed it up a bit by using Rotel instead of a can of tomatoes and two cans of green chilies...that was Melissa's hint. Anyway it is really good and a great meal for the Fall. Even though it was 85 degrees today, I still like to proceed as though it were 50 degrees.

Tomorrow I go to Houma to get my hair highlighted and cut and Ashley and I will make our final trip to Hobby Lobby...hopefully. We don't have Hobby Lobby here, so our closest ones are an hour away in either direction.

Okay - I'm off to have a bowl of soup and watch the Presidential Debate.

Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek of the reception venue for Ashley's wedding. It is the Tchoupitoulas Cedar Grove Plantation. The new owners have recently added an addition to the property, but it still has the charm of the old plantation.

Ashley and I met with the owner today to finalize everything and of course to pay the balance...yikes! We picked out the menu, discussed the drink options - which of course, is no alcohol and talked about the music.

Southern wedding receptions are different from the Northern/Midwest receptions that I was used to. Up North, we didn't have groom's cake. The meal was usually a sit down dinner - where as here in New Orleans, most receptions are buffet and hand passed foods. Cake pulls - I had never heard of until we moved to New Orleans and of course a Second Line is pure New Orleans.

And then there is the menu. We have a few people coming down from up North, so I had to make sure there was some chicken and beef. But for the most part Seafood reigns here on the Gulf. Shrimp, Crab and Crawfish...yum! Of course we will have Gumbo and Jambalaya as well.

Wedding Countdown

We are a month away from Ashley's wedding. I am hoping to blog daily, so I will have a log of this event to look back on in the future.

Ashley and I are working on our Wedding "To Do" list and it seems to be getting longer instead of shorter. I am confident that we will get everything done, but the challenge is to enjoy getting it done!

The invitations have been sent and we are already getting reply cards in the mail. Ashley had her final fitting for her dress last week and we have our final meeting at the reception venue tomorrow.

Our weather has been beautiful here, lower humidity and the evenings are perfect. Brittany and I were in the Autumn mood yesterday afternoon, so we went to Lowe's and purchased an outdoor fire pit. Then to the store to pick up some marshmallows. Terry agreed to help me put it together and in no time we had a fire and a yard full of neighborhood kids enjoying toasted marshmallows. I didn't take pictures, but one of my neighbors did....she had never had a roasted marshmallow, she was so excited...it was also her son's first. So hopefully as the weather cooperates, we will enjoy many evenings by our fire pit.

Here is the model we purchased.

Here are the Petite Fours that were served at Ashley's Kitchen & Housewarming Shower...Ashley prefers Petite Fours over cake...although it's the same, just bite sized with poured icing.

Brittany and Sarah hosted the Kitchen shower - here leading the ladies in some fun and games.
The gift table at the church shower last Sunday.


Ashley and Jose by their dessert table. Jose doesn't like cake (can you imagine?) but he loves Banana Pudding...so no cake...but Dana did make some Petite Fours for Ashley and she did a great job!
Jose modeling his work aprons with tools for a game that Kitty was explaining.