Events of Us

A new home for us to nest in

2010-04-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

People, we are moving up in the world! We moved out of our Uptown apartment and into an actual house on the outskirts of the city. I am feeling rather grown up as we've been acting like real homeowners (replacing sink faucets, trimming dead bushes, mowing the yard and cleaning out mysterious items from the garage).

We hope to stay in our new rental long enough to save up our cash to buy a home. In the meantime, this house will be our project home - to see if we have what it takes to fix up our own.

I'll be posting about some house projects on my blog so you can stop by to see what we're up to, but I will try to post them here as well.

Love to all!

New Blog by Macy

2010-02-16T14:47:00.000-08:00

I started a new blog that I hope to include projects I am working on as well as daily events. I hope you'll follow along when you can.

You can add me as a friend (at the bottom of the blog homepage) to follow along through Google.

Rainy days and King Cake

2010-02-12T13:53:00.000-08:00

Rainy days don't make for a good parade night...

img created on: odosketch

Happiness for the Saints

2010-02-12T12:16:00.000-08:00

Our neighbor's house (Drew and Brittany Brees) earlier this week. We like to call them our neighbor's although they are right on the other side of the streetcar tracks on our street. We're so proud!

Happy New Years!

2010-01-01T11:47:00.000-08:00

We headed down to the Quarter after a nice dinner with friends to ring in the New Year. The new year started with dancing and laughs.

Patiently waiting for our Schafer baby...

2009-11-16T13:24:00.001-08:00

Sean and I found out last night that we will be a new aunt and uncle! My sister and brother-in-law are expecting their first child in July. My parents are finally grandparents and I will have a new niece or nephew to spoil, spoil, spoil. I have already begun a few wishlists for noisy toys, cuddly blankets and too-cute baby clothes!

Boys vs. Girls Weekend

2009-09-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

Sean is leaving this afternoon to go on a men's retreat with our church. They'll be doing all kinds of guy stuff in Mississippi, golfing, drinking beer, golfing...and maybe some other stuff? So I was invited to join some of the wives for a ladies' weekend as well. One of the wives has an apartment in the French Quarter right by the French Market and we'll be staying there. Sadly or happily (whichever way you look at it) I will be leaving the ladies early to go to a big birthday bash Saturday evening for a good friend of ours. I think I have the better weekend plans, as I will be experiencing the FQ as a temporary neighborhood resident (ok, not really, but I will be riding the streetcar from my house there and back which makes me so happy) and then eating some fabulous New Orleans best food and spirits at a pool party with some close friends. While Sean will be....golfing.

I'll fill you in on my adventures once the weekend has been closed for business and the work week begins again.

New Bicicletas!

2009-09-25T08:03:00.000-07:00

We are finally bikers again! After Sean's bike being stolen in Boise and my bike rotting away, we were sad to be missing out on bike races and adventures. We looked at getting bikes almost a year ago but I couldn't decide on one. Sean of course picked one out asap. So when we went back to the bike shop a couple weeks ago, Sean grabbed his chosen bike and we checked out.

Sean's Cannondale Quick 4

My bike wasn't so easy. I had a list of needs and wants for my bike. Needs: 1) Classic look 2)more than one gear (so I can race Sean, silly) 3) an upright seating position
Wants: 1) Cute bike 2) a place to put a basket and a bell 3) curved handlebars

If you remember, I purchased an old Schwinn bike from a couple for about $50, thinking I could get the bike I wanted for cheap and then put money into fixing it up. Turned out that the bike was a '70s Schwinn and was a manufacturing dunce since Schwinn made "special" parts that no one else would have on their bikes. These were the parts I needed and they don't make them anymore. So I decided not to fork over hundreds of dollars to get the old bike upgraded to new gadgets.

Instead, months later, I special ordered this bike:

My Raleigh cruiser. -And it has a built in bell! Now all I need is my basket :)

We've put a few miles on these babies already and LOVE them!

The years we can remember:

2009-08-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else thinking of Saved By the Bell?

I hope you got some good laughs!

The 80's will be back...

2009-08-01T09:44:00.000-07:00

Sean is trying to sport an afro.

Then he goes for a mullet (I have seen this haircut on Sean in childhood photos).

Super-duper 70's...

2009-07-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

As you can see, we've become much more groovy...

We look like twins!

Looking Sharp in the 60's!

2009-07-30T10:38:00.000-07:00

We look so smart with our 60's glasses and grins.

I'm getting earthy in this photo.

Who were we in the 50's?

2009-07-29T13:30:00.001-07:00

A special feature for our blog! I got my hands on Yearbook Yourself 2009 and had way too much fun putting Sean and I back in time. I'll be uploading photos from each time period for you all to get some laughs.

Aren't we adorable?

If you want to try the photo editing yourself click here.

Smoking Cubans in KL

2009-07-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

We got the chance to smoke a hand-rolled Cuban cigar. The hotel we were staying at had a bar dedicated to cigar smoking and one day they had a Cuban woman demonstrating how she rolls cigars.

Sean ordered a cigar and we watched intently....

This is me being "taught" how to smoke a cigar.

Monkey Fight Video: KL, Malaysia

2009-07-06T14:48:00.001-07:00

As requested, this is the video we took of the monkeys fighting near the temple in the Batu Cave.

My favorite part is the monkey getting his butt dragged around on the cement by his tail- ouch!

Malaysia Shopping: Central Market, Peter Hoe and Chinatown

2009-06-29T17:57:00.001-07:00

These photos are from our afternoon shopping trip to Central Market. We didn't realize how close Chinatown was until we got there, so we did some shopping there as well. And I surprised myself when we ran into the Peter Hoe store on the corner to Chinatown. I had read fabulous reviews for the store and was secretly hoping to track it down on one of my personal days.

Central Market: Boring. We bought some trinkets and a bottle of water.

Looking down the street to part of Chinatown.

A great shopping experience at Peter Hoe. We then walked around the corner to their other store- the BIGGER store- to do some more shopping!

Above Chinatown.

Some graffiti walls on our way back to the monorail.

Getting our next monorail tickets to get back to the hotel.

Some views of the city from the monorail.

And this is what two tired and sweaty shoppers look like after an entire afternoon shopping in Chinatown. Ugh.

Malaysia: Random Images

2009-06-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

For my Dad, of course.

The KL Tower from our hotel room.

Taking a break to regain our direction.

The pool at the hotel. We ate breakfast here every morning.

Walking back to the hotel from the KLCC Suria.

MJ is a BIG deal in Asia and the hotel made an even bigger deal out of putting together a few nights for a memorial. There was a shrine of sorts set up in the guest hallway in the lobby. The shrine included a very large poster signed by MJ, himself, and dedicated to the Concorde Hotel, as well as some napkins MJ doodled and scribbled on while he stayed at the hotel.

If you look closely, you might notice the laundry air-drying. You can tell which buildings have homes rather than businesses becuase they all seem to have laundry hanging out the windows.

Malaysia Sightseeing: Waterfalls

2009-06-29T00:30:00.000-07:00

Our cabbie, who we rented for three hours, drove us to a forest where he claimed we would see waterfalls. We trusted him and hiked up the path to this entrance.

We kept hiking and found the following:

Sean claims his stake of the forest and lets the monkeys above know it.

Malaysia Sightseeing: Batu Caves

2009-06-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some images from our side trip to see the Batu Cave:

Taipei, Taiwan: Only the airport

2009-06-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are some photos I took at the airport in Taipei.

This is a wall covered in plants.

These are skylights all over the airport. The panels have white birds flying across each one.

Most of the signs are repeated in English underneath the local language.

We were able to wait for our flight in the premier lounge, where we mainly snacked on foods and flipped through the foreign magazines.

It is good to try new things, although it inevitably means you will come across something you will not like...as in the Chinese cake above. It was a little too chewy for my mouth to handle.

This is the stationary vending machine that I fell in love with. I plan to make a purchase from it when we come through the airport on our way back home.

While we were waiting for our flight to be called a flash rainstorm blew in and soaked the runway.

Recycling is a BIG deal here.

View from above: Flight to KL

2009-06-24T16:50:00.000-07:00

Catching Up: The Flight to Kuala Lumpur

2009-06-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos to explain the reality of our flight from Los Angeles to Taipei. As you can see, the flight consisted of eating and sleeping.

We were fed almost as soon as we got in the air.

Then they dimmed the lights down to let us know it was time to sleep.

Slippers were complimentary :)

In between sleeping and eating we watched a few movies and played some games. I was able to read half of my book....it was a LONG flight.

Then we were fed again! Good morning coffee with a sugar stick!

I really wanted to pocket these knives :)

KL: Busy, busy, busy

2009-06-23T20:58:00.001-07:00

I wanted to jump online and post a photo just to let you know we made it to KL. My computer died right as we got here and the outlet converter we have only allows for two-prongs. I am able to use Sean's computer for now but I am missing the amazing functionality of my Mac :)

We've been busy meeting agents for Glytech and have been wined and dined. Sean is teaching his first class today and I'm getting ready to meet them for lunch. Afterwards I hope to walk to the KLCC to do some shopping! When I get back I'll post some more photos from our flight (including the wonderful stationary vending machine I spotted in the airport).

And We're Off!

2009-06-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

Sean and I are pulling an all-nighter tonight and hoping to sleep for most of tomorrow afternoon to try and get ourselves accustomed to our upcoming time zone change. We will be flying out of New Orleans tomorrow evening at 7 and flying through Houston to Los Angeles. We will fly from Los Angeles at 1:30am (which makes it Sunday) to Taipei, Taiwan (arriving in Taiwan almost 14 hours later). From Taiwan we fly 4 and a half hours to Kuala Lumpur (arriving at 2:15pm, local time). Whew!
Sean will be teaching a class and assisting with some others. I will be scouring the city to bring you all some amazing photos! I'm bringing along our computer so I hope to share with you while we are there.

We love you all!

Moving In, Mimosas and Second Degree Burns

2009-06-18T15:04:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Sean and I traveled to our old Lakeview neighborhood to help our friend, Jay, move into his refinished home. The renovations have been a long process and Jay was finally able to get into the large storage truck that had been sitting by the side of his house and sort through the items they were able to save from after Katrina.

We were told that this was a moving party and there would likely be swimming in Jay's pool later, so Sean and I decided to start the party off by bringing early morning mimosas for the moving crew. :)

This is one of Jay's dogs who took a break in the shade on the porch during the hustle and bustle of moving.

That is until he was attacked for some good dog wrestling.

We found some great stuff from the truck, including this huge Transformers model.

And Jay took the time to entertain us with strange items he would find.

This jock strap was by far the best.

Jay has a very large musical instrument collection. We saw his musical losses (a guitar case warped by the flood waters) and his musical revelations (a mini accordion).

After a good performance by Jay, the accordion found its way into the increasing large costume pile. (The people of 'Nawlins love to dress up to party.)

After the moving, we all ended up in Jay's pool for more drinks and fantastic burgers from Lakeview Harbor. Sean and I rolled home exhausted that night and found that we had chose to stay in the sun for too long because we both ended up with second degree sunburn on our shoulders! We've been doctoring ourselves up and soothing our burns with ointment. Perhaps the mix of alcohol, sweat, chlorine and sun was not the best idea :)

Trip Planning: Check, check and check

2009-06-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

Ok. My passport is finally in my hand and the reality of this trip is slowly sinking in! I'm on a mission to get a new swimsuit this weekend (in between the hockey game, birthday party, and blues music party) and next week I am dedicating my time to putting together a list of places to see and things to do while we are in Malaysia.

Sean's boss has promised me that we will eat dinner at the KL tower, which is similar to the Space Needle! I'm sewing up some sleep masks for the two of us to give us a little help during our 28 hour flight. We fly from NOLA to LAX to Taiwan and then to Malaysia. (Please take note that I have never been to any of these destinations- even their airports- so this is exciting in itself.)

Let me know if you hear of any good places to check out during our trip and I will add it to our itinerary.

Arguing with a cat

2009-06-02T15:57:00.001-07:00

Sean is finishing his third week working in Midland, TX. Tito and I are going crazy. We're about to kill each other. We both take "personal" time so it becomes manageable to sleep in the same house. I have finally figured out how much "Tito time" Sean takes on :)

Tito has blamed me for starving him by digging out his last bag of treats from his bin and eating ALL the treats in the middle of the night. I woke up to this chewed up bag lying on the kitchen floor. I have put up with three different nights of sick, puking cat. We've fought over two flea baths and I finally forced him to get a haircut last week. We're both counting down the days till Sean will be back into our daily activities!

Malaysia Update: Planning and Waiting

2009-06-01T13:39:00.000-07:00

image via: Stuck in Customs

So, we're still in the process of processing our trip to Kuala Lumpur. There have been some issues with Sean's office so we were waiting to find out if we would still be going or not. I also have a checklist of items I need to get done before the travel can begin. This includes having my immunizations updated (if need be) and get my passport (this is on hold until we can get our itinerary so I can have my passport expedited). It really isn't much, but it needs to all be done.

Upcoming trip to Malaysia: The new city of love?

2009-05-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

A turn of events has canceled our first anniversary cruise trip Sean was planning and instead has the two of us traveling to Kuala Lumpur. Sean will be teaching a class for a few days and I will be tagging along so we can celebrate our very first anniversary together. We will be leaving at the end of June. I will be sure to keep you all up to date on our plans :)

A strange event at the Mollberg Address...

2009-05-12T09:20:00.001-07:00

During our recent visit with friends (see BBQ photos below), I began talking with an old neighbor about The Rocky Horror Picture Show- don't ask me how we got on this topic, I have no idea. We got into an excited conversation about the characters and history of the movie. One of our friends stated that he had never seen the movie, nor knew anything about it. So I decided to download the movie and invite him over to experience the show. The next day I began to arrange the living room so we would all be able to watch the movie from our little laptop (for those of you who don't know, this is how we watch movies). I placed the laptop high and low, at one angle and then another, but I knew this little screen was not adequate to have four people comfortably watch the movie. Frustrated, I brought Sean in to assess the situation and give me some help on arranging the couch and laptop. By this time one of our friends had arrived to watch the show and I was getting worried we would not be watching it at our house- perhaps we could watch it at someone else's house? This is when Sean made the bold move. Then and there he decided it was time for us to purchase a television. If you've known us for long, you know that I grew up without television in my home and can become addicted to it when it is on. Sean enjoys activities away from the television. We sold our old tv before we moved to New Orleans so we've occupied our free time with many other activities. We once brought up the idea of purchasing a television (just to watch sports games on) and walked through a Best Buy. We were offered an amazing deal on a television and Play Station 3 but we just weren't convinced that we needed either. Instead, we went and purchased a new matress set that day (what a great purchase!!). So this bold statement of purchasing a tv was brought up again, but this time it seemed to make sense. Yes, we needed a tv. We finally live in a home where we like to have friends come over and entertain them. So, we now own a television and PS3!

Our "entertainment" set-up before consisted of a receiver to plug in our ipods and to listen to the radio and Sean's collection of 4 speakers.

(Notice the matching hats? I think this has become an epidemic.)

The PS3 has been an item Sean took over a year to convince me was a worthwhile purchase- and so far it seems to be. We can use it to play DVDs and Blueray discs. I can plug in my laptop to it and save items to its storage space (if I needed to) and Sean can play games on it (this is his bonus feature).

We purchased an antenna as well so we get the amazing HD local channels. I was very impressed with the quality of the channels- digital is pretty cool. We don't plan on getting cable because we both know I would be overly tempted to watch tv all day. However, I know how to watch my tv shows I get off the internet on the tv screen now- bigger and better.

So now we will have movie nights of all sorts at our house! Whoo-hoo!

BBQing with friends

2009-05-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos I took the other night. We were invited to a friend's house for a BBQ and later tested out the neighbor's refinished pool. This is our old neighborhood so we got to say hello to many old friends.

L to R: Christian, Patrick, Sean and Carlos V.

Our old neighbor, Jay, just recently finished painting his pool and invited us over for a swim.

Cinco de Tito and Mayo

2009-05-07T14:32:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to throw a small party at our house for Cinco de Mayo and turn it into Tito's birthday party as well (since we don't know Tito's real birth date). A taco bar, margaritas, friends and cards turned out to be a GREAT night.

First Crawfish Boil of the Year

2009-05-07T14:07:00.000-07:00

Cummings Family Visit: Extra Special Moments

2009-05-07T13:45:00.000-07:00

Edit:

I wanted to include our "Girl's Date Night" recipe we whipped up. This is from an AMAZING magazine-like cookbook I picked up at Sam's a few months ago. We've loved every recipe from this cookbook so far and my mom requested that she get a copy of the recipes, so here's recipe #1: Shrimp Parmesan with Breaded Mozzarella (my mouth is watering)

(click on the image to enlarge to full scale)

*Also, I know many of you are living in Idaho where it is difficult to get decent quality and prices for your seafood. You'd think that this Louisiana girl would go buy her shrimp fresh at a local market, but no. I actually bought a frozen bag of peeled and deveined shrimp at Walmart for about $7! What a steal! And they were delicious!

Cummings Family Visit: The Audubon Aquarium

2009-05-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

Cummings Family Visit: Cafe du Monde and missing beignets

2009-05-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

We traveled to the French Quarter again to eat beignets (pronounced "ben-yays") and café au lait (French for "coffee with milk") at the famous Cafe du Monde. The place was packed like usual so we made an order of two beignets (each order is 4 beignets). Emily smashed a penny while we waited for our order. When the order came out we all grabbed a beignet to savor, but Emily decided she is not a fan of beignets so she sipped on her sprite instead. In the amount of time it took for me to pull my camera out of my bag and take a photo of both Mom and Dad eating a beignet, the beignets were all gone! Yes, TWO orders of beignets were GONE! These Idahoans ate their beignets, powdered sugar and coffee in just a few minutes. Dad tried to order another round but it was too difficult to get another waiter to our table by that time.

Cummings Family Visit: Jazz Fest Set Two

2009-05-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

And here's the second set. Enjoy!

Cummings Family Visit: Jazz Fest Set One

2009-05-07T12:00:00.001-07:00

We treat you to the first photos from Jazz Fest 2009. :)

Cummings Family Visit: A Princess will eat like a Princess

2009-05-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

This post is for Princess Emily.

After eating at least 4 oysters, a plate of pasta, a side of veal and Sean's baked potato, Emily told the waitress she would like a sundae for dessert. Even though they don't have "sundaes" anywhere on the menu, this is what they brought out for her!

Don't worry, she had four family members to help her clean the sundae bowl :)

Cummings Family Visit: The French Quarter

2009-05-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

More photos from the Cummings Family visit. This time it's the French Quarter.

Cummings Family Visit: The Audubon Zoo

2009-05-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

Gone Fishin' in the Bayou again

2009-05-06T18:31:00.000-07:00

Some photos from our latest fishing trip at the camp.

Cummings Family Visit: The Audubon Park

2009-05-06T18:27:00.000-07:00

I'm trying out a new way to share photos with you. One of the biggest challenges in sharing our events is that there are SOOooo many photos to upload one at a time and post on the blog. Let me know what you think of this version :)

Happy Birthday, Carlos!

2009-05-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

Carlos J. and Birthday Boy, Carlos V.

Easter and a Baptism

2009-04-15T08:24:00.001-07:00

We traveled Easter weekend to Southeast Idaho to visit family and attend our nephew, Jordan's baptism and confirmation. Some of the highlights from the trip include:

Dad's famous lasagna...my favorite.

Macy's parents prepping for their "fiesta"-themed family Easter party. This of course included traditional Easter eggs.

We finally got to taste test the sweet potato pancakes we sent out for Christmas. We were trusting our sources before...

Macy's mom played her favorite Easter Sunday song before we left Ashton to attend the baptism.

A rainbow popped up while we were getting ready for the baptismal service. Niece Maggie made sure everyone got a good luck at it- sometimes two.

Jordan has grown so much. Luckily he was able to wear his wedding suit one last time- a perfect occasion. Surprisingly he wasn't the only who wore a bowtie that night!

Sean's mom was Jordan's sponsor for his baptism. This is about the time in the ceremony that we started having camera malfunctions. I luckily found some spare photo space and was able to capture the rest of the images below.

Jordan being baptized.

Sean and I love this photo.

Uncle Sean lighting his candle.

Last Hornets game for the Season

2009-04-06T14:53:00.001-07:00

We were invited to watch the Hornets play and it will probably be our last time watching the game from the cushy box suites :(

We arrived at the arena early and watched an oyster eating contest. Raw oysters.

And a special guest for the evening...Regis Philbin.

Sadly, we lost to the Utah Jazz.

The Honeybees are actually wearing sneakers for once.

Hugo tried to get our team back on top in the fourth quarter, but you could see team moral was already gone. :(

Strawberry Festival

2009-04-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday we drove to Ponchatoula to experience the Strawberry Festival- not knowing what to expect really. Ponchatoula is a small community that is definitely proud of their antiques and crafts. And of course we saw LOTS of strawberries. Before you even got to the grounds there were crates of strawberries being sold out of the back of trucks parked alongside of the street! We purchased a small basket of strawberries from the wife of the Strawberry Festival's King- local celebrity sighting!

Not only were there strawberries by the crates, there were also bikers by the dozens! For some reason strawberries obviously attract the Harley Davidson crowd...or pehaps the antiques...or the strawberry daiquiris and late night music. Whatever attracted them was like flowers to bees! I've never been to a real Harley Davidson get-together, but I've never seen so many bikes at one time before!

We grabbed two strawberry daiquiris (made with real strawberries) and ordered a bloomin' onion- delicious! We joined the crowds weaving about food vendors, craft huts and carnival games.

The weather was amazing and I even scored cotton candy from the hubby! As you can guess, several hours of extra large daiquiris, sun and cotton candy was sugar and heat overload so we packed up our strawberries and headed home. What a great time!

The arrival of memories: From another perspective

2009-04-01T08:56:00.000-07:00

I had been awaiting this little book's arrival in the mail for some time. It came just in time to get a sneak peak from me before being forced into packing for our recent move! I pulled it out of hiding today to savor the memories and share with you some more photos from our wedding- Gramsbear style!

It is so great to have an amazingly talented group of family and friends- they were the glue that held this party together! And thanks be to God for my matron of honor who showed up and became boss! This is what girlfriends are for, right? :)

I still can't believe how amazing the weather was. Traveling from the hot South I was worried about guests being cold outside and I even had a back-up cardigan to wear at the wedding! Silly me, God gave us his blessing for sure!

Oh, the dancing! The dances were great and I made some major $$ dancing with my cousin, Charles. Watch out because he's got the hip twisting down! Although to me, my dad will always be the king of dance moves.

Yes, we had techno and some great dancers.

I'm so happy that we got some photos from the sparklers that night!

And Pa finally gets a break!

Thanks Pa & Gramsbear for letting us hold the ceremony and reception at the ranch! We will treasure up these memories forever!

Campin' on the Bayou

2009-03-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

We were invited to spend the weekend at Sean's boss, Alan's camp in the bayou! This trip came about after Sean lost a bet of some sort and owed Alan some "work time" out at the camp.

These photos will give you a play-by-play story of how the weekend went:

Work time: the end of the dock gave way and was sagging after the storm. The job was to raise the dock where it was sagging. Christian helped Sean out with his owed "work time"- perhaps this can be used as credit towards a bet he may lose in the future? :)

The men inspect the situation and discuss techniques to fixing the problem area.

And the work begins...

While the guys worked, I ate peanuts in the sun. Look- triplets!

"That 1 guy and some broad" carved into the picnic table.

More ideas are brewing....

while I am relaxing.

The view from my hammock.

Alan becomes the supervisor by this point and lets the guys have at it.

Crab traps stacked up at the neighbor's camp.

Testing out their handiwork.

Problem solved!

Bayou decorating- I love it!

And the guys finally get to relax!

Look at that excellent work!

The "Ashton Plantation" is next door.

We start up the boat to take a joy cruise.

Alan shows Sean how to drive the boat and lets Sean take us for a spin.

Then Christian takes his turn at the wheel.

Even I got to learn how to drive the boat- not as fast as the guys...

We spotted a gator making a dash from the boat.

We get back to the camp and the guys drool over a neighbor's fancy little speed boat.

I spotted two snakes that were sunning themselves in the wood pile right next to the dock- or so they spotted me.

The neighbor shoots both snakes and one lands in the water.

Tomboy, Linda (Alan's wife), insists on seeing the dead snake- even in her fluffy red slippers! :)

Alan helps get the snake to land.

This interests Christian, who proceeds to "examine" the snake.

On our way back to Alan's house the next day we go gator searching.
Click on the photo and you can see an alligator's head right above the water.

Most of the alligators were out sunning themselves on the fallen logs near the edge of the water- like this gator.

And then, Sean and I spotted this monsterous beast as we sped by. I snapped a quick picture in its direction and this is the best photo we have. A little blurry, but click on the photo and you can see how LARGE this gator is! (He's in the very middle of the photo.)

Back at the house, Sean picks some grapefruit from Linda's tree to take home.

Flowers Just Because

2009-03-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

My dad mailed some little potted flowers "just because"- super sweet!

St. Patrick's Day: Late night celebration

2009-03-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

We visited Pat O'Brien's piano bar for St. Patrick's Day. (way too excited)

One of the rotating pianists for the night is from Driggs, Idaho! She played our alma mater for us :)

Oh, and the steins on the ceiling!

St. Patrick's Day Parade: 2009

2009-03-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

We only attended one parade for St. Patrick's Day this year because we had a rainy weekend.

"Cabbage!"

2009-03-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

So, you might be wondering how we rang in Fat Tuesday. No, it was not on Bourbon Street, nor in the French Quarter. I was asked what I wanted to do for the evening and I told Sean I wanted to listen to music. By happenstance, we ended up getting to see some dj's perform and dance till the wee hours of the morning (Sean was so thrilled)! We'd been to this dance club before so I was prepared. Sean likes to stay for the "big show performer" who is always last in the evening (or early morning) so I wore flat shoes and we danced all night.

Hmm...I can't remember the name of this dj. I will get back to you on this (must go to my best resource, Sean?)

Sean was waiting to hear Ferry Corsten perform. Even I could tell that he was a better dj than the first we'd heard.

The smoke machine at this club can be overly intense sometimes, but it was great seeing all the flashing jewelry from parade throws that people were wearing. I wore my fabulous giant flashing diamond ring I got from the Muses parade.

The video quality isn't that great but yes, Sean loves this music.
Right before we left Corsten played a song that I actually liked alot. I had Sean look it up when we got home to discover that it is a remix from a group I listened to back when I was working at the dude ranch in Montana. You can listen to the remix here.

So, you might be wondering how we spent our time on Fat Tuesday. We stayed home and let our ears heal from the bass. :)

The Real Deal?

2009-03-20T11:55:00.001-07:00

We stopped in at a bar during Mardi Gras week and happened to catch a Dolly Parton show, or so it seems.

We were trying to see over the thick crowd of people and I pulled my camera out to see if I could hold it over everyone's head and get a photo. As I was turning the camera on I looked up and saw Dolly Parton walk right by me. Yes, she took a walk around the outside of the bar and sang to the people outside for a few moments. So, was this really Dolly Parton? Its still questionable. You can read the local news article right here.

Welcome to Mom's Ball

2009-03-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

We were invited to attend this year's M.O.M.'s Ball by Sean's boss. We'd heard many stories about the event and were excited to go. M.O.M.'s Ball is an exclusive invitation only masquerade ball for Mardi Gras. The number one rule: you MUST be in costume (or they won't let you in).
Rumor has it that celebs have tried to crash this party with no costumes on and were turned away.

Here are some of our favorite photos from the ball:

Sean fell in love with this jesters mask at a mask shop and later found this amazing vintage parade costume at a shop in the French Quarter.

I fell in love with a cheetah (ore leapord) mask and so we pieced together a cat costume (including a last minute tail we pieced from a parade throw). The ball is held at Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World so we got to see sculptures from old floats, Underdog included.

This is the boss man, er....Beetlejuice. Pretty amazing resemblance.

Sean got to meet with the Royal Jester (the official M.O.M.'s Ball King's jester that is).

I think I wanted my photo with these other cats...it made sense at the time, but I honestly have no idea who these people are. The scarecrow hung out with us that night and Sean claims he is Ben Roethlisberger (he actually tried tricking him into confessing he was Ben....very determined).

Oh, the Jester was a very good jester and entertained all night long- what a trooper.

The band that played below the Jester's chair platform on wheels. Yes, very talented.

Our friend Patrick in his handmade (he made it himself!) clown costume. He shaved his head, besides the small purple patch of course, earlier that day at a BBQ we had at his house. What a funny guy.

This is the best I could do for a close-up with the King of M.O.M.'s- he was a very popular and busy man that evening.

Thundercats!! Also, you can see my diy tail in this photo.

A New Location in 'Nawlins:

2009-03-20T06:24:00.001-07:00

Yes, many of you already know we moved! We would love to have you plan a visit :)

Where to begin again...

2009-03-19T18:58:00.001-07:00

It has been so long since I've posted to this blog that I worry you may have all given up on me and my fancy idea of a blog... I hope not. I will do better at posting here, in fact I hope to post daily. We love you all!

Macy & Sean: Thanksgiving Family Photo

From Africa to Alaska...

2009-02-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

Here are some requested images from Sean's recent trips for work.

Luanda, Africa: December

Some monkeys- just for Macy.

Notice anything suspicious in this tree?

Look closely:

Yes, these are bats. Many, many bats.

These are not birds. These are bats:

Prudhoe Bay, Alaska: January

This is the hover craft they used to get to different locations. Because of the "warm" weather they had just received the ice wasn't firm enough to drive on with pickup trucks.

These large pieces of machinery drill holes down through the ice to let the water beneath seep up to make the layers of ice thicker. One of the sites is a man-made island that is all just ice, so they have to keep the ice thick to travel to and from the site.

No, this is not a local, this is Sean's boss, Allen.

A view of the pipeline.

Good Luck Charms for the Saints?

2008-12-28T10:52:00.000-08:00

After Christmas, we were given tickets to watch a Saints game with some friends from our church.

We were excited to be there early enough to get foam fingers, but sadly the cheering wasn't enough to pull our Saints together for a victory. :(

Christmas Thanks.

2008-12-27T13:45:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate Christ's birth!

Sadly, this is the only photo we got of out tree this year.

Macy's new cellphone.

New underwear- yeah!

Sean received a shaving kit from Macy's family- joy.

We received our family photos in the mail and were so excited to pull them out and see them again.

This was close enough to Legos for Sean. He built up several calendars before choosing this layout for his final display.

Visit from Mom and a Birthday Celebration

2008-12-20T10:13:00.000-08:00

Sean's mother, Margaret, came to visit us in New Orleans to celebrate Sean's birthday. We had the greatest time wining and dining her at our favorite spots. We all came away from the visit with stuffed bellies and happy hearts!

Sean and Margaret at Pat O'Briens, where Margaret drank her first Hurricane.

We took Margaret to see the Jean-Lafitte Reserve, but we didn't spot any gators along the way.

We sent Sean out to inspect the floating floor of grass. The grass grows on top of the swampy water and its supposed to be like walking on water.

Macy and Margaret at Jean-Lafitte Park.

Sean got his haircut while Macy and Margaret went to the casino to play some video roulette. We stopped by the statue on Fulton Street to see the Christmas lights and trees.

Sean got tickets for us to see the Hornets game for his birthday. It was a surprise to find out the seats (provided by his awesome friends at Chet Morrison) were actually in a suite! Sean and Margaret got to pose with the reindeer in front of the Nest before the game.

Sean's friends at Chet Morrison brought him a cake from Mississippi to eat at the game. And Sean finally got a Hornets jersey for this birthday.

SNOW! in New Orleans

2008-12-11T10:42:00.000-08:00

What a surprise when I woke up this morning to find snow flurries at my front door!

The snow was too wet to make real snow angels, but in my excitement when I came home from work (the Idaho girl was the only one to "brave" the drive to our building so I got to close up early) I made this snow angel instead.

Does he remember what snow is like? He had some good licks of my snow angel before deciding he wanted inside to run around like a mad cat, chasing after imaginary foes.This neighboring house looked so beautiful with snow blanketing the roof.

Dressin' Up and Goin' Out: Halloween Style

2008-11-13T17:41:00.000-08:00

Update on our Halloween:

Decorations included a white pumpkin this yearNotice the spiderwebs in the windows...We left candy in Mardi Gras cups by the front door (in case we by chance got trick-or-treaters while we were out).

We got all dressed up in our Halloween costumes and drove to see the first ever Krewe de Boo parade.

The gymnast was Macy's favorite (you can see a luchador in the background :)

She was obviously a money shaker....other than that, we're not sure.

You'll never guess who stopped by to see the parade!?! Trailer trash- and boy was he a riot!

Stilt walkers from the parade.

And now to see our costumes:

Sean was the Big Bad Wolf.

And Macy was Little Red Riding Hood (again- because she still had her costume she made from last year).

Sean was wooing the older women out that night. "My what big teeth you have!"

Macy and Martha

2008-10-28T14:49:00.001-07:00

Macy went to the new Macy's store that opened up on Saturday to celebrate their 150th anniversary. The store had many celebs scheduled to make appearances at the store throughout the weekend. Macy waited in line for 2 hours to see Martha Stewart. You can see more photos on Macy's blog here.

Out with the old and in with the NEW! (Sofa that is)

2008-10-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

You can see more photos of our new sofa on Macy's design blog here.

St. Louis for "hurrication"

2008-09-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

So, after several days of camping out in a hotel in Memphis, we decided to drive a few extra hours to stay with Macy's sister and brother-in-law in St. Louis. We spent some time at the park and visited the art museum before being called to drive to Biloxi for Sean's work pow-wow.

While Macy went bird hunting, Sean listened to the trees.

We walked through the park to get to the museum. It was a beautiful day.

Of course, St. Louis on his horse.

Once we stepped inside, we were swept away for hours looking at art. Some you might even recognize.

This is any Andy Warhol piece.

The blue period.

Matisse for Macy's mother.

Of course it rained when we were leaving St. Louis...

Memphis Part III: Sun Studios

2008-09-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

On a tip from Macy's sister, we visited the Sun Studio while in Memphis to check out some Elvis history (Graceland is over priced- even with the evacuee discount). It turned out to be amazing!

The walls of the famous.

Ooh. The piano man is playing!

This "X" shows where Elvis stood during recording time.

This is the official contract that signed the music rights over from Sun Studios to RCA Records.

Oh, yes. This mic was actually used by many famous musicians, including Elvis (and every tourist to come through the Sun Studios tour)!

This is a photo of the owner of Sun Studios and the receptionist, who was the first to record Elvis singing at the studio, posing with Elvis.

Memphis Part II: Madison Hotel

2008-09-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

We stopped by the Madison Hotel in Memphis to take in the roof-top view we'd been told about. It wasn't quite opening time for their restaurant, but the bartenders made us some drinks and let us up the elevator to the roof.

Sean went with the blue martini and Macy nabbed some champagne for the special occassion.

Sean had to ring the bell.

The view was amazing!

Some women staying at the hotel took our photo. They were evacuees as well.

Did we mention that the view was breathtakingly amazing?

More photos of Memphis...

2008-09-26T11:43:00.000-07:00

Did you know that parking can be fun? Click on the above image to read the clever scheme to get you to park in this parking garage.

This was what we stored in the fridge of our hotel room. We had tequila and rum to top it off, plus enough tv commercials to bore a person to death.

Our first "hurrication"

2008-09-19T13:14:00.001-07:00

We took our very first "hurrication" (or as other locals call it an "evacucation") during Hurricane Gustav and stayed in Memphis, TN.

Can you see Sean? He's hiding...

The Hard Rock Cafe in Memphis. It just didn't compare to the Hard Rock in Biloxi, Mississippi.

This is Beale Street. Some like to compare it to the French Quarter in New Orleans, but there's no comparison...

As a treat we went to a very nice restaurant called the Texas de Brazil and stuffed ourselves with a buffet of delicious meats and salads. via: Texas de Brazil

After calling ever hotel possible, Macy finally found us a hotel to stay at on the outskirts of Memphis. We were so happy to stay in a quality hotel (as you can see from the photo below).

This sculpture is made from jade stone.

The streets of Memphis.

Catching some rolls in-between

2008-09-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

We love Lambert's and their thrown rolls (in fact I think we only go for the rolls). On our way to St. Louis to stay with Macy's sister and brother-in-law, we made sure to make the stop at Lambert's to fuel up our bellies. The yellow footprints to Lambert's bronzed statue.

This is Mr. Lambert bronzed and throwing a roll.

And these are his delicious rolls. To get a roll, you must catch it from the waiters wheeling around carts of hot rolls (fresh from the oven of course).

They also make sure you have plenty to drink here.
Our waitress sent us home with a big box of fresh rolls and two traveling mugs after she found out we had traveled from New Orleans. Perhaps we looked a little tired from our journey and took pity on us. Either way we ate lots of rolls once we got to Sarah and Kevin's home.

Our front porch.

2008-08-31T16:54:00.001-07:00

We repotted a hanging plant that we received from Lonnie and Anne to sit outside our front porch. It's been growing like a weed and we're so pleased. Must be something in the rain :)

City Park in New Orleans

2008-08-31T16:51:00.000-07:00

City Park is beautiful right now. We took the opportunity to get outside and throw around some frisbees. We decided on frisbee golf so Sean could show off his amazing skills :)

Lynard Skynard/Kid Rock (featuring Rev Run)

2008-08-31T16:42:00.001-07:00

Oooh yeah! We got tickets to the Lynard Synard/Kid Rock concert.

Oh, the old ones where awesome!

So, the guy in the middle we actually saw the night before at a hotel, but didn't realize he was "with the band" until we saw him on stage. Oops?

Kid Rock and Rev Run from Run DMC. Yeah- some old school rap!

Oh, and Kid Rock had some moves. Like that kick (signature move).

Saints' Opening Game

2008-08-31T15:50:00.001-07:00

Some fans down in front.

On the line.

The man with the gloves... (he directs the game through the media)...Macy's favorite.

Some pee-wee football.
We saw a couple people gnawing on these large ham legs.
And a special cheerleader sat behind us.
This is all that was left from our food purchases at the end of the game.

Well, we didn't win, but we had a great time like always!

Oh the fish tales you will see...

2008-08-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

We were invited on a fishing trip with some friends of ours who own a camp near the gulf. We jumped at the chance to do some real salt water fishing and packed up our gear for the weekend. We'd like to say that we had an amazing time and you MUST give it a try when you come to visit us! We saw dolphins, a huge sea turtle and perhaps some marlin fins. But even better than that, we caught some fish that we have never before seen.

Macy pulled in a red snapper for her first fish for the day.

Sean keeps trying for his second snapper.

Carlos snags his own.

Sean snags something bigger than we expected.

We were all waiting to see what was lurking on the other end of Sean's fishing line.

Sean pulls in a black drum!

Have you caught a fish this big and ugly before?

After a long day fishing, some crabs were "borrowed" and a crab boil was set up at Maw-maw's camp next door.

Beer and crabs...potatoes and garlic.

And in case you've ever wondered what it was like to see the sun set on the bayou....

Even though we were tuckered out by the days events, we made sure to jump on board to go night fishing near the rigs in the gulf. It took awhile to find what the fish were biting, but by the end of the night (or say the early morning) we had a boat FULL of trout!

Running with the Bulls (New Orleans style)

2008-08-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

In case you missed this event on the news, New Orleans holds their own "bull" run each year. The local roller derby team, The Big Easy Rollergirls, chases crowds of runners through the streets on their roller skates. We were thrilled to be going and got up early that morning to get ready, only to have an unexpected visitor show up at the house right as we were leaving.

Well, we never made it to the run but we heard all the great stories the next day (and days to follow) so we will be sure to attend next year's bull run.

Pre-wedding photos

2008-07-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Wild Mustang Farm in Squirrel, Idaho.

This is where we choose to have the ceremony held.The famous moose and geese made by Macy's grandpa.Thanks for visiting the farm!

A walk down by the lake.

2008-07-28T09:30:00.001-07:00

We drove down to the lakeside by our house to see the sunset on the water.

Sadly, we did not know that the lakeside closes at sunset. Which means no romantic evenings on a park bench. And to be sure that everyone leaves the lake, a patrol car announces closing time.

Emily's Graduation

2008-07-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

Macy traveled back home to Ashton to see her sister graduate from North Fremont High School. Emily was excited for the graduation, but perhaps even more excited to see both of her sisters home for her big event.

Emily getting ready for the ceremony.

Back at home, reading cards and opening presents she received from school friends and teachers.

We held a party the next day in celebration of Emily's graduation. We think her party has made the #1 for how many people can fit in the house at once. She had MANY friends and family come to wish her a happy day.

4th of July Celebration!

2008-07-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

We packed up some wine and cameras and...

...strolled to the Riverwalk to watch the fireworks display on the river.

And the show began....

Does it look like it was hot?

Where has our time gone?

2008-07-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

Wow! Sorry it has been so long since we've last posted! We've been busy with pre-wedding planning, wedding doing and post-wedding relaxing. :)

Wandering the French Quarter Festival

2008-05-27T11:17:00.001-07:00

A Special Hornets Appreciation

2008-05-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

We didn't win, but New Orleans, you definitely fanned up!
A special thank-you to all the Hornets fans from owner George Shinn.

The Causeway bridge was also showing it's Hornets appreciation.

JazzFest

2008-05-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

Can you spot the tourists?

The crowd dissipated enough for us to grab some great spots for our chairs (front and center)!

Surprisingly, Santana never sang a single song.

We spotted no crowd surfing, but there were lots of beach balls being tossed, flags being waved, umbrellas being bounced up and down, and muddy hippies hula-hooping.

To tell you the truth, this was really just a big hippie festival.

The hats mean we are totally Southerners now!

There are so many people that come to the Jazz Fest that many groups bring big poles with flags to let the people in their group find each other at their sitting location.

The Neville Brothers asked Carlos Santana to come back on stage after his performance to play with them.

Wow! You should here this big guy sing! It was stunning!

Overall, it was a great show! (Though, I think we all would have enjoyed less mud.)

Shipping a Cat to Idaho

2008-04-09T16:54:00.001-07:00

Macy has been packing boxes of snow clothes to send home to Idaho for her sister Emily to look through. (We have assumed that we will see NO snow here in Louisiana.) We've decided that Tito is ready for a visit back to Idaho because he continues to pack himself into box and ends up taking a cat nap. :)

A mistaken flower

2008-04-08T16:52:00.000-07:00

Sean picked a beautiful flower from the corner of our street and when we brought it inside we realized we had also brought a snail home!

Zurich Classic

2008-04-06T16:49:00.000-07:00

We were able to get tickets to watch the Zurich Classic. Though photos weren't allowed, we still had to share part of our awesome experience!

Old Photos

2008-04-01T15:01:00.000-07:00

We finally had some old photos from Macy's SLR camera developed onto a CD. The photos turned out to be from our visit to Ashton last summer while we were living in Boise. We went to Warm River to feed the fish and then made a visit to Mesa Falls so Sean could see the difference between the man-made falls in Idaho Falls and some REAL falls.