Because nothing says "love" like cowboy boots...

So a few weeks ago, Darryl informed me that he had two gifts in mind for me for Valentine's Day, but he wasn't sure which one to get. One was a gift he could pick out himself, and one was a gift I would have to know about in advance because I would have to pick it out.

(I must pause here to say I was quite impressed that Darryl was thinking about Valentine's Day several weeks AHEAD OF TIME. He has come a long way since the Valentine's Day when he picked up some roses from Sam's, left the card unsigned, and then told me I could fill it in with whatever message I wanted.)

(Yes, he really did that.)

(That was not our best Valentine's Day as a married couple.)

(You can tell I've completely let it go.)

Back to the current story...

Darryl told me what the gift was that I would have to choose on my own: cowboy boots. Now before you snicker at A) the thought of cowboy boots as a Valentine's gift, or B) the thought of me wearing cowboy boots, you should know that I have been eyeing cowboy boots for a while but could never commit. I've seen women my age (and older) wearing them, but I also see college-aged girls wearing them (albeit with Daisy Dukes or mini-dresses, but that was not my wardrobe plan).

And I liked the idea of cowboy boots, but Darryl wouldn't tell me what the other gift was, the one that he could pick out.

Essentially, folks, I was faced with a Showcase Showdown dilemma.

If you've ever watched The Price is Right, you know about the Showcase Showdown dilemma. If you are the biggest winner, you get to be in the "bid or pass" situation after seeing Prize Package #1. I mean sure, the trip to Paris seems great, but what if the next prize package is a new car? Or two new cars? Or a two new cars AND a trip?

And the cowboy boots were very appealing. But what if the other gift was a car? A trip to New York?? A car AND a trip to New York???

(Truth: I was pretty sure it wasn't either of those things.)

I went to try on some cowboy boots and fell in love with a pair that I thought I could pull off (as in "pull off" the look, not "pull the boots off my feet"...although that is also a "must" with a pair of boots, correct?). They fit like a dream, and I decided to go with the prize package #1.

Before Darryl purchased them, he was kind enough to reveal Prize Package #2, and it was a Kindle Paperwhite. And while I would love one of those, I was already attached to my boots.

And I wore them this past Saturday for the first time, with jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt. And no one stared at me (that is always my fear when I go outside my fashion comfort zone), so I consider that a successful first run with the boots.

Aren't they pretty?

And if THAT isn't a romantic story for Valentine's Day, I don't know what is.

Thank you, Darryl, for my boots! I love them, but I love you (a little bit) more!! :-)

If you need a good ego boost...

Amelia is into giving compliments lately. When I'm dressed for work, she often tells me, "Momma, I love your necklace" or "Momma, I love your shirt."

One day, I might have changed from my work clothes into some pajama pants before 5:00 p.m. (don't judge me -- I have embraced the pajama pants with gusto), and she kind of looked me up and down and said, "Momma, I love your...socks."

It's a stretch, I know.

The other day at Middendorf's, we had a waitress who I think already had one foot in the retirement home. When she came to bring us our change, Amelia told her, "I love your glasses!" I wonder if she had gotten that compliment lately.

(Also, I was wishing Amelia had told her that earlier in our dining experience because maybe I would have gotten my Diet Coke a little more quickly.)

Yesterday, Amelia said she wanted to make a Valentine card for the both of us, and she wanted an envelope to put it in. She went to her room, returned with a sealed envelope, and wanted me to open it. Inside I found this (I'm pretty sure I'm the larger square-shaped one):

And then she said, "Hang this on your board so you can look at it and know that I love you forever."

Melt. My. Heart.

The Grammys (Because Sometimes I Like to Write about Nonsense)

Y'all. I love an awards show, and the Grammys might be my favorite. I care diddly squat about who actually wins; I just like to see the performances and bizarre moments that make the Grammys truly awesome.

Before I list my thoughts and observations, I feel I must apologize to my Facebook friends for my excessive Grammy-related posts. Something about an awards show brings it out in me, and I feel a need to voice my EVERY THOUGHT about what I see on the screen before me. I did try to reign it in a little, but I think I might have failed.

So here we go...

1. I wish everyone would stop hatin' on Taylor Swift. I find her delightful. And if she uses men for songwriting purposes, so be it. WE are the real winners for the songs that result from the breakup, yes? ("Dear John" might be one of my favorites, so thank you, John Mayer.)

2. What was Adele wearing?!?

3. THANK YOU, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE.

4. Kelly Clarkson can SANG, y'all.

5. I read some amusing tweets about what movies people would like to watch on Carrie Underwood's dress. (What was up with that?)

6. Frank Ocean. DID. NOT. UNDERSTAND.

7. Darryl did not know Miranda Lambert is married to Blake Shelton. (How could he not know that?)

8. I wants someone (and by someone, I mean Adele, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, and Carrie Underwood) to stage an intervention for Rihanna and TALK SOME SENSE into her.

9. I super-loved Adam Levine and Alicia Keys (by the way..."Girl on Fire" is Amelia's jam) and the Marley tribute featuring Bruno, Sting, Rihanna, and more.

10. Darryl did not know that Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel are married. To each other. (Again, how could he not know that?)

11. Darryl is apparently an LL Cool J fan. (How could we be married almost 14 years and I  not know that?)

12. This was quite possibly one of my favorite Grammys ever. :-)

(As I type this, I happen to have E!'s "Fashion Police" on in the background. Kelly Osborne just gave Adele's dress a thumbs up. Kelly has lavender hair...so really, who is she to judge???)

(But I'm sitting here in plaid pajama pants, so who am I to judge??)

(But I'm pretty sure I have more room to judge than Joan Rivers does.)

The Weekend: Grandparents, Catfish, and Parades, Oh My!

My parents came over this weekend (well, technically, they came over on Thursday) for Grandparents' Day at Amelia's school on Friday. We were excited to have them visit -- Amelia loves her Nana and Paw-Paw and couldn't wait for them to see her school and meet her teacher.

 

I didn't actually get to attend the Grandparents' Day festivities (as I am not a grandparent), but apparently some songs were sung, some crafts were given as gifts, and a good time was had by all.

Saturday, we all went to "the swamp" to have thin fried catfish at Middendorf's.  We hadn't been there since Darryl and I lived in Baton Rouge about twelve years ago, but the catfish were just as good as I had remembered. (I'm not a huge catfish fan -- I'll eat them but they aren't necessarily my fav -- but I really love these paper-thin fried ones. Because let's be honest...it's all about the "fried" part.)

On our way back, we stopped at Cabela's, and Amelia wanted me to take a photo of her with this "pirate skeleton" in the aquarium.

Later that afternoon, Darryl and I made a quick trip to a nearby store to get not one, not two, but THREE King Cakes. (One of them, though, was for my parents to take to Darryl's brother and sister. They live in the same town as my parents, and the brother and sister live across the street from each other...just in case anyone was wondering about the logistics of the King Cake sharing.)

And because my gluttony is often followed by immense guilt and feelings of "I really need to eat better," our cart looked like this.

(Also, for any of you outside the state of Louisiana...if you have not had a legit Louisiana King Cake, do NOT judge this dessert by the the dried out fakes that you find in chain stores across the country. They are NOT the same.)

That night (we are now at Saturday night, if you haven't fallen asleep from this riveting blog post), my parents offered to keep Amelia so we could go out, so we met our friends Damian and Rebecca and had a nice meal at Little Village, a restaurant Darryl and I had never been to. The food was pretty good, but our waiter...bless his heart. Darryl said he had "waiter dyslexia" because he got our orders backwards every single time.

(No offense to any of you who have the "real deal" dyslexia.)

Sunday morning, my parents left, and we decided to get out for a bit and try a couple of parades our next-door neighbors suggested in the big city of Thibodaux.

There is no way I can describe the amount of crap loot Amelia acquired from these parades -- beads, moon pies, stuffed animals, swords, more beads, more toys. INSANITY.  Amelia even has the proper parade pose down:

It was a good weekend. And now I am enjoying my favorite Mardi Gras tradition of all: the Mardi Gras Holiday. It's even better than the King Cake.

Orange

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the LSU Lady Tigers were going to be taking on the Tennessee Lady Vols here in Baton Rouge. I was pumped because one of my former BHS students, Draya, is a freshman Lady Vol, and I of course wanted to see her. After a little bit of Twitter communication between the two of us, she was sweet enough to reserve me a ticket and we made plans to meet briefly after the game.

Don't get me wrong...I really do like the job I have right now. It is manageable, enjoyable, and affords me the balance that I think I need right now in this season of life. HOWEVER, if you asked me what I miss most about teaching high school, it would be the bond that teachers share with their students -- the bond that is created from seeing them for 55 minutes a day over the course of a school year, from attending their activities, from chatting with them in the hallway, from watching students achieve their goals...whatever those goals might be. (Also, high school students are FUNNIER.)

But anyway, Draya wanted to be a Lady Vol for almost her entire life. When she was in my AP Language class, she would use the Lady Vol basketball program (specifically Pat Summitt) as an example in her essays whenever the opportunity would afford itself. And while she had wonderful coaches and opportunities to develop her talent as a basketball player, she also worked tirelessly toward her dream and did everything in her power to make it happen. And it did.

So to see her walk out in her orange last night was a big proud teacher moment for me. I am in NO way responsible for any of her success (maybe I helped improve her already-strong writing abilities? maybe?), and we really just keep up with each other via Twitter (social media is crazy, yo), but seeing someone living her dream? There's just something cool about that.

Mardi Gras Madness

I am not Catholic, but I almost feel that I should confess my "sin" of not blogging and ask for absolution.

Life has been busy lately. What can I say?

But here we are, in the midst of Mardi Gras season, and I can tell you one thing: Amelia has embraced the Mardi Gras parade.

We took Amelia to TWO parades Saturday -- an afternoon one and an evening one -- and she had a blast. And we had a blast watching her.

Part of the reason Amelia loved the parades so much was because of the loot, of course. Once she received this princess wand, she was a happy camper.

Amelia's school had a Pre-K Mardi Gras wagon parade today. We decorated Amelia's wagon with essential Fleur de Lis and Mardi Gras ribbon. Little did I know that some wagon were going to be hardcore with lights and music.

(Note to self for every school event we have attended thus far: We need to STEP UP OUR GAME.)

ALSO...I was not aware the student body was going to attend the parade. I thought we were going to just parade around for family and friends. No, sir.  We paraded through a crowd of kids ranging from kindergarten students through fifth graders, all screaming, "Throw me something! Give me some beads!! Give me some candy!!" We ran out of beads quickly, and then Amelia was sad she had nothing to throw. Again, we need to STEP UP OUR GAME.

But it was fun.

Amelia and a friend.

Amelia told a teacher I made her mask. By "made her mask," she means I tied the string to it. How's that for crafty?

 

Just keeping it real...Amelia was not happy because I wouldn't let her stand up in the wagon and ride. I'm so mean.

And this has absolutely nothing to do with Mardi Gras, but check out this oak tree at Amelia's school. Darryl's dad was always a huge fan of the Louisiana oaks when we lived here about twelve years ago, so much so that we have a lot of laughs about it. (Seriously...he was obsessed.) I think he would have given this one a "thumbs up."

And to link obsessions with Mardi Gras...you know what I'm obsessed with? King Cake. That might be a post for another day...