Workin' Hard for the Money

When I said my job was in.sane. last week, that was before this happened:

KTBS- LSUS Power Outage: http://www.ktbs.com/video/LSU-S-Power-Outage/-/144384/9694866/-/edcrauz/-/index.html

KSLA- LSU Shreveport Closed Due to Power Outage http://www.ksla.com/story/17246027/lsu-s-power-outage

KTAL- LSU Shreveport still without paper http://arklatexhomepage.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=241482

I couldn't find all the video clips, but you get the point. Can we say nightmare? Unexpectedly losing power for an unknown amount of time with NO way to communicate that to anyone, is the definition of a crisis. I don't think anyone honestly gets how much we rely on electricity and technology. And what do you do when you lose both?!

I'd say I was thrown head first into this crisis, and while it is not over yet, I'd say we are going to come out on the other side looking pretty good. I did a total of 5 television interviews and 2 radio station phone interviews. And I am sure when all the power is back, I will do some more. It's been a wild week, but I am enjoying my little spring break. (But don't think I have been totally off while the school is closed, I have still been working.)

I do not think for one second that this was not totally God at work. With all the other insanity going on at work (that I can't really talk about), He knew we needed a break. Or at least he knew our office needed a break. Every day our brains are being pushed to the max. It was time for a rest.

Thanks for the vacay God. You always know when I need it.

House Photo Dump

We are making a little bit of progress with the house. I can't WAIT until I see cement! 

Trenches

Plumbing!

More Plumbing!

Bring on the FOUNDATION!

March Miracles!

Well March is more than half over and has been mostly uneventful on the home front until this week. (At work, things have been absolutely insane since January. I am not exaggerating). 

But Chris and I visited the home site last night and look what we found! A March Miracle! 

The formations! 

A sign of progress!

Our big pile of dirt they will pack down before Foundation.

In other news, Chris and I went to eat at Newk's by our new house and in the same little strip center I saw this: 

IZZOS! Probably the ONLY thing I miss from Baton Rouge!

IZZO'S is coming soon!! I was ecstatic! I LOVE this place. As you read in the caption, it is probably one of the only things I actually miss about living in Baton Rouge. I used to eat here all the time when I was a freshman at LSU and now there will be one here!! And soooo close to our new house! I can't wait!! That's March Miracle #2

Also, March Miracle #3, (and one that is probably the closest to an actual miracle) PaPaw had his pacemaker removed and a temporary one put in. He has had SO much trouble with the old one; fighting infections and it FALLING OUT! Yes, you read right. It actually fell out and Grammy had to put it back in. Lawd. He's been fighting with it for about 2 years now. So they took it out, added a temp one and tomorrow will go put in a permanent one on the other side. There was great risk in removing the old one, so we are so thankful that surgery went well. Just praying the next surgery will be just as successful!! 

We are having beautiful weather right now!! Ready to enjoy the weekend!  

House update

Here are so pictures of the "house." There is no real progress that I can see other than. The dirt is flatter than it was before! We do have a completed road, but apparently that has been complete for 2 weeks now. I am growing annoyed. 

There's both sides of our road. And the building just past that is the Elementary School. :) 

I'm on one end and Chris is at the other end of the property.

The house is sold, but we knew that...

Superior Sightings

For Chris' Mom's birthday we all went (minus Chris) to Superior Bar and Grill. This is her most favorite restaurants, and really one of mine and Chris' too. It is pretty much a Shreveport landmark and has been around forever! 

When you go to Superior there are a couple things that you just need to know. 

1. There will be a wait. Always. And it will always be crowded. It maybe be 20 minutes it may be 2 hours. Go early. 
2. You will always have a fun story to tell when you leave. Always.
3. You will see some of the strangest things you will ever see in a lifetime at Superior. Especially on a Friday or Saturday night. But sometimes, even at Sunday lunch. 

Now that you know those ground rules, here is a list of the crazies we saw that night. 

• See through leggings
• Leggings worn as pants (this is a serious no-no, especially when you have large assets)
• Man bent over and ripped pants.
• People from out of town came out saying, "This place is insane!!" They obviously didn't see my ground rules.
• There were a number of black cowboys. Nothing wrong with this, just a strange sighting in North Louisiana
• A girls butt ate her dress. Think about it. Her butt crack was hungry. 
• A 50+ year old couple making out. Full.on.make.out. Ick.
• While waiting in line for the bathroom, there was a lady standing next to the wall. I asked if she was in line. She replied, "No. I lost my friend and I am pretty sure she is in the first stall." We began calling her name and got a faint whimper from the first stall. So she was a little sick and shaken up, but she was "OK" we were told...
• We had been waiting about 45 minutes. And three guys came to stand next to Donna and I. They began debating whether they wanted to wait or not. They had a 2 hours wait (which more than likely meant 3). We chatted with them and when we told them how long they had been there, they said there was no way they were going to stand and wait that long. They decided to go gamble and then come back. They took their margaritas, chips and hot sauce bowl and headed to the car. Hours later as we finished up our meal, they were seated next to us!! We asked how they did at the casino, they said not too hot but they all looked pretty drunk. So maybe they had a good time any way? I really just wanted to ask if they returned the chip basket and hot sauce bowl.

I didn't get any pictures that night, but we sure did have a grand ole time! Never fails when you dine at Superior! 

Valentine's Day

I realize it is already March, but life happens and I get side tracked from the blog occasionally. 

Anywho, Chris and I had a lovely Valentine's Day as a married couple! I had a meeting on actual Valentine's Day (seriously Junior League), but it actually turned out for the better for several reasons. 

1. We went to Bella Fresca on a Monday. So we skipped the crazy crowds of actual Valentine's Day. 

2. We didn't have to order from the pre-set dinner menu. Most restaurants limit the menu on big holidays to make preparing the food easier. If you go the day before, you can have whatever you want! 

3. And finally, on the Valentine's night when everyone else was rushing out to dinner, I picked up Pie Works on the way home and we had a nice lil pizza date at home. 

At Bella Fresca. SO yummy! 

Kickin' Some BASS

The Bassmaster Classic was last weekend and Chris and I went to the weigh in on Friday and Saturday and then Chris went to the final weigh in on Sunday. 

But first on Thursday, I volunteered at the Tourism Bureau's booth on Media Day. I was in the same room as some of the top anglers of the weekend. 

The anglers lining up for lunch.

Here's Kevin Van Dam eating lunch on Media Day. 

Chris and I both volunteered with the Tourism Bureau on Friday and Saturday, so we go to go backstage and see a lot of the anglers and see how everything worked behind the scenes. I love doing that! 

Line to get in on Friday! Crazy!

Friday was the first weigh in and it was still during the "work day" so it wasn't too crowded or crazy. We sat in the "special guests" section, even though I don't really think we were suppose to. We learned, that if you just act like you know what you are doing then you could get away with a lot. 

Yes, there was a wedding proposal at the weigh in!! And no, this was not the first time this had happened!! Yikes! 

Our job on Friday was to escort the mayors of Shreveport and Bossier to the stage to do a welcome to everyone. 

Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover. Bossier City Mayor Lo Walker it up there somewhere too. 

On Saturday, our job was to escort the National Guard and the National Anthem singer to the stage. Like the National Guard needs an escort from me? But we did get to go backstage again to that was cool.

Presenting the colors.

Then we decided to do that whole, "Act like you are suppose to be here" routine. After we lead the National Guard guys off stage we just stayed backstage and watched the weigh in from there. We got to see all the boats and anglers backstage. And then this guy,  who is slightly attractive and seriously hilarious, showed up backstage after his weigh in. I didn't get to actually meet him, but I did snap a picture. :) 

Gerald Swindle

Chris went to the weigh in on Sunday and some how managed to snag floor seats. He was so excited and got to see Chris Lane win the title. 

It was a really fun weekend to spend with Chris. And it was a great weekend for Shreveport! That Sunday night, Moonbot Studios, based in Shreveport, and William Joyce won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short for its film " The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore."  How awesome is that! Congrats to Moonbot!