MJ, Rouses, and LSU

1. First things first....Michael Jackson just died? What?? And Farrah Fawcett? And Ed McMahon passed away yesterday. Why do celebrity deaths always come in 3's? It's so sad.

2. I am currently readjusting to the slowness of south Louisiana. Everyone and everything just moves so much slower here than it does anywhere else. I am reminded of this every time I go to the local Rouses grocery store, or as I like to call it, The Crack Den. I don't know why this store is so sketchy, but it is. The people that work in this place resemble the misfit toys from Rudolph (except they're cracked out). Also, I think I may have seen our landlord's realtor working there. I guess it could have been him....the housing market isn't exactly booming.

Anyway, the white girl that was working the check-out lane next to mine was talking to the woman that was in her line. This is what she was saying..."Mmmmm Hmmmm. Yeah, so we moved in and he's all like, 'just watch you'll be pregnant in 3 months' and I'm all like shit, no, I ain't ready for dat. Mmmmm hmmm, he's 30 and I'm 19. I ain't ready to get pregnant, I already got a 2 year old."

I was so busy listening to her that I did not realize that the boy who was bagging my groceries was placing only one item in a bag. Really, every single thing I bought had its own bag. My bag of baby carrots was even double bagged.

3. Work is good so far. I enjoy what I'm doing because it's all government policy and regulations stuff. I am totally in my element. I feel that I definitely ended up where I was meant to be!

I'm pretty tired when I get home, but I'm hoping that I get over that soon. I've also managed to follow through with my morning workouts. Tues - Fri I get up at 530am to go to the gym. Yeah, I can't believe it either. I mean, I used to shower the night before work so I could sleep till 745am when I was supposed to be at work at 815. Who knew?!

4. How bout 'dem Tigahs????? Did anyone else tear up a little bit when Coach Paul was hugging his dad after the win? So sweet. And I love Les Miles for being there. We (LSU fans) currently have some of the most respectable, kind coaches in the NCAA. Now I'm ready for football!

T minus 2 hours till part 2 of the Real Housewives of NJ reunion show. Fuhgetttabouttit.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

The new job starts tomorrow....I am nervous and excited! I am looking forward to once again becoming a productive member of society, but I will sometimes miss being a day lady. No more weekday afternoon trips to the grocery, or watching sitcom reruns on Lifetime all morning or sleeping till whenever. But for reals, 8-430pm 5 minutes away from our house ain't all the bad, ya' heard? I am also looking forward to buying new clothes. There are a couple of cute boutiques right around my office that I plan to start frequenting. I will wear a uniform shirt to work so I only have to worry about buying pants, etc for office wear. All my other clothes can be just for fun.

Neal was home for almost TWO WHOLE WEEKS this time and it was wonderful. We made the most out of our joint time off since it will probably be our last until we have kids and I go on maternity leave.

Six years and two days after our first date at the zoo, we finally went back week before last. It was awesome. Hot, but awesome.





Last Saturday we went to Pruitt and Kat's to watch the baseball game and the following day was Cara's baby shower in NO. Monday we worked outside around the house, Tuesday Cara and Evan came over for a visit, Wednesday the in-laws came in town for a night, and my sister came in town Thursday. She and Dad watched the game at our house Friday and then yesterday Maddie, Neal, Zells, and I took Zells' boat out on the Tchefuncte and in Lake Ponch. It was tons and tons and tons of fun. (And I'm not posing in the pic below, I was holding my weird-length bangs back because visors do not do a good job of doing that for you. I really wish those suckers would just grow the f out already.)





Neal headed back to work today and I went with the rest of the fam to my brother's house for Father's Day. We BBQd and swam and had a nice day together. Ted is probably one of the most hands-on fathers I've ever seen. Since Diwina works in BR, he takes TJ to and from daycare everyday and takes him on all of his visits to the pediatrician. He dotes on that cute baby so much its unbelievable. It is really very sweet.

So now I'm sorta' tired, I need to do laundry and I start my new job tomorrow. Dear Lord I hope I manage to get through day 1 without doing or saying anything too stupid. If I'm lucky, no one I work with was driving on the Causeway yesterday afternoon and saw me dancing like a fool on a boat in Lake Ponch.

Employment!

I am now an employee of the St. Tammany Parish Government! I start 6/22. I will be working in the Office of Social Services as the Community Development Block Grant Administrator. (Money comes from the federal department of Housing and Urban Development and is distributed across St. Tammany Parish to build things and make the community a better place. Some of it is healthcare related and I was told that, as time goes on, I will continue to receive more and more specific healthcare-related responsibilities.) It's 8-430 M-F and the office is less than 5 minutes away from our house. HOLLA!

Interviewing

So I had an interview with another company this past Wednesday and I have an interview with another organization Monday. I was also contacted about another job that I applied for and was told that interviewing will start after June 13th. One of these HAS TO WORK OUT!

Neal came home Wednesday and will be heading back to the Port today. We had a lovely evening last night. We had some drinks on our back patio, BBQ'd and then watched the basketball game. Life is good. I'm going to Kristen's tonight for a girls night. Kristen is making her margs....should be fun!

I finally got my grades in from school. 4 A's and a motherfrickin' C. And yes, the 'C' was in statistics. Ahh, well. At least I passed! My overall GPA is a 3.6. Not too shabby.

Oh, and for the first time ever I did some half-assed gardening yesterday. I cut dead flowers and leaves and stuff from the hydrangea and gardenia bushes. I have a history of killing plants so I need to get a book on gardening. And then I can get some fun gardening boots and clothes. I'm thinking something along the lines of....



Sooo cute, right?! Have a great weekend everyone!

I'm a Master of Healthcare Administration. Now What?

Still no news on the job front. It's getting a little frustrating. I know something will come along eventually, but I'm hoping it happens sooner rather than later. I'm starting to go a little stir crazy.

Neal and I went to Baskin last weekend and it was actually the first time we had been there since September. Neal's parents hosted a fish fry shindig for Neal's grandfather. I cut fish and spooned hushpuppy mixture into a boiling pot of grease. (Maybe I'll add those skills to my resume.) It was actually a good day. His grandfather loved it and Marilyn was very excited to have the entire town of Baskin at her house for a party. I'm glad Neal was off so that we were able to go.

Yesterday we might have gone to the Brew Pub at 2pm and I might have gotten a little tipsy while there. And then we might have had Cane's for dinner last night. I am not proud of any of this, but sometimes a girl's gotta' drink on a Tuesday afternoon. I still feel guilty about it though, so I don't see it happening again anytime soon.

I visited Kristen and her kids this morning and those kids are SOOOOO cute. I'm heading to Shreveport Friday to spend the weekend with Neal and am stopping in BR on the way there to take another civil service exam that is needed for some of the jobs I applied for with the state.

Dave's new album comes out June 2nd and I am way excited. The Fuse channel is airing some kind of documentary about him and the album next week and I am stoked for that as well. I recently read an interview he gave to the Times Pic not long after Jazz Fest and he has nothing but wonderful things to say about NO. I was getting super stressed today about the job sitch so I road around for a bit and listened to him in the car, and it made me feel better. No matter what, I can put Dave on and it immediately chills me out.

It really is just so nice to be home. I just loooove our little house. Now if I could just get a job everything would be marvy. Here are a few pics of the house..






And all this Jon and Kate Plus 8 biz????? I did not watch the show Sunday night, but Kidd Kraddick was talking about it on the radio Monday morning so I'm going to watch it the next time it airs. I really think they should just remove themselves from television and focus on the fam, but I seriously doubt that it's going to happen. Those poor kids.

Anyway, that's about it. Miss ya'll!

Stuff

1. I'm heading to BR in a bit to attend my sister's graduation. Congrats Maddie! I will be staying the night to go out with her. So, yeah, I'm going to Fred's at 8pm tonight for free drinks. I told her that I don't think I'll make it past 10, but I'll try it out for a bit. Yikes.

2. I keep forgetting I'm in Louisiana. I guess that happens when you've been in another state for 4 years.

3. Oh Real Housewives, why do you continue to suck me in? The preview for RH of New Jersey came on and I fully intended on changing the channel, but I never actually pressed the button. I was sucked in by the big hair, NJ accents, and overall tackiness of the show. It's so gloriously trashy that I can't turn away.

4. I'm convinced I will have problems with the DMV for the rest of my life. If you're reading this, you probably heard about the Texas DMV debacle of 2008 when I went license-less for 2 months b/c it took that long to get my new license in the mail (when it was supposed to take less than 2 weeks). I've already made 2 unnecessary trips to the DMV here and in Hammond and no forward progress was made at either of them.

5. I've had 2 interviews this week. No news yet.

6. PJ's is now serving iced praline coffee. And yes, it's good.

7. Our anniversary is Sunday. One year ya'll, can you believe it?

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!!

Second Interview

So they called me today and I have a second interview Monday afternoon at the hospital in Hammond. Yay!