I've been working, sick, busy, beaching - take your pick. Okay, not busy enough to stay away for more than a month but what the hell... Let's just move on, shall we? I started full-time at work on May 1. So, now I have to be a grown up every day and earn my pay and act right. It really 
sucks. I was perfecting the art of being a slacker. No whining... I have lots of responsibility and paydays are nice but other than that - I'm just working on balance and not getting sucked into being a workaholic. I work 1-2 nights til 7 and leave by 5 on Fri - those are my rules. Oh, and take a vacation 3 weeks after you start - that's important. I went to New Orleans on Saturday to pick up my cousin, Rose and celebrate a high school graduation NOLA style, ala crawfish boil. Man, were they good! I took 100+ pics - here's the graduate, Katherine Landry. It was alot of fun to see family and eat some crawfish. 
The weather was absolutely pristine. I also stopped at my favorite store, Earthsavers, which is located only in the New Orleans area and is a totally amazing spa/retreat store. If you are ever in Mandeville or NOLA, you should stop in. I don't know how they do it but they manage to capture calm and relaxing in their products throughout their store. I'd love to get a massage there. So nice. Rose and I took our time on Sunday driving over to Destin (about 5 hour drive). We stopped off at Bay St. Louis to see Bay Oaks - a house that belonged to my Nanny and the place where all good crawfish went to be devoured. Every Memorial Day they had a crawfish boil that was AMAZING. Lots of great memories. I am so grateful that I went to the last one in 2005 and made a great paperbag book of it. We stopped at Casino Magic, now called Hollywood and within 10 minutes of arriving, I won 2166 quarters or $542. Yeah baby. I borrowed $20 from Rose, so we split the pot. Good stuff.
sucks. I was perfecting the art of being a slacker. No whining... I have lots of responsibility and paydays are nice but other than that - I'm just working on balance and not getting sucked into being a workaholic. I work 1-2 nights til 7 and leave by 5 on Fri - those are my rules. Oh, and take a vacation 3 weeks after you start - that's important. I went to New Orleans on Saturday to pick up my cousin, Rose and celebrate a high school graduation NOLA style, ala crawfish boil. Man, were they good! I took 100+ pics - here's the graduate, Katherine Landry. It was alot of fun to see family and eat some crawfish. 
The weather was absolutely pristine. I also stopped at my favorite store, Earthsavers, which is located only in the New Orleans area and is a totally amazing spa/retreat store. If you are ever in Mandeville or NOLA, you should stop in. I don't know how they do it but they manage to capture calm and relaxing in their products throughout their store. I'd love to get a massage there. So nice. Rose and I took our time on Sunday driving over to Destin (about 5 hour drive). We stopped off at Bay St. Louis to see Bay Oaks - a house that belonged to my Nanny and the place where all good crawfish went to be devoured. Every Memorial Day they had a crawfish boil that was AMAZING. Lots of great memories. I am so grateful that I went to the last one in 2005 and made a great paperbag book of it. We stopped at Casino Magic, now called Hollywood and within 10 minutes of arriving, I won 2166 quarters or $542. Yeah baby. I borrowed $20 from Rose, so we split the pot. Good stuff. And then, on to Destin, where the weather was perfection and the shopping was hot. I was going to 
spend a little time by the pool on Monday but once I got a look at the beach, I couldn't resist. Perfect weather with just enough breeze. I spent all 3 days at the beach - under the umbrella, out of the umbrella, under the umbrella and then out. I brought an entire 21" suitcase full of books and magazines. I was in my glory - but still didn't manage to sleep enough. We shopped every day from 2-closing and had a magnificent meal at Bonefish Grill. The outlet stores were great - I couldn't pass up the new Coach Spring patchwork purse. I tried the duffle this time and I'm really liking it - it works well for me. I didn't capture a pic of our trunk but it was filled with packages - and apparently I came home with two too many so I have to mail Rose's shoes and capris to her. Darn it!
spend a little time by the pool on Monday but once I got a look at the beach, I couldn't resist. Perfect weather with just enough breeze. I spent all 3 days at the beach - under the umbrella, out of the umbrella, under the umbrella and then out. I brought an entire 21" suitcase full of books and magazines. I was in my glory - but still didn't manage to sleep enough. We shopped every day from 2-closing and had a magnificent meal at Bonefish Grill. The outlet stores were great - I couldn't pass up the new Coach Spring patchwork purse. I tried the duffle this time and I'm really liking it - it works well for me. I didn't capture a pic of our trunk but it was filled with packages - and apparently I came home with two too many so I have to mail Rose's shoes and capris to her. Darn it! Before
I left, my talented step-daughter, Jill came over and we created a clock for her from some graduation photos from last year. Its based on the Creative Escape Heidi Swapp clock and I think it turned out great. Jill was thrilled - we made it in about 2 hours. Great project and she's so creative and easy to be with. I enjoy creating with her - I hope we do it more often!
I left, my talented step-daughter, Jill came over and we created a clock for her from some graduation photos from last year. Its based on the Creative Escape Heidi Swapp clock and I think it turned out great. Jill was thrilled - we made it in about 2 hours. Great project and she's so creative and easy to be with. I enjoy creating with her - I hope we do it more often!It's great to be home and I'm looking forward to a nice long relaxing weekend.
