Luckyyyyyy

How lucky are those who know exactly what they want to do with their lives?!? I wish I knew. Lots of things I love to do, but not sure how any of them could be a living made. ho-hum...

Old enough to appreciate history???

The older I get, the more I appreciate history.

I find as we furnish our house, that I am enjoying finding furniture from our past. I feel like having furniture that is a part of our memories, or better yet, a part of our parents' or grandparents' memories, makes it feel more like HOME. From items with which we have short histories, like the table Drew got from Shorter and our couch - my first piece of furniture I bought new - to items that connect us with family history.

We will soon be getting a pair of chairs that were my Mamao Tucker's (Munner's mom). I'm sure they were Munner's at some point as well, but for the entirety of my childhood, they sat in my parents' bedroom. We played in them, had long talks in them, and even kept clothes in them. :-D They are full of childhood memories, and I also can't help but think of my sweet Mamao Tucker each time I look at them.

Then there is this --

This is the chair in which Drew and Matthew were rocked as babies. It's teh chair in which Cindy was rocked as a baby. It's beautiful. It's comfortable. Heck, my feet COMFORTABLY reach the ground while sitting in it. Though it was given to me as a bribe from my mother-in-law (I saw the wink-wink, nudge-nudge in her eye), I LOVE that it is now part of our house. I can't wait to get it in our house. (Drew wants to febreeze any "other house" smells out of it before bringing it in so Cosmo doesn't feel the need to "make it his" like he did with our China cabinet.)

And this --

This desk belonged to Drew's Grandma Mary (Ricky's mom). It sat in her entryway (as it does in our house). It was in Ricky and Cindy's home. It's LOVELY. And Drew had so much fun cleaning it up and making it beautiful again. It's now OURS.

How great to have families so great that we want to bring them into our house!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Glimpses

I haven't blogged yet since the move because I was waiting to upload my pictures, then on some amusing anecdote, and then on finishing some rooms to get some good "after" pictures. I was just waiting on something amazing and amusing for you guys. I finally decided that though I still haven't found the perfect anecdote, I should share some last glimpses of Louisiana. This is a pictorial (with bits of commentary) of our last days in the big BR.

We went to Alligator Bayou (an educational alligator farm that lets you see, feed, and hold alligators and teaches you about the ecosystem of bayous) in our last week in Baton Rouge. It was SOME KIND OF HOT before the sun went down, so they gave us "parasols". As you can see, mine was VERY effective. (Leave it to me to be amused by an umbrella amongst live alligators.)

One last crawfish boil in Mandeville. Though I'm not a fan of eating the little creatures (which, by the way, in Louisiana, must NOT be called "crawdads" or "mudbugs" as we call them in Bama), MANY of our Louisiana memories revolved around crawfish boils and the fun that ensues at them. This is the Louisiana version of a fish fry or barbecue - only there's MUCH more alcohol and you get the added bonus of playing with and chasing your food BEFORE cooking it. :-D

At the very end of May, we made it official. MASTER Bowers

Back to the Alligator Bayou. Quite possibly the WORST picture ever taken of me, however, it does show me holding an alligator. In my defense, I was MUCH calmer holding him (and YES, he proved he was a him during the "Pass the alligator around" session) until the man in the red shirt behind me put the baby alligator he's holding on my shoulder. I thought it was the ginormous snake that was being held behind me...hence the face!!!

Thanks to my friend Marisa, we have a great pictorial of our last night at our condo. All of our friends helping us move... our stuff in boxes... our mostly empty condo... Cosmo trying to get out of seclusion... and our GIANT truck. Let me just tell you, folks, caravaning with a truck THAT large GREATLY increases the travel time. :-D

As hot and humid as a post-nap mouth; overcrowded from Katrina; loud, chain-smoking, college-kid neighbors; and a teenie-tiny condo, but it was still HOME for us. We made so many amazing friends, learned so much about an amazing culture, ate some great food, improved our skills at trivia, ate an enormous amount of seafood, tailgated like crazy, and just had FUN!!! Baton Rouge is a culture that will always be a part of who we are. Though we're glad to be where we are now, we LOVED Baton Rouge and all of our wonderful friends we made there!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie