March Madness

I know what most people are thinking, and March madness has not started quite yet, but that explains my first couple weeks of March perfectly. I have been very busy attending multiple get togethers and dinners!
It began with the Sun Belt conference tournament in Hot Springs, AR. We won our first round against Florida Atlantic which led us to play number 1 seeded Middle Tennessee. We played so hard and made it a great game, but we lost by 3 and ended our season. Middle Tennessee went on to win the conference tournament. We were able to stay Saturday night and enjoyed dinner with friends and walking around downtown Hot Springs.
This weekend I enjoyed a St Patricks Day/Selection Sunday get together at our good friends Cord and Kelly's. It was a beautiful day of 80 degrees as we got to grill, eat crawfish (no I didn't eat any), play corn holes, and watch as the 2013 March Madness bracket was set. With so many people from all over the country it was enjoyable to see everyone get excited for "their" team.
Last but not least, Cord and Kelly are expecting their second child in August. Last night we were all able to meet at Chili's for a great dinner. At the end of our meal, we all grabbed either a tiara or spider man mask, casting our vote for what Wright baby number two will be. Kelly handed out cupcakes to all and as we bit into it, baby number two is another boy!!
So far this month has been very exciting and so much fun! I am looking forward to the rest of this month!!

Unexpected Visitor..

I am a little late on this post, but last week I had an unexpected visitor. Fortunately, it was one I truly enjoyed! One of my good friends and college roommate, Hadleigh, called me last week and asked what I was up to for the upcoming weekend. I told her that I did not have much going on and was planning on just laying around. However, she had other plans, she said she was heading South to see me! As excited as I got, she had to work Friday until 7:00 pm, and with all the weather and snow problems going on in the Midwest, I figured that it would not end up being able to work out.  But again, I was wrong! Hadleigh and her boyfriend Andrew, arrived in Monroe at 6:10 am after driving through the entire night. I was so excited they were there! I went ahead and let them sleep until about 1:00, at that point, I made them get up and hang out with me! (I know, a great friend) Andrew had requests on multiple places that he wanted to go, but I insisted that he trust me and let me lead the way. I took them to the River Grill and we had a beautiful day on the patio as we ate crawfish and shrimp.

I enjoyed getting to show them around Monroe and West Monroe as we caught up and shared everything that has been going on since last time I saw her, which was a LONG time ago) We went out to eat later, as well as watched the Missouri Tigers play which was INSISTED by Andrew, unfortunately they fell short and he was devastated. We had a great time the rest of the night reminiscing and telling great memories to anyone who wanted to listen.

Sunday came around and Keith had gotten back from his week trip of games and he wanted to show them his favorite restaurant, so back onto the Bayou we went and had more crawfish (don't get me wrong, I do NOT eat crawfish, but I did try it) It was another beautiful day, as drove around and played games all day!

Monday came and they had to head back North, this was right about the time the second storm was supposed to hit. They made it back safely and I am so happy they did, I tried convincing them to stay longer just in case, but some people had to get back to work.  I had such a good time taking them around and being able to catch up with Hadleigh. I miss her and all of our crazy times together. Thank you both for coming down, and I can't wait to see you again!!

One Lucky Lady..

I can not believe how lucky of a lady I am. I have some of the most supportive, loving, and awesome family and friends there are. After this weekend, I am even more positive about that. I love being able to call and talk to my family whenever, wherever, and even get some Facetime in when the nephews and niece are awake. Being away from home has been difficult but everyone is always there to talk and listen.  This last weekend was very special. My dad and mom, and Keith's mom were all able to come down to Monroe for an extended weekend. They left Thursday after work and arrived here around lunch on Friday. (I think they will think twice about staying the night to close to Dallas Thursday night next time as they got to be apart of the Dallas traffic Friday morning) I get off work early on Fridays and was able to meet them at the ULM campus where Keith was having practice. My car wouldn't go fast enough from my office to the gym, I was so excited! Dad, mom, and I all went to eat at Catfish Cabin, where we got some great shrimp (it is craw fish season here, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to eat that). I had a nice time talking and hearing about all the stories that have been going on. Saturday we met up with Keith and Jan for lunch and then on to the afternoon basketball game. Unfortunately, we didn't play very well, but it was still fun to experience it with the parents. It was nice to lay around and hang out before we went to a nice dinner at The Warehouse No. 1, a restaurant on the Ouachita River, again another well known dining place here in Monroe. Saturday night was enjoyable playing dominoes and just being able to be together. Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day as we ate at one of our favorite places here in Monroe, Daqs, a great wing stop. We enjoyed boche ball and some mall time before heading back to make dinner for the group. It was a Mexican Feast, as we don't have many of those restaurants around here. We played dominoes to end the night and had a wonderful evening. Unfortunately the weekend had to come to an end after Monday morning breakfast and they heading back to Kansas. I am so glad they got to come down and see where we hang out and what we do. I had a great time and can't wait to see them all again. I know it seems like we just ate a lot, but we truly had a great time enjoying family time and just hanging out. Thank you all for coming!

I did not get many pictures, but here are the ones I did:

Beads! Beads! Beads!

Coming to Louisiana, I had always heard about Mardi Gras and the "main" traditions..but wow! I had no idea what this was really all about. With the Super Bowl being in New Orleans this year, it changed some things up and had to move some parades around..but that didn't stop anyone or anything!
Two weeks ago, Monroe had their Mardi gras parade. It was actually a VERY cool weekend! It started with Kelly, a friend of mine, and I taking her little boy to the pet parade. It was so funny and tons of people dressing up their dogs in costumes and floats. As we were driving back to the house, hundreds of people were already lining up for the 6:00 parade at 2:30. It was a HUGE tailgate party down the Main Street of Monroe with campers, tents, and hillbilly golf. We headed to the parade around 5:30 and watched as float after float went by throwing thousands of beads! I thought at the time it was the coolest thing I had seen.
However, Lafayette, LA was even more crazy this last weekend. All schools and colleges have been out since last Friday and start school back up tomorrow for Mardi Gras break. We got there for the end of the parade and there were so many more beads and so many more people. The costumes, floats, decorations, and money that went into these were extravagant! I will for sure be in New Orleans next year, it's an experience I want to do just once!

Date Night...in February?

Is that possible? Is there really a day in February with Basketball season in full swing that we have time to take a night to ourselves? We sure did! It was perfect! I got a text in the middle of the afternoon telling me to get home after work, get ready and we were going out! I actually hesitated at first, thinking something was wrong and Keith had something to tell me. But instead, it was a great night out together!

Keith has been out of town for a week playing in Florida (shoutout to his team, they went 2-0..Go Warhawks!) so I haven't gotten to see/hang out with him since early last week! He planned a very nice dinner at a restaurant that we enjoy called The WaterFront Grill. We ate, talked, and laughed. It was so good to get to catch up with everything in his life as well as mine! After that, we just enjoyed playing dice, yahtzee and wine. Something I very much enjoy! After he ended up beating me in two out of three games :( we finished the night watching NCIS, my favorite television show, and while having all seasons and been watching them one by one..we are finally ready for season 8!!

View from WaterFront onto the Bayou

I am so glad that we got to hang out last night, even if it was leading up to him telling me he was leaving today for a two day trip to Dallas to recruit. Even so, we had a great time and so happy it worked out!!


Watch for my next blog that is including my first experiences at Mardi Gras!!