Home for the Holidays

Home Sweet Home

 No, I don't hail from a boat and I have no idea who Barbara K. is, but this was the best photo I could find of my hometown! (Note to self: take pictures of things other than dogs and food.)


It's November and it's cold outside but it's warm and toasty in the house! I'm getting excited because this means a trip home for the holidays is in the near future. I only live five and a half hours away from home right now, but unfortunately I haven't been able to make it down for a substantial amount of time in a while. In fact, the last time I went home was a weekend in July for wedding festivities, including my  bachelorette party, so most of that time was spent in New Orleans, which is not a far drive from my town. This year I'll actually have time to go and stay for a week or so! Home, in case you were wondering, is on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where it only snows like every five years and crawfish, shrimp and crab boils are aplenty (oh how I miss crab boils!). Here are a few things I love about going home, in no particular order:

 Dog parties

Christmas 2010: Introducing Sawyer!

We have five dogs in our family, and it's always freakishly cute and chaotic when they all get together for the holidays. One time my sister brought her two cats, but that was a disaster. Which reminds me, this weekend Nurse A and I took Sawyer over to a friend's house and there were nine dogs! Can you imagine? They outnumbered the people by one and there was not one fight the whole evening.

Fresh (and cheap!) seafood

The hardest part of living in a landlocked town for me is the lack of fresh, affordable seafood! Please observe that in the lower left hand photo, my family and some randoms are gathered around a makeshift table in a garage peeling crawfish. We keep it classy like that. The lower lefthand photo is of bridesmaid Rachel eating at my absolute favorite sushi restaurant, Chef Scott's.

And last, but not least these lovely people, of course!

The Fam & Friends

What are your holiday plans? What do you look forward to most when you go home for the holidays?

October Wedding Anniversaries and Engagements, oh my!

I have a wedding post coming up, but my disk drive is out of commission, so it will probably come Thursday. On a related note, my lovely sister and her husband, the Gator Slayer, celebrated their one year wedding anniversary yesterday! They had a freakishly cute wedding on the Gator Slayer's family farm last year. Observe the cuteness here. (And read more about the cuteness here.)

Photo by Balance Photography

And then, as the thesising Nurse A and I were driving to the library to do some research (well, I was just there for moral support), my brother called with some fabulous news: he and his girlfriend Jen got engaged on Saturday! I'm so excited. It was just the boost I needed before watching Nurse A go through microfilms for three hours and then having to run back to the car in the rain.

So congrats to my wonderful siblings and soon-to-be new sister!

They like the outdoors a lot.