An Update... and then some

Well, I can now officially say that I am an employee of the Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy (I'll pause to let y'all cheer ;)). Though I certainly give myself abundant stress while job hunting, it's amazing how I am always taken care of. This is the second job which has been flung in my face (figuratively speaking), and I'm enjoying the serendipity of it all :) In addition to my excitement over employment, I also find myself with a little adventure coming in the near future. The Journal's annual board meeting/convention is coming up and my boss has insisted that I accompany them... to Las Vegas. So, in less than a month, I shall be traversing the country with my new co-workers. I'm sure an anecdote or two will come of it :)

All else in life is going mostly smoothly around here. As of Friday night, Josh is officially on night schedule for the next three months. While I know that we will find our rhythm soon, the shift from day to night is always something of a challenge (especially now that I have a 45 minute commute to get home each evening :)

I have been filling this weekend with much planning and plotting for the townhouse which we will move into this spring (I know I have time, but I'm all about planning ;)). By this I mean (mostly) I have been sorting through picture deciding which ones I want prints of. In doing this, I have stumbled upon some gems which I'd forgotten about. Including this one...

From A Life of Delight

I took this during my last week in Louisiana as proof that I really did live just down the road from a gator farm :)

Anyway... I must be off now to begin making dinner for Josh to take with him tonight as well as begin preparing for meals later in the week (slowly but surely I'm getting the hang of this whole "preparation" thing). I hope you have all had a lovely weekend and may your week be completely delightful :)

Note To Self

From Kiroli

Ok, hypothetically speaking, if, at any time in the near future, I think that it's really nice outside and I want to do something nice for the terrors puppies, so I decide to take them to the park after work. Would somebody please remind me that I'm probably not the only one enjoying the weather. I mean, I like the weather, the puppies seem to like the weather, and, oh yeah, the mosquitoes are loving the weather too. Because I live in Louisiana, and it's September, and I go to the part just before dusk, and the park is by a pond! So maybe it would be a good idea to use some bugspray, because if I don't, there's a good chance that I will be followed by a swarm (I'm so not even exaggerating here) of the little blood suckers from the moment that I step out of my car to the moment that I get back in. This, by the way, seriously ups my chances of that whole West Nile Virus, which I'm so completely not ok with. Also, I'm not a fan of inhaling the bugs that have formed a cloud around me. I just don't like it! So anyway... if someone could just remind me of that. Hypothetically speaking. That would be great.

Ahhh... Autumn...

I love Autumn (really, I love whatever season comes next, if you know what I mean)(not that I'm experiencing it yet, as I wouldn't call 95 degrees autumn, but whatever, everyone else is talking about it, and I like living vicariously through the seasons in the rest of the world). It's such an exciting time of the year. It makes me think of being a kid, going to school, plaid, books, the thrill of changing weather... I also really love the colors of autumn. Like the colors in this...

From spare time

I also love that after Gustav, my yard is putting on some really great September clothes. Like these that have sprouted all over my yard...

From spare time

From spare time

and these (these are my favorites!)

From spare time

Mostly I love that so many of the flowers are red! And that I don't have to do anything to make them grow (this is especially good considering my extremely potent ability to kill all plant life placed into my care (I'd like to remind everyone of the Man-Eater. The one thing Josh told me when we moved into this house, the one thing that he said was most important, he told me not to kill the Man Eater and everything else would be ok. He said that it was very special and that I shouldn't worry cause it had lasted 40 some-odd years up to this point, and surely it would be fine. Yeah, well... tell that to the Man Eater corpse that's sitting in my backyard waiting to be burned (I mean, you can blame it on the fact that it bloomed and that's what happens, but I know it was me))).
That's all. :D

Gustav

As I am sure that you are all losing sleep worried about me and good ol' Hurricane Gustav, I have decided to write a little something to ease your minds. First, unlike many of our blog friends, Amy especially comes to my mind, I live in North Louisiana. Therefore, I live in a city which has become an evacuee destination. They've set up camp in our civic center. Though I wasn't living here at the time, I know that when Katrina and Rita were coming through, it really just caused a lot of rain here in addition to the excess traffic flowing in from the south. The biggest concern (for me) at this point is a loss of power. Jackson, MS (which is strait east of me) lost power for days after Katrina. It really just depends on where Gus decides to go after making landfall. Even this, though, wouldn't be a complete crisis situation for me personally. One of the benefits of living in such an old house is that the water heater as well as the oven/stove are gas. If nothing else, I'll be able to have warm showers and cooked food (I sure am glad that I love mac and cheese). Obviously all of the contents of my fridge would go bad, and I'll have to make sure the puppies drink plenty of water as the a/c will be out (which will also mean that my dear bug friends will have a field day). But I have a couple oil lamps on hand, and (though I don't seem like it) I'm pretty good at making do when I need to (I was a Girl Scout, after all :D).
SO... all of that to say, don't you worry about me. I'll be fine. And if any of you who are headed north need a place to crash, or just a warm shower, give me a shout. I have a spare bed, and I would like nothing more than to help you out. Just so long as you don't mind a couple super excited puppies and some bugs.
Anyway, I just wanted to send out a little update. Wouldn't want you to worry about me ;)

Impressions of Cajun-Land

Here it is (a little belated, but whatever), my post for Blog Around the World. YAY! I'm pretty excited that Louisiana is the first state that's being represented (if only cause I'm selfish, and I like to go first (not that you would know that seeing as how I wasn't even prepared)). Anyway, before I really get into it, I'd like to get a couple things strait. First, I am not from Louisiana. I just happen to be living here at the moment. I am from Texas, so I have a couple biases. Second, I apologize for anything that I might say that may be construed in a negative light. I mean no offense. I'm just keepin' it real. Third, there may be very little cohesiveness to this particular post, it's just a compilation of what I think when I think "Louisiana"

Ok, here we go …

Let's start at the very beginning… I moved here a year and a half-ish ago. My husband was born and raised here (we live strait east of Shreveport on I-20), and when I finished college (pre-marriage) a semester earlier than him, I moved here so that we wouldn't have to do the whole long-distance thing anymore (I'll probably need to tell our story someday, but I've got a feeling that I'll probably be rambling enough in this post, so I won't get into that right now). It is definitely a totally different culture. I grew up in Lubbock, TX, went to school just outside Austin, TX, and then studied for a few months in Rome before coming here. To say "culture shock" would be a bit of an understatement. The first thing about this place that stunned me was the humidity. I mean, hello, I grew up in a city that sees rain like 5 times the whole year and is more used to sandstorms than rainstorms. In the summer it is like a sauna (no joke). There are seriously days when I walk outside and don't even know why I bothered showering (don't be grossed out, you would have the same reaction). I suppose there are the benefits, though… like the fact that my backyard looks like this…

Also, can we just say "bug capitol of the world"? I mean, seriously, this place must be the breeding ground for all the bugs in the world. Also, maybe it's just my house, but somehow the bugs here are these freaky mutant bugs, as in, grasshoppers that are a solid 5 inches long. I mean, come on, that is not normal. And speaking of bugs, one word, crawfish, aka mud bugs. Now, I know that there are going to be a great many of you who are appalled at my lack of interest in what seems to be the state-food, but seriously… I can't handle it. Moving on…

I will say, there are some things about this place that I've gotten rather attached to. I love love love the Magnolia trees everywhere. There's one in my front yard

It's beautiful to me.

Now that I've gotten totally off track, I mentioned culture shock earlier and haven't even come back to qualify that. It's just a very different life-style here. I'd gotten really used to my hippy-liberal-arts-tree-hugging-vegetarians-recycling-bike-riding-peace-loving life in Texas. I went to a little tiny liberal arts university, and I loved it. Then I moved here where it's more of a my-truck's-bigger-than-your-truck, I-schedule-my-life-around-hunting-seasons, that-vegetable-looks-a-little-sad-we-should-fry-it mentality. I'm not saying anything is wrong with that. It's just different. Most everybody is very nice (although, I think that's a general southern thing, cause Texas is the same way). They definitely have their accents, and there's no shortage of mullets (Josh and I saw the best mullet last night. The guy had to have been somewhere in the 6'3" range, 300 lbs, beautiful business-in-the-front-party-in-the-back. A good six inches past his shoulders, nice glossy curls, it was priceless!

Oh man, I never realized how much I have to say about Louisiana until I get the chance. Well, I suppose I should stop here for today… I do hope you enjoyed my little bit of "Impressions of Cajun-Land".

Y'all fell free to come on back ;)

*Edit* Oh, and I'd like to add one thing (mostly for Amy), while I myself haven't actually encountered one, I can honestly say that I live just down the road from a Gator Farm. No lie. They don't allow tours. That's all :D