Let The Good Times Roll

The last few days have been full of good times with family and friends; I have made so many memories, and Id love to share. Just as a warning, this post is going to be long...

                Friday                      

 I was supposed to work, but Chris was off and wanted to go to a pre-float loading party at the Wine loft, so I took off work to start the Mardi Gras party early. We had a little lunch at Wine Loft, and then walked around the corner to Twist (a new cupcake boutique). The plan was to split one cupcake, but we couldnt decide so we ended up getting 3... For those of you who dont know, Chris doesnt eat a lot of sweets. So after he devoured 2 1/2 cupcakes, he was on a SUGAR HIGH. It went kind of like this 'la la lalala bounce bounce bouncebounce lalalalalalala'. .....pause....stop.... "I think Im going to vomit" Sick. Hah, well Im glad he had a good time.

Friday afternoon we headed to Fred & Gayles to load the cars up and take the throws to the float barn. We met some of the fam down there too; Erick, Pam, Ericka, Jack, Debbie, John, Drew, Rachel, Tarriq, Mike & Kaylin. After float loading we all went to China Doll. Nobody wanted China Doll. It almost became a fist fight, but we tried to play nice since this was only Day 1 in what turned out to be a Four Day Family Affair. I had the best seat of the night though. I got to sit next to John (Chris's brother-in-law) who I found out is FUNNY AS SHIT. I also sat across from Chris and Drew, who kept me laughing the whole night.
After dinner, Tarriq and Drew came home with us. I am under strict instructions to keep all events of Friday night under wraps, but we had a really really good time together. We stayed up till almost 2:30 before I forced everybody to go to sleep.



Saturday

  We all woke up, gathered our things and headed downtown. Chris and I left Drew with Erick, and Tarriq with Fred (sorry 'bout that Tarriq...) and we checked in to our room, got some food and started drinking. Unfortunately around 3:30, Mobile Police Department called the parade off due to bad weather that was headed our way. It put a little damper on the day, Chris threw a little temper tantrum, but in the end all was good. The guys headed to due their 'ceremonial pre-parade things', also known as drinking... and I hung out with Justin, Alisa, Lindsay, SUZY, and Drew. Eventually the maskers made it back, we all got dressed and headed to the ball. We had such an amazing night. Somehow this year Chris and I managed to avoid all drama. Well, kind of. Mike, and Claude assumed Ginger was keeping their children during the ball, but didnt really ask Ginger. And Ginger was staying at our house... We werent prepared at all for having children in our house... Our pantry was basically empty. Opps. But the night was still fun- We danced, drank, took tons of pictures & spent lots of time with friends.

 A few of my favorite moments included:

Erick trying to convince me he looked like George Clooney. I never did see the resemblance....

Hanging out with my parents

Seeing Suzy, Her Mom and Her Date. I miss SueSue SO Much!

Hanging out with all of our friends

Sunday

Sunday morning we crawled out of bed, and headed to breakfast at the Spot of Tea with Debbie, John, their friends Becky and Chris, Pam, Erick, Fred & Gayle. It was delicious and crowded as always. After Breakfast Chris and I headed home to do some homework. I had completely forgotten that there were like 15 people at my house, mostly under the age of 10. Fantastic. But, it wasnt as bad as I thought it would be. They were very good while I wrote my paper. As soon as I was finished, we all got dressed and got ready to head down to the Island to grill out and spend some time with our family. This was my favorite part of the whole weekend. The whole family was there; Fred, Gayle, Deb, John, Drew, Rachel, Erick, Pam, Ericka, Jack, Ginger, Tarriq, Summer, Corey, Sarrah, Claude, Wanda, Ashlie, Mike, Kay, Chris & Me. Plus Deb's friends Becky, Chris, and their two boys. It was so beautiful down there.

We grilled out & played beach volleyball... My team kicked Chris' teams butt!!

Sunday night after the big dinner with the fam, Rachel asked to come home with Chris & me so she could play with Mobley. Ginger, Sarrah & Tarriq were also spending the night. By the time we picked up Mobs & got home, somehow we ended up with Ashlie too. We all piled in the living room and watched How to Train Your Dragon. I do have to apologize to everybody there though, about midnight I got TIRED and GROUCHY. Those of you who know me well KNOW that I HAVE to go to bed at a decent hour... 3 nights past midnight started to kill me.

Monday

We woke up, and mostly spent the morning just hanging around the house in our jammies. Chris and I eventually went to the store and came home to make spaghetti for everybody at our house. After lunch we got ready to go down to the parade. Chris, Tarriq and I piled in the car about 3:45 and left Ginger with the girls (sorry, Gin...). When we got downtown, Chris went with Erick to get ready for the parade, and Tarriq and I went drinking with John.

Eventually, the rest of the crew showed up to watch the parade. Here are some of my favorite pictures & a video of Chris riding. Look for my "Happy Birthday Jack" sign. I knocked that out while I had a little buzz Friday night! Oh & sorry about the recording quality, I was trying not to get hit with shit.

After the Parade

After the parade was an adventure of its own. Chris was pretty shitfaced... This is what he looked like coming off the float

We spent probably 30 minutes at the Malaga that Chris doesnt remember any of. He was harassing family and strangers a like. He kept making strangers take pictures with him, those poor people...But as funny as that was, this might be my favorite picture ever. (Chris and John)

I finally convinced Chris to get in the car and head home, and holy crap I was STARVING. I tried to go to Foosacks, but apparently at they are not open at 10:30, sad. So I went to Arbys. For some reason, Chris thought it was a great idea to throw his shoe at Arbys. I took his shoe from him, parked the car, and before I could put his shoe back on for him (yes, he was THAT drunk) he leaped out of the car and tried to run inside. Luckily for me, the door was locked. But instead of getting back in the car, Chris sat on the hood of my car and started peeing. It took what seemed like a very long time to convince Chris to put his wiener up and get in the car. Somehow we made it home without Chris causing a crisis.

Against my better judgement I let Chris take Mobley outside to pee... HOLY SHIT. After about 4 minutes I went to check on them and Chris was laying in our front yard.... I got Mobley to come in, but Chris was a different story. He was perfectly content chilling in our front yard. Im just thankful that our neighbors were already asleep. He finally came inside, and got really excited that I had Arbys. He had already forgotten that I picked up dinner. So we ate, and finally went to sleep around 1.

Fat Tuesday

Im exhausted. My house is a mess. Chris woke up drunk. He decided to finally roll into work about 9:30, and Mobs and I went back to sleep. We slept until 12, and now Im just sitting here wondering where the hell to start. I need a shower, and my house needs to be cleaned from top to bottom, but mostly Im just wanting to sleep all day long.

Its been a long long long few days, but at the same time, I wish it wouldnt have gone by so fast. I love having everybody here. I love Chris' family so much. I cant wait to call myself a Newman!

350 days until Mardi Gras 2012...

Bad News Bears

Before I delve into my rant heres a little background:
1. In September 2009 I was hospitalized for a few days because of pain in my right side. They thought it may have been my appendix, but after a CT scan, they discovered that it was not. I hope I never ever ever ever have to have another CT scan in my whole life. Drinking the die contrast was the grossest stuff ever. Sick, Im gagging just thinking about it. I ran a high fever for several days, but eventually my fever broke and they let me go. They never did quite figure out what was wrong.
2. A few months ago, I started having the pain again. I waited for about 2 or 3 months before I finally went to the doctor. They found out that the reason for my pain was cysts on my ovaries & diagnosed me with PCOS- poly cystic ovarian syndrome.
3. Im taking Progesterone to help decrease the occurrence of cysts. I cannot take birth control because progesterone and birth control counteract each other.
4. I hate taking pain medicine. Most of it makes me feel like a zombie, and I cant function and take it.
 Okay, so heres my rant...
Saturday afternoon I started having pain in my right side again. I went to the ball, had a blast, but by Monday the pain still hadnt stopped. Monday afternoon  I though I was going to die. I left work early, begged my mom to find me some pain medicine, and scheduled another ultrasound for Tuesday morning.
So by the time I get to the doctor Tuesday morning my cyst had already ruptured, which meant they couldnt do anything except give me pain medicine.
At this point, Im extremely frustrated. Theres nothing that they can do to prevent cysts from forming. They can basically just give me some shit to make me not care that Im hurting. & My doctor says that after having kids, my cysts may go away forever. But heres the problem(s). 1. Im not ready to have kids any time soon. & 2. When I am ready to have kids, its going to be difficult to get pregnant;  PCOS causes infertility, so Ill probably have to have in vitro. And you know how when somebody tells you that you cant have something, its the only thing you can think about? Well, thats how I feel. (Now I know I dont need any babies right now, please dont tell me this. I know.) Just the fact that the doctors tell me that I cant get pregnant, makes me want a baby more than anything in the whole world. But again, its just not time yet. Plus, Im trying to remain positive; maybe it'll happen naturally "when the time is right" as Chris says...


Even though my day started out bad, and I was grouchy for the morning, my day really turned around. I forced myself to go to school, and I did well on my test. :) Then Chris took me across the bay to get my dermals changed & to go to Charming Charlie. & HOLY CRAP that place is AMAZING! Good thing its across the bay, or I would go there all the time! Chris bought me a bracelet & some earrings to wear this weekend, & I got a really cute/funky coral colored necklace with a bone-carved-looking elephant on it.

After our Daphne adventure, we helped his dad sort Mardi Gras throws... Well, Chris helped... I watched AFV with Gayle. & When we got home, Chris tried on his Mardi Gras costume. First let me say, I am SO glad I wore my "wild" dress last weekend. Chris's costume is the exact same color as the dress I wore to INCA... we would have seriously looked like we picked out matching outfits if I wore the green & purple dress to MOT.
Also, Mobley hated Chris dressing up. I took a video. If youre really bored, you can watch it. :) But if you have a life, dont waste your time. & Have a good day. Its too beautiful outside for today to be a bad day.

Hunting & Gathering

God I love Mardi Gras. Normally, Im over it before it even starts, but this year is different. I dont know why, maybe its just my attitude towards it all.
My Mardi Gras weekend started at 12 on Friday when Lindsay & I met for a pedicure. Between getting my hair done & pregaming at the hotel, my night didnt slow down at all before the parade & ball. Heres a video of Justin parading!

Right after parade, Chris showed up, we got dressed & went to to watch call outs. This is when the real fun began. Here we are before the ball (and before any drinks.)

As soon as we got seated, here comes Justin, drunk as a mother fucker, running up into the stands. He was screaming and carrying on, grabbing boobs & butts wherever he could. To me, it was hilarious, to the people around us, he was crazy.
After call outs, we were ready to get the party started... well, after we hit the bathroom. Lindsay & I gave Chris & Pat specific instructions to STAY PUT while we peed. Of course, this directions were obviously too complex for their simple, alcohol saturated brains. Linds & I came back literally 3 minutes later, and the boys were gone. We spend half an hour wandering up and down the hall, and through the rooms to find them, but they were nowhere to be found. But just when we had almost given up, there they were, back where we had left them.
I freaked out a little. I wanted to know where the hell they had been, even though it was pretty obvious, because at that point, they had plates full of food. Chris said "We were, umm, Hunting some food." Aggravated & tipsy I replied "WHAT the fuck ever, You were GATHERING food." The boys didnt take kindly to being called gatherers... their logic was that you could not gather meat... Well, I beg to differ, but its all good.

After we finally rounded up our men, we spent a few hours just hanging out & daning a little. We got to hang out with some great friends- Eddie, Karleen, Sean, Misty, & we ran into a few other people we knew too.

Me & Misty

The Girls

The Guys

The later it got, the more drinks we had, the more silly our pictures got.

Also, as I drank, my eyes got smaller & mouth got bigger. haha

& As much fun as I had with my friends. & as excited I was that Chris actually danced with me. The highlght of my night was playing with the feather hats & getting to put one on. I was so happy I knew Jeff & Kim Lawson.

When people started heading out, and the numbers started thinning, Lindsay, Pat, Chris & I headed to Boo's after the ball. Chris & I didnt even stay long enough to get a drink beforewe were ready to call it a night.

 

The next morning Chris, Justin, Alisa, Lindsay, Pat & I went to breakfast at Spot of Tea. It was delicious as always.

The rest of the day flew by way too fast. We finally got home, got showers & a nap, and by that time it was already close to 4. We had to return Chris' tux, and do a quick clean sweep & trip to the grocery store.

Around 7 we had Lindsay, Justin, Alisa, Mike & Paulie over to watch the UFC fights. We had a nice time just being able to hang out and unwind from a nice weekend.

Today Im going to write my religion paper from my Marriage & Family class & then Im just going to hang out around the house, got to get ready to do it all again next weekend!

Preparing for Pardi Gras!

OhMyGod, Mardi Gras is so freakin close & I dont think its possible for me to be more excited. Inca is 9 DAYS AWAY! I feel like I have so much to do before then, like, hmm, get my dress altered maybe... Nothing like waiting untill the last minute... Oh well.
& as excited as I am about Inca, I am more excited about MOTs. Well, let me rephrase, I am MOST excited about seeing family & friends that I havent seen in a while, and seeing them all in once place and one time.
Lets run through the list, starting with Chris's family.
Debbie- We last saw Debbie over the summer when she brough her family here to visit, but I havent seen her husband, John, in probably 2 years. I am really excited about seeing her son Drew, and daughter Rachel. Drew keeps me laughing the entire time Im around him. (They are traveling from Indiana)
Ginger- I think the last time we saw Ginger is when Debbie was in town. Ginger is coming from Laurel, MS with her daughter Sarrah, & hopefully Summer. Tarriq is coming down from Wabash College with Deb & fam.
Eric- Eric, Pam, Ericka, & Jack are coming from Seattle. We havent seen them since last Mardi Gras!
Rob- I am really hoping Rob can bring his whole crew here for Mardi Gras! Even though we did get to see them last August, I cant wait to see Liz, Bella, Josie, Ethan, & Ashley very very soon! (They are traveling from London!)
Claude- We got to see Claude, Wanda, CJ, Jack & Ashley at Christmas, but Im still looking forward to seeing them again. We dont see them nearly enough, even though they live so close to Mobile.
Mike- I have only seen Mike once since New Years, which is extremely unusal. But I know life is busy & hope he is enjoying his new job

This will be my 4th Mardi Gras with the Newmans, and I this is the first time everyone is going to be able to be in Mobile at one time. I cant tell you how excited I am. I love this family so much, and cant wait to call myself a part of their family.

But more than just family coming in to town, my best best girl friend, Suzanne is coming in for the MOT ball. I cant wait to see her and to see what kind of trouble we can start up :)

In case you havent kept up with my list here is all the people that we will be partying our asses off with this Mardi Gras @ the Ball, Debbie & John, Ginger, Mike, Rob & Liz, Eric & Pam, Claude & Wanda, Fred & Gayle, my parents, Kim & Danielle, Danielle & Joey, Suzanne & Drew, Lindsay & Judson, Alisa & Justin, Karleen & Eddie, Monica & Bogdan, & Shannon. Plus the thousands of others that are going to be there!

So in order to get ready for Mardi Gras, Ive been hitting the gym, and tanning. Well this morning when I went tanning, I used my 'upgrade' for the month. I though I was a bad ass and could use my super tanning lotion and tough out 12 minutes in the platinum bed... NOPE. I burned my ass... It literally hurts to sit. Somebody better notice that I got a tan. :)

As much as we've done to get ready for Mardi Gras, it feels like we have so much more to do, mainly buy throws. & Puchase & Distribute tickets. But life is good, Im not gonna worry, it'll all get done.

Plus I am SO thankful for my flexible job that is allowing me to take time off while we have friends and family here so we can all spend time together.


On To Something New
 I didnt intend for this whole post to be about Mardi Gras, but, what can I say, Im exited! I almost feel like I should make a new post, but that would require too much effort...

Anyway! Our Valentines Day was amazing!! When I left the house Monday morning I left Chris a card, his present (a shoehorn; dont ask. he asked for it...) & set the coffee to come on when he was supposed to be home. He came and picked me up from work and took me to get a light lunch at the Jerusalem Cafe. Before I got off work, he showed back up to sign his tax return, and apparently while he was there he left me a card & flowers in my car for me to find when I got off work.
When I got home we spent the day being lazy, and playing with Mobley. Then we went to Pure for dinner & holy shit it was so good! We split a tuna appitizer that was to die for. Then he had corn chowder & I had gumbo, we both ate salads, then for out entree he had pork chops & I had chicken & goat cheese. & for dessert we had bread pudding & creme brulee. (They were having a 5 course meal special, we dont normally eat like that, haha) After dinner we went home & crashed. It was a very nice Valentines Day. I am very lucky to have such a wonderful man in my life.

Yesterday was uneventful, as Im sure today will be. I do have to go to the dentist though, yuck. Wish me luck.