The Saenger is OPEN!

The Saenger Theatre opened back to the public in October of 2013 and I was absolutely thrilled! After Katrina created so much damage, I was concerned it would never open, but after 8 long years it was finally my turn to see it brought back to life.

I saw my first Broadway play at age 11 at the Saenger with Mr. Rob and Mrs. Carol. They brought me to see Cats and I LOVED it. Now I can say that Cats is a bit odd, but at the time, I was enthralled. The Saenger holds a special place in my heard. One time, I was invited to get a back stage tour and I spent hours sneaking around into all the dressing rooms, on all the floors, all over the balcony and in the lighting and sound booth. I snuck into the floor beneath the orchestra seats (that used to house thousands of pounds of ice before the days of AC -  it was used to “cool” the expensive seats) and basically got into every closet, space, room I could find. With that back story, now you can see why I was so excited!

Doug and I had tickets to see the Book of Mormon (which is not for the faint of heart) and I was thrilled to get inside the Saenger. I can honestly say I was more excited to sit in the Saenger again than see the play. I think doug was the opposite. :)

 

A few days after this, the had the BIG new Saenger sign delivered!       T

I was/am thrilled with how they brought this sleeping giant back to life! Kudos!

I can’t wait to go back!

Love and Hugs, Lizzie

Ashley’s Bachelorette – Day 2

DAY 2

The next morning we woke up and had egg cups for breakfast. They were yummy. Then we had hoped to spend the day on the beach, but the weather had other plans in store. Sadly, it was cold and rainy. The good news is that Duska and I had planned lots of fun games if she wanted to play them. We had placed all the game names in the a fishbowl and when Ashley wanted to play a game, she could go pick one at any point.

Since it was raining, she picked game after game. The most popular was a game we called, “Doubles!” Oh man, it was so funny. DOUBLES!

One of the games was for us to make a bouquet and Ashley would choose the winner and toss the bouquet…Here are the four contestants:

Ashley chose one:

We went outside:

and Ashley threw it!

Duska caught it!

We eventually made it down to the beach when it had stopped raining…

 

Then we came inside and had Ashley’s lingerie shower..   

 

That night we primped and headed out to the popular Flora Bama!
 

We did take a card game, Andrew faces and tattoos out with us. We had a fabulous time! 

 

Thank you to all the ladies that made Ashley’s bachelorette special! We had a great time!!

Ashley, I hope you enjoyed it. I love you!

Love and Hugs, Lizzie

Ashley’s Bachelorette Party! (Day 1)

Many hours and a few conference calls went into the planning of Ashley’s special weekend! We had it all planned out (or so we though).

Ashley, Sarah and I left Nola on Friday morning. When we got in the car we gave A her first surprise.

 

She finally got to see the logo Lexi designed and the theme for the weekend. I even made window clings, but as you can see below they were a fail. haha

When we got there we found the house in “hurricane mode” All the doors were covered with tarps so we could not actually get to the doorknobs to use the keys. We slowly uncovered the rented house.

Once we got inside, we realized there was one more sliding door and porch area that still had a cover on it, but there was no ground access to the space. Clearly we had to do something, so I climbed out the window. First of all, this was not easy for a few reasons: 1. It was over the sink. 2. the window was HIGH because it was over the sink. 3. I am short. Enjoy:

 

Finally, I made it to the deck (with only a few bumps and bruises) and uncovered the last sliding glass door. Then Sarah and I headed to the grocery store. Came back, stocked up the kitchen and prepped for lunch and everyone to arrive.

Ashley had ordered a Summer Board for snacks while we waited for everyone to arrive…

Then we decorated and played just dance! 

 

While someone kept Ashley distracted, I set up the Mimosa Bar that was a gift from her dear friend Melissa.
 

I hosted the dessert bar…

It was all delicious and fabulous!

When it was time for dinner, Ellen and Kelsey manned the kitchen for Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwiches that they made to order!

After dinner we played a little “How well does Ashley know Andrew?” poker style:

It was hilarious. I was the dealer and the girls would bet if Ashley would get the question right or wrong. Pretty stinking funny. We had some quality girl time and just hung out till everyone crashed.

Before I end this blog, I want to show you how the girls decorated the high chair in the house…

Until Day 2…

Love and Hugs, Lizzie

The 5th of October… Hammond Style

On October 5, we had a mini family day in Hammond. We met out for lunch at Adobe and had a little fun…

Well, maybe everyone but Andrew :)

Since we have been keeping with our tradition of taking a picture with cinco, we brought him to a place where most people would expect to see a piñata: a Mexican restaurant!

Later that day, Doug decided to get some more creative pictures of us with Cinco…

 

Clearly that Mexican food made me sleepy. ha. 

Happy Anniversary Doug! Only a few months late.

Love and Hugs, Lizzie

Doug and Shawn go to a Sausage making class….

Shawn, Doug’s BFF (well, one of), asked if we would be interested in going to a Sausage making class. I declined, but Doug was all for it.

All I know is that he came one one night with sausage that was pretty delicious and a few days this story popped up on Nola.com:

http://www.nola.com/food/index.ssf/2013/10/one_of_the_oldest_foods_sausag.html

As I looked through the pictures, I found Doug and Shawn were in quite a few of them…


The only question I had for doug is why he kept his book sack on the entire class??  My beloved is so odd.

My next question for doug is when will he make more sausage for us to consume?

Love and Hugs, Lizzie