Monday, November 29, 2010

Hello Blog!

Well it has been a while since I have blogged anything.  Life has taken my husband and I on a very active course this past year.  We have found that being empty nesters doesn't mean sitting home mourning the loss of parenthood.  Last March during the Mardi Gras holidays, we took a vacation to Orlando with our grandchild and his parents.  We stayed in a very nice resort right outside the gates of Disney World.  I had never been to Disney so it was overwhelming for me.  Once we returned from that vacation, my Marine was scheduled to return from Afghanistan.  So in April we vacationed again, this time in Wilmington NC.  We enjoyed exploring the area but enjoyed welcoming my baby home even more.  Then the crush of the end of school kept me extremely busy.  My summer started in a cast, after I took a spill at school.  The ER Docs thought it was fractured, but it ended up being a very bad sprain which has yet to heal completely.  They are now thinking I have some nerve damage.  Anyway, I was able to attend a couple of 4 day crops and a week in Arkansas before heading back to school.  Once school started, however, my arm began to swell and hurt,  In late October I was placed on medical leave and have been home since then.  Last week, we did get to go back to Orlando for a week to spend some time with my children before Matt leaves again for Afghanistan.  We had a wonderful time.  I was able to spend good quality time with my two adult men without interruptions from their friends and jobs.  

Betty and the Boys!!!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Back in the Saddle

Okay, so its only been three months since my last post. What have I been up to you ask??? Well I decided that the time was right for me to reign as queen of our Mardi Gras Krewe. All I can say is WHAT A BLAST. This has been one of the most memorable things I have done in a long time. The ball was two weeks ago and I can't believe how much fun we had. Wanna see some pictures? Okay, here goes. Our Mistress of Ceremonies was Lori Meaux Steele. She was such a hoot. We were never really sure what she would come up with next. This was half way through my ROYAL walk. Funny, but when I say the lights of the bar in the background, all I could think about was how much I needed a shot of something to get me through the rest of the walk. I was sooooooo afraid I would trip over something and fall or I would go too fast.
Once I had completed my walk and was on stage, Ms. Steele decided to request and audience with the Queen. Well needless to say, I had no idea she was going to do this. Can you see that deer in the headlight look? The entire court has been assembled on stage. The music was sooooo awesome. The theme was Meauxtown (Motown) Comes to Atlantis, so all the music was Motown classics. We had Steve Wonder, the Four Tops, the Temps, Otis Day and the Nights, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Michael Jackson, The song I came out to was Respect by Aretha. I know, her label was not Motown, but it was my Party and I wanted to come out to that song, LOL. I think the best song was Shout. The people were up out of their seats, singing along. We even had a special visit from James Brown, well okay, it was an impersonator, the country's 113 best impersonator, but it sounded just like JB.
Troy really looked like he was signing.
Elus, played one mean bass and added all the screams and grunts right on cue.
Russ was a surprise visitor popping out of the dark with a twinkle in his eyes (provided by his glasses) and gave us a heartfelt Baby, Baby Baby!!!
Brian and Caffery were our wonderful backup musicians. The men did a wonderful job entertaining the crowd.
The entertainment for the ball finale was provided by a lively montage of Dianna Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations and Martha Vandell. The ladies of the court along with yours truly sang and danced to the classic sounds of Motown. The grand finale was when Thriller began to play and the court began to dance. I don't know who had more fun the audience watching us make fools of ourselves or us!!! All I know is it was one memorable night. My reign as a Motown Queen will always be a Night to Remember!!!
Here I am pretending to be Diana Ross lip syncing "Stop in the Name of Love"
Becking is singing her heart out to the song she came out to when she was queen, "Dancing in the Street"
Pam was singing her own versions of "My Girl".
While Cindy rocked the house with "Heard it Through the Grapevine.
We usually end the Tableau part of the night with the traditional Mardi Gras Second Line song. This year we decided to parade through the crowd to the Pointer Sister's "We are Family". I felt that it was a better song for us because that what I feel that this Krewe is to me, an extension of my family. I didn't grow up with a sister, but now, I have 37 wonderful ladies to call "my friend".