New Orleans - Mardi Gras and a Snow Day?!?!

It's that time of year again when Mobile, AL goes straight from Christmas to Mardi Gras. It was fun to take down our Christmas and put up Mardi Gras decorations. We haven't been to every parade like last year, but we are still having lots of fun...as usual.

Today I am home from work because there was a threat of snow here in Mobile and the schools closed today. Well, I was just about to write 'so far this morning it has just been a cold rain' and I decided to look up from the computer and it is actually snowing!! I guess this is the 20 year snow that everyone talked about. Of course it is nothing compared to what KC has seen this year, but I know there are a lot of Mobile kids that are seeing snow for the first time.

Last weekend we had planned to go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras and when the Saints won the championship game, we extended our stay to watch the Saints play in the super bowl. The joke is that when Hell freezes over the Saints would win the super bowl. The Saints won and now there is snow in the South...coincidence?!?!

Anyway, we had a great time last weekend. It started with parades on Saturday. It wasn't really crazy like I expected, but the difference was that they don't put up barricades like here in Mobile, and you can walk right up to the float. On Sunday, the parade started at 11am and there was definitely a Saints theme. I decided I was only to wear gold or black beads, so by the end of the parade I looked like Mr. T. Don't worry, I didn't have to show any skin, it isn't really like that during the parades. The only place where people show skin for beads is on Bourbon Street, and besides it was really cold last weekend...

After the Saints won the Super Bowl, we decided to head from our hotel to Bourbon. It was crazy with the street full of people. We snaked down Bourbon for about 5 blocks and decided that was fun enough, so we turned and made a loop by the cathedral and then headed back to the hotel. There were so many people, but everyone was so happy. Everyone you walked by gave you a high-five. The streets were packed with cars going nowhere and everyone was just having a great time sitting in traffic. Since we had started having fun at noon, we were happy to be back at the hotel by midnight. It was a once in a lifetime experience, and I am glad we had decided to stay the extra day to be there for the Super Bowl party.

Since we have been home it has been really cold (for Mobile), so we didn't attend any of the parades during the week. Hopefully the rain/snow will stop this afternoon and we can go tonight. With my new camera, I was able to video some of the parade, so you too can experience Mardi Gras with us. Opps... could not upload... we will work on that!

Long time, no blog!

Can you believe I actually painted this?!?!?! Martha would be so proud! We have this place in Mobile called Paint Party Studios and you can choose a painting to paint in about 2-ish hours. I thought it was going to be a fancy "paint-by-numbers" thing, but it wasn't. They sketched the lighthouse on a blank canvas and had a plate with all the different acrylic paint colors I would need, but I had to mix the colors to my liking for the painting. This is the color I wish the bay was... It took me about 3.5 hours to do this, but don't worry they were nice and didn't kick us out. I went with my friend, Melanie, and she painted one as well. This is the Middle Bay Lighthouse here in Mobile and I think it is such a unique lighthouse. As I was working on it, I thought maybe I should have chosen something less complex, but oh well. I also thought it would be fun to make it more of a sunset picture than their example. There was only one moment where I thought I was going to have to call it "the burning of mobile bay"... Anyway, it was very fun and I would love to take Mom there next time she is in town.

Andy and I had a fun impromptu weekend in Nashville last weekend. We went to see Nashville Opera's performance of The Fall of the House of Usher by Phillip Glass. Other than studying Phillip Glass in 20th century music class at Jewell, it made me think of that Christmas episode of South Park... If you have seen that episode, you know what I mean. It was 2 hours of repetitive minor thirds. On the other hand, it was actually a really cool production with these awesome video projections as the set. That was the reason we wanted to see it. The same lighting designer is doing the video projections for Mobile Opera's Flying Dutchman in March.

Next week the holidays begin and we are really excited to see the fam in Tulsa. It will be a fun week with my b-day kicking it off!!! Too bad there aren't any good restaurants open on Mondays in Mobile. I guess Andy will just have to cook for me... Tonight he made some chicken noodle soup. I think it might be getting cold here...just kidding, we haven't even turned on our heat once yet. Ahhh, the Gulf Coast! We did get to use our chiminea for the first time last month. We made taco soup and toasted marshmallows in the chiminea.

We wish you all a Happy Turkey Day!

Having Mom and Dad visit is the best!

After visiting Andy in Tulsa, Mom and Dad were kind enough to give me a ride home. Just a short 11 hour drive from Tulsa to Mobile... It was just like old times. Mom and Dad drove and I slept in the back. When we got to Mobile, we had lots of fun. First of all Dad helped remodel our guest bath. The people that lived here before us put in a nice double sink, but left the original medicine cabinet/mirror that was placed in the center of the two sinks. We (I mean Dad) took it out and we found about 50 used razor blades from the 60's - Yuck! Whoever thought of that great idea, didn't think to far into the future. Anyway we got rid of those and dad re-wired a new light fixture. It was my job to find a mirror that would fit (and not break the bank). I finally decided as a last effort to check out Kirkland's in the mall. To Mom and my surprise, we found one that was even on sale! The funniest part of this is that we left Dad at home and I then had purchased a 24 x 48 framed mirror that I thought I was going to have to walk through the mall to the car with... Luckily, they have a service door and all was well, we even fit it into the Avalon back seat with a bit of maneuvering. Don't worry we didn't scratch the leather. Anyway with much anticipation, here is the progression of the new guest bath.

Yikes!

Getting there.

Wow, Dad rules!

Don't worry we did have fun! We enjoyed Pensacola beach and found about 50 big sand dollar pieces, so Mom was able to bring home more shells... We had a great plan to watch fireworks on a hill outside Fort Conde, but 20 fire ant bites later (on my left foot), we decided to stand under the overpass and enjoyed a bit of wine in Mardi Gras cups as we watched the show. I actually cooked fish and shrimp for Mom and Dad a few times at home, but we did splurge their final night for Mullet Monday at Ed's Shed. On Sunday, we went over to Fairhope and unfortunately all the shops were closed, but we went to the Grand Hotel - Point Clear and had a yummy mixed fruit Mojito.

Stella and I are getting excited because Andy will be home in 2 days. I will have to take him to the beach this weekend. He has some catching up to do with his tan...

It was a bit windy on the bay... nice antennas Megan...

The picture was too cute to leave out.

Enjoying the backyard, but missing Andy.

While Andy is in Tulsa conducting with Light Opera Oklahoma, Stella and I have been very busy in the backyard.  Amanda and I went to the farmer's market on Saturday and found the herb lady.  We were then inspired to plant herb gardens!  Since I had a bag of dirt, she and I decided to go buy pots and make an afternoon of herb planting.  It was really fun, but of course, we ran out of dirt with more to plant and had to run up to Lowe's.  I then preceded to find a green pepper plant and a tomato plant, because I knew if I didn't get it all done that day, it probably wouldn't get done.  

We finished planting and invited her hubby Justin over to grill some tilapia.  I had planted some lemon balm and was excited to try it out on some fish.  It is a great herb and we ended up making an herb butter to spread on the fish as they were grilling that consisted of lemon balm, dill and chives.  It was fantastic!  Well I ended up planting 3 pots and the kitchen window box of herbs and such.  I guess now I just need to learn how to cook and I will be good to go. :)  Ha, ha!  I definitely am missing Andy and his cooking!  Hopefully I can keep the herbs alive until he comes home.  Here are some pics of the herbs.  I couldn't resist that green pepper plant, it already had one almost ready to pick!

Stella is even checking out the herbs.  She isn't trying to eat them...yet...
I then woke up on Sunday and decided that now the only thing missing on my deck, was a fountain.  And I decided I could make my own.  I have watched enough HGTV that surely I could make it happen.  Well, I decided to go to HGTV to get some ideas, so I found instructions to make a rain chain bamboo fountain.  I thought...we have lots of bamboo in our yard, so I went behind the shed and cut some down.   I then went to Lowe's...again...and found all of the rest of my fountain necessities.  The only thing that I was missing, was a copper chain.  I went to the local Ace Hardware, but they didn't have it either.  They did have a copper hanging basket, so I bought that, took the chain off, and actually ended up using the basket upside down to have a little waterfall effect.  Now the basin I decided to use, was a copper bucket that we have had in the house.  I sealed the seam at the bottom because it wasn't so water-tight.  I was supposed to let that dry for 24 hours, but I really wanted to see if it worked.  I weaved the rubber tubing through the bamboo, and connected the two pieces with some copper wire, to keep with my theme.  I was almost ready to try it out and it started raining, so I moved it all inside.  The rain didn't stop, so I decided to give it the 24 hours and then I would take it outside after work on Monday.  As I was putting the finishing touches on it, I wanted to put something in the bottom of the bucket to have some depth or color.  When Andy and I were first married, I went through this mosaic phase and bought lots of small colored glass pebbles from the dollar store.  Now I never did much mosaic work, but now I could put all of the rocks in the fountain!  Anyway, enough babbling...get it, babbling...it worked and it makes sitting on the deck that much more relaxing!  (I just still have to wear my bug spray.)

Here are some fun pictures of Stella enjoying the back yard!


Well, Ryann and Tara are coming to visit this weekend for Ryann's 30th birthday!!!  I am sure I will have some fun blogging after this weekend... Hope you have a Happy Memorial Day and I leave you with this, my next project...the Anderson Jungle!!!!
Yes, that is wild fern growing...

Happy Easter

Hope everyone has had a happy Easter!  Since Andy is in KC working, in good King/Wightman fashion, here is our Easter photo...minus Andy.  I thought about photo-shopping him in, but I didn't have the time today. :) Growing up, our Easter photo would be taken in front of whichever tree or bush would be blooming in the yard.  Since the blooming season here in Mobile is February, I didn't have anything substantial blooming, so I went for the green backdrop.  I did manage to get St. Francis in the photo, (thanks Mom and Dad!)

I went to Spring Hill Presbyterian church this morning because they are known to have the best music in Mobile, and since Andy and I are still looking for a church, I went to check it out.  Everyone was right.  The choir was great and they were accompanied by brass and timpani.  I also was seated by this little old woman who was very sweet.  I felt like Grandma Wightman was looking over me this morning only this woman sang all of the hymns down the octave. ;)  The service also ended with the Halleluia Chorus which made me very happy because I thought I wasn't going to hear it this year for Easter because I wasn't at Valley View.  

Stella and I then went to the beach with our friend Carly and her dog, Tony.  Stella had not been to the beach yet and had a great time.  She was off her leash and just was frolicking almost like she was in snow.  The best part was when she ran up to the water.  She was bounding at a good clip and then slammed on the breaks.  She did her little head tilt as if trying to figure out why the water was moving and then backed up.  I will be very surprised if she ever gets her feet wet.  Oh well, she is our big baby.  She did love the wind and the sand.  It turned out to be cloudy and quite windy, so I didn't get in the water either and didn't get much of a tan.  It was still nice to just be there.

I then came home and after talking to the "fam" in KC who were having steaks for dinner, I decided that sounded good.  Unfortunately the grocery store that I wanted to get my steak from was closed, so I had to settle for the pre-packaged filet.  I did have to call Andy to get his mushroom gravy recipe, but other than that, it turned out really well.  I had a baked sweet potato, steamed asparagus and the steak with mushroom gravy.  I think I am enjoying this cooking thing.  I didn't feel like waiting for the grill outside to get ready, so I used our indoor electric grill (one of those great wedding gifts that we forget to use).  It works really well, except it takes twice as long to cook anything.   My steak turned out to be a delicious med-rare with 10 minutes on each side.  I also opened a bottle of red wine (for the mushroom sauce) and enjoyed that as well.  It was a bottle that we purchased at the Mobile Opera wine tasting.  It is called Layer Cake Primitivo.  Yes, I did have to get it because of the name.  Anything with cake must be good...  Anyway, if you come across it, you won't be disappointed.

Well the Sound of Music is on and it is at my favorite part, so I must go.  Until next time.

From Snow to Torrential Downpour

We have returned to Mobile.  With Andy and I on different airlines both making 2 stops, we finally made it back home.  6:30 AM was actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be today, but I think that was because my body was just totally shocked to be up at that time. Work was very busy for both of us today and we have an opera wine tasting event to attend tonight.  

I guess I should have looked at the weather last night, because it started raining about 10:30 am and has not stopped yet.  Now these aren't light spring showers.  For all of us that have been on the "Fury of the Nile" at Worlds of Fun, remember that water fall at the end?  That is what it was like coming up to our front porch after I got off work, and obviously I didn't have an umbrella.  Down here in Mobile, people don't have gutters on their house, so the rain literally just pours off the roof.  Everyone says that it is not normal to have this much rain right now, so hopefully it will stop soon.  I am glad that our house doesn't have a basement and we don't have to worry about any flooding.  I just hope we don't find an alligator in the swamp that is becoming our backyard. ;)  Mom - I am just kidding!

Here is a pic of Andy and I at the theater.  I played the role of Frasquita in Carmen.  Nice make-up...eh?

We both had a great time in Billings.  It was really fun to actually get paid to sing and not have to be working/teaching during the rehearsal period.  When I wasn't in rehearsal, I read my book and enjoyed the views of Billings.  Andy on the other hand, is heading off to KC to conduct Pirates of Penzance on Friday, so he did have to study some during his free time.  (When were weren't at the Montana Brewing Company.)  

Mom and Uncle Jack came to visit to see our Saturday performance and we had a great visit. Here we all are after the performance.

Well, I promised some pictures of the view that we had from Shirley's house.  This is looking out her back door.  One with out snow and one with.  It was very serene.  She also had a wind chime behind the house that we could hear faintly from our room.  I think I missed that last night.  Maybe that will have to be a part of the backyard plans.  

The first week Andy was there by himself and he was welcomed with snow and freezing temperatures, but when I got there, the weather was beautiful and in the 60's.  We even played golf that week!!  Then the next week, it snowed twice about 6 inches each time.  We definitely were able to see both sides of Billings and luckily, the snow didn't interfere with either of our performances.  

It is nice to be back home and with Stella.  Now I just hope that the backyard will dry out soon, so Andy can cut the grass before he leaves...

Here is the picture I leave you with until next time...Don't worry, we were drinking Guinness on St. Patrick's Day not Miller Lite.  Maybe there really is a Leprechaun in Mobile?

From Mobile to Montana

Andy and I are here in Billings, Montana performing the opera, Carmen. Andy has been in Billings since the 8th, but I arrived on the 15th. I am in my second day of rehearsals, and it is going very well. We staged so much yesterday, that we had one of our afternoon rehearsals cancelled. So here we are at the local coffee brew. Andy is studying and I am playing on the computer. :)

We are staying at this great house literally at the base of the rimrocks. It is so gorgeous that I had to take some pics. Yesterday was a beautiful day that was in the 60's until about 6pm. That is when a front came over the rimrocks and brought about 3 inches of snow. So again this morning I had to take some pictures to show the difference 24 hours can make.

Well, the temperature did warm back up today and all the snow melted. I am not even wearing a coat. I am glad that I have not been too wimp-a-fied living in Mobile.

Happy St. Paddy's Day to everyone. I am a bit sad that I am not able to make my customary green Rice Krispies® treats today. I did remember to bring my Guinness shirt for today, so I am prepared. I don't know if we will be able to find a Guinness tonight after rehearsal, but we will be toasting you from afar.

In Mobile on Saturday, the Morton's and I had some St. Paddy's Day fun. There was a festival downtown that had samplings of corned beef and cabbage and beef stew for all and a small parade. Sorry, I forgot my camera. It was funny because I recognized some of the floats that were from the Mardi Gras parades. Only they had shamrocks painted on them and everyone was wearing green. Nice! I did also bring a set of Guinness beads for Andy to wear today, so he wouldn't get pinched.

Well, I am having some technical difficulties downloading the pictures from the camera, and we have to get to rehearsal, so pictures will follow tomorrow.