Fun trip!

What a fun weekend! Polly, Regan and I went to Dallas to visit my friends Mar and Ket. Yes, those are their real names. To me.

We left on Friday afternoon and got to Mar’s house at around, oh, 1 am. Even though we genuinely, naively thought we’d be there by 11. Of course, traffic was horrific leaving New Orleans, so it wasn’t really our fault.

Anyway, so we get to Mar’s incredible house (it’s a gorgeous house on its own, but really, it’s her decorating sense that makes the house. Gorgeous. Her dining room table is to die for. Oh man. And her bedroom? It’s about the size of my house. Approximately.

So we go to sleep and on Saturday morning, we go to meet Kettie and her friend Brittany for brunch. Mmm. Brunch. I had pan-crepes. Those wacky Dallas restaurants, mixing pancakes with crepes! Delish. (Why they just couldn’t call them crepes is beyond me, but what do I know?)

After pan-crepes and bacon, we went to DSW. I got a pair of $80, 4″ heels for $20. Gotta love it. Not the most practical shoes, but who cares, for $20? And then onto Sam Moon, which is indescribable. A large jewelry/purse/belt/scarf store teeming with women because of the low prices. Is that a good description? No. Anyway, I got some earrings (including some faux diamond ones that match my necklace perfectly) and a shawl.

On to a fancy mall after that, where I fruitlessly searched for a “foundation garment” for the wedding. If you don’t know what it is, don’t ask. You don’t want to know. Also a stop in Sephora where we all got our eyes made up and where Kettie and Polly got suckered into buying $22 lotion. But it did make their hands feel very very soft. Okay, kidding about the suckered part, if you’re reading this, Polly and Kettie! I bought the best eyeshadow brush ever and an eyelash curler. Fascinating, eh?

So then we left the mall and visited Kettie’s house, dog, and husband. All very cute. Looked at her wedding pictures. Kettie was a beautiful bride, but the best part is her description of her hairdo. “Five minutes before walking down the aisle, I shoved it into a ponytail.” Sigh. To be so low-maintenance. Not me.

Went to dinner after that, and met up with everyone’s-friend Martha and a guy we went to high school with. Drank margaritas and ate too much food. Went back to Mar’s house and drank some wine, and then went to sleep. And then came home on Sunday.

So really we only had one day in Dallas, but it was lots of fun. I think next time I’ll fly.

07/21/05

I GOT TIVO!

Yay!

Now I can watch each and every episode of Rock Star: INXS as
well as every wedding show on television! Heh heh.

07/20/05

Another miniscule gain. Very frustrating. So I’ve come to a decision. I’m just not going to stress about it anymore. I’m not going to concentrate on losing anymore (because, ha, see how far that’s gotten me), I’m just going to concentrate on maintaining. Whatever happens, happens. I have about six weeks until my first dress fitting, at which point I really do need to just maintain. But until then, I’m just going to pretend like it’s already happened.

My weight has been in the same small range for the past six months, and if joining a gym and working out incessantly (relatively speaking, of course) hasn’t budged that number, than nothing will for now. Who knows, maybe my body just likes this weight. Maybe my body just likes the flab around my hips. I must say, my body is not very bright. Ah well.

Watched the INXS show last night. I had no idea it comes on THREE times a week. Geez! Do they expect me to watch this all without Tivo? Impossible. I need Tivo. Desperately.

07/19/05

Fun times!

Yesterday I went and picked out our wedding invitations. They’re so pretty. Works of art, I tell ya. Can’t wait to get them! And then send them! Eeep!

Finished Harry Potter last night. I was sad to finish it. Just one more book! I can hardly believe it. Seems like just yesterday I was anxiously awaiting book four! (Cue wiggly lines a la seventies sitcoms or Wayne’s World…) Anyway, loved the book. Now I want to reread the whole series. At least they’re easy, fast reads.

I know I had more to say, I can’t remember now, though.

Can’t wait for trip to Dallas this weekend. Finally I get to see my friends’ cool houses! And the friends that live inside of them, of course. It’ll be fun. Road trip woooooo!

07/18/05

Am very sleepy this morning. Stayed up late last night reading Harry Potter. I can’t believe I was so stupid as to waste my weekend by *not* reading it. I can’t believe I went and saw a movie while HARRY POTTER REMAINED UNREAD! And now I am paying the price by being at work with the book unread. Sigh. This is not good. My productivity will be nil today, as I wait anxiously for lunchtime so I can devour a hundred pages or so (hey, I’m a fast reader AND a good pun-maker!)

But I don’t regret spending Saturday with my good friend and mama-to-be Laurie. I don’t see her often since she has been in nursing school, so it was good to spend the whole day with her. We visited my dress (so I could try on my shoes before they dye them) and had lunch and went to the mall and cooed over baby clothes.

Yesterday, George and I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I enjoyed it, but didn’t really see the point of it. The first one was trippy enough. But it was definitely entertaining.

07/15/05

Mmmmmm….

We ended up at Jacque-Imo’s for dinner last night. My favorite restaurant! We were going to go to this place called Dick & Jenny’s that I’ve always wanted to go to, but when we got there, they were closed. For a month and a half for summer vacation. Sheesh! And we didn’t know exactly where Clancy’s was, so no SJP sighting.

I must say, it was rather disturbing that we walked into Jacque-Imo’s and there was no line. We were immediately seated. At 7 pm on a Thursday night. This is unheard of. Usually there are waits of 90+ minutes. Disturbing because there was a somewhat negative review of the restaurant in this week’s Gambit. Do people really believe it? Say it ain’t so!

Anyway, our meal was excellent, as usual. We started off with the fried grits, and then George had blackened lamb and I had mahi-mahi. All with yummy sauces involved.

And then there was dessert. Hey, I said yesterday I was going to have dessert, and boy did I. White chocolate bread pudding. Did I mention that George hates bread pudding? Yeah. So I ate all of it. (Don’t think I’m evil for ordering something I know he hates. He told me to. He didn’t want dessert.) Yes, ALL of it. (Okay, it wasn’t massive or anything, but big enough.) Mmmm. Yum. Delish.

Not many huge plans for the weekend. Except that tomorrow I’m going to hang out with my friend (and mama-to-be) Laurie, who I haven’t seen in ages. Yay!

07/14/05

I did it! I did it! Unless, of course, wine has sugar in it. But
George pointed out that the sugar is fermented so it’s okay.
Well, whatever. In any case, I had a heck of a lot less sugar
yesterday than most days. So that’s two days without sugar! And
I’m still alive! Miraculous.

I also got a raise. Nothing earth-shattering, but enough to blow
on two pairs of shoes. From Payless. Ha ha! But very cute shoes.
I think I should go buy another pair so I can have a spare. That
is how much I love these shoes.

Tonight George is taking me to a fancy restaurant. I hope it is
Clancy’s, because I read in the paper today that it is Sarah
Jessica Parker’s favorite restaurant here. (She is here while
filming something.) I think I will wear my new shoes tonight,
because I feel they are something Carrie Bradshaw would approve
of. (Even though they are not Manolos.)

Oooh, I got some info in the mail about tap dancing classes.
They start up again in August. I can’t wait!

07/13/05

Okay, gained .2 this week, but can’t really complain. I only went to the gym once this week (for various reasons that escape me now, except that it was closed on Sunday and I tried to go then.) Anyway, onward…

However, I am very pleased that I made it! A whole day without sugar! And maybe it’s because I was thinking about it a lot, but it was hard. Not so bad in the morning or early afternoon, but the later it got, the harder it got. I went to the grocery store and bought some fruit and sugar-free popsicles, but that doesn’t really help with the chocolate thing. I refuse to even consider anything as monstrous and evil as sugar-free chocolate. So I’m just going to have to learn to live without the sweet, creamy, rich taste of chocolate. At least for the next two weeks. Ohhhh…kill me now.

July 12, 2005

Ohhh, is Kettie ever in trouble! For today is:

Operation Sugar Detox, Day 1, Attempt #2.

I think Kettie will agree that she even said I could blame her for being an enabler. Here is what happened. I was verrrrry good yesterday. Ate no excess sugar. (I can’t say no sugar whatsoever because I’m sure there are bits of sugars in lots of things I
eat. But you know what I mean.)

And then Kettie and I went to dinner. (Kettie is my dear high school friend who was in town for work last night. She is also a sugar-enabler.) We went to Drago’s and I finally had their famous char-grilled oysters. (Can you say HOLY CRAP? They were so freaking good. Oh. My. God.) And then I had some fish as my entree. And THEN the waitress comes out with the dessert menu. I say no. Kettie says yes. The waitress and Kettie ridicule me for giving up sugar (in a nice way.) Kettie insists. I relent. I am v weak. The waitress brings out an ENORMOUS, seriously gigantic brownie sundae. Ah well. It was worth it. 🙂

So alas. Today is Day One. Again.

07/11/05

Today is Day One of my sugar detox program. Wait, I need a better name for it than that. Hmmm. How about “Operation: Sugar Death”? Okay, maybe that’s a bit extreme. Anyhoo, that’s not really important. What’s important is that I’m giving up sugar. Aaaaaggghhh!!!!

Here are my rules for Operation: Sugar Free (but I don’t like that name so someone come up with a better one.)

1. No candy, cookies, cake, ice cream, etc.
2. Fruit is allowed.
3. White bread, white rice, pasta, etc allowed.

Simple! So basically I’m just giving up sweet junk food. I just eat waaaaay too much of it and I have to wonder if that’s what’s keeping me from losing weight. I mean, I record my points when I eat sugary treats, so it’s not like I’m ingesting the extra calories and not keeping track of them. I am. I wonder if it isn’t something more chemical than that. Something to do with insulin or other things I’d only understand if I went to med school.

If nothing happens (i.e., I don’t feel better or different) in a week, I will change to whole-wheat bread (I don’t really eat much rice or pasta as it is) and cut out fruit to see if that helps.

Already I had toast with a teeny bit of butter for breakfast instead of my usual toast with peanut butter or jam. Or sweet cereal. And I’ve ignored the Hershey’s miniatures on a (thoroughly evil) coworker’s desk.

In other news, tonight is the premiere of the reality show on CBS where they try to pick a new lead singer for INXS. Of course I’m going to watch it. Anyone who knew me in high school knows I’m going to watch it. Even though I loved INXS mostly for
Michael Hutchence. Sigh. Anyway, I hope the show doesn’t suck too badly.

July 10, 2005

Well, now’s as good a time as any to post about my trip to Los Angeles. It was tons o’ fun, and my mom told me today that we spoiled Ellie mercilessly – apparently she doesn’t sleep too well anymore, not without Aunt Pam and Aunt Jenny and Granny to spoil her rotten and rock her to sleep and carry her around. Ooops!

So here’s how it went:

Friday: Flew in. Went to Evan and Jennifer’s house, got to see Ellie. My mom was holding her when we got there (Jenny, Rob and I) and she handed her to Jenny. All was peaceful. Jenny hands her off to me and she starts wailing. Waah! So I hand her to Granny and all is well again. Pooh. We eat birthday cake for Rob – it’s his birthday. Obviously.

Saturday: Go to E + J’s house in preparation for the christening. I ride with E + J + E to the church. Evan dresses his daughter but puts her bonnet on backwards. Men! Christening goes smoothly, Ellie is undisputably the cutest baby there. (Okay, I will allow the other parents to think their babies are cuter, but they are brainwashed by their own children.) Lucas, Jennifer’s nephew, does cute little kid things.

After the christening, we head to Pasadena for lunch. Mmmm. Lunch. Jennifer’s family was there, we ate yummy food, ate cake. Afterwards we went to a few shops in the area. Fun.

Saturday night, I went to West Hollywood with J + R to see Rob’s cousin Karen. She is ubercool animator for the Simpsons. Her fiance is comic book artist and draws Spiderman and stuff. Cool. We went to some dive-ish bar that really just felt like the Bayou or some other grotty LSU bar we used to go to. Didn’t see a single famous person. Dang.

Sunday, we met for breakfast. Then Rob dragged me and Jenny and Mom to the Gamble House. It was cool, though. It’s the Arts & Crafts home of the Gamble family, as in Proctor and Gamble. After that, Rob dropped us off to meet Jennifer for tea. Love tea. We ate cute little sandwiches and scones and drank, well, tea.

Later on, Mom, Evan, Rob and Jenny went to a Dodgers game. I stayed home with Jennifer and Ellie. Ellie fell asleep on me, the cuteness was overwhelming, but I managed to stay in one piece. The Dodgers lost.

Monday was the fourth of July. Jenny and Rob and I hopped in the convertible and drove to Venice Beach. Though it was chilly, I got a terrible sunburn. I felt like such an amateur. Even now my shoulders and nose are peeling. Charming. But it was neat to walk along the beach. We saw Muscle Beach, walked down the boardwalk and saw multi-zillion dollar houses, walked down a pier and saw a plane draw an ad for the Fantastic Four movie in the sky, and then drove to Santa Monica. Went into some shops, got ice cream, burned a little more.

Went back to E + J’s house, barbecued. Evan and Rob played croquet. Ellie peed on me. E + J’s friends came over with their 5 month old baby, Josie. She was very smiley and happy, and she’s about the age Ellie will be when they come here for the wedding. Can’t wait.

On Tuesday, we had breakfast with Jenny and Rob before they left. Then Mom, Jennifer, Ellie and I went to the Huntington Gardens. It’s very beautiful, but my sunburn was hurting. We ate lunch there, then they dropped me off to meet a friend. We went to Sephora and Paper Source. Are there any two better stores in the world? I don’t think so. When I got back to E + J’s house, we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

And then on Wednesday, Mom and I went home. And we missed all of Tropical Storm Cindy’s excitement. Thank goodness. The end!