Life with Dee

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16 Free Or Low Cost Things To Do in New Orleans

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Travel can be expensive but sometimes the most enjoyable activities are free or nearly so. We have been going to New Orleans ever since our honeymoon in 1981 and I can honestly say that our favorite things to do there are free or low cost. Well, except eating. 😉

16 Free or Low Cost Things to Do in New Orleans

Dee’s Favorite Free or Low Cost Things To Do in New Orleans

1.  Sit by the river and watch the ships.

New Orleans was founded as a trading camp on a curve in the Mississippi River and became a thriving city because of its location. The Port of New Orleans is the sixth-largest port in the United States and has the longest wharf in the world. Watching the river traffic is fascinating. We like to pick up a muffaletta to split (they are HUGE) at Central Grocery or Frank’s on Decatur and eat by the river.

2. Take the ferry to Algiers Point.

For only $2 you can board the ferry at the foot of Canal and take it across to Algiers Point. It’s a pleasant way to relax for a bit and you’ll get a nice view of the French Quarter from Algiers Point. While there, pop in to The Crown and Anchor, an authentic English pub just steps away from the landing for a cool drink and a bag of imported English “crisps”.

3. People watch in Jackson Square. 

I can absolutely guarantee an entertaining people-watching experience in Jackson Square. Check out the artists, street musicians and fortune tellers or just sit and watch the people.

4. Tour St. Louis Cathedral. 

After some people-watching in Jackson Square why not tour the lovely St. Louis Cathedral? It’s the oldest Catholic church in continuous operation in the United States. From 8:30 to 4 p.m., the Cathedral is open to the public. Daily Mass is at 12:05 p.m. Self-guided tour brochures are available in the entrance for a $1 donation.

5. Ride a streetcar. 

There are three streetcar lines in New Orleans – St. Charles, Canal Street and Riverfront. For $1.25 each way you can ride one of these historic cars and enjoy the sites along the way. There are one and three-day passes which will save you a lot of money if you plan to use streetcars to get around during your trip. But even if you aren’t using them for transportation purposes I highly recommend taking the St. Charles streetcar just for fun. The 13 mile trip from Carondelet on Canal Street through the uptown area, including the famed Garden District, is one of my favorite things to do in New Orleans.

6. Stroll the French Quarter and listen to the street musicians. 

Put a few dollar bills in your pocket and then start walking. You’ll find musicians on many street corners. Stop and listen awhile. Maybe dance along with the crowd. Toss a dollar in an open guitar case and move along to the next outdoor concert. You could easily spend an entire afternoon doing this.

7. Do some window shopping on Royal and Chartres in the French Quarter.

You’ll find shop after shop of exquisite antiques, art, jewelry, and other fascinating items. I’ve been offered shop tours by knowledgeable employees which were on a par with a museum experience.

8. Cafe Du Monde

No trip to New Orleans is complete without a beignet and a cup of coffee with chicory. For less than $5 you can enjoy this delicious treat under the green-striped awnings of Cafe Du Monde. It’s open 24 hours a day.

9. Live music for the price of a drink

All along Bourbon Street, Frenchmen Street and numerous other locations around the city you will find countless bars and clubs with live music. Many don’t even have a cover charge so for the price of a drink you can enjoy anything from zydeco to jazz to rock to, well, you name it, somebody’s playing it.

10. Self-guided walking tours. 

There are many guided tours available and if you don’t mind the cost these can be quite entertaining and interesting. But there’s also something to be said for the leisurely pace of a self-guided tour. And it’s free! Check out this site for numerous GPS tour options:

Self-guided Walking Tours

If you take my suggestion in #2, you might want to do the Algiers Point Walking Tour while you’re there. It’s on my to-do list!

11. Tour the Old Ursuline Convent.

The oldest building in the Mississippi Valley, the Old Ursuline Convent is considered to be the finest surviving example of French Colonial architecture in the country. Located at 1112 Chartres Street in the French Quarter, the convent is open for self-guided tours Monday through Friday from 10-4 (last admission at 3:15) and Saturdays from 9-3 (last admission at 2:15).

12. Enjoy free live jazz every Thursday at Armstrong Park during Spring and Fall months. 

Enjoy local bands, live painting and art displays, food vendors and more. This free event is from 4-8 p.m. Click here for more information.

13. Free Wednesday afternoon concerts in Lafayette Square.

This Wednesday at the Square spring concert series takes place each Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. Food booths and concession stands are set up around the perimeter offering local specialties.

14. Free opera performance

If you find yourself in the city on the second Wednesday of the month you can enjoy a free performance of Bon Operatit! at the Sheraton on the corner of Toulouse and Bourbon, the former site of the French Opera House, from 7-9 p.m. in the hotel’s Puccini Bar.

15. Bluegrass Jam Session at the Hi Ho Lounge

For something a bit out of the ordinary, take a cab to the Hi Ho Lounge on St. Claude’s on a Monday. From 8-10 p.m. area musicians join up for a “Bluegrass Pickin’ Party”. Enjoy this jam session along with $2 red beans and rice for a quintessential New Orleans experience.

16. French Quarter Festival

The largest free music festival in the South, French Quarter Festival features four days of music on 23 stages throughout the French Quarter. The event is free but be prepared to enjoy the food offerings, as well. Many of New Orleans’ finest restaurants have booths set up in various locations offering specialties sure to tempt you. This is actually a fairly inexpensive way to try a few New Orleans dishes from restaurants such as Tujague’s, Galatoire’s, Court of Two Sisters, Antoine’s, K-Paul’s and many others. FQF runs from April 7-10 this year and I can’t wait!

Bonus:

Just start walking (being mindful to stay in well-lit, populated areas). Listen. Do you hear some music? Go find it. Does something smell delicious? Follow your nose. Talk to people. Be open to new experiences and you just might end up having the time of your life.

Laissez le bon temps rouler!

My birthday weekend get-away

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My birthday isn’t until Thursday but David and I did our usual “weekend at the Skirvin” celebration this past weekend. We went up Friday evening after David got off work, stopping in Norman for dinner at Panera Bread so we could also buy cherry danish pastries to take with us. Because…CHERRY DANISH PASTRY! 
After we checked in to the hotel, we changed clothes and went to our favorite OKC hangout – the Red Piano Lounge in the Skirvin. We know most of the bartenders there and always have a good time chatting with them and people-watching. Mostly, we just tried to relax and decompress from the busy weeks we’ve both had recently. 
We generally don’t make any plans in advance when we take these little get-aways but this time I had a couple of things in mind. If you follow me on Facebook you probably know that David and I love to stargaze. A few weeks ago it occurred to me that there is a small planetarium at the OKC Science Museum. After lunch at The Garage Burgers and Beer (quite tasty, by the way) we headed to the museum. The planetarium is included in the general admission to the museum and since we had about a 40 minute wait until the next show we decided to walk around and check out the museum. It’s a cool, hands-on place. We had taken our kids a few times but it’s been YEARS since we’d been there. Yeah, it’s kind of for kids but we still had fun. 

The planetarium show was really interesting and the young woman who did it was quite humorous. We both really enjoyed it.

After the show we spent another 45 minutes or so checking out the rest of the museum. We especially enjoyed the train and space exhibits. David has always loved model trains and I love riding on real ones. I think we need to plan another train trip soon. 
We stopped at a Sonic for a Butterfinger Blast (David) and root beer float (me) then headed back to the hotel. We relaxed a bit then got dressed up for dinner. One of the other things I wanted to do was to eat dinner by water. I’ve really been craving the ocean but since a trip to the coast isn’t in our near future I figured the next best thing would be a large lake. I had read excellent reviews for Redrock Canyon Grill on Hefner Lake. We called for reservations but they don’t take them. It was after 8 p.m. so we figured it probably wouldn’t be that long a wait. We were wrong. They told us it would be a 70 minute wait! Ordinarily we would have gone somewhere else but it was a gorgeous night, we weren’t very hungry yet (thanks to the late afternoon stop at Sonic) and the restaurant has an outdoor patio with a bar. They also had live music. 
We spent a very contented hour listening to music, sipping our drinks and admiring this view:
It was totally worth the wait. I had the rotisserie chicken, glazed carrots and the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had. This may very well be my favorite restaurant in OKC now. 
Back at the hotel, we settled in at the bar which was pretty empty for a Saturday night. However, that didn’t last long. There were four weddings that night and the place filled up quickly with a crowd that provided good people watching, to say the least. Over the course of the evening, there were at least seven glasses broken. The all-female team of bartenders and servers kicked it into high gear and it was like poetry in motion. Or, as I said to David, it was like watching a ballet behind the bar and a 4th grade playground on the other side. Truly entertaining. 
We never seem to get up in time for breakfast at the hotel but this time we did. Well, it helped that they serve breakfast until 11 on Sundays. We had just about finished eating when a man with several guitars set up his gear right next to our table. Turns out this was Edgar Cruz, an amazing guitarist. (You can read more about him on my Well-Groomed Hippie blog.) We stayed and listened to a few songs and had a short chat with him about getting him a show here in Ada. 

We checked out of the hotel and then went to the final destination on my list for the weekend – the OKC Museum of Art. I’ve been dying to see the Fabergé exhibit.

When we bought our tickets we found out that there would be a tour starting in about an hour. David wisely suggested we go look at the exhibit ourselves first which turned out to be an excellent plan. There must have been 100 people in the tour and it would have been impossible to get a good look at everything while in that crowd. The tour was absolutely fascinating and the exhibit items were stunning. Now I’m on the lookout for documentaries on the Romanov family and Fabergé. 
We stopped in Norman on our way home so I could pick up some groceries at Natural Grocers. We got home late afternoon, ate an early dinner, unpacked and watched the final episode of Astronaut Wives Club. Oh, how sad I am that the show has ended! We then tried to work in a little stargazing before bed. It wasn’t exactly cloudy but the moon was bright and there was so much humidity that we couldn’t see many stars. After a few minutes of looking at pretty much nothing we decided to call it a night. We were both yawning by that time and David had to be up by 5:45 a.m. Today it was back to the rat race but oh, what a nice weekend we had! 

Back from New Orleans, still recovering…

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On the river #NewOrleans
We got back from New Orleans late last Tuesday. We just couldn’t tear ourselves away and ended up staying rather late Monday night. We only went as far as Baton Rouge that night so Tuesday was a fairly long day. I then drove to the city Wednesday because my dad was having a procedure done up there. David flew out on business Thursday and returned Saturday afternoon. We then attended a local event that evening. Yesterday I did some volunteer work. This morning I took my daughter to get a wisdom tooth removed. I have a meeting in just a little while, another tomorrow night and probably one on Thursday. In fact, I have something on my calendar almost every day for the next few weeks. David leaves tomorrow for yet another business trip. And so it goes…
Our internet was down when we got home and we just got it back this morning. I have lots of pictures from our trip to share, as well as some hilarious videos of pirates “singing”, dancing and being silly. I’ll try to get those posted over the next few days so stay tuned. 
Oh, and in case you were wondering, we do still love New Orleans. 

Paris, je t’aime

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Oh, Paris…how do I begin to share what a glorious time we had? I’ve dreamed of visiting Paris since I was a little girl and David made my dream come true last week. I knew I’d love it but I wasn’t sure about David. He was doing this for me and I knew he’d do his best to make sure I had a good time. However, as an empath, I am keenly aware of his feelings and if he wasn’t enjoying the experience it would be harder for me to do so.

Fortunately he loved it! In fact, he’s already talking about our next trip and of buying the Rosetta Stone language learning program so we can really learn French. That was one of our biggest concerns but it needn’t have been. We started each conversation with a greeting in French and then everyone was more than happy to speak to us in English. And the people couldn’t have been more gracious. Forget everything you’ve heard about the rude French. We didn’t find that to be true in the slightest.

There is so much to tell that I’m going to do so in a series of posts…vignettes of sorts. But that will have to wait. Today I’m driving my mom to the city to pick up my aunt at the airport. I’m really looking forward to visiting with her over the next several days. So for now I’ll just say, à bientôt mes amis.

Keeping busy

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First, how about an “Autumn on Apple Tree Farm” picture? I took this while walking Shiloh this morning:
A hint of autumn
So, what have we been up to the past several days? Well, it hasn’t been sleeping, that’s for certain. This past Thursday we went to see Mary Poppins at the McSwain Theater here in town (they show older movies for $5 including popcorn and a drink). That’s my all-time favorite Disney movie so I was delighted to get to see it on a big screen. Afterwards we went to the Statesman to help celebrate a friend’s birthday. Rowdy Folk provided the entertainment. I do believe it was the best performance I’ve heard from them. So much fun! By the way, they just completed the recording and mastering of their first EP. Can’t wait to hear it!
Rowdy Folk gettin' rowdy
We had intended to just stay a little while since David had to go to work the next morning but I think it was nearly 2 a.m. when we got to sleep. When David got home from work Friday evening he caught a bit of a nap and then we headed out again, this time to hear Our Mother’s Martyr whose album is currently be mastered in France. The show was absolutely spectacular. They did a combination of originals and cover songs, including “The House of the Rising Sun” which they dedicated to “the pirates”. 
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Not only did we get to hear great music but Cane’s Meat Company, the ones who had the food truck at our Happyland Music Fest, provided some delicious food:
Awesome bar food. Thanks, Lucas Cane!
Including cake!
Cake!
And there was even a pirate behind the bar part of the night:
My pirate is bartending.

That’s right. David applied for a bartender’s license a long time ago and he is getting to practice for fun. He says that when he retires he’s going to be a bartender in New Orleans. I have to say he seems well suited for it.

So, Friday night was another late one – about 3 or 3:30, I believe. We were supposed to then go to Oklahoma City on Saturday to see Our Mother’s Martyr perform up there and spend the night but the show was cancelled. So we decided to cancel our hotel reservations and stay home one night.

We needed to rest up a bit because on Sunday we flew to Kansas City. This was in the airport:
A pirate exhibition?!
We thought it would be fun to go to the exhibit but unfortunately they are closed on Mondays. Oh, well, at least we got to see this:
Nine Inch Nails
That’s right. We got to see Nine Inch Nails! Oh, my goodness. What a show. 
NIN
You can see a video I took at the concert on my Well-Groomed Hippie blog. 
It was another late night but oh, so totally worth it.  I flew home Tuesday and David is finishing out the week with a business trip. Poor guy had to get up at 4 a.m. this morning because a customer had a problem with some equipment. He’ll be home Friday and hopefully he can catch up on his sleep. Unless there’s something fun going on. 
Here’s a picture I took of Oklahoma from the plane. The colors didn’t translate very well, but the red dirt was such a pretty contrast with the green fields. We are having a glorious Indian Summer! 
Oklahoma from the sky
There were several packages awaiting me when I got home last night (mostly stuff David had ordered for his bartending hobby – ha!) including these:
Giraffe pillows!
 Aren’t they fabulous? In case you didn’t know, I have a thing for giraffes:
I love giraffes

And that about wraps things up except for this little snippet I filmed of OMM playing “House of the Rising Sun” for us:

California Dreaming

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We returned from our California trip around 2 a.m. this past Wednesday morning and I’m just about caught up. Oh, who am I kidding? There’s no such thing as “caught up” but I am unpacked. 
David, my mom and I flew out Thursday morning at a ridiculously early hour but at least that gave us some extra time that afternoon with my aunt. One of my brothers arrived in time for dinner so we all went to Marie Callender’s for food and pie. My other brother and sister-in-law drove in a little later but they went straight to their hotel so we didn’t see them until the next day.  
Friday was the memorial service for my uncle. It was a beautiful and touching service but I had a hard time holding it together. On top of it all, I managed to throw my back out. I wish I had a good story but the truth is it happened while crossing my legs in the pew. The pews were fairly close together and I twisted as I crossed and, well, I then spent the rest of the service with my lower back in spasms. 
After the service we went back to my aunt’s house and my wonderful brother gave me a Flexeril (muscle relaxant). It’s quite handy to have brother who is a doctor AND has his own issues with back and neck pain. 
Anyway, it was nice to visit with family even though I wish it had been under better circumstances. Both of my brothers had to start driving back to Oklahoma Saturday morning but we had a few more days. David and I left Saturday morning for the beach. My aunt has a beautiful beach house in Dana Point:
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Isn’t this a charming house?:
My aunt's beach house in Dana Point

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We ate lunch at Ruby’s Diner, a fun 50’s-style place in Laguna:
At Ruby's Diner in Laguna
I snapped a few pictures as we drove back to the beach house:
A glimpse of the ocean
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Late that evening we had a lovely dinner at the Harbor Grill down by the Dana Point harbor. It was a beautiful night and we enjoyed our steaks and wine by candlelight. 
Before I hurt my back David had come up with a delightful plan to take the train along the coast to Santa Barbara (where I was born and lived the first few years of my life) and stay at a really nice resort which happened to be having a special rate rather than their usual $400 a night (yikes!). I just wasn’t up to a long train ride so we ditched that plan. However, I can’t really complain about staying where it looks like this:
San Clemente
On Sunday we drove to San Clemente which is where David’s family had vacationed most summers when he was growing up and where his mom had lived for awhile. We eventually found a parking place and went out onto the pier. 
San Clemente pier
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There’s a nice little restaurant on the pier which has really good food. We were seated outdoors on a sunny deck with nice, cool, ocean breezes:
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The fish and chips were delicious, and the margarita was quite nice, too:
Fish and chips and a margarita = perfect lunch for a sunny day at the beach
After lunch we walked out along the pier and took in the beautiful view:
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And watched the surfers for a very long time:

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It was such a glorious day and we just soaked up the sun and salt-scented ocean breezes.
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There is just something about the sea…
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It was such a perfect day that we stayed out several hours. Without sunscreen. Yes, I managed to add a pretty good sunburn to my back injury. Because I’m an idiot. Oh, well. I have to say that in the scheme of things it was worth it. But if you happen to see me in the next day or two, please ignore the little flecks of skin in my hair where my part is peeling.

That evening we went to my cousin’s house where we enjoyed a delicious chicken taco dinner in celebration of their son’s 21st birthday. My mom and aunt came up for the occasion and we all had a very nice time. Here is a picture of their backyard (drool!):
My cousin's pool
My cousin and aunt had a very early flight Monday morning to Hawaii so we called it a night by about 9 p.m.  We took my mom back to the beach house with us. 
On Monday we just relaxed at the house, enjoying the cool morning sipping tea on the patio and then burgers from In-N-Out for lunch. Later that afternoon we met up with some friends for frozen yogurt and then they invited us back to their house. Their daughter is one of our pirate friends in New Orleans and we met them back in April when they were there to visit her and we all hit it off. My mom was initially a little reticent since she didn’t know them but in no time at all they had put her at ease. They are originally from Louisiana and now my mom understands what we mean when we talk about how wonderfully hospitable Louisiana folks are. We ended up staying for a couple of hours and had such a nice time. We had been planning to eat at a Chinese restaurant back in Dana Point but fortunately David checked before we left and found that they are closed Mondays. Our friends recommended another place nearby and we had an absolutely marvelous dinner. And to top it off, this was what was in my fortune cookie:

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It made me smile because my mom had played “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” at my uncle’s memorial service. Rainbows will forever remind me of my Uncle Ed from now on.

We had a Tuesday afternoon flight home but had time to pick up In-N-Out burgers (yes, again…we don’t have them in Oklahoma) and eat our lunch at Doheny beach:

Doheney
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Mom’s knee was bothering her so she stayed in the picnic area but David and I just had to put our feet in the water and get a little sand between our toes:
Our feet in the sand
One last look:
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By that point I was ready to go home but I must admit, I do miss these:
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Our flight was delayed so by the time we got to Oklahoma City, drove the 80+ miles home and dropped off my mom, we didn’t get home until nearly 2 a.m. But despite the exhaustion, back injury and sunburn, I’m truly glad we went. For so many reasons. 
I’ve been uploading pictures and working on this post off and on for several hours and it’s now 11:15 p.m. Lisa and I are doing our monthly grocery shopping in the city tomorrow so I’d better wrap this up and get to bed. There probably won’t be a post tomorrow but check back on Wednesday for a grocery haul post. 

What I’m Into (June 2013 Edition)

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I’ve seen several people doing these “What I’m Into” posts recently. I’ve really enjoyed reading them so I decided I’d do it, too. Here goes:

Around My Home


Early in June David rented three levels of scaffolding and replaced the siding on the peak on the front of our house. This is a project he’s been working on for a few years now, saving the highest and scariest part for last. I was a nervous wreck all weekend but it’s done and there were no E.R. visits. He’s still got one little section on the side and then the balcony. It’s going to be so nice when it’s finished. He’s going to install a couple of ceiling fans and I figured out a way to have it screened in and still look nice.

Nailing up the final piece

I only managed to get six tomato plants planted this year and nothing else. We had late frosts and then were busy with Happyland Music Fest and recovery time and, well, that’s all I did. I also decided not to get chickens because one of David’s firefighter buddies is keeping us in eggs. He lives alone and is getting about a dozen eggs a day. I’m giving him the big bag of organic feed I bought when I still thought I’d be getting chicks in exchange for eggs. I still miss having chickens and maybe someday I’ll do it again but for now at least I have a source for good, fresh eggs. Good enough.

Reading – Books and Blogs

Books: I’ve had a hard time really getting into a book recently. Part of the problem is that we stay up ridiculously late and by the time we go to bed I’m too tired to read more than a couple of pages. I’m hoping to change that, by the way. But the rest of the issue was that I just wasn’t making good book selections. I checked out Anthony Bourdain’s book, “The Nasty Bits” from the library anticipating a good read. I loved his book, “Kitchen Confidential” and I really enjoy his shows. Somehow, this book just didn’t do it for me. It’s a collection of pieces he’s written for other publications and while some were very entertaining, the lack of continuing narrative failed to capture my attention. It’s the sort of book you read in short bursts so perhaps I should have put it in the bathroom. 😉 I may give it a whirl again someday but it just wasn’t what I was in the mood for.

I did really enjoy Pat Conroy’s “South of Broad” which I listened to in the car. And I’m currently reading “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” by Rachel Joyce, which a couple of my readers here recommended. I’m only about 15 pages into it but I think I’m really going to like it.


Blogs:



Watching – Movies, T.V. and YouTube

  • T.V. – David and I thoroughly enjoyed Mad Men this month and can’t wait for the new season. We may pick another series to watch via Netflix this summer but in the meantime we’ve been enjoying Cheers. Our daughter bought David the first three seasons for Father’s Day. It’s one of those rare shows which has really held up well over the years. We also watch The Daily Show regularly and are pleasantly surprised by how well John Oliver is filling Jon Stewart’s role while he’s away this summer.
  • Movies – I love French films and truly enjoyed “The Grocer’s Son”. Inspired by a blog I read, I ordered “The Parent Trap” via Netflix and David and I both enjoyed watching it. I’ve really been wanting to go to the movies lately and we finally had the opportunity on our anniversary. Chris and Kadi were planning to see “This is the End” and asked if we’d like to go, too. We all went out to eat first (along with a couple of the kids’ friends) and then to the show. I wasn’t sure if I’d like it but it was surprisingly entertaining.
  • YouTube: Daily Connoisseur, Thrifttasttic Mom, NotSoOrdinaryWife, Henri Le Chat Noir



Listening – Music

Keb’ Mo’:



Food – Recipes, Restaurants and Grocery Hauls

We had a couple of especially nice meals in restaurants this month:

Out and About – Trips and Events

June was a busy, busy month! We celebrated:

We also:

And we took two short trips:

Featured Blog Posts

I also did a blog-a-day challenge and actually managed keep up with it. I’ll be deleting the link in a day or two but for now all 30 posts are linked here. 

Special Moments

  • star gazing and sipping wine with David on beautiful summer nights
  • watching the sun set over Lake Hefner
  • stopping to watch deer in our driveway 
  • singing around the fire pit with special friends
  • bar sing alongs
  • conversation with good friends about books, films and religion over pizza and wine
  • swimming with Lisa and Kadi
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Pinterest

Keeping in touch – Bye bye, Google Reader

Chances are if you’re an avid blog reader you know that as of last night, Google Reader is no more. I’ve known this was coming and as soon as it was announced I imported my feeds to both Bloglovin’ and Feedly. I had planned to start getting used to them before Google disappeared but habit won out. For now I’m using both and trying to decide which I like best. I’m leaning toward Feedly for a couple of reasons. First, the Feedly iPhone app is significantly better than Bloglovin’s and second, I like the fact that Feedly displays the entire blog post rather than requiring that you click on through to the original source. With my sloooowwww internet connection fewer page loads matter.

I find a reader virtually essential for keeping up with a large number of blogs but I do know that some manage their reading in other ways (I’d love to hear your method). The important thing is that I don’t want to lose any of my readers so I hope you’ll choose a way to follow which works for you.

You can also follow me on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Flickr. 
Check out other “What I’m Into” posts linked on Hopeful Leigh and if you blog you can add your own. 




Adventures in Austin

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Have you ever had one of those weekends that was almost too fun to talk about rationally? Well, our trip to Austin last weekend was one of those. Train travel, a nice hotel, live music, great friends and a beard competition – what could be better?
I think I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking. 
We arrived Saturday evening and we all went out for Mexican food. Everyone had had long days of traveling so we called it a night around 10:30. On Friday we all did some shopping and browsing in vintage shops. David and I didn’t buy anything but this hat was tempting:
Just pimpin'
Little Alex was quite the trooper:
Alex and a wagon wheel
David and I hit the record shops and added to our collection:
Our purchases for the day
Marcus, the birthday boy, found himself a vintage suit and rocked it:
Marcus is stylin'
The place we tried to see live music Friday night was sold out so we went to The Continental Club and lucked into what pretty much amounted to a gospel revival in a bar. These guys are from Louisiana and absolutely awesome. 
                         
Friday night was beyond amazing. So much fun! On Saturday we did a little more shopping, ate lunch at the food trucks, went back to get ready and then met up for the main event, the Mohawk’s Beard and Mustache Competition. The line was down the street but fortunately we had all bought tickets in advance. 
Larry and David tried to look as intimidating as the bear but it didn’t last long:
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I had no idea what to expect at a beard competition but it was highly entertaining. We will definitely do it again sometime. Here’s our view from the outdoor balcony down toward the stage:
The Mohawk in Austin
Marcus and David with Captain America:
#mohawkbeardcompetion
Our whole crew plus one of the contestants:

These were the finalists. Can you guess who won?:
Part of our crew:
Can you tell we were having a great time? 
After the competition was over we all decided we needed breakfast so we headed to the 24 Diner. The food was spectacular. I had chicken and waffles, a couple had the eggs benedict special, a couple more had sweet potato hash…everyone’s food was really, really good. And the service was outstanding. If you ever find yourself in Austin needing food in the middle of the night, I highly recommend this place. 
But all good things must come to an end so at about 3:30 a.m. we went back to hotel so we could catch at least a little sleep before our train left Sunday morning at 9:30. We both did a lot of yawning and maybe a little snoring on the train home but it was all worth it. One of our group referred to this trip as “the best family vacation ever”. We might not be related but I’m happy to claim them all as family. 
Today I decided we should have a little reunion so we are having the group over this Saturday for games and pizza. One of my goals for this year is to entertain more often even if it means putting aside my perfectionist tendencies regarding a spotless house and serving a home-cooked meal. I still enjoy those types of parties but I know we’ll have more gatherings if I don’t set the bar quite that high every time. This will be my inaugural “easy party” event. I’ll vacuum up the Shiloh hair and make sure there’s toilet paper in the bathroom but otherwise I refuse to work myself into a state of exhaustion before the party. I’ll let you know how it goes. 

*The first few pictures are mine and the last four were taken by Lindsay Shane. 

French Friday – Dreaming of Paris

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Dreaming of Paris

 

I just celebrated my 48th birthday and decided that I’m going to start planning for a 50th birthday trip to Paris.  This is something I’ve always wanted to do and what better time?  I pulled out an old calendar, cut out a picture of the Eiffel Tower and slipped it inside the cover of a 3-ring binder.  This is where I will begin collecting pictures, travel articles, helpful hints and inspiration for my trip.  I generally don’t like to tear pages from magazines but I’m going to start going through the magazines I’ve collected which have articles about France, cut them out and slip into plastic protector sheets in my “Paris Binder”.

I’m also going to check out what’s involved in getting a passport and get that done before the end of this year.  Who knows?  We might get a sudden opportunity to travel outside the country even before the Paris trip and it’s always good to be prepared, right?

Of course, I’ve long been saying I want to brush up and review the French I learned in high school and college.  I have language CDs for the car and a demo version of the Rosetta Stone program which will give me a start.  I also plan to listen to French music CDs and watch a lot of French films.

I took the first step today by designating a binder for the information I will collect.  If you have any good suggestions for online articles, French blogs, books, films, music, etc. please do let me know.  I suspect this will one of those instances in which the planning is half the fun.

 

Dreaming of Paris

Will You Miss Me?…

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David has to go to Kansas City on business and is taking me with him. Our flight leaves a little before noon on Sunday and we will return on Wednesday. I don’t know if I’ll be able to blog but I do plan to spend a lot of time in the hotel room sleeping and reading. It’s a good chance to recover from Thanksgiving and hopefully be ready to take on Christmas!