Bahamian Cruise

My parents are so awesome that they took us on a Cruise for Thanksgiving! It was truly beautiful to see God's creation, both of nature and of humans. All the wonderful experiences made the feeling of gratitude abundant in our hearts. I truly feel grateful to have such great parents, such an awesome brother and an amazing future sister in law! Couldn't have asked for a better group to be with.

Above is a picture of our ship from a ferry ride, to a private island called Great Stirrup Cay.

All five of us. 

A party on the beach at Great Stirrup Cay.

This was a fun shot to take on our last day, the camera is being balanced on my suitcase on top of the bed. This was outside of our "Stateroom" Balcony. The lingo on the ship was so much fun to learn.

Was a wonderful week full of adventures!

dior on my feet

This past week, I've driven to Miami with my family (and future family member), and gone on an amazing cruise to the Bahamas (pics to follow). On our drive we stopped in Orlando on Black Friday, at an amazing outlet mall. At the Neiman's last call, Rachel was helping me find the perfect pair of shoes to get on a bargain, and I couldn't resist relishing these beauties. They were $1020 on sale for $715 with a 40% off.

Here are the ones I ended up getting for a low price of $38 from Seychelles. Thanks to Rachel for all the help in deciding out of all the top designers and to Andrei for doing the photography. And to the P's for an awesome vacation!

best friends and U2

Last weekend my best friend Jenn, asked me if I wanted two tickets to go see U2 in Dallas for Monday October 12th. I had an immediate desire to go, and do all that it takes to make this happen and find someone to go with me. After checking some sources for possible people to come, Jenn realized that she could go and wanted to have some best friend time! She has a toddler and a new born, so we obviously don't do this often. It was a real treat! Definitely took some sacrifices on her part working around children's schedules and I have a nice enough Psychology teacher who let me miss a test for this concert! We came back last night at 4am! And her truck got stuck in my muddy dirt/gravel driveway. I had to take her home (a little out in the country) which put me to bed at 5am to wake up at 7am and tend to preschoolers all day! I'm sure Jenn had it rough having to nurse and take care of two of her own precious souls.

Needless to say, it was all worth it!

We made time to stop at Sprinkles Cupcakes for our first time! What a fancy treat!

The new Dallas Cowboy stadium is AMAZING! This was the screen that kept evolving into something else and moving along with those little bridges. The effects blew my mind, I kept saying "this is so crazy!" over and over.

Beautiful Bono! Their message of peace, freedom and hope will remain with me.

The Edge Rocked!

With or Without You, definitely a top encore of their three!!

And Jenn did the amazing photography.

Photo Booth

We had a lovely baby shower for Jenn and her little Baby kb in the womb. Crystal helped set up a fun photo booth for the shower. I thought these were too cute not to post a few.

who forgot to pack a swimsuit?

we took daily walks along the beach usually lasted over an hour, this was some of the awesome sandy scenery

greatest shot of momma in the airport eating her last Bahamian meal

the P's on New Year's Eve before we left for our cruise

can't decide which one is more cuddly...

dre got a great shot of the boats in Port Lucaya

it got nice and chilly at night, we would stroll along the dark ocean on the way back from eating dinner, mostly because they had to carry me out of the restaurant

always got something hiding behind his back

two long time best friends and awesome parents

coolest phone booths

the cute Japanese couple we became friends with on our NYE cruise

this band never left our wrists, it was our all inclusive pass to all you can eat and drink

this talented musician welcomed us as we waited in line for customs, we embraced the relaxed laid back feel instantly

we really had an amazing trip. what a way to start a new year....no worries

now let me go take the braids out of my hair

Where I Stay

As promised I finally have original photos. They aren't that great, and I don't have Photoshop yet, so hopefully my later posts will improve.

The weather has been so beautiful lately, so one Sunday afternoon I decided to drive downtown and walk around taking pictures of the city where I currently live. Alexandria, LA



Whats a city that doesn't celebrate the LA purchase?





US, LA and Alexandria Flags








For those that don't know LA is the only state that calls "counties" "parishes", because we are just exclusive like that. So my parish is Rapides, which I think is such a neat-o name.




The cool guys that talked to me, they were giving out hot dogs after the 5k race!









What do you see in this sculpture? It moves and its on some church grounds, they named it the Angel. Isn't that so cool? It does sort of look like a snow angel, but sculpted.







Obviously we are in the Bible Belt where such murals are not covered in graffiti.





Myself and a refelection of the street, I enjoy reflection photos quite a lot.

My First Born will be named Gustav

The 'cane came at an opportune time because I needed a few days to rest my knee and sweat with no a/c...So today when the power came back on I was ready to run!! Really I was ready to run out of town, but I held in there in good 'ol Alec.

I took two runs today. The first was in some afternoon, after storm, 96% humidity heat.

The second was delightfully amazing! It was at 9pm in my perfect little neighborhood, under the huge southern star filled sky. The breeze was brilliant, I didn't want to stop. I refrained from overdoing it though.

Today's Combined Stats

5 miles!

55 minutes

An American Moment

I had the great opportunity to go to a Texas Rangers game last night. It was with my lovely immediate family. First off, the Rangers won!! How great is that? We stayed for "the best fireworks show in Texas" after the game...and it really was spectacular! Fireworks are always something exciting, but it was awesome to be in this huge stadium with tons of people, listening to Elvis and watching this beautiful show.

And the best part...

After the show and the grand finale, they turned on this huge screen and showed the Olympic Race with Michael Phelps which we were all waiting for!! What an amazing American moment to be able to celebrate the Gold with thousands of fellow Americans surrounding us! It was so much better than watching it in my living room.