Life coming at me

For part of Bobby's Christmas presents, I got him tickets to the New Orleans Bowl, where his alma mater, Troy University, was playing. We left Tuscaloosa Sunday morning to head down to the Big Easy, and we spent a good chunk of the afternoon exploring a portion of the French Quarter (after getting only slightly lost trying to find it — freakin' New Orleans streets don't want you to turn left ANYWHERE).

Once we parked we hit Decatur Street. After walking around and just looking for a few minutes (and, funnily enough, running into someone Bobby knew — people from Troy who went on and on about how great he is ;)), we ended up in the Crescent City Brewhouse.

The sign outside boasted that this place brewed its own beer, so we decided that would be a great place to sit down and have a drink. We decided to each have the five-beer sampler, which was a sample of each of the in-house brews (I would share the names, but I can't remember all of them ... I know one was the Red Stallion, one was the Weiss and another was the Christmas Weiss; can't remember the other two). The beer was pretty good -- definitely strong, I thought. I think the Red Stallion was my favorite, and the Weiss was probably my least favorite. The Weiss tasted like banana and cloves. Yeah, not a good combination.

We had planned to eat dinner in the French Quarter, so we went ahead and ordered a couple of things off the menu at the Crescent City Brewhouse, too. We ordered the Baked Brie (an appetizer), which came with an apple chutney, roasted garlic and fresh green grapes. Oh, my goodness. It was DE-LICIOUS. Bobby also ordered a side of andouille dressing, and it was even better than the Brie, if that's possible. It was seriously delicious.

After our beer, Brie and dressing, we wandered around for a little while longer and came across what I think was Bobby's favorite place we visited: a cigar shop called "Cigar Factory." The people there hand-roll the cigars. As Bobby put it, the place smelled like leather and tobacco; a "very cowboy smell," I say.

Bobby bought a pretty nice cigar that he smoked while we continued to walk around. Due to my apparently pea-sized bladder (yeah, pun ... ha ha), we ended up in a bar called The Green Room, drinking Vodka Gimlets so I could use the bathroom. The gimlets were not so great; it was my first experience with one, and it didn't really make me want to try it again. Way too much lime. Bobby says that's not really how they're supposed to taste.

It finally got to be about game time, so we hopped back in the car and headed toward the Superdome. We ended up getting a good parking spot, but we had to pay $20 for it! By the time we got all that settled, I was in painful need of a restroom again; there was the horrible tease of a couple of port-a-potties that ended up being padlocked before we finally made our way around to our gate and into the blessed, wonderful (and warm) bathrooms of the Superdome.

The game itself was fun, even though Troy ended up losing. We spent the night in Slidell and headed back to Tuscaloosa this morning. We are going back to NOLA next week for the Sugar Bowl, and we'll get to spend a couple of days this time instead of just a quick trip. I'm excited!

(And another pic just because I like it -- taken in the New Orleans Hotel in the French Quarter:)

So as more and more thoughts of being green and a good steward swirl around in my head, I sometimes come to realizations that make me uncomfortable. Yesterday, that realization was that I own WAAAAAAAAAAY too many clothes. Seriously, I have this huge walk-in closet, and it was packed with stuff, much of which was either too small or that I didn't really even like enough to wear on a regular basis.

So tonight I did it. I really went through the stuff, and I think I ended up weeding out about half of my clothes. No joke. I had two racks full, and now I only have one:





I didn't really get a good before shot, but I think these are a pretty good representation of the aftermath. It's sort of liberating, because now when I go to my closet, I know that the things in there will fit me, and they are all articles of clothing that I actually like to wear. Here's a shot of the stuff I am getting rid of:


I unloaded some of this tonight at Plato's Closet, a local consignment shop, and walked away with $40. I likely will hit at least one more of the shops in town, possibly pull a few of the nicer items (I have a North Face jacket that's too small for me) to sell on eBay, let Ashley look through them to see if she wants anything, then take what's left to Goodwill.

And because Bobby would be sad if I updated without mentioning that I got one of my Christmas presents early! He bought me a wonderful, WONDERFUL camera -- an Olympus E-520 DSLR. It came in the mail Monday and between his wanting to take it out and play with it and my pleading, he ended up going ahead and giving it to me. I spent a while yesterday afternoon playing with it and starting to learn how to use it. I love it! Here are some pics:

It's the early morning hours, I've not had much sleep, and there's a tornado warning out for Tuscaloosa County. So this is going to be morbid, but as I'm playing online and waiting for the tornado warning to pass, I'm considering the fact that my last documented thought could be something as inane as a post on a message board complaining about the weather or a silly Twitter update.

To make myself clear, I'm not sitting here shaking, afraid I'm going to die and forever be immortalized as the idiot who was lurking on the Relevant Message Boards as a deadly tornado bore down on her. More than anything, I guess, my brain is tired and trying to be contemplative.

So if this was going to be the last thing I ever wrote/communicated, of course, there are so many things I would want to say. I would want to tell Bobby that I love him very much and that I believe in him -- that he is a good man. I'd want to tell my parents that I love them and that I'd appreciate all the things they've done for me through the years.

I'd tell my sisters that I love them both very much, and I've cherished the fact that we've grown somewhat closer as I've (we've, I guess) grown older. I'd want my friends -- the ones that have stuck by me through thick and thin, and even those I've lost touch with -- to know how much they've meant to me and how much of an impact they've had on my life. A lot of the best things about me are a result of the love and friendship I've received from you.

And there are some people I would want to know this: I forgive you. There are others (and some of the same people) to whom I would want to say, "I'm sorry." I hope that if any of you read this you will understand and know which one you are.

There are surely things (and people) I've forgotten, but those are a lot of the things I'd want to say if this was my finale. And lastly, I would want to say not to look at this as a goodbye, but as a "see you later."

Thankfully this isn't a finale, and I hope some of these people I've mentioned will read this and that I'll have the good grace to communicate my feelings through other means to the ones who will never read it. Now I'm off to watch the weather. Hopefully I'll get to bed soon!