Spring has sprung, now Summer is here!

As usual, I'm never sure where the time goes but here's a look at what kept us busy this spring!

We ran the FatBoy 5k

Crawfish Boil for Lauren and Bryce

Liza went into heat and was exiled.
We had two very sad doggies for two very long weeks!

Girls Trip to Houston for Lauren's Bridal Shower

out in Houston...CHEERS!!

Kristine (who is getting married in 3 weeks) moved into her new house!

Elliott graduated with his Masters degree from LSU

(and this was his graduation present!)

Speaking of graduations, Candace, who I've known all her life, graduated high school! OMG! She is such a beautiful girl with a great head on her shoulders and is headed to Southern Miss in a few months.

She is currently spending 3 weeks in Italy with her mother for her senior trip, how nice!

We enjoyed the most wonderful weather at the LSU baseball
game Friday night.

This past weekend, LSU hosted the regional and WON!
GEAUX TIGERS

And of course, we've been eating well, too!

Our tomato plants are producing like crazy!
Between our garden and my in-laws blueberry bushes, I'm getting
my lycopene and antioxidants!

It's looking like our summer will be just as busy as the spring. We're looking forward to celebrating many weddings and more fishing trips to Grand Isle!

Our Beach Trip

During mid-May, after much planning, we headed to the beach with our closest friends. (Unfortunately it didn't work out for my sister and fam to come...next year, hopefully!)  We stayed in Watersound, FL which is between Seaside and Rosemary. We rented a beautiful house and had beautiful weather.  My only complaint, it was too short! 

We also had a beautiful pool...

 Trey with Emma Kate and Thomas.

Emma Kate is the best little swimmer! She loves her pool ring.

 Brad, Thomas, James, Lee

snuggling on the porch while the boys played guitar

 Elliott and Blake checking out the gorgeous clear water

lots of girl talk in the sun

Lee and James 

Me, Kim, Amy

 We celebrated Trey's 30th birthday!! Claire made birthday cake cinnamon rolls and Rachel brought along some birthday decor!

James, Amy, Meredith, Rachel, Me, Kim, Lee

Our last morning in Seaside

I really don't have many words to describe the trip...it was just what we needed and came at the perfect time! I'm always so thankful for our sweet group of friends and the great time we can all have together. Looking forward to many more beach trips in the future!

Grand Isle

We spent our Easter in Grand Isle and took the "new" boat on its Inaugural voyage.  Elliott and I, his parents, and Todd headed down for a long weekend and despite wind and rough waters we caught fish! It was a great weekend although I did miss being in church for Easter worship. We also missed Evan and Claire who spent the weekend with her family in Jackson and Meredith who sadly had to work.
I'll let the pictures do the talking...

 El got the first catch! 

 three amigos

 caught some specs, too

the island from a different perspective...

our weekend catch

This weekend, we went back. This time it was us, Elliott's parents, and Evan and Claire. The boys came down Thursday night and fished EARLY on Friday. They caught some specs and went offshore and caught Lemon fish, Trigger fish, Spanish Mackerel, and Snapper. We (the girls) decided we weren't getting up that early on Saturday but we still ended up with coffee on the porch at 5 am.  

This was the start to a beautiful day on the boat and quite a successful fishing day!

We caught a ton of specs and then started losing them to dolphins who broke quite a few of our lines so we decided to head offshore to see if anything was biting by the oil rigs.

I have never seen anything like it. We took a nice boat ride to Fourchon where there are hundreds of rigs scattered for miles

 

 I'm not sure what I had caught but it got eaten by this shark!

My Pompano (apparently a delicacy)

Elliott's Mangrove Snapper

 and an ice chest full of speckled trout. 63 to be exact!

This morning after coffee on the porch at a reasonable time (7:30), the boys decided to go back out one more time before loading the boat back up. They came home with another 40 specs.

 Needless to say, we all came home with a lot of fish! 

A special visit at the Dentist!

Mary Stewart's first to the dentist (last year)

Two weeks ago, The Wall Street Journal published an article titled "Best and Worst Jobs of 2012". Guess what job was number FOUR? That's right, MY job! DENTAL HYGIENIST. To quote the article, "CareerCast, a career website owned by Adicio Inc., ranked 200 jobs from best to worst based on five criteria: physical demands, work environment, income, stress and hiring outlook. To compile its list, the firm primarily used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other government agencies.The 200 jobs were selected for their relevance in the current labor market as well as the availability of reliable data." 
You can read the rest of the article here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304587704577335703058909284.html#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB10001424052702303772904577336100486278304%26articleTabs%3Darticle

I can't say I'm shocked because I have always said I have the best job and now the research shows it too!  What blows my mind is that it's 4th out of 200.  It's not like it was ranked among healthcare jobs or jobs with a bachelors degree. WOW, I'm blessed and I'm thankful for a reminder that not only do I have a great job, but it's even better because I have an AMAZING boss and pretty great co-workers!

So, every time my sister comes in town, she tries to get in to see me for a cleaning and check-up. Last year, she brought Mary Stewart in for her first visit. She did great and enjoyed showing me how she brushes! This year she came in again and we had a blast!

I'll leave you with a quote from one of my favorite TV personalities, (who I miss terribly this season!) Michael Scott. If you didn't watch the office when he was Manager of Dunder Mifflin, you've missed out. Anyway this is from season 6 when Dwight hooked up with a friend of Pam's who was a dental hygienist at Jim and Pam's wedding. Dwight was a little dismissive about her, but Michael clearly approved.

"Do you know how hard it is to be a hygienist? You have to take x-rays and you have to scrape the plaque off of people's teeth.  You have to tell kids when to spit and make sure they're not scared when the dentist comes in."

He's on to something...

Happy Anniversary

Elliott and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on March 31. The traditional gift for 5 years is wood. Elliott surprised me by building me this beautiful piece of furniture.

The whole thing is made of antique wood.  He used a sentimental barn door from our farm in Mississippi as the back (probably early 1900's). The sides are shutters from his family's original camp in Grand Isle dating back to the late 1800's. The rest is antique cypress that was left over from his parent's house when they renovated.

I couldn't have imagined it any better and was so excited that he built it for me! I also couldn't imagine life without him,  he is truly my better half! These first 5 years have flown by and I look forward to many, many more!

A few of my Favorite (Spring) Things

Nothing says Spring like a Lilly iPhone cover!

(and because it's stylish to keep your iPhone protected)

I ordered mine from the Lilly website but it appears to be sold out so I've found it here:

http://www.lifeguardpress.com/lilly-pulitzer-iphone-case-scarlet-begonia-p-2688.html

I definitely hunted these down in Baton Rouge last weekend:

Tom's Corbel Wedge

http://www.toms.com/corbel-women-s-wedges

LOVING these studs! 

http://www.swellcaroline.com/jewelry/earrings/full-house-heart-earrings-gold-or-silver.html

A perfect, light spring scent

(I've become a fan of the roll-on, easy to carry in your purse)

http://www.philosophy.com/fragrance-amazing/amazing-grace-roll-on-product

I've been pretty loyal to Bobbi Brown, but after getting a sample of this at Sephora last week, I think I'm converting to this B.B. Cream.  It's got just the right tint, a touch of shimmer, SPF 27, and is the perfect transition from pale winter color to a natural summer glow!

http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P288804&categoryId=B70

And of course, pastel denim

http://www.zappos.com/product/7947599/color/30117

jlhappy spring