4th of July Weekend

The weekend of the 4th has typically meant Pickwick Lake or pool parties.  This year we were all alone down in the Big Easy.  It was Vik's first weekend on ophtho call so I knew we'd be sitting by the pager all weekend.  I considered going up to Memphis and Pickwick but really didn't want to make the 6+ hours drive there and back.

I watched a lot of Lifetime movies.  Vik went to the hospital for a few hours every day...thankfully he never got called in in the middle of the night!  I did a lot of laundry and cleaning around the house.  I mowed and edged the front yard...avoiding the back yard like a plague b/c I don't want to pick up dog poo (did you know there are for-real dog waste pick-up services?!).  Vik studied.  We watched the Fighter and it was a good movie (it took us a few days to watch the entire movie, thanks to the aforementioned pager).  Monday I thought I'd be a savy wife and go to the grocery store at 10am to buy us a traditional July 4th meal.  I have no idea why this didn't come to mind earlier, probalby just b/c we were celebrating alone.  We ended up with baby back ribs (delish...my own recipe, thank you very much), creamed corn, green beans, baked beans for Vik (ick) and apple pie a la mode. 

We ended up having a fun weekend, just hanging out with our children at home.  I was definitely envious of everyone posting lake/beach pictures and such on the FB.  One of the hardest things about moving away is missing family and friend holiday traditions!

Now I've got to make some plans for Labor Day b/c I don't want to sit around the house again...

Our First Anniversary

Our wedding cake topper.  Thanks to my dad for wrapping
it up in an entire box of plastic wrap so that it stayed fresh!

June 19th was our one year wedding anniversary.  It's so hard to believe we have been married and living in New Orleans for one whole year.  I can remember thinking "It will be our first anniversary before we know it;" and sure enough it was before we knew it.  We celebrated with dinner at Emeril's.  You can read my TripAdvisor review here.  Our dessert was our defrosted, year-old wedding cake topper.  It was strawberry margarita with buttercream icing and it was still delicious!!!  We've been snacking on it since :).

Right before leaving for dinner

Our first year of marriage included:  living together for the first time in almost 11 years of dating, moving to a new city (other than Nashville for college), becoming home owners, Vik mowing the yard for the first time, overnight hospital call, our first Mardi Gras, some of our best friends coming for visits, trips to St. Thomas (x2) and Maui, missing Thanksgiving with our families, my mom's family coming to NOLA for Christmas, Vik's family coming to NOLA for New Years, lots of  new recipes for dinner (including our Thanksgiving dinner), lots of trips to the grocery and hardware stores, the complete series of '24' and so much more.

We knew each other so well before marriage that not much changed (other than the weight gained from those PW recipes...).  We have the [overly] cliche arguments about chores and money; but other than that it's be an absolutely wonderful year!  We know that we will be living here for at least 3 more years and that's really the only plan for the future that we have!