The Big Trip!

On October 26th my mother-in-law (Mama Cathy) and I hit the road in our little Ford Fiesta rental car headed for the great New Orleans, Louisiana!

Here, a gorgeous model shows off our ride.

 

And another stunning model shows off her pedicure.

 

 

As soon as we arrived in New Orleans, we drove past the Villalobos Rescue Center featured on the Animal Planet show Pit Bulls and Parolees. Mama and I have watched almost all the episodes and we just couldn't wait until they were open to the public to see the facility.

 

 

 Then we visited the most important reason we were down there - my brother-in-law Trevor, his wife Kayla, and their furry babies Bunny, Honey, and Teddy who live in Metairie, LA. (Pics to come) Finally, we settled into the motel room that would be our home for the first four days. This was the view from our door. I laid by the pool on a sunny, 80 degree day and it was lovely.

 

 

 

Day Two brings us to the Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, LA. The photo below is from their website because I couldn't get a good shot from this angle.

 

We saw this cute little kitty wandering the property. He let us pet him but refused to pose for the camera.


Slave quarters. Not original buildings, just re-creations.

Mama walking up to the entrance.


The view from the inside. I'm fascinated with how they lived and what they saw and did, if that makes any sense.


View from the balcony. Imagine waking up to this view every day. You'd most likely see the river because there was no levy in the early days, and the path would be gravel of course.


It all seems quite magical and charming until you see this. These are just some of the names of the slaves that worked and suffered on this plantation. So sad.


And these are the same fields where they worked every day. Look how tall the sugar cane is!
That's it for this plantation, but I had to show you the turtle I bought in the gift shop. Yumm!

That evening, Trevor's sister-in-law and her family took us out to eat at a wonderful Mexican restaurant. The food was amazing!


And so was the company! (L-R) Cathy, Trevor, Trevor's wife Kayla, Kayla's sister Megan, her daughter Caitlyn, husband Sam, daughter Avery, and me. The kids were so adorable and charming, I loved them! And anyone who knows anything about me knows that means these little girls were pretty darn special!

Day Three brings us back to Villalobos for a tour of the facility. Animal Planet was doing some filming while we were there.


Then we took a swamp tour and while waiting for it to begin Mama made a friend.


Hurricane Katrina damage










Oh, hi there.


Okay so Sam and Megan have the sweetest, most cutest kids... but did you know they also have the sweetest, most cutest dogs? Here's Connor and Jean Luc. Connor is missing an eye from a run-in with a bigger dog, he's a sweetheart. But I absolutely fell in love with little Jean Luc... I called him
Fi-Fi La Rue.


Oh my little Fi-Fi how I miss you!


Trevor and Kayla also have adorable animals but I don't think I had my camera in their apartment because I don't have any photos :(
Here's a shout-out to dogs Teddy, Honey, and Meeeee-chon (the extra e's are for extra cuteness) and cat Bunny. I love you all.

Day Four takes us to another plantation Houmas House. I chose this place as a surprise for Mama because she loves gardens.



Notice the bandage on her hand...those are my sweet EMT skills put to use. Swamp 1, Mama 0.














Mama loved the gardens!


The interior was also gorgeous.


I got to play this baby grand and the sound was amazing!




Day Five we walked around the French Quarter and Jackson Square. I didn't take a lot of photos but here's one taken while walking along the great Mississippi River.


Day Six was Mama's birthday and that evening we walked around the French Quarter with Trevor and Kayla. We stopped at Pat O'Brien's for dinner.


Kayla was a good sport!


New Orleans has the best food!


This is my favorite photo from the trip (taken at Pat O'Brien's).






Day Seven we rested. Just a coincidence.
Day Eight was our last full day and we three girls drove to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to spend it at the beach!


Kayla snapped these last two beautiful shots.




And that's it! Phew! It was a tiring trip because of all the driving (I did all of it). According to our Hertz receipt, we drove a total of 3,232 miles. I love road trips but boy, this one pushed me to my limits. My back went out while we were down there, mostly due to the uncomfortable seat in our rental car. We made it home but as soon as we arrived Mama and Noah drove me to the hospital for some meds for my back. But all that aside, it was a wonderful and memorable trip. I'm SO happy I got to meet my brother-in-law Trevor and his wife Kayla. They are two of the sweetest (and smartest!) people I've ever met. And Kayla's sister Megan has an amazing family. I hope I get to see them again some day. I know I used the word "amazing" quite a bit in this post, but I couldn't find more descriptive words, that just how amazing the trip was!

In closing, I'll say to Trevor & Kayla  "Get up here soon and visit us! The pups miss you and we have a new kitten you will adore. Love you both!"

Wedding Outtakes

I have a State Park pass again!

In August I purchased a Minnesota State Park annual pass. Woo-hoo! Unfortunately, I've only visited one park so far and it had been so long since I actually used my camera that all my rechargeable batteries passed away. I was able to take two photos before their demise though. Behold, the picturesque Wild River State Park along the beautiful St. Croix River!

Aaaand that's all you get. Damn batteries. As you can see, I got there so early the moon was still up. It's a beautiful park and I hope to return in the spring. In fact, there's quite a few parks I want to cross off my list next year, so stay tuned! ...That is, if you like photos of grass and trees and nature stuff, because that's all I photograph.

I'm Baaaack! ...and I'm Mrs. Friberg now!

Wow, has it been awhile since I've done anything worth posting about! But now I'm back and I have a lot of built-up thoughts to expel from my sometimes manic mind. I'm feeling extra loquacious tonight so, as usual, feel free to just skim the pics.

How about I start this renewed blogging vigor with the most important day of my life...
Monday May 6, 2013. The day I married Noah James Friberg. (pronounced freeberg)





Now, I know some of you are thinking, what the...?! This is out of the blue! What about Eric? Well, here's the whole crazy, sordid timeline of how this wedding came to be. (They say true love comes when you least expect it and this was no exception.)

Eric and I had been together for about two years, but things just weren't working out between us. I loved him, he was my closest friend, but I wasn't "in love" with him. Long story short, the break-up happened around April 12th. It was really sad the first couple days, but then I felt a sort of relief. For me the romantic relationship had been over for awhile, so I didn't really need to grieve.

I re-activated my OkCupid profile around April 15th and set about to distract myself, meet new friends, get out of the house, and have some fun. I chatted with a lot of fun people. I met this one guy named Chris and we became friends after a six and a half hour phone conversation. He did most of the talking, proudly regaling me with stories of his Irish heritage and folklore, which became funnier and funnier throughout the evening as he drained a bottle of red wine, and opened another. (I'm not trying to be prejudice against any nationality, that's exactly how it went down) I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time, but there was no romantic chemistry. And I wasn't looking for that anyway. No, really! I'm telling the truth! It was far too soon, I was just looking for friends because sadly, Eric had been my only close friend.

Then, on April 23rd a guy named Noah messaged me. I honestly don't recall our conversation up until the point where I asked him if he liked The Big Bang Theory, my favorite tv show at the time, and he said "yes". I told him I had a Big Bang trivia game I was dying to play with someone and basically invited myself over to his place to play the following evening. I showed up right after work on April 24th, still wearing my comfy work clothes, no make-up, with NO expectations of anything romantic. As I met him at his front door, I was unprepared for the crazy whirlwind courtship that was about to begin. It wasn't love at first sight though. We went to Subway for dinner, but we didn't really like each other at first. The meal was quiet and a little awkward. Then we sat on his bed and played the trivia game (which I won!). But he ended up winning my heart. Awwwww, cheesy! He was so damn cute, obviously intelligent, charming... *swoon* he made me so flustered during the game, I can't believe I managed to win. Skipping over some details here... later that evening he shocked me by proposing to me. He wasn't kidding, he wanted to marry me. WTF?! My first ever marriage proposal and it comes on a first date, that wasn't even supposed to be a date?! When I expressed my concerns and doubts he said "Trust me, we'll make it work." Well, his air of confidence and beautiful hazel eyes won me over and I took a leap of faith, accepting his proposal. I never went back to my place again after that evening except to get some clothes and belongings. We couldn't wait to tie the knot and were frustrated to learn of this state's waiting period. All of this is insane, we know that. In fact, Noah didn't want to tell any of his family and friends at first because they would think we were nuts. But eventually we found out that everyone was happy for us and no one seemed judge-y about it.

On the evening of May 6th, a judge married us at the Anoka County Court House. Noah's friends Ariel and Pete were our witnesses and only guests.

Waiting for the judge. Pete is either high or trying to get out of the frame. Maybe both, that's unconfirmed. j/k. Hey, look how relaxed I am. No wedding jitters here.

Ariel signs the marriage certificate.

Just chillin' waiting for show time.



I have no idea what the judge is saying here.



The judge provided the vows and we don't remember them at all, but I'm sure they were nice.

I do remember "I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Friberg."



You may kiss the bride.

That moment right before our lips met. Happiness.

The wedding party.

We went out to Chili's with family and friends afterward. Nothing fancy, no honeymoon, but we didn't want all that. We just wanted to be married. In July our friends Josh and Jumi threw a shower for us, but I don't have any pics yet. (Hint, hint Alex.) But there was food, drinks, and late night Rockband. Jumi baked our yummy wedding cake and topped it with two toy ninjas. Our first dance (and only dance) was to the Rockband version of Radiohead's "Creep". It was perfect. Grin. And we lived happily ever after. Big grin.