Well Hi Deee Hooooo Peeps!
I did not run away, technically I temporarily ran away but I'm back now. I've been busy busy busy since I got home and I'm very late getting this out but you know what, I just ran with it!
We're going to go way, way, way back to July 15th and I should warn you, I've been having fun and taking no pictures so this will probably be way shorter than you think it will be. That said, let's get started.
Wednesday the 15th was our last full day at home before we headed out to Louisiana to attend a fabulous surprise party for the lovely Sharonsky! (Side note; she was totally surprised-good job family!!).
I did run to get a mani/pedi so I got myself dressed half way decent. The shorts are from a couple of years ago, color is not available but I'll link a similar pair. Otherwise I wore one of my fave tried and true t-shirts and some flip flops that are super old but still in great shape. Also of note, it actually poured down rain and for that we send grateful blessings to the heavens. Rain in July in Texas is unheard of!
Later that night for dinner we didn't want to have any leftovers so we had my delicious home made southwest tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. I also had to stay up until after 11 pm so I could get my Nordstrom order placed, that's a whole other post coming. Spoiler: I kept very little
Thursday morning, we were up and at 'em early. The dogs had to go to the kennel at 1030, then I had to come home, finish packing and get the truck loaded for our trip. Hubster was in meetings until 1:30 so I'm dressed for road tripping. (This outfit will be mentioned again later in this post)
We are off and on the road by 1:45 then promptly realize we have a flat tire. We stopped at 4 places before finding someone who could patch the tire and get us back on the road in less than 2 hours. Then we start driving and the rain, the traffic, the everything.....took us 11 hours to make an eight hour drive. PEOPLE we were DONE.....poor B had to stay up past midnight for us to get to her house!
Thankfully I packed each of us a snack box. I forgot to take a pic but the empty spot had pepperoni in it.
Top left: Trail Mix. Top right: protein donuts
Bottom left: Kerrygold cheese sticks. Bottom right: Pepperoni
We were about an hour and a half away and starving for something other than all the Scooby Snacks I packed so we grabbed a Subway at the gas station. I had a Turkey & Ham protein pocket and yes, that had lettuce on it. Thankfully, no issues.
Friday morning we got up and had breakfast at my FAVORITE spot in Louisiana! Our sweet, amazing friend Liam owns the BEST place to eat in Old Mandeville called LaLou. I'm telling you the food is to die for and Liam is the most amazing human! I had the LaLou grits, I refrained from getting the chocolate milk but let me tell ya, you ain't never had chocolate milk like LaLou's!!
Hubster and I then headed over the causeway to New Orleans to do a little bead shopping. Mardi Gras prepping is year round people. The truck was pretty full by the time we were done, we were also melting and I had to make a run to Ulta because I left half of my makeup at home. grrrrr. On the bright side, Ulta was right by District Donuts and I was richly rewarded for skipping the chocolate milk.
From the top left: Brûléed cinnamon roll (Abogg and AprilMayJune had these for their "wedding cake"), next is a Lemon Blueberry roll which was also incredible! Bottom left is Cookies & Cream doughnut, one of our lovely hosts new flavor obsessions and the pretty pink one is B's because she introduced me to the Nectar flavor. None of these disappoint !
Also, the heat and humidity wasn't playing so I grabbed a Baklava Cream Tea with a Satsuma cloud.
Soooo yummy but you do have to like the fruity botanical flavors.
This is what I wore Tuesday and I'm not even going to bother with the links. You know by now, those shorts are from Wallyworld and the shirt is from Paducah. I had too much to do to think about pictures.
I figured I better grab some food in case I made the flight (stand by flying again) so I grabbed me a Chicago staple, Italian Beef. I got mine from the Billy Goat Tavern, another Chicago institution.
After getting home we decided to head out to dinner with the neighbors and went to El Paseo. I had the fajita taco salad and it was ok, they overcooked my meat a bit but it was more of the company than the food. Sunday we spent in the pool because well, I might have mentioned, the outside is like a sauna!
Nordstrom, Amazon, Quince returns ready to go.
Whew, finally made it to Friday so let's do our usual recaps
We headed back to get ready to go out to dinner with Judge John and Midge. We visited for a bit at their house and took a golf cart ride over to Pat's Rest Awhile for dinner. I had some kind of pasta and shrimp but that's all I can tell you other than it was delicious!
It's party day and we're all doing our best to keep Sharonsky in the dark. We all met for lunch at Meribo Pizza in Covington. Hubster and I split the pepperoni pizza. The table shared an order of the Crispy Brussels, I refrained because no matter how hard I try, I do not like Brussel sprouts. The sauce was delicious though!
Here the girls are at the table. Big H actually was turning off the camera's at their house on Sharonsky's phone so he snapped a pic to throw her off.
B, Sharonsky and me dressed in our disco finery and yes, we were drawing some looks but we're all over 60 now so we don't care! haha
From there we headed to Bar #1: Little Blue Door. We were trying to be social but also not let anyone have too much to drink because we had a party to go to! I was drinking Hugo Spritz's and they were delish. This bar was absolutely beautiful and the bathroom seemed like a good spot for a selfie. And about the only pic we have of me in my rented dress that I wanted to keep so badly! (it's a wee bit expensive)
Time to move to a new bar so we headed over to Paradise for some more drinks. The girls were feeling snacky so we had an order of Pomme Frites with Truffle aioli and they were bomb. My Hugo spritz made with lavender syrup was also incredible. They also gave us a drink to try that was a special for FIFA that was another delicious sip. It's time to head to the party but the bathroom was another show stopper!
Those are monkey's and they are drinking vodka from the bottle, smoking cigarettes and cigars but the faint pink things are bras hanging from the branches. I'm just saying, my next half bath is going to look like this, including that tile on the floor.
I've got one picture from the party and it's so you can see my sweet pony tail hair piece. It was hotter than Hades outside that day but we had ourselves a grand time and Sharonsky's family pulled off the best surprise party! 
ponytail extension
All right, party over and it's Sunday and time for us to head back to Texas.
Thankfully, it was a normal uneventful drive home.
Monday morning, time to do laundry and pick up the fur babes at the kennel, send a big box of things back to Nordstrom. We had some leftovers of some kind for dinner. I couldn't tell you what it was though, it seems so long ago!
Tuesday rolls around and I'm scrambling getting the house together, more returns back to Nordstrom, prepping dog food and Hubster's meals for the week because I'm headed to Chicago to see my baby boy on Wednesday morning. Ya'll my mama heart has been missing him pretty bad lately and they just got a new house so it seemed like the perfect time to visit.
This is what I wore Tuesday and I'm not even going to bother with the links. You know by now, those shorts are from Wallyworld and the shirt is from Paducah. I had too much to do to think about pictures.
I did remember that I brought home a Hubig's Pie from Louisiana and while Lemon is not my favorite, it's so good! They remind me of the old Hostess pies from my childhood. If only it was cherry!
Wednesday morning BRIGHT and EARLY we headed to the airport. My flight was at 7 am!
Personally I'm impressed that I managed to get a photo! While it is baking hot in Texas, Chicago was having some cool weather, the high upon my arrival was 72!! Hallelujah!!!
The airline gods were with me and I flew stand by both ways! After arriving in Chicago and taking the train to the new stop my Abogg and AprilMayJune met me at the station to walk me to the new house. We stopped at Cafe Mustache for some much needed caffeine on our walk home.
We hung out at the new place, working on emptying boxes then took a little walk to dinner. Have I ever mentioned that's my favorite part about Chicago, being able to walk everywhere. It's incredible plus that weather because ya'll...... I had to put a sweatshirt on because we ate outside in JULY!!!! Anywho, we walked to a little place called Pizza Lobo and I had a slice of the Borgata- it had red sauce, shredded mozzarella, pepperoni, ricotta, Calabrian chili honey, and basil. It was delish!! Then we made a little trip to Home Depot and no, we didn't walk because we had several items to get but Abogg has walked there before. I wore the same outfit that I wore for the car ride to Louisiana, just added this cute sweatshirt from Target. (Sorry, forgot to take any pics)
Thursday morning the Abogg walked over to another little coffee shop, Logan Collective...I think, and picked up some coffees and a doughnut for us. We still had not unearthed the coffee mugs or Nespresso pods at the new place. AprilMayJune and I spent most of the day working on the primary closet and unpacking and hanging the clothes. Later that evening we walked down to Scofflaw 6fburrata, chili oil, basil
for drinks and some dinner. We ordered a couple of Scofflaw burgers and an order of Fritto Misto to share between the three of us. Once again, delicious and the place is so pretty, giving off some serious New Orleans vibes too. More work at the house and another trip to Home Depot rounded out the day. To dinner I wore my favorite denim shorts and a little summer sweater since I figured it might be chilly in the bar. My color is Fresh Cantaloupe and is no longer available but this is a perfect light weight sweater, they're also on sale right now!
Friday morning got us coffee at home since we retrieved mugs and coffee pods yesterday. It was also my last full day and we worked on getting the kitchen up and running. After working all day we took a stroll down the street to Small Cheval for another al fresco dinner on another glorious evening. We all had burgers and the Abogg had a salted caramel milkshake while we split 2 orders of fries. Small Cheval is a mini version of Au Cheval, which we ate at a couple of years ago on a visit. You won't go wrong at either place but if you are just looking for a good basic burger and fries and shake, Small Cheval is the way to go. If you've got the time to wait and want something nicer, definitely take the trip to Au Cheval but try to make reservations unless you are prepared for a long wait. There's a lovely bar next door where you can relax while you wait for your table too. Let's see, what did I wear to dinner?? Oh yeah, I threw those denim shorts on again with my new plain white tee from the Nordstrom sale.
It's a great basic white t-shirt and I'm always in need of a new one. Grab yours before the sale ends August 9th.
We've made it to Saturday and I now realize this is in no way a short post! After a morning coffee with my boy (AprilMayJune got some much needed sleep this morning) it was time to get ready to head back to the sauna that is Texas. I slipped on my Nuuly dress that I've rented 3 months running. I absolutely love this dress and it still isn't getting marked down to what I think it's worth. I'll be watching Anthropologie for a sale for sure, I've paused my Nuuly subscription for the time being, we don't have any events or trips on the agenda and all I'm really wearing right now is things that touch my body the least or a swimsuit because it's a sauna outside!
After getting dressed, Abogg walked me down to the train station so I could head to the airport. I was a good mom and didn't cry when I left because it doesn't matter how old your kids get, you still get a little teary eyed saying good bye.
Once I got to the airport and through security I made a mandatory stop at my favorite Chicago popcorn stand and grabbed a bag of the Garrett (Chicago) Mix. It's right inside security so don't pass it up!
I figured I better grab some food in case I made the flight (stand by flying again) so I grabbed me a Chicago staple, Italian Beef. I got mine from the Billy Goat Tavern, another Chicago institution.
I ate half before getting my seat assignment and getting boarded. I brought the other half home to Hubster who was quite happy! Not only did I get a seat but I got an exit row window seat and I had the row to myself! Whoop Whoop! I watched an episode of the new Great British Baking Show then read my book, perfect flight home indeed.
After getting home we decided to head out to dinner with the neighbors and went to El Paseo. I had the fajita taco salad and it was ok, they overcooked my meat a bit but it was more of the company than the food. Sunday we spent in the pool because well, I might have mentioned, the outside is like a sauna!
Two sets of neighbors came over and we just generally loafed in the water. Later that evening one set of the neighbors joined us at our favorite local pizza place for a quick bite, Tony's pizza & pour house.
Ahh, it's Monday and time to get back to the real world. I had a LOT of returns to pack up, reviews to get done and more laundry than I cared to do. Typical Monday indeed and we had sheet pan nachos for dinner. I forgot to get a picture, oops again!
That meant I had to get dressed to leave the house & I apologize for the bad picture, I didn't realize how bad it was until I went to add it to the post. oops
After getting my returns taken care of, grocery store run, it's time to get back to making dinner. I had a loaf of Muffaletta bread in the freezer so I unthawed it and picked up everything else we needed for a delicious dinner of Muffaletta's.
Wednesday was house cleaning day allllllll day long because I've been gone and things were just a mess around here. Therefore, Wednesday's pic is brought to you by Rouxby Sue who is glad her mama is back home and she doesn't have to go upstairs to "work" with Dad.
I did make dinner again Wednesday night, we had Barramundi fish.
While the fish was baking in the oven I whipped up some melted butter with these two ingredients:
About 5 minutes before the fish was done, I poured that butter mixture all over the fish and let it finish baking. I also whipped up our favorite new way to eat coleslaw. It's just a bag of coleslaw mix, some chopped fresh dill and the juice of a lime. That's it, easy peasy lemon squeezy, or lime squeezy in this case.
Quick, fast and delicious! Of course, we were both wanting a little something sweet and since I already had the oven on I popped a couple of Pepperidge Farm Cherry Turnovers in the oven and whipped up a quick glaze for them.
Whew, we are finally getting near the end!
Yesterday I had to run back to the UPS store to return my Nuuly rentals and to the post office to mail a couple of things to some folks in Louisiana. I totally forgot to get a picture and I couldn't even tell you what I wore, must not have been too exciting.
We did make homemade pizza in the Ooni oven last night. Pizza is one of those things we have pretty often when we don't know what to eat. It's fast and easy.
Reading: I finished We Chase Shadows on my plane ride to Chicago. Rosie does indeed get funnier and Steve is even more hilarious. We also get a little bit more of Adam and Amy and there's a magnificent teaser for a crossover character with Thursday Murder Club series! Definitely a good read!
Next I read, Death on the Deck, a Flamingo Realty book. It's number sixteen in the series. It's an easy cozy mystery to read. 
Now I'm reading the second book in a series, A Cyclist's Guide to Villains & Vines. I read the first one as an ARC and the second one popped up in my Kindle Unlimited so I grabbed it to read. It's ok and hopefully by the time I finish I'll have something good and thrilling to read.
Now I'm reading the second book in a series, A Cyclist's Guide to Villains & Vines. I read the first one as an ARC and the second one popped up in my Kindle Unlimited so I grabbed it to read. It's ok and hopefully by the time I finish I'll have something good and thrilling to read.
And no, I'm still not finished with The Goldfinch! Although I'm down to less than 3 hours left so hopefully by next week I can push through this book. It never got any better but this far in, you bet your booty I'm finishing it! It's the never ending book and my audio library list is stacking up.
Watching: Well now that soccer is over we've hit a summer lull a bit but never fear, Lioness starts back this weekend. We did watch the new season of King of the Hill on Hulu and it was hilarious as usual. We are watching (sort of) the new season of America's Got Talent but the show is so rigged I just can't get into any more. The new season of The Great Food Truck race started and I haven't got strong opinions on the teams yet except the ladies that drove me crazy went home last week so that's good.
Ok peeps if you hung with me this long then you deserve a treat because have mercy, don't let me go that long again! On the bright side, Tuesday's post should definitely be short since I just covered everything through today!
Have a great weekend, stay hydrated and cool!
Peace, Love, & Heatstroke
