Congratulations/Best Wishes!

What exactly is the etiquette? I never figured it out. I think you're supposed to say "congratulations" to the groom and "best wishes" to the bride. No matter, we're excited for both of you and we'll just say, "Hooray!" (This whole line of thought refers to the happy news that Ned's Mom/Margaret Ann/Aunt Marg/MA is getting married to Jimmy who, at this time, only has one alias.)

But be warned, kiddos...weddings make you crazy.

Wednesday Night, FiestaWare Special

We forgot it was china night. In the hurry to eat and get to the downtown sports bar to meet friends, we hurriedly dished dinner onto FiestaWare and scooted out the door. And then, with our friends, we decided that next Wednesday we'd all drive across the state line and eat burgers at The World. So, for this week and the next, we'll have to move china night to Thursdays, or else our dishes will collect dust.

Good time at the sports bar this evening, though our friend, Shon (also, conveniently, our favorite bartender) was not working this evening. We'll have to catch him in the house this weekend. Photo of an earlier bar night (with Shon) included.

I am a winner! (again)

Some of you may remember a similar jubilant declaration on January 9. I was hesitant to admit my defeat after such thrilling victory, but that rug was lost in the mail. It took over a month to figure that out, refund the credit card, and revive my interest in the thrill of online bidding. And today I won again! This rug is less expensive than the last (which Ned likes), and prettier than the last (which I like). Keep your fingers crossed that it arrives safely. And, after I win the second rug that we need for this new house, maybe I'll share my trade secrets for winning on eBay.

Progress on the run through history

Today was beautiful in Vicksburg. High of 78. I went to the military park and ran a 5K, just to see how things might go this Saturday when I enter the Run Through History 10K at the Vicksburg Military Park. It was a good run, and afterwards I made a decision that will infinitely help my chances of avoiding embarrassment this Saturday: I called the registration office and asked to remove my name from the 10K run. I'll be doing the 5K instead. My training may not be improving my physical fitness this week, but at least I'm getting a little smarter. A 10K cold--what was I thinking?

And we'll soon paint the living room. I have paint swatches hanging on the wall. We're going for a more conservative color than we used in the kitchen. You may remember that project from this summer. Here's a pic --

Home again, home again

Nice to be home. We've both worked all night, and will resume regularly scheduled blog postings tomorrow. We would have posted more tonight, but we decided to have a liquid supper with our good friend, bartender Shon, at the Vicksburg sports bar. And now we're too tired to upload photos from adventures there. Cheers!

Busy Week

So it's been a busy week, with all my travels and Ned's work on the dissertation. I'm in Birmingham tonight, following the SFA's Potlikker Film Festival, and now I'm happily full of beer and pimiento cheese and looking forward to heading home tomorrow. The coming weeks promise excitement--happy details to follow as I'm allowed to divulge them. In the meantime, here's a sweet photo of that husband of mine and his little sister, Jessica.

Nashville

It isn't the same without Ned, but it sure is great. Thanks for the drive, TW!

Delta Diners and the Dead Bear

The steaks were good, but the giant bear and the letter of blessing from the Baptist preacher in the bar next door were the evening's highlights.

Delta Diners headed, well, not to the Delta

With Mary Beth in Oxford already, Delta Diners have decided to head north this evening to the Como Steakhouse in Como, MS. Look for photos of evening adventure on tomorrow's post. Tomorrow in the early morning, I will head to Nashville briefly for a meeting on Thursday afternoon. This may be my first trip to Nashville without Ned, since I met him, I realize. Then it's on to Birmingham for SFA's Potlikker Film Festival.

Today's photo is a treasure from the Rainy Day box we opened on Sunday. It's a kitchen timer, shaped like a hen. Attention, family: I do not collect hens!

One year ago today...

Ned proposed. And our only good photo from the afternoon is one with a police officer.

Tomato season begins

Well, the precursor to tomato season begins. Ned and I spent President's Day planting the heirloom tomato seeds that we harvested after last August's trip to the East Nashville Tomato Art Festival. Now we only have to wait six more months until the harvest bears fruit. It seems so far away!

Tomorrow will mark one year since Ned proposed. We'll spend it separately; Ned in Vicksburg, working on his dissertation, Mary Beth in Oxford, just working. Tomorrow also begins a six day road trip for MB--to Oxford, then to Nashville, then to Birmingham for the SFA's Potlikker Film Fest and board meeting. Look for updates from the road. Ned will, no doubt, be much too sad to post while I'm away.

In a last bit of news, our friends Lauchlin and Olivia now have their own blog. The front porch, which you'll see in a photo on their blog, is awesome. The door's always open, and those girls always seem to know when to ice down the beer.

Wedding gift of the week

What you see in this photo is Ned, holding a new game given to us as a wedding gift. The game, called "Ned's Head," gives you a package of weird objects (rubber rats, spiders, fake vomit) which you put inside this giant head, worn here by--appropriately--Ned. Each player draws a card, which tells him/her which object to pull from Ned's head. The game even comes with some blank cards, so you can add your own Ned Head Surprises to the mix. Suggestions for new game pieces welcome.

Finally, a rainy day!

After two months of waiting, with the box perched in the corner of the living room, it rained this morning and Ned and I were finally able to open our rainy day box from Dad. Look for photos of the treasures he enclosed throughout the week!

Slow news day in Vicksburg

So I'll give you a glimpse of a favorite sign we found when touring Tallulah, Louisiana, last Sunday. I'm not sure that I'd recommend staying at this motel, but I do love the sign!

Are you ready?

There are about to be two Lasseters in Mississippi -- both recruited by Ole Miss. Patrick was accepted to the Mississippi Teacher Corps today. In addition to spending two years teaching in the Mississippi Delta (or maybe Jackson), he'll earn a masters in education and be an official Rebel. Though I'm sure that he would be good at any program for which he applied, I'm selfishly very happy that he's moving to my state. I speak from experience: nothing softens the blow of leaving ND like landing in Oxford. Good choice, Pat!

Tomorrow is VDay

And we'll be out with this crowd at the Highway 61 Coffee Shop in Vicksburg. Here's to Valentine's Day with friends!

He's too cute for words

The man I left my husband for...

Well, I just left Ned for a few days, to see Sarah B's new baby. More baby pictures promised soon!

Check 'em off the list

Two important tasks completed over the past two days: the building of Ned's compost pile, and the assembly of MB's kitchen cookbook shelf. Yay!

Sunday, Lazy Sunday

Today was another restful day -- Ned and I could really get used to having unscheduled weekends! We took the GPS out for a spin in Tallulah. Aside from the fact that it guided us to an old field out in the middle of nowhere, which it had identified as a nature park, it worked great. Ned built the compost pile in the backyard, I cooked turnips from our garden, and we grilled out by our newly decorated bottletree. (Side note: We recommend Skyy Vodka to all our friends and family, and kindly suggest that you save empty bottles for us!) The last order of the evening was ordering seeds for next year's garden. Neighbors should look out for bountiful harvests of Lazy Housewife beans and Nipple Fruit Eggplant. We trust that our blog readers are too mature to submit comments about the hilarity of all the names, which are obvious to us already.

A Day in Yazoo City

Ned and I had a fabulous Saturday in Yazoo City. Highlights, in brief:

A visit to Jennings Welding to buy Ned's Christmas grill, made all the more fun by the owner, who serenaded Mary Beth with Jimmie Rogers tunes and gave us a metal bottle tree for the backyard as a gift.

A visit to a local food store, where we were reeled in by the sign advertising kibbe, tamales, and chili all in the same place (also, a clever sign saying "Eli eats here" with the tiny word "Smith" written in little letters by the name Eli.)

We toured the local museum, shopped downtown at an antiques store, visited the grave of Willie Morris, and even helped the locals by taking a photo of teenagers who vandalized the Episcopal Church. (Ned spotted the group after the crime, Mary Beth ran after them with the digital camera, and a few local network phone calls summoned the police. The not-so-smart criminals had just visited the museum across the street and signed the guestbook, so we had photos and names for all of them!)

Ned does read our blog!

Ah, yes, the gift from my husband -- a GPS so he won't lose me!

Thanks to all for birthday well wishes and loot! It was a great day, full of cards, checks, scented candles and Skittles, silverware, and -- from my sweet, sweet husband -- a Garmin Nuvi, just like I mentioned on our blog a few days ago! Ned and I spent the evening on the town, eating out in Vburg and trying to GPS our way to places whose locations were already known to us. But it's fun to use the device -- it tells you where to turn and everything!

Thanks to all who called and chatted, or left voice mails, or even mailed cards and gifts. It was a great day. I finished assembling the new bakers rack for my kitchen, and the bartender at our new hangout even gave me a birthday card! Now off to sweet dreams, with considerably fewer tears than last year when I turned the dreaded 30. 31 isn't so bad...

30 for 40 more minutes...

Good Thursday in Vicksburg. There has been serious movement on farmers market plans today. We had supper at my favorite place, El Ranchero. The waiter even gave me a free one of these, b/c I asked what it was and I'd never seen it before. (Don't bother, they're really gross, but interestingly they're popular in Mexico AND Canada). Interestingly, clamato is just what is sounds like...no, not an STD, but tomato and clam juice. Mixed with Budweiser. Ugh. Ned has my birthday present hidden in the trunk of the car. And I got a voice mail from Uncle CW in California. Off to sweet dreams, and then tomorrow I'll have birthday fever! Hat tip to the random blogger named Michael whose photo I stole tonight b/c I'm too lazy to find my camera and upload my own photos.

Oh happy day!

We have an ice cream truck in our neighborhood. We found it on Sunday afternoon. By the time we heard it, it was already mostly past our house. Ned tried to run it down without success, but minutes later it doubled back and circled our block again. It plays all the good ice cream tunes, and has Klondike Oreos. Yum!

Irish Rebuilding

It may have been a 3-win season, but ND football is rebuilding one recruiting class at a time. Read more at the Rock Report or online at the South Bend Tribune. Irish Illustrated also has good coverage. In 2012, we'll be GREAT (again).

Happy Mardi Gras!

Last year: New Orleans. This year: Vicksburg. Last year: MB caught an engagement ring. This year: Ned definitely came out cheaper. Happy Mardi Gras!

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

My sister is 28 today. She always scoops my birthday by four days. For the parents, it worked out well. We had double parties, as you see from the photos. Happy birthday, Sarah!

The Joy of Victory

I've never seen Ned so happy. Hotty Toddy -- Go Eli!