Our Dog

Penny learns a new trick - BANG



Penny knows what the Bark Park is



She has a cute yawn :)



Having fun at the Bark Park

My Husband the Movie Director

My husband created the below movies using his iPad....

Street Sign

New Orleans is known for its street signs. The names of the streets are on the corners in the cement, made of tile with blue lettering. There's a company that went around and took pictures of each letter of the alphabet from various street signs. The company used the pictures to create tiles and sells them individually or creates custom Christmas ornaments. The name of the company is nolatiles.

Greg bought tiles that spelled out my name and then he created a sign. It's for my parking place in our garage :)

For Hollis

Yesterday was a difficult day. Beautiful, but difficult. I cried. I thought I could read what Mom wrote for Hollis' service, but I broke down and cried.

My parents bought the urn for Hollis' ashes. It was a beautiful urn. They also had 8 smaller urns to share with the family members, which was thoughtful. Didi picked up Hollis' ashes. Then Mimi picked them up from Didi and brought them to my parents' home. Kevin went to my parents' home to put the ashes in the various urns.

Mom said that she couldn't be in the same room, she had to leave while Kevin did that.... She said that Kevin had a difficult time doing so, but he had my Dad and Erica, Kevin's girlfriend, with him for support. They placed paper down so that if any of the ashes fell that they could roll the paper and use it to put in an urn. Kevin used a spoon and put some in each of the smaller ashes and he spilt some on the paper. Dad slapped Kevin on the shoulder and said, "Your Daddy told me that if you drop any more of him that I'm gonna have to kick your ass!" Kevin busted out laughing... when Kevin told my Mom about this, Kevin added, "When someone can make you laugh during a time like that.. it's talent."

Hollis had us laughing during the video'd interview that Celeste did of Hollis back in 2008. Celeste asked Hollis some good questions and Hollis' answers were beautiful for his own service. But Kevin laughed.. saying... "If my Dad knew that this was his epitaph, then he would have worn a nice pair of pants." Mom and Didi laughed, saying, "Only Hollis could get away with wearing shorts to his own funeral."

Difficult day, but beautiful and much needed for the healing to begin. I merged still pictures, video footage from the service and video footage from the interview (including parts where my uncle plays the clarinet) to share with family and friends who were unable to attend. Click Here to view.

My cousin, Kevin, is also sharing a link for free to his father's music. He'll probably only keep the link up for a month, but you can download the music for free. If you enjoy listening to a native New Orleanian, professional jazz musician, click here.

Penny at the Bark Park

Confession about Attics

I can't stand attics. I don't like going up the creaky step ladder. I don't like the heat in the attic or the insulation. I am glad that we have a floored attic. But you won't find me storing anything there. That's right, all those decorations for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Mardi Gras - it's all stack, racked and packed into closets. Christmas takes up 2 closets, in fact.

The reason is that I've seen too many things get ruined in the attic or broken. Not that I have treasures or anything, but what I have I'd like to keep in good condition :)

Tiger Eye LSU necklace

Most of the time, I only post pictures of my jewelry on the jewelry blog, but Greg liked this one so much that he said I should post it on my Fleur de Aleta blog as well.

I designed the tiger eye for the LSU football team. Geaux Tigers! (I say this, while getting ready for the Saints to play tonight - Geaux Saints! Woot!)