Fleur de Aleta

If you grew up in the greater New Orleans area, the above picture will make you smile and bring back happy childhood memories. At least, for me it does. First, it was on a truck for a company that makes King Cakes - Yummm.. But it's the bead dog that had me smiling. What do kids do with Mardi Gras beads after the parades are over? They make those bead dogs. We used to make them in a variety of shapes and sizes with long ears or long tails or short legs and multi-colored ears, etc. My brother and I used to have contest to see who could make the largest dog (some of the beads are tricky to turn into dogs). I asked the truck driver if it was OK for me to take the picture and he said, "Sure! If you go to the main office location they have a picture of the bead dog in really pretty colors." Cool :)

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 created the below movies using his iPad....

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 :)

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...

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 :)

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!)

Greg introduced me to this game from the app store. It only costs 2.99 and was a lot of fun. We played it together. The nice thing is that there no blood and guts, no guns or knives, etc. It's just good clean puzzle fun. There are puzzles within puzzles within puzzles. When Greg first told me to try the game, I didn't think it would be for me. It appears that my husband knows me better.... I was addicted to the game in no time and didn't want to stop playing it even for supper :) Only one complaint about the game... I wanted it to last longer! Oh, yeah, the name of the app game: The Tiny Bang Story. The theme is you have to collect certain items and solve puzzles in order to help rebuild the world for the people. The graphics are well done and the puzzles are fun for various levels.

Another thing I love about Greg is how much he enjoys traditions. He knew that the 3rd year wedding anniversary is the symbol of Leather. When he mentioned this to me, he jokingly said, "Whips and chains?" Have I mentioned my husband's wonderful sense of humor? The day started with a card that made me smile. He somehow finds the right card that matches our emotions and things we're experiencing together. Then, this afternoon, Greg surprised me with my leather gift. His gift inspiration came when he saw what I carry my beading stuff in... when I bead with my good friend, Sally, Beverly and Carol, I bring my beads in a little white, thin bag. Greg bought me a lovely, soft leather case. It's great because there's plenty of room to put my beading supplies and hey, even my iPad :) I took a "before and after" shot in one. For supper, Greg made reservations at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. When we walked in and gave our name, the hostess wished us a...

My parents' 16 year old cat, Snitch, playing the mouse game on Greg's iPad

I have a confession... I don't plan on making any New Years Resolutions. I hear about people claiming New Years Resolutions and it seems like a plan to fail. "I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that..." but why wait until the New Year? Each day is a New Day - a new opportunity. I guess what I'm saying is that I won't wait for a New Year to make plans and goals and dreams. It's year round :)