PUP

Well heeeeeelllloooo there! Its been a while. Things have been a little crazy over here at the Lacey houeshold. When we started gearing up for May we knew we were in for it. We had multiple bachelor/bachelorette parties, a wedding that includes an extended stay in New Orleans, and a guys weekend to boot. We knew we were going to be busy with a capital B.

Then life threw us a wrench. Our beloved Lena got sick. Really sick. Without giving you the long story of how it all went down. We have endured three weeks of ups and downs, three surgeries, kelly green vomit in my house(yes kelly green), parts of her bowels dying and being removed, her not eating for 10 days, the vet calling me at work to tell me that Kenny and I needed to come put her down,a full day of crying(I have never cried so much in my life) over that decision, and then a week of part agony, part extreme joy while she recovered as doctors, vet techs and everyone else sat back and watched in disbelief and finally one extremely happy and emotional homecoming. It has been a roller coaster.

A roller coaster where I also might have decided that in my stressed out manic state that it might be good idea to trim the hedges with an electric hedge trimmer while Kenny was out of town and then hacked through my hand with said hedge trimmer. Earning my sister and I 12 hours in the ER and me 15 stitches in my hand. Like I said it has been wild here.

Lena has been around for as long as Kenny and I have well...existed. Kenny and I started dating in September and we got Lena in April. And now here we are almost eight years later, there has never been Kenny and me without Lena. All the more reason that these three weeks where she lived at the vet, our house was a lonely place. WE have never been dogless. Ever. People might think we are crazy, but we have no children at this point and we love and cherish Lena deeply.

But through all of this, Kenny and I have been amazed at the life lessons that we have learned in the last few weeks. All from an integral part of our family. Our dog.

Thank you to everyone for all the texts, prayers, calls, emails, thoughts, check ins to see how our girl was doing. Everything. Lena is doing extremely well and while we are still veeeery paranoid and almost can't believe it. We are so thankful for everyday that we get to come home and see her happy face filled with unconditional love.

THE LAST SONG

Let me begin by saying. I loved the BOOK The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks so incredibly much. One of the best books that I had read in a long time. Not to mention that I cried my eyes out. I will most likely read it again.

So understandably I was really excited about going to see the movie The Last Song. Yes, I know it has Miley in it but I also already knew that she was playing Ronnie and had looked at the other cast members. When I was reading the book my characters in my head were similar to the movie characters.

All in all I was very disappointed in the movie. I know when you read the book it is always better than the movie but Dear John was close enough to the book so I thought this would be the same. Not so. Soooooo much of the book was left out. And I felt like the deep relationships that were formed in the book were not even shown in the movie. I just felt so unattached to the characters. The movie just whizzed everything along and everything was so insignificant where as the book made you really think. I don't know. I just was not happy. I give this movie a C-


Oh and P.S. Go read the book!

GRACELAND AND EASTER WEEKEND

For the long Easter weekend Kenny and I invited his parents up to see us. On Friday we all loaded up and headed for the great tourist attraction Graceland. I had never been and had been wanting to go. Kenny and his mother had been when Kenny was very little so he did not remember much of it and Kenny's dad had never been either. So it was a new experience for most of us.

A little bit of interesting information. My MIL actually saw Elvis perform live and while Elvis was closing the show singing "Fools Rush In" he knelt over to my MIL and kissed her on the cheek and put his scarf around her neck.(Which she still has) Kind of a neat story. So understandably she looves her some Elvis.

Kenny and I being complete tourists with our headsets on. (Which I totally made sure they sanitized before putting them on)

The fam waiting to get on the Graceland shuttle.






I have to say I really enjoyed Graceland. The day we went it was not crowded at all and the weather was beautiful. I also really enjoyed the exhibits they have. The cars and planes were neat and I liked seeing all the home videos of Elvis. It really was a lot of fun.

Friday night we all went to Soul Fish for some catfish and hush puppies and it was delicious.

On Saturday, I had a bunch of errands to run from being out of town so much lately and trying to get some things done for the house. I am having a window treatment done for our kitchen and some pillows made. That sort of thing. And of course I had to stop by the new Anthropologie. I am now thinking I might need to get a second job there so I can score the discount. But Kenny's mom ran errands with me while Kenny and his dad ran boy errands. Ha!

On Sunday, we Easter brunched at Boscos and then Kenny's parents hit the road. Kenny was very excited to do some yard work with his new lawn mower that he bought on Saturday.
And last night was opening night of Major League Baseball and the Red Sox were playing the Yankees so Kenny celebrated by putting on his favorite Red Sox tshirt and grilling hotdogs.

Such a fun weekend and so thankful for family and days off!

SOOTHED

So I debated blogging about this because it is not often that I get very personal on this blog. I write this blog as more of a journal as to what is going on in Kenny and I's lives to look back upon and just look at pictures and things. Nothing too serious.

But the truth is I have been struggling personally and inwardly with something the past few months. Nothing serious health wise, or family or relationships or friendships. In the grand scheme of things nothing very big at all. NOTHING BIG AT ALL. (I seriously know this in my heart) It mostly boils down to patience and faith and my lack there of at this point in time. I am a lucky girl who has an amazing husband and girlfriends who will listen to me when I am sad. But most of the time I feel kind of lonely because I don't like to talk about what I am going through. I consider myself to be a optimistic person, you know "Pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get over it."

But this past Friday I had a good cry during lunch to a listening ear of a good friend of mine. And for that I am so thankful but at the same time I still felt alone in my situation.

Jump to Friday night and I am boarding a plane for Atlanta and it was time for God to give me a message and I believe that 110%. As I go to my assigned seat my "rowmate" is a girl my age. We get settled in and we start to chat. She is also from Memphis and she is wearing a Tennessee sweatshirt so talk is easy because we both share a love for the SEC. Then all of a sudden she brings up something and starts talking of her own personal struggle. One that is exactly like mine only hers has required a great deal more patience. Immediately we both start pouring our hearts to each other. Laughing and joking about the ups and downs of what we are going through. We talked the ENTIRE plane ride about it all, among many other things like our husbands, our professions, Mississippi State being better in football this year. You get the picture.

But my heart was soothed. I felt God had placed this girl on this plane sitting next to me to tell me to that my plan is not always God's plan and that I just need to calm down and be patient. I need to trust in him and know that I am not alone. On this earth there are people who are going through much much worse things than me and for much longer. And I am not alone because I have God to turn to. Its funny. My heart raced through that entire flight because I felt like God was talking to me so directly. It really was such an experience. One that I felt that I had to share.

And I know this post has been somewhat ambiguous. But I hope that one day I can look back on it and know that I was not alone in my past struggles or my future ones.

HOTLANTA (TWICE)

So starting this month Kenny and I are going to have a whirlwind next few months. Crazy busy and lots of traveling. We kicked all of this off last weekend with my cousin Lindsay's wedding in Atlanta. We got into town on Thursday night and enjoyed all the festivities throughout the weekend. Her wedding was beautiful and unfortunately I was having such a good time I forgot to take my camera out. So I only have this one picture of the bride of groom that I totally stole off my other cousin Pamela's blog (the maid of honor and sister of the bride)
Lindsay was a gorgeous bride and we love her now husband Preston. We are so happy for them!

After getting home and trying to recuperate I flew BACK to Atlanta this weekend to host a bridal shower and girls night out for my friend Susan who is getting married in May in New Orleans.

When I got in late Friday night Susan picked me up to the airport and we went to her sisters house to get silverware rolled (my job) and to tie ribbons and do flower arrangements. Then we all crashed.

On Saturday we were so lucky the weather was gorgeous and we were having the shower(Linens and Lace) at this old historical home that was perfect for the party.




Susan was so happy her Mimi got to come and a lot of her family that lives in Atlanta.

After the shower we all packed up and headed Downtown to check into the W Hotel. This was on the ceiling in the lobby and it was so neat. It looked like birds in person.


We celebrated in the room before we head to the restaurant FAB for dinner.





Dinner at F.A.B was sooooo good. And for those of you that watch RHOA this is where the fight went down and the weave got pulled off. However, I gather that this is not really the kind of place where they are used to that behavior and are not proud AT ALL of that happening in their very very nice restaurant.

After dinner we went to the Drink Shop to have a few cocktails and this bar had some of the best specialty cocktails. They were yummy!!I decided this summer I am going to be really into muddled strawberry in my drinks. Ha!!

On Sunday we spent our morning in the airport before boarding a flight that made me feel yucky the rest of the day. Lots of turbulence and a few moments that felt like the plane was going to fall out of the sky which terrified me and made me feel naseous. But when I came home I found that my wonderful husband had done all the laundry, cooked an amazing meal that he had saved some for me to taste, cleaned the house, organized closets, all kinds of stuff. I am so lucky.

It has been a fun last couple of weeks and we still have so much to look forward to. Just will need lots of sleep inbetween!

THIS IS WHERE WE USED TO LIVE

So Kenny and I decided kind of last minute to take a little weekend trip to Starkville, MS this weekend. Mississippi State had a basketball game against Tennessee and it was Senior night and we just thought it would be fun. Not to mention the weather was gorgeous so a road trip was perfect.

We headed to Starkville around noon on Saturday not thinking that it would be hard to get a ticket to the basketball game. We were sadly mistaken. There were people EVERYWHERE looking for tickets and the scalpers were asking $150 for 1 ticket. Which there was no way we were going to pay that much. Not even for two. Luckily we managed to stand in line at the box office and Tennessee re-released some of their tickets and we got in. Unfortunately the Bulldogs head was nowhere near the game. SO we lost big time. But it was still fun to be back in the Hump!

After the game Kenny and I went to eat at Restaurant Tyler. I had read about this new restaurant (new as in it sure wasn't around when I was in school) in Southern Living and had been wanting to try it. It did not disappoint. Our meals were delicious. And for dessert I had the sweet potato creme brulee that was TO-DIE-FOR!

After dinner, we had planned on seeing what some of the new bars in the Cotton District had going on, but since we had a few cocktails at dinner we came back to the condo we were staying at and went to bed. It was positively blissful.

Sunday morning we took a nice little stroll to my favorite establishment in Starkville...City Bagel! Words cannot express how much I love this place and how many times I ate here in college. I was so happy to eat there for breakfast that I ordered us some lunch to eat when we got home. Kenny on his crackberry waiting on his City Bagel breakfast sand which.

On the walk home we did some landmark picture taking.

Here is the apartment I lived in the last year or two of college. It was in the Cotton District. Loved my little one bedroom (except for that summer I shared it with my sister. We even shared a bed and we hated each other the whole time)

And here is Kenny's apartment that he lived in most of the time we were dating, also in the Cotton District. So many memories in this apartment. One being when he proposed to me the day before he moved out.

Starkville and the campus have changed so much in the few years that we had been gone. In my opinion all for the better. The campus looks amazing with all the new entrance signs and landscaping and new buildings. It really is so pretty. And then Starkville the city has so many new cute bars and restaurants.

It really was such a fun overnight visit. I want to do it every weekend! Ha! Football season isn't too far away right.....?

On Sunday afternoon Kenny went to play golf and I watched the Red Carpet for the Oscars and then the award show. My favorite by far was Rachel McAdams. And I thought Kate Winslet looked really pretty.

Such a great weekend. And the weather this week is supposed to be great. Snaps!

OH DEAR

.......JOHN

Last night I met up with some girlfriends of mine to eat sushi and then go see Dear John. I had not read the book. Only one of us had. But I loooooved this movie. It might be because I was in serious need of good cry after the week that I have had. But I do think this movie is just good. I was nervous because I mean who doesn't love The Notebook, and Message In A Bottle but I had recently watched Nights and Rodanthe and I thought that movie was teeeerrrible.

Since I had not read the book the movie had different story lines than I was expecting. It wasn't a super fast paced movie but wasn't too slow either. I started crying pretty early on and then just cried harder through the movie. Ha! At least I wasn't the only one. We were all crying and sniffling. Amanda Seyfried can I please have your hair, your lips, and throw in your legs too! And Channing Tatum....you're cute! I give this movie a A+

Don't let the crying stuff discourage you. This movie is a great chick flick/love story. And sadly it has me anticipating Nicholas Spark's next movie coming out, The Last Song. I am going to check the book out at the library today and then will probably go see the movie. I know Miley's in it. But oh well. It won't be the first movie I have seen of hers in the theatre.

WEEKEND RECAP AND MOVIE REVIEW

Kenny and I were so excited to have a laid back weekend this weekend. Friday night we had ourselves a little date night. We went to Boscos because I was craving their Californian Pizza in a major way and then went to see Shutter Island.

I have been wanting to see Shutter Island for a really long time. The previews reminded me of Gothika. Have you seen that?? Anyway this movie was a little different that I expected it to be. It was very long and had lots of twists and turns. While I would say that its a psychological thriller its not necessarily very thrilling in a scary way. It holds your attention and by the end of it you end up liking it because you have finally figured out what is going on. Ha! I give it a good solid B.

On Saturday I ran errands and Kenny did some work. When I cam home I made Pesto Tortellini soup and put into individual servings so I can just grab them for lunch. This soup is really good and filling.

Saturday night we went over to Joe and Tracy's where Tracy (yes Tracy!!!) cooked a delicious meal! Tracy is learning to cook and she did a great job!! There were several couples over that night and we ended up splitting up boys and girls in different rooms for the entire night. Does that ever happen with yall. It was a fun night.

On Sunday Kenny and I enjoyed a little lunch out and then ran errands before I came home to nap on the couch with Lena. It was glorious. Sunday night I watched the closing ceremonies and I'm a little bummed the Olympics are over. As I get older I get so attached to the games.

And here is what we are having to eat this week.

MENU MONDAY (ahem...Tuesday)

Sunday- Weight Watchers Pinto Bean Chili (6pts for 1 1/4 cups) served with mexican cornbread muffins. This was really really good. And very easy.

Monday - Chicken and macaroni with mushrooms So I made this last night and it was TERRIBLE!!! The time it said to let it cook totally burned it and it was a charred mess. Boo. This never happens to me. So we had Holiday Ham. Ha!!

Tuesday- Honey baked chicken with brown rice and broccoli. Yall! Seriously this chicken glaze is sooooo good. I made it last week and I am making it again this week. I loved it. This time I am going to add a little more curry and do much less butter. There is no need for that. It is so easy.

Wednesday - Chili leftovers for Kenny and dinner and a movie with some girlfriends for me.

Thursday- Spud Night. I have decided that every Thursday is going to be spud night because its easy and I don't like to cook on Thursday nights. This Thursday it will be a BBQ themed Spud Night.

ROLLIN ROLLIN ROLLIN

Kenny and I have been so busy. We thoroughly enjoyed our Valentine's weekend (because I decided to celebrate all weekend). Saturday night we grilled steaks, drank wine, and played games. I bought Scattegories, Yahtzee and ......Which I have to say is a lot of fun after having had a bottle of wine. Kenny was way better than me. I am short on patience.

On actual Valentine's day we went to Majestic Grill for brunch and I love their brunch so much. For a small amount you get a decanter of orange juice, a plate of sliced oranges, and a cold bottle of champagne. You really can't beat that!! And their food is amazing. Then it was on to Jersey Boys which we both loved. If you have a chance to see this one! Go!!

This past weekend Kenny and I flew to Orlando for a little extended weekend. We flew in late Thursday and met a couple friends of ours who had flown in from Nashville.

Friday morning we were up bright and early and headed to the parks. We bought a park hopper and went to Hollywood Studios first and then Magic Kingdom. We did everything you could do at Hollywood Studios. And I made Kenny promise to never let me back on Tower of Terror. I knew I hated that ride but I thought maybe I was just exaggerating how bad it was in my mind. Nope! I cried the whole ride! I despise free falling rides. Its official.

After Hollywood Studios we hit up Magic Kingdom. The crowds were pretty bad but we hit the main spots. And then we decided that we are old. We were exhausted. So we headed home. I was horrible about taking pictures but here are a couple we took towards the end of the day. So we were already pretty worn out.




On Saturday we hit up Downtown Disney for lunch a little shopping. This was the view from the patio where we ate lunch.
It was a fabulous restaurant that had the most amazing cocktail. I am going to have to try and make it. The components were fresh strawberry juice,lime juice, tequila, and some sort of liqueur. It was soooo good. The food was awesome too.



After shopping it was back to the hotel for some Pina Coladas, cigars for the boys by the pool. Then dinner. We ate at the House of Blues because it was convenient. We were going to see the leader singer of Kenny's favorite band perform in a charity event there that night.The concert that night was a lot of fun and Kenny was in heaven getting to be in such an intimate setting with his favorite singer.

On Sunday it was time to get back to the real world. We arrived back in Memphis just in time for a thunder storm and pretty much napped the entire afternoon and evening away. But our little weekend getaway has me wanting to plan more just like it. We are starting to think about Chicago and maybe Boston.

ANTICIPATION

So there are several things that I am really really looking forward to this weekend.

WINTER OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY/OLYMPICS IN GENERAL
I know these are pictures of the Beijing opening cermonies. So who loves the Olympics?? I do!!! It seems like just yesterday I was watching Michael Phelps win another gold medal. I truly got addicted to the Summer Olympics and that has me excited for the start of the Winter Olympics tonight. While I do not love all the events I have decided that this year I am going to make a real effort to get into speed skating, luge, and all the snow skiing/snow boarding events. Any others I should watch??? I am thinking we will get some carry out tonight and snuggle down to watch the Opening Ceromonies. So fun!!

GAME NIGHT WITH STEAKS AND CUPCAKES AND WINE(OF COURSE)Last year for Valentine's Day Kenny and I stayed home, drank wine, and played games. It was so much fun we want to do it again. So Saturday night we are grilling steaks and asparagus and other yummies and then playing games!! Can't wait to reveal which ones we got this year. I think they will be fun!! And I also plan on swinging by Muddy's Cupcakes tomorrow to pick up some dessert. Praying it won't be a madhouse!!


BRUNCH AND JERSEY BOYS FOR VALENTINES DAY
We are starting the morning off with brunch at the Majestic with a mimosas and I cannot wait! Then we are going to see Jersey Boys!! I have heard such wonderful things and everyone who sees it loves it!! I even think Kenny might like it because 50s and 60's music reminds him of his childhood. His Dad always listened to it.

And then to top off my oh so fun weekend!!!! Its a three day weekend!!!!

PRESIDENT'S DAY!!!

A NEW DAY-LIKE OMG!!

And yes that blog title is totally in jest. But this is huge news!!! Celine Dion just announced that she will be returning to Las Vegas for a 3 year run!! And I die.

I have always wanted to see her. I know she is somewhat cliche but girl can sing and I love love love her music. So planning for Las Vegas vacation commences now.

You see Kenny has to go to Las Vegas twice a year for market. So I will just accompany him. Las Vegas is not his favorite place and I don't think it will be mine either (both of us really hate to gamble) so I have got to rock this one trip out. Shows, food, shopping. It has all got to get done because I never plan on going back after this.

Besides seeing Celine of course, I hope that the Beatles Love show will be playing. I really really want to see that too. And I have always heard it is amazing.


At least I have a while to plan this amazing trip. Celine's first show won't be until March 15, 2011. Boo.

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL

So as I mentioned on Friday I had a very exciting weekend planned and it did not disappoint! Friday after work Tracy and I hit the road and headed to Hattiesburg for a whirlwind visit. When we got there my mom had gotten us a king cake from Paul's Pastry and the first slice I gave to Tracy had the baby in it. So she's buying next year.

Saturday morning, Tracy and I got up and I gave her a little tour of my wonderful hometown ha! Did a little shopping and then met with our friend Rebekah at Crescent City Grill for lunch.

After lunch we swung by the house to pick up my mom and headed for Ocean Springs on the Gulf Coast to do some shopping and hanging out. It was a lot of fun to be down there because its Mardi Gras season and everything is decorated and with everyone so jazzed about the Saints game. We did some shopping and my mom and I both bought our first Christmas presents for next year. We like to plan ahead.




Ocean Springs is an adorable town and I had so much fun stopping by all the shops. Once we were finished perusing we went to a place called Manhattan Grill for drinks and light dinners. Then it was time for the Brad Paisley and Miranda Lambert concert!! Excuse the harsh lighting. I am not the biggest fan of Miranda Lambert but she was still fun. She sang a lot of her good songs. And Brad Paisley was a great time. The crowd was so amped up because of the Super Bowl and Brad was obviously going for the Saints. He played When the Saints Go Marching In and worked references of the team into several songs. It really was so much fun.

After the concert we drove home, got home late and fell into our beds. Sunday morning I had to go service at the church I grew up in and was married in. You see our pastor, Eddie (who also married Kenny and I) had made a bet with our congregation. He is a HUGE Ole Miss fan. Huge!! And he made a promise to everyone that if our congregation could put together 250 health aid kits for the people of Haiti then he would preach his sermon in a Mississippi State jersey. This was a big deal and everyone came together and ended up donating close to 600 health kits. So I was so happy when I realized he would be preaching in the MSU jersey on the Sunday I would be home. So he wore the jersey, they played the MSU fight song and someone even rang a cowbell. All for a great cause! My sister was home also so of course we had to document the occasion.After church Tracy and I were back on the road for Memphis. I had to hurry and get back to get some things together for our Mardi Gras/Saints Super Bowl party.

I walked in the door at home and started making Jambalaya and a dip to bring. I had also brought home a Praline and Cream cheese king cake to bring. I was thankful that our friends were hosting the Super Bowl party this year and they went all out. Everything was covered in Mardi Gras stuff and we had a lot of New Orleans themed food. Even beignets. It was all sooooo good!!




Kenny filling out our squares. We did not win. Oh well!!

They also had these feather Mardi Gras masks everyone so we had a to use them for a few photo ops!
And then of course.........

SAINTS WIN!!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!!!! It really was so amazing. They played great and just made the whole entire weekend perfect. And who got a little choked up with Drew Brees and his precious little baby. I plan on watching the live Saints parade on ESPN tonight!!! Can't wait!!

(And this might be the longest post ever but I was really busy this weekend. Still exhausted)