Monday, February 18, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day to Us

I can't get the smile off my face, but its cool - there's no need. It tells the world that I'm happy. I had a most excellent Valentine's weekend. Chris woke me on Thursday with a heart shaped box of chocolates and a card - very sweet. I got out of work early that day to get ingredients to make a very tasty lasagna for us that night and gave chocolates and cards to both Chris and Chelsea. It was a really great night.

Friday after work we headed downtown in the rain to meet with Chris's brother & sister-in-law Rob & Noelle and their group of friends for Rob's birthday, (2/15th) at Warren's. It was fun. We talked with some high school teachers and learned a lot about what high school is like now but from the perspective of the teachers. It was great.

Saturday morning we packed and headed east. I had only just learned where we were going - google told me. Chris gave me some hints about where we might stay so I googled it and got Lake Charles, LA - my first trip Gambling! I was so very excited that I couldn't contain myself so I told him that I knew. He wasn't too upset about his spoiled surprise and we even played a few hands of black jack so he could teach me the game. We should have played more cuz I sucked at it - but I'm getting ahead of my story.

We drove to Orange, TX - that part was still a surprise - I had no idea that we were staying there. It was the cutest little bed & breakfast place with a beautiful tub for two. There were fresh cut flowers in the room for us offering a fragrance to the dressing room area.

All we did was leave our bags and get dressed for dinner and the casinos. We found a cute little restaurant in Lake Charles on a quaint old-fashioned looking street where the stores are all connected. It was called Luna Bar and Grill - they were having happy hour and we arrived just in time - right before the throng of people lining the bar and filling the doorway eying us for our table. I had the maple and pecan glazed salmon with grilled veggies and Chris had grilled chicken smothered in crawfish and a tasty sauce - oh and we ate some out of this world crab dip for an appetizer. I had to hold Chris down so he wouldn't lift the plate to his mouth and lick it for the remains. Had we been at home I would have fought him for the pleasure though. Its all a matter of location.

Full and happy we made our way to L’Auberge du lac. We circled the whole place looking for a black jack table for less than $25/hand - no luck so we hit the slots. By the way, that's funny: no luck so we hit the slots. sorry, I just tickled myself. Anyway. Finding two seats next to each other and a waitress nearby Chris and I each inserted a $20 bill. Mine lasted about 45 minutes - up and down it went till it reached it's ultimate demise. During that time Chris's lost $60. So what do we do? Chris then put $50 on a roulette table and lost that before the drinks arrived. Of course, we stood there waiting for them. At that point Chris had had enough of du lac and we switched to the Isle of Capri. Chris says that's where capri pants come from... but I digress. He found a seat at a $10 black jack table and within 30 minutes won back everything he had lost at du lac plus everything he had spent. He was even for the trip including food. Then he gave his seat to me. I proceeded to immediately lose $40 I actually still don't know what happened - one minute I had $40 in my hand an then there was a lot of cards and then -poof- Chris asked me if I wanted another $20 - he was handing it to me. I was like, "what happened?" I couldn't even follow the game. After I lost his $20, we got up and went to play slots again where I lost money until the final push of the button when I told myself to stop and leave with my last $22 in my pocket.

The rest of the night totally made up for it though. Back at the B&B I ran us a nice bubble bath and Chris corked a bottle of wine. We had a tray of crackers and cheese and a lovely Merlot.

Sigh ~ I can't tell you the rest.

We had breakfast in bed of spinach quiche, yogurt, fruit, and bread with strong tea and orange juice. I highly recommend the Madison House in Orange, TX - it made for quite an awesome little weekend getaway.

On the way home Chris took me to
Pleasure Island
to play 18-holes of disc golf. Let me tell you how much fun that was! It was a beautiful course surrounded by water and tugboats guiding massive tanker ships into the Port. There was one hole that was past a huge growth of reeds where Chris threw one of his favorite frisbees. You'll see some close up shots of what it looked like in the reeds if you go thru the slideshow at the end of this post. It was pretty cool. The reeds just snapped when you walked on them so it was easy to forge a path. I found the frisbee too so I got to be the heroine of the day.

Here are some photos of the trip.

P.S. ~ Rhonda stayed with Chelsea for us to take this trip and she cleaned my desk off where I had my biodegradable cup. (I know! Still sitting there but I haven't had a chance to get to Chris's back yard to drop it yet.) Anyways, she threw it away ignorant of the fact that it was a project so now we don't get to watch it decompose.

Gotta end this post with LOVE.

Friday, February 8, 2008

My Little Science Project

Yesterday a vendor came to our offices to sell papergoods and plasticware all made from corn and sugar starch. Even the plastic bags. Knives and forks made from corn. It was amazing. They had samples.
This is one of the cups. It's microwaveable but the lid is not. It's made from sugar cane reeds and they have yet to figure a way to reach the desired temperature without it falling apart.

The lining in the cup is corn oil rather than petroleum. I never knew about this coating before.

So this cup is compostable, biodegradable and eco friendly. I kept and and mean to find out. Here it is in it's virgin state. Directly after this photo I made myself a cup of tea - green tea to be exact. I wanted to get the process started.

So I think what I'll do is drink tea from this cup until I think it's integrity is weakened. Then I'll put it in Chris's back yard where no one will bother it for a lengthy period of time. Supposedly, this stuff will completely decompose in 45 - 60 days depending on how its used.

On the way home I took this picture and thought momentarily about leaving it there to decompose in my car - wouldn't it be great if all the trash in my car was biodegradable....

The company selling these products was named BYOGreen - The name is pronounced just like B.Y.O.B. only instead of the last B, "green." I think they make a fine product and I would love to switch to them. It's really pathetic and sad that we have to use the cheapest possible product because we can't afford to use earth friendly products when, really, we can't afford not to.

I'll try to snap another picture of the decomposition of the cup in 30ish days or around March 9th or so to see what it looks like then. And again after that in 45 days, and 60 days. The materials of which this cup is made are supposed to act just like a banana peel, so it should be a rotting cup in no time at all.

I know! Gross, right? Well I can't help it. I have to see for myself if it will really decompose. :)
Lots of Love!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Tom Bass kicked my ass

The plan was to play 18 holes of frisbee golf at Tom Bass Park. This park was meant to have some of the most lengthy shots in the area. And it was a swamp. This time Matt & Julie came with us. We had a blast tromping through mud and patches of water. This course was long. We felt like we had walked a mile by the time we got to the 8th hole. Here we are taking a rest at the 8th hole.
This was at the top of a hill and relatively dry. Then we trekked down the hill, played one more hole and called it quits on account of a powerful thirst. We headed for the mecca of water fountains in a row outside of the amphitheater and drank and filled our empty bottles. After that we decided to stop and head for the car.

Next stop - Top Water Grill for the best seafood in the area. OMG I ate and ate and ate and ate!
My plate had the Mahi Mahi grilled fish, rice and grilled veggies. MMMMMMM but I also had one of Chris's shrimp enbrochette and two of Julie's coconut shrimps. MMMMMM oh plus I had had a cup of the blue crab corn chowder and tasted Chris's lobster bisque. It was so delicious!

The next plan was to go to Yachty Gras - a boat parade in Kemah to celebrate Mardi Gras where they throw beads to the people on the boardwalk from the boats. But we were so wiped out we could barely move.

What a most excellent day.

In other news, I finally spoke to my dermatologist on Friday and all my tests were normal. I do not have lupus. Yay! What a ridiculous thing to tell someone! And I can't believe that Dr. Gibson person wanting to treat me that first time before he was sure! Man, doctors!