The 28 hours I spent in Louisiana

There's nothing more fun than the prospect of a trip back to my hometown, especially knowing that you will be making the return trip the next day. But nevertheless, we sat out on our grand adventure at 7:30 Saturday morning. Traffic was actually manageable and Will only asked "how much longer" twice the entire ride. Thank you dear 8 pounds 6 ounces baby Jesus for that Nintendo DS!

We had about 2 hours to rest (where rest means play with puppies) before heading up to the stadium for some tailgating... and some serious Louisiana heat and humidity! I started the game in one shirt...

And had to change because it was too heavy.

But it was worth it to see my Bulldogs beat MSU 22-14 in their home opener. Such an awesome feeling to hear the stadium erupt in How bout them Dawgs? and watch the team celebrate on the field.

Sunday we headed out to the Monkey Ranch (the young un's nickname for my parent's land) for more burgers and hotdogs. Dad fired up the largest grill I've ever seen to cook for extended family and a couple of evacuees. I have a feeling he still would have used the super grill without the extra people :)

Food was shared, stories told and sticks fetched. We even took a walk down to the pond to make room for dessert. You know it's a good day when you end a meal with homemade banana pudding!

And before we knew it, we were back on the road again. Back on the road traveling 7 mphs and staring at the back of a moving van for an eternity!

The trip took two extra hours as we found ourselves in the midst of evacuation traffic. My family should be ok in North Louisiana, catching the remains of Gustav sometime Wednesday, but I know there are so many people we passed today that have no idea where they will be next week or what they will have left. My heart was sad for those we passed that had stuffed their vehicles with all they deemed important, and the many we saw stranded on the side of the interstate with hoods raised. But I know that one thing Louisiana people are is strong and they will make it through again.

Are we truly insane or just "those people"?

I hijacked my husbands Macbook for this post so if something crazy happens it is a total machine error! In roughly 8 hours we will be hitting the road for Louisiana. But we're not the only ones...

No, not that crowd...


This guy.


That's Gustav threatening to rain on our 3 day holiday parade and my one chance to go home for a Bulldog football game this season. So while most folks (i.e. the rest of the state) is getting the heck out of dodge, we're looking forward to some tailgating and a good old fashioned underdog victory. After all, I have to put that cake decorating diploma to good use!



Total time we will be in Louisiana: 28 hours.

Other goings on from this week:
I went to the gym twice. (look at what I had to do) I ate chocolate cake for breakfast twice. I bought cute new "school" shoes. I got cute new blisters. I made 32 trips up/down the stairs at school. I got more cute blisters. I drank 13 coke zeros. I learned 118 student names. I made 5 seating charts. I had Friday morning duty in the cafeteria. I ate 2 chocolate doughnuts. I attended two little league baseball practices. I planned 5 crafty projects. I completed 0 crafty projects. I attended 1 minor league baseball game. I cooked once. I drank a bottle of wine. I bought non-winning lottery tickets. I drank another bottle of wine. I spent my conference period catching up on my blogging. I hit my snooze button 17 times. I survived the first week of school. *edited to add: Watched one bulldog victory! How 'bout them Dawgs?*

I was told there'd be cake...

Last night was my second class in the Wilton Cake Decorating Course. Thanks to the airport fiasco Sunday, I barely had time to bake a new cake for the class. I decided to stick to the basics with an 8-inch round since my last attempt at the shapes left me scarred. We were told to have a crumb coat on if we were bringing a round, and I was running pretty tight on time, so I opted for the slap a bunch of icing on it and smooth it down later method.

I am proud to say my Baskin Robbins background has finally come in handy. I can zigzag border with the best of them.

I wasn't digging the rainbow design, and want to amaze everyone at the big Tech vs Miss St tailgate, so I tried my hand with the Louisiana Tech logo. I love the piping gel transfer, but am a little scared to actually consume too much of this stuff...

Star Tip anyone? believe it or not, in college days I used to do this with easy cheese and ritz crackers. Shocking I know :)

The 92% finished product... I only did the part of the border that showed in the picture.

Next week is cupcakes and clowns...