Hurricane Isaac Chronicle Day 2

Well, we made it through the night.  From the sounds of it, it really blew in about 12:30am.....spurts of hard winds and powerful rains.  We slept lightly....waking up as the winds got heavy.  We have a little debris in the yard from tree branches and such...but nothing real serious.  We woke up and were surpised we still had power-they were making us believe it was going to be knocked out in the middle of the night.  Sounds like the worst of it should be blown over by late this afternoon....with rain continuing into tomorrow.  The current track seems to be heading west, jutting nort, heading west, jutting north....with some concern that it just continues to stay over us and build strenght from the Gulf...instead of continuing north as orginally projected.  The worst of the flooding is all very south of us in Slidell, and New Orleans. 

Today we'll just be hanging out.  Probably make our living room a little workout area and pass some time with that, along with packing for our upcoming trip this weekend!! 

If you want to check out any of the local weather....here is a link to one of the channels. http://www.wdsu.com/weather. 

We have yet to find a meteorologist we enjoy to listen to.  Most stumble and do not have clear, concise thoughts.  Here is a link to our least favorite....if he didn't have visual aids behind him, I don't think we would know what he is talking about.  (He's been consistently like this....any time he explains anything we feel more confused then before we listened)  This is from one of the updates last night.  See how long you can listen to him!
Bob: Isaac 7:00p.m. update: Bob: Isaac 7:00p.m. update

Here is a little video Chad made this morning of our current weather conditions.
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Iu_JUoG8szQ?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Until later...Happy Wednesday everyone!

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best....our Hurricane Issac chronicle...

Hey there friends and family!

Well, it's official....a HURRICANE is coming our way.  This tropical storm that we've been watching so closely for about 3 days now has just been upgraded to a category 1 hurricane about 2 hours ago.

Right now, it's basically the calm before the storm.  The air is super nice and cool, a slight breeze and sporadic cloud cover.  We were just in a tornado warning over the last hour due to the circular winds that were being produced....but that has come and gone.  It's starting to hit in the very little tip that juts into the Gulf of Mexico.  The heaviest of the showers should be moving in this evening sometime...and overnight will start changing. 

On Sunday, we went out and got our hurricane preparedness all together.  Bottled water, non-parishable foods, batteries, flashlights....and a little alcohol.  (Have to find the silver lining in this...right?)  Going out on Sunday was an interesting/eye-opening experience.  I thought because we were going out so early that we would be laughed at for getting our hurricane items....but remarkable a lot of the water on the shelves was gone, gas pumps were full of lines and dried up by the end of the night. 

At first, we had talked about leaving and heading up to Nebraska....but the more we talked to people that live here and observed the actions of our neighborhood....it seems as though many people are not all too concerned.   It seems as though when hurricanes get to a strong categrory 2 into a category 3 is when most people decide to leave.  This hurricane will not be to the effect of Hurricane Katrina...but seems to be following that same tract and will be hitting almost exactly to the day that it hit 7 years ago.

We went and worked out last night and this morning, outdoors, to take advantage of this enjoyable weather!  It was a little windy, but still very nice out!  Who knows if we'll get outside over the next couple of days!

On Saturday, we're expected to leave on our week long vacation/.honeymoon to the Bahamas....and will plan on still going as long as the airport still has planes flying out of here.  Which, as we have talked to many "experts" and people that live around here....they seem to think that we'lll still be going...which is encouraging.

Everything is pretty much shut down all of today and Wednesday.  Really, its very comparable to when a big blizzard is expected to hit, with how they are cancelling school, businesses, etc.  The one positive thing about a hurricane is that it slowly makes it's way here and allows for preparation.  On the other hand, I almost wish we were experiencing a "tornado" watch and Nebraska weather...because at least you're only in a watch for 4-6 hrs rather than 4-6 days. 

Chad went into work for part of the day yesterday to help bunker down the work site and get all of the electronics/server from the trailer out of there.  I'll still be planning on going to work on Thursday and Friday...but am on call if need be before hand! Friday will be last day at Ochsner full-time, as I have found another job working Monday through Friday at a clinic....which is something that we are both looking forward to with a new, NORMAL, schedule...and have the weekends to spend time together and experience this area we are living in! 

That's all for now...we'll try and update as frequently as possible.  We may have limited electricy/internet/phone access by late this evening and tomorrow.  But we'll defintely keep everyone as posted as possible!  We took some video of all the before stuff.....and we'll take some after video....and will hopefully be able to post on it so you, too, can experience the hurricane :)  Let the drinking begin....haha

Love you all!!

Day 122

Well boys and girls....today marks the 122nd day of us staking our claim into Slidell, LA.  Crazy, huh??

Not much to report on our end since our last post.  It is hot, HOT, HOTT here....but from what I hear, not something we can really complain about when talking to our Nebraska friends/family.  It's really sad how dry it is up that way...and how badly the crops could really turn out this upcoming harvest.  Prayers go out to all you dealing with this!

The last few weeks have been spent adjusting, yet again, to the new schedule, we me starting my new shift of Thursdays 3-11pm, call, Friday 7am-11pm, call and then Saturday 7am-11pm, call.  It's been a little overwhelming to say the least.  So far, it's not so much the workload, or the radiologists, or the people I work with that is the overwhelming part of it......it's the adjustment to when I see my husband, feeling like we hardly see each other, and then overwhelming feeling of not having much of a "life" with basically working and staying home waiting for the husband.  I really didn't think it would be much of an adjustment....however, it seems I'm taking it harder than I could have imagined.   I'm trying to optomistic about it....and give it some more time before I make any opinions about it.  There's a lot of great things about the shift too.  I have most of the week off.  It's only a few days a week. It's right down the street.  And it's not forever.  Plus, I'm taking a physics boards at the end of August for my vascular certification I'm trying to achieve by the end of the year and I'll be wrapping up one more semester of school for my bachelor's....so those days off really lend to some great study time.  We'll just have to see....

Our 4th of July was pretty laid back.  We grilled/cooked some spare ribs and some munchie dips, drinks and swung by the Slidell fireworks at the end of the night.  It was great to just hang out and be lazy together!!

We finally booked our honeymoon!!!  And we are very much looking forward to having a week to ourselves and not have to worry about work or school or anything else!  We'll be making our way to St. Emerland Bay in the Bahamas!!!  All inclusive....all fun, adventure, golf and relaxation.  CAN. NOT. WAIT!! (37 days and counting)  Which also means in a little less than two months we'll be celebrating our 1 YEAR ANNSIVERSAY!  :-)

I joined the Slidell Athletic Club in the last couple of weeks.....and boy does it feel good to have that outlet during the week! I love it!! the classes are great, I enjoy going and forgetting about everything for an hour and leave it all on the treadmill or in the weights.....really feels good...and I think it's helping with the adjustment of my schedule of working on the weekends...and getting out of the house and socializing a little bit!

We're excited to have some visitors here in the next few weeks.  some good friends from Colorado Springs will be joining us for a weekend....and we can't wait to enjoy some time catching up with them.  Chad has known them a little while longer than I....having met them in Rapid City during college...and we've grown close to them over the years and enjoy their company!!  So we'll do some touristy things along with grilling and just enjoying each other's company!!

 Hope everyone's summer is going well!! 

Visit to the Good Life

Hey there, loyal followers!

As promised, I am posting our pictures from our trip back to Nebraska!  It was sooooo good to be back home, and honestly, very bitter sweet.  It was so good to see all of our family and spend some quality time together....and by the end of it, it was sad to leave and ever more sad to think of all the little things we miss by not being around all the time!  It really puts things into perspective and makes me count the days until we can move back and have random bbq's with our family, instead of having to plan out an entire weekend!

We enjoyed lots of eating, drinking, and golfing (27 holes :-) ).  Arriving in Omaha was great-we both looked at each other and said it FELT like we were home.  There's just something to be said about the Midwest!!  And best of all, we had a car load of family coming to greet us!!  Nothing like a big hug from Izzy and Easton!! First things first when we landed in Omaha was going to Pepperjax!!  Although it may not be many people's first choice....we miss it ALL the time!!

Once we got back into town, I was able to go enjoy some girl time and join Peggy at women's league and get in a quick 9!!  It was lots of fun--shots and golf and GORGEOUS weather!  (Nothing like the 90% humidity and HOT AS HELL of Louisiana!).  We got to see Dad on Friday and enjoy some lunch in Norfolk with him.  Then, we were able to get in a lunch on Saturday with my Grandma Koehler (it just wouldn't be a trip back without going to her house--she insisted we come eat with her....and to be honest....who can say no to Grandma's cooking and hospitality....not this girl!

Saturday afternoon Peggy, Alec, Matt, Chad and I went out to golf 9 holes and then were later joined by Bruce, Derek and Brandy for another 9.  We had a little best ball tournament--which was lots of fun....even if I was on the losing team (sorry Bruce you had to carry us!! haha)  I still stand by saying I would have performed better with my own clubs...next time the clubs are coming with us!  Congrats to Peggy, Chad, Derek and Matt on winning.

Us girls.

 The winning team....this is one of the putts that pulled them ahead of us.....

 I actually really like this picture........

Oh and I got a nice little souvenir...my dear brother-in-law Alec hit a nice slicer off the tee box on hole 1 and got me right in the calf! 

Saturday night was LOADS of fun, with a little "open house" BBQ with drinks by the fire and family and friends!!  It was another GORGEOUS night--we couldn't have asked for a better weekend!

Until next time....hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe 4th!!!  Love you all!!  (there are other pictures...but for whatever reason they are not uploading....but hopefully you get the jist of all the fun we had!)  I'll have to post some of the others on another post!

Hey Ya'll

Well....we've officially been Southerner's (mostly meaning dwelling in the South....not adapted to the South)  now for about 10 weeks ....crazy how that works! (We still bleed Husker red :o)  )  I've been meaning to get on here and let you ya'll know just how things have been going over the past week or so...and then before you know it it's been about 2 or 3 weeks.  Anyways....I have a great friend who is a GREAT blogger....and she's inspired me to document what we've been up to time and again in pictures. She is an up and coming photographer and she has challenged me (and her readers) to document our week in 5 pictures.  This might be cheesy...but at the same time I feel like this is a great goal to make sure I'm updating more often than just once a month of our things. 
 
So shout out to  Brooklyn's Photography....if you are ever in need of a great photographer, check her out in the Omaha area!  I would also like to try and feature some recipes and DIY things from time to time to....so maybe this blog will get exciting!  haha

Okay...so this more or less is what we were up to this last week or so in 5 or more pictures:

We went "exploring" and driving around Slidell on a cool evening a couple weekends ago and drove across Lake Pontchartrain....the sunset made for beautiful scenery!





I've been hard at work studying to take yet another boards test, on top of doing online classes for the summer.  My goal is to take the SPI (Sonography Principles and Instrumentation) test by the end of the summer...and then the Vascular portion by the end of the year....and add RVT to my credentials. (aka pay raise!! yaya!!...and more expertise :-)) And then I'll have my bachelor's in Radiological Science/Healthcare by May 2013. 

We went golfing, also a week ago on a warm but BEAUTIFUL Slidell day...it had rained crazy the night before so it made for great golfing weather.  Although we both played....um...er....at about our handy cap....we enjoyed our little date...and ended the night at this pretty delicious cafe called "Southside"....a Slidell orginial!  You should check out Southside's website! We'll definitely be going back!

In other breaking news.....I started my job last week at Ochsner!  This is what I'll look like EVERY DAY....because we only get to wear ONE COLOR!  So...whooohoo!  I spent Monday and Tuesday last week in "new employee orientation"....which in all honesty was the easiest and longest 2 days of pay in my life!  Although it was interesting learning about the company I have become a part of....some of that stuff becomes a little redundant!  But all part of starting a new job!  A little known fact about Ochsner.....it began with 5 doctors who couldn't get a loan because of low equitty....and so on a house call that happened to be for a banker's wife by one of these doctor's, his quality of care of compassion brought the banker to grant this group of doctor's the money to start the health system that no one thought would work.....and now in the Southern Louisiana area there are 8 hospitals and 35 clinics!  Pretty cool! huh?!?!?

The weekend before last we took a jaunt out to the "Save our Lake" festival...which included live music, festival food (burgers, nachos, funnel cake (yum), pretty much anything fried on a stick....beer), a classic car show and a party out on the cove of the lake!  This was fun for about 2 hrs....and then we were SCORCHED from the heat/humidity...and the beers just weren't cutting it...so we called it a day! 

So....that's all "she wrote".  Our next post will be featuring our time in NEBRASKA as we come back to the "good life" this coming weekend for a quick visit with the family.  And I am SOOOO looking forward to it!  If you are in Northeast Nebraska Saturday night....get a hold of us for some drinks/backyard fire/catching up!

Until next time! 

C&K

Backyard Boil

Hey There!

Well, as promised, here is our documentation of our first backyard crawfish boil!  And let me tell you, it was a BLAST!  In fact, we are already trying to find a way to bring a crawfish boil back to Nebraska sometime for all our friends and family!!!  Only tricky thing is going to be getting the LIVE crawfish there....but have no fear, our crawfish experts are coming up with a good plan for us to hopefully make this happen sometime!

So, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!  Enjoy!

Here goes nothin!

This is how you "serve" up your crawfish.  It's all "boiled" with corn, onions, garlic, potatoes, seasonings....bascially whatever your heart desires.and then you scoop it out onto a dish like this.....basically it's a plastic pan.

Then.....it's all about technique in how you eat the little critters!

Grab from both ends....

 Twist (They aren't that difficult, I was being dramatic for the picture)

And then you get the meat from the tail end, gently put between your teeth and pull.  You can also suck the head for the juices...but I just couldn't bring myself to do it!

It was soooo very tasty, beer went down easy, and we had a lot of fun!  It's a lot of work for the little bit of food you get from the actual crawfish....and definitely an outside meal.  Met a lot of great people and got to get the scoop on just what it's like to be a "Baker" wife. 

After most everyone had left from the crawfish boil, Steve, Chad's project manager took us to his local hang out bar, the "Stagecoach".  It's a big country bar with lots of memorabilia, old saddles, live country bands and line dancing!!  I felt sooo at home and it reminded me of po-dunk Nebraska and going to the dance's after the bull rides and fairs!  Because Steve goes there fairly often and he's friends with the owner, we were like celebrities coming in there with him!  This was the first time we had ever been to a bar and got reserved seating!!!  Cracked me up!

 

 

Only one problem....they had issues spelling "reserved".  Made us chuckle :-) 

This is Steve and Chad.  Pretty much he's adopted us as his children from Nebraska!  He and his wife are A-MAZING people!!!  Because of them and a lot of other people we met that night, it really makes me feel good about our decision to move here....and that we are a part of a "Baker" family down here.  We are blessed.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND TO EVERYONE!

 

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Hey there family and friends!

My apologies on the delayed update....I didn't realize it's been almost 2 weeks or better since the last time I posted....SO SORRY!!  Hope all the mother's in our lives had an enjoyable and deserving day to celebrate all your amazing-ness on Mother's Day!

Not much has really been happening since the last post.  Mostly we are continuing settling into our new home, town, state, routine...etc.  We've gone out to a couple new restaurants that seem to be local or at least new to us....and nothing that has been earth shattering, deliciousness yet....so either I'm getting to be too good of a cook or we just don't know how to appreciate local cuisine yet! 

I've done a few little DIY projects.  One was a crayon melt on canvas that so many people seem to be "pinterest crazy" about.  I made this for my neice, Izzy's, birthday present!  She got it a little late...but I think she enjoyed it.  I got so involved in it that I forgot to take a picture when it was all said and done!  But if you really want to see what these are like, you can follow this link.
http://www.cmybacon.com/2011/07/melted-crayon-art/

I also sat and created a wreath to put on our door on the outside...it was pretty easy and I thought, added some "welcomeness" to our home! 

In other news, I'll be starting a job here in a couple of weeks at Ochsner North Shore Medical Clinic.  If you really want to check it out you can follow this link! 
http://www.ochsner.org/locations/north_shore/
I'm really excited about it....although the shift isn't that ideal (Thursday, Friday and Saturday), it was about the only full-time position available in the area--and I got it!  It will, however, be perfect in that I have 4 days off during the week, it's right down the street from us, and I'll be in a hospital setting again, which I'm really looking forward to!  It's a pretty well known health system in Lousisia, so I think I'm getting my foot through the right door for better future opportunities! 

Chad is starting to get pretty involved in his job.  They haven't even really started any big pours of concrete yet.....so once June starts rolling in, I'll probably hardly see him!  He's already putting in about 12hr days, 5 days a week.....but he's working with a great group of people and learning a lot...which, in the end, will be a GREAT project to put on his resume for future opportunities.....maybe, oh, move back to Nebraska :)  (Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it here.....but I am really counting the days to when we can go spend time with family just because, instead of having some big event or holiday to try and plant to get there for)

This weekend we will be traveling to Chad's project manager's house for a crawfish boil.....I'm assuming this will be an experience....and this Nebraska girl will be learning just what the fuss is all about.....seems a crawfish boil is just as common around here as giong to a Nebraska tailgate during the fall!  It won't be steak and potatoes...but I'm open to the adventure....trust me...there will be pictures depicting this experience!  Plus, it involves beer, so I think I'll be able to find a way to be a little bitcontent :-)

Other than that....we can't complain.  We really are enjoying the fact that we get to see each other every day,being happy.....and be married!!  We hope everyone out there reading this has a similar happiness somewhere in their lives!

We'll be traveling back to Nebraska for a quick weekend trip home,  June 14-17.  We'd love to see anyone and everyone!!  love you all!