PGA Tour Zurich Classic

Hey there-

So this last weekend we made the trek to the other side of New Orleans and joined in the fun at a PGA TOUR event, the Zurich Classic.  Not really a huge tournament, but we enjoyed ourselves, nonetheless.  It's mind boggling how good these people are....I think I could have sat at the practice range for hours just watching them warm up!  We were able to enjoy the likes of Ernie Els, Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Justin Rose, Ricky Barnes and others!

Bubba Watson signing autographs.

Rickie Fowler adjusting his swing after his 18 and -5 round.  It's reassuring to know that they have bad days too....

The important people of the Classic....the GROUNDSKEEPERS!

A little of the New Orleans skyline

We're excited :-)

The course was beautiful, the weather pretty perfect, a little on the warm side, but again perfect for the beers to go down too!  The food was not as great as advertised, so we were a little disappointed in that...but it appeared that if you wanted to pay the big bucks to sit in the air conditioned tents and watch on the flat screens (i.e. $225 a ticket)....that's where the good stuff was!  We had a lot of fun...we basically just walked around, followed a few of the big namers for a couple of holes, watched some tee off and then walked over to the adjacent hole and watch the other guys putt.  The grounds officials were very particular about picture taking so it was very slim....The pros golf very fast paced, even for walking and they too have not so great shots!  It was nice to see Billy Horschel pull out with the win....his first major PGA event win...and the sad thing was we maybe only watched him for a couple of strokes!  Shoulda known!  haha

Anyways...that was the adventure we took this weekend!  Hope everyone is starting to warm up a little bit and get some of that awesome Spring.  We're beginning to get very hot and very humid...so not looking forward to that.  Hoping the snow holds off for our visit to Nebraska in a couple of weeks...which will probably be our next blog update!  Have a great day!! :-)

ckp

French Quarter Festival

Well...our social agenda/schedule seems to be filling up with adventures these days....so I figured, I better not lump them all in one post, but rather comment/post pictures on each....so you're getting more than one post in less than a few weeks!  How excited are you?!?!?!

Our most recent outing, last weekend, had us heading to downtown New Orleans to the ever famous French Quarter.  The 30th annual French Quarter Fest is basically the "quarter" filled with live music on different corners, food vendors, artists and entrepreneurs with booths and tents selling things, food eating contests, beer or mixed drinks, etc. (the best part is you can walk around drinking and enjoying everything...)  From what we've heard from the "locals" this was a MUST for us to go and experience...so with not much twisting of our arms, we ventured on out to see what this was all about.  (Pretty much anything that involves drinking and good food....we're pretty much in).

The weather was actually PERFECT when we went, light breeze, slightly warm but not too bad and the sun would venture behind the clouds creating that perfect 70 degree nirvana!  Plus it was just warm enough that the beers were going down pretty smoothly too!

A little background on the French Quarter and it's festival.   (We're learning that they hold festivals for a lot of different things around here...so if you want to celebrate something...throw a festival!)
The French Quarter is probably one of my favorite parts of New Orleans....vintage buildings, close to the river walk, awesome restaurants and cute little shops!  It has a lot of different styles from Spanish, French, to American in it's architecture...which is really something neat to look at (my engineer husband seems to enjoy this part a lot).  It has cute little garden areas, the Jackson Square (essentially a little park), basically a little something for everyone!

We enjoyed things from the locally brewed Abita Beer, awesome catfish, scrumptious prime rib po boy, gator in a blanket (basically a gator sausage in a bun) and snowballs.  (Not to be confused with snow cones that us Midwesterners seem to enjoy in a hot summer...basically all we could figure is that the ice is shaved finer...it's basically the same syrup....but all the same delicious)  And then to complete our adventure, you ALWAYS have to treat yourself to some beignets when you get to the Quarter.  (so much powerder sugar goodness....mmmmmmm good)

The festival, as I noted in the beginning, has only been around for 30yrs.  So not quite as big of a tradition as Mardis Gras....but...from what I understand, it was first started as a way to bring residents back to the Quarter after some extensive sidewalk repairs were performed.  It is now the largest, free music festival in the South, hosting about 21 stages where a wide variety of genres perform (contemporary, jazz, New Orleans funk, gospel, latin...etc).  Only local restaurants are invited to participate as food vendors.  It has been consistently voted "favorite festival", "favorite food festival" and "favorite even open to the public" by the locals. So...hopefully you are able to enjoy the fun through our pictures (this would be a fun thing to take visitors too...;-)

Here is what the "snowballs" look like....you be the judge.

When we first got down to the quarter, a crawfish eating contest was getting under way with "local celebs" (i.e. newscasters, the newspaper reporters, etc.) in participation.  Of course we were intrigued...and had to see what this was all about, considering we have eaten crawfish once....these people are quick!

Here is some of the entertainment:

Our next little adventure will be the PGA Tour visit for the Zurich Classic.  Although my favorite, Phil Mickelson will not be in attendance...we'll get to watch the likes of Bubba Watson, Steve Stricker, Rickie Fowler, Keegan Bradley....strike a few.  I'm sure there will be some drinking involved with this activity also. We'll see how much we'll get to take pictures...the PGA gets a little fiesty with some of that because it can be distracting to the players....

Hope everyone is doing well!

Update in April

Hello, hello blogger friends!

Well, it's certainly beginning to feel a lot like Spring here...so we are eating it up before it turns to that nasty, unbearable, instant sweat kinda summer stuff we should be getting in the next couple of months! 

Not much new to report on our end.  Only a few activities and news to report:

• I passed my vascular boards in the beginning of March, completing the 6th test to complete my accolade of four specialties and a lot of letters behind my name.  Basically this just means that I am meeting the requirements by the ARDMS to competently perform exams in the areas of OB/GYN, Abdomen/Small Parts, Breast and now, Vascular.  It doesn't mean a whole lot for me pay wise, simply because I told them I would have it completed within a year of being employed with them....but it makes you a more competitive technologist...especially with how we end up moving every year or two.  So glad that is over....now all I have left is to finish my last course for my bachelor's which I'll be done with in May. whew! 

• We enjoyed a Saturday night out a few weeks ago to see a Cirque de Soleil show in New Orleans.  It was awesome weather and allowed us to clean up and dress up a little bit for a night out on the town. If you ever get a chance to go to one of these shows...totally worth it and something different!!! 

• For Easter, we attended a new church...(we're still searching for "the one") and then cooked up a little Easter meal of cooked ham and all the fixings.  We had some Baker (Chad's work) people over that all had families not here in Louisiana...it was fun...and we spent most of the afternoon out on our patio visiting.  Very enjoyable...but we definitely missed not having our real family with us.

• We finally broke down and got our cars registered in Louisiana.  Definitely not one of our most favorite moments while here...but just part of the gig, really.  It only means that we're a little more established here now...but no worries, not PERMANENT ...and we're still Huskers at heart. On the lighter side...we thought they somewhat resembled the Nebraska ones!  

• Speaking of establishing....we've now been here for a whole, 365 days....YEAR!!  Hard to believe...it's actually gone by pretty quickly....but also fairly slowly too.  We recently just negotiated staying here in our house in Slidell for another year.  We originally had talked about moving closer to my work so that only one of us were commuting...but our landlord went down on rent for us...and really the driving isn't horrible.  Plus...we really enjoy the house we're in...which we're planning some big projects here in the next few months...so stay tuned for that!! 

• As far as our timeline goes for being Lousianans....it's hard to say really.  Essentially, Chad could stay with this company as long as he wants...and as long as there is work here.  His project is progressing as planned for the most part...and they are getting super busy.  He's learning so much and gaining a lot of great experience that will enhance his resume for the future.  He really does enjoy the people he works with...and is trusted for so many things.  At this point, we're probably looking at another 16-18 mos with this current project...and then from there we'll see where things go.  It would be ideal for him to be promoted to project manager with this company so that when it does come to the point of moving back home...he has that experience....but really all we can do is live in the moment and be gracious and thankful for the experiences we are getting.  Besides...who can say they get to eat fresh charbroiled oysters and drink on the patio/deck of a bar on the river edge?!?!  Not many people.... (P.S. found a neat little bar/grill that we will be taking ALL of our visitors.....many, many beers on tap, awesome food, great atmosphere and a HUGE outdoor deck/patio/dock to drink on....IN LOVE with this place!)

Also...we were so excited to be able to watch the Spring game yesterday to get a preview of our dear, Huskers!  Couldn't have been more proud to be a Husker in that moment they gave Jack!  It truly spoke volumes to how there is "no place like Nebraska"....  Have read some great articles about the whole thing....so nice to get attention for something like this and not how Pelini gets a little excited on the sidelines!
http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=207095760&DB_OEM_ID=100

Hope this finds everyone doing well!  Fill us in on what's new!!!  We'll be making our way back to the GOOD LIFE May 9-13!!  And we'll be making our rounds as usual...and hope to see everyone we can!! 

CKP