The Big Easy

November 5 Watty, Olivia, and I went to visit my adopted sister and nephew in New Orleans for the weekend. We had dinner with Valicia and Matthew and her friend Bruce. As soon as we saw each other we were cracking jokes and laughing the whole night. At the hotel we had a small bump in the road but it was fixed pronto and all was good.

Friday we went down to the river walk and walked that to the French Quarter. On the river walk they had a female and male jester that we took pictures by. Watty did not like the male jester. The female jester he was fine with. When we went to the French Quarter there was a horse carriage accident in our path. We had to go a different way to get to see the St. Louis Cathedral. Once we got there we couldn't see a way for me to get in so we just walked the grounds. BEAUTIFUL. We then headed to Cafe du Monde and had beignets. Yummy! Then we went to the French Market for some shopping. We decided to take a street car back to our car since we walked all the way down. It was fun since I had never been on one before. That night we parted for about an hour because Olivia had to run to walmart and I had to run back to the hotel for a few minutes. Bruce, Valicia and Matthew met us back at the hotel and we headed out to eat. Had a blast laughing and joking around again. We decided that night that we would go visit a plantation on Saturday.

Saturday rolled around and we headed to Oak Alley Plantation. It was a very beautiful place lined with 3oo year old oak trees. When we got up to the house we noticed they were setting up for a wedding later that evening. Valicia joked with me about how I should have my wedding there whenever I get married. Always have dreamed of a plantation wedding :). After we walked around and was getting eaten alive by HUGE misquotes we decided to head to Boomtown. Olivia and I wanted to go to a casino and Boomtown is a casino with a kids game room upstairs. Once we got there I decided to go with Valicia and Matthew to the game room to spend more time with them. We had a blast.

When Sunday came I didn't want to go home but had to. Valicia and Matthew met us for breakfast before we left. Matthew didn't want us to go. Nor did Valicia so goodbyes were kinda hard but we are planing to see each other again and hopefully they will be coming to Houston for a visit.

While we were in New Orleans something either bit or stung Watty. Since it itched he scratched and scratched and it turned into a hot spot. Now we have been treating the hot spot and he is a cone head for a while til it heals.

10 year high school reunion

Saturday was my 10 yr high school reunion. I can't believe its been 10 years since I graduated high school. It was neat seeing old classmates. Some I didn't recognize but they recognized me. I even had people I never talked to in high school come say hi to me. The cliques are still there even after 10 years. I really was not in one so I sat at a table by myself until my old lunch buddy walked by. Aaron entertained us, Dustin, Dani, and Jordan, for about 2 hours. We were rolling on the floor. I love him to death because he is the sweetest guy. He has even invited all of us to his house in college station to party and go to an Aggie game. We are excited! Can't believe I stayed up till 3 am on Sunday morning. I guess that is why I am now sick!Ryan and I

we played barbies and were in girl scouts when we were younger

Aaron making a toast to us all!

Aaron and I

Dustin and I

Dani and her friend Jordan

Dani and her husband Charlie

I'm a Rebel

I got a tattoo Friday!! I have always wanted one but was scared of pain. Well it didn't hurt at all. The guy that did it was awesome. I was in and out within 20 minutes. Dani and Dustin went with me to hold my hand. It is on my outer right leg on the calf. It is a Rascal Flatts dog with the word O'hana underneath. I love it! Mom and Dad knew I wanted one but I don't think they thought I would go through with it. I showed them once they got home from Dad's college reunion. They really didn't say anything about it.

Toyota Texas Bass Classic

Sunday Olivia and I headed to lake Conroe for the Toyota Texas Bass Classic. There were two reasons I wanted to go and it wasn't the fish. The tournament had a concert between the weigh ins of the fish. The two acts were Julianne Hough and Josh Turner. People know Julianne more from Dancing With The Stars than a country singer but she is good! She sang songs off of her first album and also sang some new songs she is working on. Loved the whole set she did. During her song That Song In My Head she came off stage and said hi to the crowd. I was sitting in front of the gates they had up so I was sitting about 10 feet away from the stage.

Since I was singing along Julianne stopped at me and sang a verse with/to me. After her set Olivia and I went around the stage so I could call a friend. When I was about to call my friend the guy that helped us came to us and said we would have to sit behind the gate while they weigh the fish since that was next. A few minutes later he came back and asked me my name. He than ran off and I yelled to him "Why?" I later found out why.

Before they started the weighing of the fish the guy came back with a signed poster from Julianne written out to me. The guy said that Julianne said she "knew" me. He asked me if I followed her around and I said that I follow her on Twitter. He seemed very shocked that that is how she "knew" me. Later on I found out that if I hadn't had moved from where I was during her performance I would have gotten to meet her!!!!

Between Julianne and Josh's sets they had the last 10 bass wranglers weigh their fish to find out who won. I thought it was going to be boring but actually it was quiet fun. It was interesting hearing what they do and how much they make fishing. The winner won $210,000 and a boat! One wrangler talked about winning $1,000,000. Olivia and I decided our future husbands need to take up competitive fishing :P. The winner, Dave, won by 4 ounces!

Dave was told to lift the trophy up over his head so everyone could see it and this is what happened....

As soon as the competition was over I had a gazillion teens around me. I almost had 2 sitting in my lap and I was right at the gate. As one of the security guards were passing by I asked if I could sit on the other side because I would get injured if I stayed there when Josh came out. He said yes since I sat there for Julianne's performance. This time I sat in front of the middle of the stage. I screamed and sang all the songs.

During his song Your Man he looked straight at me and pointed at me. I flipped out...the way he sang it...I melted!!! After the set on our way back to the van the truck with his band pasted Olivia and I; one of the band members in the back of the truck pointed and screamed at me "You sang all the songs so awesome!" I laughed and said thanks and of course Olivia yelled back "Where's Josh?" All in all we had an awesome day!!

My Cowboy Casanova

This is Dustin, my cowboy casanova. I met him through his sister, Danielle, who is my caregiver. She had said he and I should meet since we are so alike. One night he asked her about me so that piqued my interest when she told me he asked after me. Since then we have been chatting online, talking on the phone and seeing each other when we can. He lives in Summerville so it is a distance relationship but we are happy. :)

Dani and Dustin

Bittersweet Goodbye

Last Thursday Watty had a play date with Trotter. This was a final play date with Trotter because Trotter heads into formal training on Halloween. He will be missed but will be a great guide/service/social dog whichever field he heads to. Watty did get to meet his new playmate at the play date. She is an 11 week old black lab named Cassidy. She is a sweetie. Watty does not no what to do with a little one. It was so funny because he ran away from her. Next time we see her he will probably be all over her. I can already see a service dog in her! Loves to pick stuff up and carry it at 11 weeks old.

Austin County Fair

Dani, Jordan, and I went to the Austin County Fair to see Jake Owen. We had a blast. I was able to sit close to the stage. I also ran into a friend of mine that is a huge Jake Owen fan. He is as hot as he is on T.V. We had to drive about 2 hours to see him but we had so much fun that we didn't care. I think we would do it again. I would love to see Jake again in concert too.