Shreveport Choir Trip

This past Sunday, the choir of St. Mark's Beaumont traveled north and east to sing with St. Mark's Shreveport. Michael went as part of the choir and I went to fulfill my lifelong dream (or not) of being a roadie/groupie. Jerome, the choirmaster, had rented two 15-passenger vans to transport the choir, but had found only one person who was familiar with driving those large vehicles. One of our pool cars at work is such a van, so I drive one with some regularity and offered to be the second driver. Really, they aren't too bad to drive . . . you just have to be careful about the big back end, something I have experience with! ;-P

Anyway, St. Mark's Shreveport is actually a cathedral and it was gorgeous! (Side note: cathedral vs. church? A cathedral is the home chuch of the bishop and houses his seat (cathedra).) The choir sounded great (of course!) and, to my surprise, the sermon was actually decent. I find that many large downtown churches are pretty liberal and seem focused on political issues rather than discussing scripture or Christian living. This sermon, while it didn't come to as fine a point as I would have liked, did seem fairly orthodox. It was on the existence of hell and the exclusivity of heaven, both of which the rector confirmed. So that made me happy . . . I didn't feel like I couldn't take the Eucharist like I have at other churches.

The choir not only sang during the morning service, but also led an evensong in the afternoon. In between, they practiced and I was free to explore Shreveport. Fortunately, my good friend Kristin drove up from Alexandria to spend the time with me and we got visit the Louisiana Boardwalk, a pretty outdoor outlet mall that borders the Red River and is not officially in Shreveport. (Just figured that out. Thanks, Wikipedia!) It was great to spend the day in the sun with her (although my shoulders may not agree) and to catch up on all the goings-on since we last saw each other at my wedding. Plus, I found, not one, but two pairs of jeans, which is a big deal considering how much I hate to shop for clothes! Kristin was also instrumental in my wedding dress purchase (along with Liz) so I may just have to force her to visit me whenever I have major attire purchasing to do!

Evensong was wonderful (of course!), followed by a late night drive back to Beaumont. And while my body was complaining Monday morning, it was a great trip!

A few pictures of the weekend:










































































The cathedra










































































Oh, almost forgot to mention the 3-hour disaster that was dinner at Copeland's. Let's just say they were clearly not prepared to deal with a party of 17, even though Jerome had called ahead to make a reservation and warn them. Oh well, at least I now know why they're called "whiskey-palians!" ;-P

New Blog for the New Name

So . . . I'm home sick today (stupid head cold) and have exhausted the bed and the web of all they have to offer. I figured I should maybe write about some of my experiences these last few months, but realized I couldn't use my old blog: naomieott.blogspot.com. That's no longer me! So here's a new blog for the new name. Don't worry, I won't update it any more frequently than the old blog! ;-P Oh, and fair warning, I back-date my posts to the day the events happened . . . even if I don't write about them until months later!

Houston Rodeo

Last night we went to the Houston Rodeo. A company that does a lot of work at my plant had a suite and invited several people to join in the fun. Of course, luxuriating in a suite is always fun, especially the brownie and ice cream bar, but this was especially exciting as neither of us had been to a rodeo before. Michael loved the "calf wrestlin', bull ridin', bronc bustin'" and all other manner of animal fun. Me? I loved the mutton busting - 5 and 6 year olds trying to hang on to sheep. Cute! I, like normal, forgot to pull out my camera until after the rodeo events were done. I did manage to take a few pics of the Alan Jackson concert, which, surprisingly, was not too terrible, even though it was country!

All in all, a fun night, although I'm afraid I've a rodeo fanatic on my hands . . . we're already making plans to attend the Beaumont rodeo in a few weeks!

Fiona's Shower

Today, the home church women hosted a small baby shower for Fiona. She and Mike are expecting baby Grace on April 11. We met at Rao's and shared a strawberry cream cake. Yum!


















Congratulations, Fiona and Mike! We can't wait to meet Baby Grace!

Michael's 33rd Birthday Party

To celebrate Michael's 33rd birthday, we had a bowling party with a few friends. It was rather amusing when I went to reserve the lanes; the lady asked how old the child was turning! Well, despite that fact that Michael was by far the oldest birthday boy there that day, we still had a blast!

Two 9x13 cakes: chocolate with raspberry filling for me, vanilla coconut with coconut filling for him.













Despite the simple look of the cake, it still took some time to put together, so you better be appreciative, Michael . . .

. . . That's what I'm talking about!













The kids had fun . . .









































. . . As did the adults!



























































Happy Birthday, Michael! Hope 33 is wonderful!

Girl's Night

Here's an interesting tidbit . . . Michael's dentist is in . . . Virginia. That's right, he has never switched to a local dentist. I guess you could say he didn't plan to be here long. And that he really wants to get back to VA! In some ways, though, it makes sense. This dentist is familiar with the gum issues he has, so he doesn't have to go through x-rays, etc with a new dentist, plus it gives him an excuse to go back to NOVA every six months and see friends and family there. All this to say, he has an appointment on Tuesday, so he flew out Friday . . . and left me all alone. No need to pity me, though. While the cat's away, the mice will play! Which means I invited several girls over yesterday for dinner and games. We had a blast eating red beans and rice and gumbo, playing Apples to Apples and busting out the DDR. I didn't take too many pictures, but be sure to check out the video! Get down, Janel, Suellen and Claire!! (Update: apparently my video is too large. As soon as I figure out how to resize it, I'll post it here!)