My New Apartment

Hello My Family & Friends,

Soooooo....below are pictures of my new apartment.  Just like in New Orleans, I will not tell you where I am living on this blog due to crazy people in the world.  Give me a call or send me an e-mail and I will give you my address for when you visit :)    Enjoy!

Love Always,

Amanda aka Mandy

 

 

BEFORE

 

 My solarium aka my study

 

 

 Fireplace.  Dining room to the left and spare bedroom to the right

 

 

 Bathroom

 

 

Kitchen

 Dining Room

 

 

 

AFTER

 

My Kitchen

 

Dining Room

 

Living Room

 

Fireplace (kitchen to left and spare bedroom on right)

 

Entry way

 

 Solarium aka study

 

 

 Bedroom

 

 

Bathroom

 

Spare bedroom

 

 

 

It's Been A While....

Over a year to be exact...  So, what have I been up to??  See Below.  Ready. Set. Go!
 

Went to my first LSU Football game.  Since we were late my brother put me on his shoulders so I could see the band march into the stadium.  Thanks Will!
 

Ran my first Warrior Dash with my brother in Baton Rouge

 

Visited my sister, Kate, at college for homecoming weekend
 

 

Gave my mom a dog for Christmas.  Her name is Bebe'

 

Completed my second Warrior Dash, tutu and all!

 

 

Went to my first Houston Rodeo

 

 

 Saw my brother graduate from LSU
 

 

Saw my sister graduate from Millsaps College

 

 

 Went to the beach with my family

 

 

And best of all.....I started a new job.  My company transferred me to Houston, Texas and I am now officially a Texan.  More pictures to come soon of my new place.

 

Love Always,

Amanda aka Mandy

 

25th Annual Spillway Classic

Hello! Hello!

As promised, here are the pictures from the race!  According to www.runnotc.org,  "This three mile course is run through the woods of the Bonnet Carre Spillway and is one of the oldest trail runs in the country.  The three mile course begins on the roadway leading to the Boat Launch Pavilion and quickly ascends the Lower Guide Levee. The first mile is atop the gravel levee-top road. The course then descends the levee through "The Gauntlet" where you will typically encounter the deepest water and muddiest footing. The remaining two miles wind through trails."

We Finished!  And we even received a medal!!

Kate's shoes and my socks were pristine white before the race.  After many washes, my socks are still only grey.  They will never be white again.  Oh well, it was worth it.

At the end of the race, firemen were spraying people down with water trying to remove all the mud.

This picture was taken from www.runnotc.com.  This is to show you exactly how muddy it was.

Love Always,

Amanda

First Week of Work and Such

Hello My Dear Family And Friends,

Well, I survived my first week and a half of work.  Barely!  I have truly been tested.  Last Monday morning I arrived at work for 8am, bright eyed and bushy tailed.  I had an accounting exam at 8:30am which I am happy to say I passed.  Very excited!  Then I spent the rest of the day and week learning the computer systems.  I am still learning, but now everything is finally starting to make sense.  Thank God!

Guess what!  There is a hotel attached to the building where I work, and on the bottom floor below the hotel is a PUB!!  Pretty cool, huh?  I am still learning my way around the city and am having a great time navigating.  I have made many wrong turns and have had many scary moments hoping I was in the right lane when merging onto the interstate.  It has been so much fun!!

Kate came over this past weekend and on Sunday morning we ran in the 25^th Annual Spillway Classic in Norco, Louisiana.  The race took us through the woods and into a mud pit.  That’s right, a mud pit!  Kate and I had to wade/run through mud that was up to our thighs.  Honestly, Kate and I had a wonderful time and I hope we run in another race soon along with Will.  More information and pictures from the race will be in my next posting.

 

 

Love Always,

Amanda

A New Job, a New Home, and a New Life

Dear Family and Friends,

Please do not be angry.  I know it has been many months since I last wrote.  I am not going to make excuses.  All I can say is that I am truly sorry.  On a good note, though, I have wonderful news for you.  I finally have a job!!!

I thought this day would never come, but it has.  Since I last wrote, I have accepted a position with a bank and I am now living in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Who would have thought this is where I would end up?  My resume was sent all around the United Sates, seriously, and I received an offer right here from my home state.  I am very excited about this opportunity and hope you are too!!

I am now living in my very own condo along Lake Pontchatrain and have a view of the water from my balcony.  The best part is that my condo is right in back of a levy.  Every day I can, and do, run/jog on top of the levy looking out over the water.  I am not going to tell you where I live (condominium name) for privacy/security reasons, but I will show you pictures.  I have not met too many of my neighbours, but the ones I have met seem to be very nice and friendly.  Oh!  I also live right down the street from a snowball/snowcone stand and also from a drive-through daiquiri shop!  Only in Louisiana will you find a drive-through daiquiri shop.  I love it here!  There is also a po’boy restaurant right next to the condominium so I had better be careful.  I can just see myself putting on weight from all the fried food here.  I must stay strong and keep working out.  :-)

Anytime y’all want to come visit please let me know.  I would love to show you around!  Especially with this being the home of Mardi Gras!   First come first serve, so please book early.

Hope this blog entry finds you well and I promise to write sooner and not be so lax.  XOXOX

Love Always,

Amanda

Before Pictures

After Pictures

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Dear Family and Friends,

Many of you asked to to see videos of me Irish dancing on St. Patrick's Day this year. I am sorry for the delay in uploading the video.  I have been under the weather a bit with allergy season this year.  I know, I know, I NEVER have allergies, but for some reason they have grabbed hold of me this year.  Summer cannot come soon enough!!

Below is a video of me Irish dancing at the Great Harvest Bread shop on March, 17, 2012 in Lafayette, Louisiana. I was dancing with my Irish dance school, The Ryan School of Irish Dance.  Hope you enjoy the video....and if you see any dance mistakes please do not let me know.  Hey, no one is perfect....including me! 

Love Always,
Amanda

Paddy NOT Patty

All over the world, especially in the United States, people have St.Pat parties or say Happy St. Patty's Day on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th.  This is a huge mistake as will now be explained.  When I was living in Ireland last year, I had a very good friend named Patrick AKA Paddy.  When we first met I remember asking him, "Do you spell your name Patty or Paddy?"  He gave me this evil look and said "Paddy."  Then I received a lecture on the difference between Paddy and Patty.

Recently a friend sent me link to a very interesting web page called paddynotpatty.com or http://paddynotpatty.com/.  Below are paragraphs taken from the website.

Each and every year millions of Irish, Irish-ish and amateur alcoholics are needlessly distracted from their Holy Tradition of drinking themselves into a stupor in the name of Saint Patrick, a Roman Briton slave holding the dubious honour of bringing Christianity to an island that would use it as another convenient excuse to blatter the hell out of each other for centuries.

The source of this terrible distraction?
An onslaught of half-hearted, dyed-green references to St. Patrick's Day as St. Patty's Day. It gnaws at them. It riles them up. It makes them want to fight… you know, more than usual.

It's Paddy, not Patty. Ever.
Saint Patrick's Day? Grand.
Paddy's Day? Sure, dead-on.
St. Pat's? Aye, if ye must.
St. Patty? No, ye goat!

Paddy is derived from the Irish, Pádraig, hence those mysterious, emerald double-Ds.

Patty is the diminutive of Patricia, or a burger, and just not something you call a fella.
There's not a sinner in Ireland that would call a Patrick, “Patty”. It's insulting. It's really as simple as that.

Also....

Shamrock isn't just any auld piece of clover: it's three-leafed. It ended up a symbol of Ireland because tradition holds that St. Patrick used shamrock to teach the Trinity.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Love Always,

Amanda

Some of the information contained in this blog came from the website paddynotpatty.com.  I do not own any rights to this material.

Campbell, M. (2010) 'The Provisional Government of Paddy, Not Patty to the People of the New World', Paddy Not Paddy Blog [accessed 16 Mar 2012]