Ten Things I Think I Think...

It's about that time - the Quarterly blog post from our little family. I often tell myself that I'm going to update our blog more frequently, but I'm awful at taking pictures on a daily basis and so I never feel like I have anything to share with the group. But because so many of Amanda and my family members are so far away, I figured it would be nice if we at least checked in every once and a while.

But then comes the hard part. The part of the blog where I add substance... or at least try to. I'm fresh out of original ideas and relevant pictures, so I'm going to copy my sister-in-law Sarah's recent post on their family blog titled, "10 Confessions." But instead, I'll title this one "Ten Things I Think I Think" so I don't completely swagger-jack her blog.

"TEN THINGS I THINK I THINK..."

1. I think being a true "cat person" is harder than it looks. In fact, it's a lot of work. To be a full-fledged Crazy Cat Lady takes a lot of sacrifice and I realized this lately early in the mornings. You see, as you already know, Amanda got two kittens a few months ago. Now fastforward to present day. Little did I know baby kittens grew into alarm clocks a couple months in.

Payton's new thing is to wake me up early in the morning. It's awful. Terrorists being held in Guantanamo Bay now receive more pleasant wake up calls than I do. Payton (our hunter) gets up... stretches... surveys the scene... and then attacks my body lying defenselessly under the blankets. Amanda and Bell (the lazy kitten) sleep through it. I can't.

What makes it worse is this week Amanda has been gone out of town for business. When Amanda is here, Payton will pick on one of us and then switch after a while. With Amanda being gone, I suffer alone.

Today Payton started off playing Mr. Nice Guy - she held her face in front of my face for a few minutes, purring loud enough that I dreamed that the vacuum cleaner was left on. Purring didn't wake me up though, so she proceeded to gnaw on my throat, simultaneously put both paws in both my eye sockets, tried to lick the inside of my nose, pounced on my stomach and even took a below-the-belt shot.

As I write this entry, Payton is staring at me with a very sinister grin, like "You have to fall asleep sometime buddy..." Such a creep.

2. I think the coolest thing about me is my wife. Without her being around this week I have managed to eat pizza for 4 meals, I spent 1 night trying to fix our 1993 Super Nintendo system, and my only social interaction (outside working hours) was to go across the street to play "Call of Duty" on my neighbors XBox360. Oh, and I did go to a fishing club meeting (which was great). Basically, what I am saying is that without Amanda being around I morph into that loser that we all know who has been living in his parent's basement since high school. Pizza, video games, and a fish club meeting... really? That's all I got?

3. I think the Georgia Aquarium is the most outragious thing I've seen in quite a while. Two weeks ago, we headed to Atlanta to celebrate Sue's (Amanda's mom) birthday. We had a blast eating at some great restaurants, playing board games at night, and shopping during the day. But my personal favorite was our visit to the aquarium in downtown Atlanta. It was amazing. At one point I was looking at a 400 lb. grouper and a tour guide was telling visitors nearby about how this species of grouper was overfished. Confession: At that exact moment, I was thinking about how if I ever had one last dying wish, I would wish for a day of unlimited fishing inside the 6.3 million gallon ocean tank.

4. I think I had the time of my life the other day, despite not understanding the majority of what was taking place around me. Amanda and I went to a neighbor's birthday party with their family. Everyone there was from a variety of Slovic countries and we had a blast. In true Eastern European fashion, the food was plentiful and the people were extremely welcoming... and in true Andrew Brown fashion, I sat next to the family's Crazy Uncle who drank a little bit too much. Just my luck. I forget his name, so we'll just call him Uncle Slovicstan. Anyways, Uncle Slovicstan spent an hour telling me about how he looked in his (road) biking uniform. Minor detail, Uncle Slovicstan was large enough to eat Lance Armstrong - so yeah, I spent my afternoon trying not to imagine him in his biking gear. But don't cry for me Slovicstan, I ended up having a really good time.

5. I think ESPN needs to give me a job. Who picked the Kansas upset? Who had Butler in the Elite 8? Who has all four of his Final Four teams alive in the tournament (Duke, WVU, Tennessee, Kansas State)? Yours truly. For the record, I have West Virginia winning it all.

6. I think summer couldn't come soon enough. I turn 28 years old (which has no significance), we celebrate our anniversary, cookouts in the evenings, warmth in the mornings, numerous beach trips, days spent on the boat, lots of fishing (my goal is to bring in a large sailfish this year), July 4th, lightening bugs, esc. There's so much to look forward to this summer, but the thing that I look forward to the most is my oldest brother's family visit! Ash, Sarah, Charlotte, Liam and Alistair are coming in August and I can't hardly wait!

7. I think I have a new favorite quote in life. I wish the quotation was from a virtous man who changed the world, BUT...

"Wrinkles will only go where the smiles have been." -Jimmy Buffett

Ok, so Jimmy Buffett hasn't changed the world, but he has made enough fruity drinks and footprints in the sand to be considered thee expert on having a positive attitude and a good time. And I like people like that.

8. I think I am going to write a book within the next year or two. Truth be told, I have already started writing. The book is called "The Panacea" and is about two brothers who share a common childhood dream to own a boat and own a fishing charter business. But when they grow older, the older brother choses to take a different career path, leaving the younger brother to chase their dream alone. When the younger brother wife passes away due to illness, the boat ("The Panacea") becomes his refuge and escape. The meat of the story is about one brother trying to help his younger brother deal with the pain that is left on land.

Please don't feel obligated to compliment the storyline, that's not why I share. It's just something that I am working on, along with painting more often. I don't know if I will put the time and effort necessary to try to get the story published, but I've always wanted to write a book and I don't want to find myself at age 90 one day wondering why I never put a pen to paper. FYI - "Panacea" means a remedy for all ills. Fun fact: Panacea was the Greek goddess of healing.

9. I think my new thing is grandpa-style shirts. I have two shirts, specifically, that Amanda hates and restricts me from wearing them at will. I have been given two strict guidelines to wearing the shirts: 1) I have to be fishing; AND 2) we have to be at our house. Confession #2: I have worn both shirts out-and-about while Amanda has been gone.

The shirts aren't nearly as bad as Amanda makes them out to be. They are nice button-up beach (yes, like a Luau) shirts with different type Saltwater fish on them. One is blue and one is white. I have worn them at least 5 times out in public and two different occasions I received compliments from complete strangers. Catch was, they were both grandpas... I like to think I'm ahead of my time.

10. I think Payton finally fell asleep on our bed while I typed out this blog and I think it's my turn to pounce on her...

Trip to the Big Easy

"If there was no New Orleans, America would just be a bunch of free people dying of boredom." - Chris Rose, Times-Picayune commentator - September 5th, 2005

I have spent time in India, Brazil, Mexico, various parts of Europe and I have visited the vast majority of states in the U.S., but there is no culture that I love more than the New Orleans culture. Now before you rush to judgment, I am not talking about a tacky Bourbon Street sideshow on a Saturday night. That's not the New Orleans that I'm talking about - that's tourism at its weakest moment. And furthermore, I understand that not all parts of New Orleans are beautiful and alluring. If you asked my mom & dad about New Orleans, they would instantly refer to the more working-class (or not working-class) side of New Orleans that visitors don't see and the area that my family lived in when I was growing up. The New Orleans that I love is the city that is filled with smells of cajun cuisine, sounds of a brass band forming a Second Line in a nearby neighborhood and a waiting conversation with a stranger at every street bench. Magnolias, lushful gardens, cobblestone streets in the French Quarter and streetcars in the Garden District. The South at its best. This is the New Orleans that I wanted to show Amanda.

So, here's my "Top-10-Things-We-Loved-About-Our-Trip" List:

#1 - Witnessing the New Orleans Saints WIN a playoff game. On my own personal "bucket list" (compiled circa 1998), I listed "Attend a Saints playoff game in New Orleans." When I first pitched the idea to Amanda that we should try to get tickets for the game, her response was "maybe we could do that next time we go to New Orleans." Haha, NFL rookie. Needless to say I gave Amanda a brief history lesson about the New Orleans Saints franchise and how they had only played in 5 playoff games in the 43 year history of the organization before this weekend (only winning two). Amanda didn't need to fall back on her college education to understand that if she was going to be a fellow Saints fan, it was this weekend or no promise of a Next Time. So we found tickets and I had the time of my life. I will never forget it... and Amanda, she'll even tell you that it was the most fun she's ever had at a sporting or entertainment event.

"The people of New Orleans love the Saints not because they provide a distraction from their fall, but because they are a reflection of their rise." - Saints Linebacker Scott Fujita

#2 - The food. Shrimp bisque, shrimp po'boy, beignets, BBQ fried oysters, Royale Street Lucky Dogs, crawfish, gumbo - of course - with all the fixin's! I was spoiled to the point that when I returned from our trip, everything that I ate tasted like Purina - Correction: Walmart Maxximum dog food.

Amanda enjoying a beignet from Cafe du Monde

#3 - Visiting family. We were able to spend a little time in the French Quarter with Eric, Mimi and their sweet children. Their children are as sweet as can be and Amanda and I really enjoyed spending some time with some of my family in the area.

#4 - Jackson Square. Perhaps it was St. Louis Cathedral or the beignets at Cafe Du Monde, but Jackson Square was Amanda's favorite part of the city. We visited with all the artists, bought a couple pieces of art, listened/watched all the street performers and even took a nap at the feet of Andrew Jackson's statue.

#5 - Post-game celebrations after the Saints win! After the game, Amanda and I headed back to the hotel to re-energize ourselves and change clothes before reuniting with another couple that we met at the game. The sights and sounds were amazing - the city of New Orleans broke out into one huge parade. People were dancing in the streets, hugging, cheering - all good fun. In fact, because New Orleans often times gets such a bad wrap, (without trying to preach) let me say this: I have seen Franklin Street in Chapel Hill after a win over Duke and I can honestly say that people were acting much more pleasant then that. Nobody was flipping police cars over. Nobody was starting bonfires in the middle of the street. Nothing was exposed, nobody was offended and the police reported no acts of vandalism. In ACC country, they storm the court after a big win... in New Orleans, they storm the Quarter. It's all the same. I saw fans from both teams respectfully rehashing the game and offering earnest well-wishes. One Arizona Cardinal fan told me that he had attended over 15 NFL games in different cities and he had never seen the hospitality and respectfulness that was shown to him in New Orleans. We spent hours after the game just engaging in the "Who Dat" dalliance with a city full of strangers who shared a common love-affair for a group of 53 men that rarely ever delivered anything close to a successful season in each of our lifetimes. When put in those words, it really doesn't sound like a healthy relationship. However, I did not want the day - or the night for that matter- to end. Simply put, it was thousands of people cherishing the exact same moment.

#6 - Conversations with complete strangers. Only in New Orleans can your waiter say, "how you doin', baby?" when they greet you and not come across at all crazy-man-at-the-playground creepy. PS - Mom, the streetcar driver said"tell your mama & 'em hello" when we got off at our stop for a Garden District stroll. So "Hello, Mom"... from the streetcar lady.

#7 - Garden District strolls on a sunny, 66 degrees late-January afternoon. Amanda and I agree: One day we will both retire, buy a home in the Garden District and spend our days writing and painting. She can wake up and go for a morning jog in Audubon Park, while I sit on one of the park benches comparing college stories with much younger Tulane undergrads. Maybe Amanda and I will even earn enough clout in the neighborhood to claim a spot under an old oak along St. Charles Avenue that our family could revisit every February/March to catch a few throws from a quickly approaching Mardi Gras krewe.

#8 - The houses. Every block in the Garden District has a house that could be mistaken for the Wilkes' Twelve Oaks plantation. I don't think Amanda has ever seen "Gone With the Wind," but subconsciously I'm quite sure she imagined living the life of Scarlett O'Hara many times during our Uptown visit. Every other house was declared "our dream house."

#9 - The Jackson Square artists. If I could have a mulligan on one of my wasted college summers (circa 2004-06, you know what ones I'm talking about Pops), I wish I signed a 3-month lease on a little French Quarter studio apartment and try to make rent selling my paintings to French Quarter tourists who had a poor eye for good art. I understand that I wouldn't be near as talented as the other artists that make a living every year selling their pieces in the Quarter - and I know that I would most likely exhaust my summer days struggling to make an artist out of a seafood restaurant dishwasher - but it would be fun. My traveling tip for any future tourist: spend a morning talking to different French Quarter artists. Their stories were remarkable and inspiring. Their backgrounds & futures were promising and they each were more than capable of working a 9-to-5... of course, if they had wanted to. After every conversation with an artist throughout our visit, all Amanda and I wanted to do was go home and paint.

This statue of Jesus stands in a courtyard next to St. Louis Cathedral. During Katrina, the only damage suffered by the statue was Jesus' index finger and thumb were missing. Yats (NOLA locals) will tell you Jesus "flicked" the storm east at the last moment - explaining the missing digits. Owners of the statue decided not to replace the thumb and index finger so that visitors of the statue would be reminded of God's mercy. (Katrina was aimed directly at NOLA, only to veer east at the last minute - possibly sparing the city from an even-worse scenario.)

#10 - Shopping. Ok, so this was Amanda's favorite activity. But we did find some treasures that made me happy, though - such as a signed copy of coffee table book about historic homes of Louisiana (found in used book store) and a painting of an old oak tree (painted on a scrap piece of board, recovered during the reconstruction of a home damaged by Katrina). We found a few other things, but these were my two favorite purchases.

I will let the rest of our trip to be told by a few pictures...

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 will go down as our first Christmas in our house, the Christmas that we got our first Christmas tree, and the Christmas we headed to Maryland and had a white Christmas. Here are a few pics of our Christmas season...

Payton and Belle

A lot has happened since our last post; the New Orleans Saints have made it to the NFC Championship game (to be played tomorrow), Thanksgiving in Cheraw, Christmas in Maryland, just to name a few. But perhaps the most important, at least in Amanda's eyes, is the addition(s) that we have made to our little family. Sometime shortly before Thanksgiving, we adopted two 6 week old kittens, which we named "Payton" and "Belle." On the day that we got them, the Saints defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to go 10-0 for the season - so in honor of that great achievement, we named one of the kittens "Belle," after Mike Bell (who scored 2 TDs against the Buccs) and "Payton," after the Saints head coach Sean Payton.

For a long time, I insisted that we didn't get cats. I didn't want to be the "crazy cat family" and everytime Amanda lobbied for one (or more) kitten(s), I would make jokes about her being the neighborhood Crazy Cat Lady. But after a while, I folded - but with one stipulation. I made Amanda agree that we wouldn't name them something like Buttercup or Princess Penelope Pumpernickle. While I would still love to get a yellow lab one day (when we have a big backyard), Payton and Belle have added a lot of joy to our lives. In fact, it's a win-win for Amanda (a cat person) and myself (a dog person) because I'm convinced that Payton and Belle think that they are mighty jungle cats.

During the Christmas season, Payton became our Christmas tree squirrel. This picture fits Payton's personality perfectly. There is nothing she doesn't want to climb and there is no adventure that she doesn't want to conquer. She loves to pick fights with her napping sister and she loves to wrestle our shuffling feet. Payton is black and white and looks like an Dairy Queen Oreo blizzard. Just like her sister though, Payton is a great snuggler when she is tired.

...then there is Belle. Belle has the heart of a labrador. She is amazing at two things: napping and eating. In fact, this week I took the two of them for a check up and the vet was shocked to find that Belle weighed a little over a pound more than her sister. Belle is white, orangey/brown and a little bit of black. She looks like a Disney version of a baby Bengal.