3 Plus Months Later...

I'm still alive!!!!! You can't tell it by my poor skills keeping up with everyone, but believe it or not I'm back. Holly has a good description on her blog of what we did when they came recently. I really really love having people come over for trips or dinner or just dropping by. Maddy was delightful. She is the sweetest natured little girl. And besides the fact that she loved my valentine, I have to say that she has some incredible fine motor skills. She would spot the tiniest crumb or thread, go for it, and get it! I know adults who don't have that kind of coordination (specifically thinking of my fine relatives - me brother especially - who have shaky hands). Anyway, it was a blast having them here. We ate crawfish. I still can't believe I ate more than one, but I did and even enjoyed it! That was the real Louisiana experience.
This past week I was off at the beginning of the week for the Mardi Gras break and then on Wed. evening went to Baton Rouge for the state MFT conference. It was excellent. I didn't go to one session I didn't enjoy, which is unusual for any kind of conference like that. My favorite was a session I went to on Saturday morning. Eddie Parish - one of my teachers from ACU -and a teacher from Loyola University presented. http://www.parishhermitage.org/intro.shtml Here is the website for what Eddie Parish does in Louisiana. I would whole-heartedly recommend this to any of you if you ever think something like this would be benefical to you. Ironically it is a rare thing to meet a therapist who really connects well with people outside of therapy. I have several theories why, but those are for a different time. After the conference was over two friends and I drove to New Orleans for the afternoon and met up with two other friends there at Cafe du Monde to eat beignets. So delicious and fun! New Orleans was like no other city I've been in. Drove down Bourbon Street and it was shocking, even mid-day. I would not want to be down there after dark. Speaking of dark, even though it was beautiful day, much of the atmosphere there is dark, evil - and I don't use that word loosely. Maybe "confused" is a more accurate word. Chaotic? I don't know. There were a lot of drunk people, a lot of homelessness, and there were a lot of people walking around with an empty look in their eyes.Of course Mardi Gras had just ended a few days before, so that could be part of it. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of beauty there as well. Jackson Square, the French Market, and the French Quarter were all so interesting. I would really like to go back and spend more time there. There was a ton to see. The city definitely had a foreign feel -- guess that's the French influence?
Who's been enjoying the Olympics? I've gotten to wach some. Definitely gotten pulled into the ice dancing. Speaking of Olympics I watched an entertaining movie the other day, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, something something.
Now that I've massively stalled on an assignment I should be doing, guess it's back to the drawing board. Probably won't post again until after comps (end of March), unless I need an excuse not to work again. :)
May each and every one of you have a content and satisfying week! And don't forget -- tis the Lenten season! A little self-sacrifice and discipline goes a long way.