Well, today I said to myself "I should probably blog about our Valentine's Day before St. Patty's Day rolls around...so here I am! But first, something I forgot to mention in my last post...I had my first humiliating slip on the ice.
The scene of the terrible slip.
The night before, the weatherman had warned of possible "snow squalls" (had to look that up...why does something like that exist and why do I live somewhere where that's a thing?) as well as black ice that may be covered by thin snow. Well, I guess I didn't listen too well because in the morning, I set out to go to the eye dr. appointment wearing Sperrys on my feet (not the most rugged winter wear...) The treacherous ice river you see above was covered in a thin layer of snow, so I had no idea it was there until I was on and then...I was on my butt. I made a terrible groaning noise as I slid my way to a nice thud. None of the neighbors were around to see (although they may have been laughing from their windows), but still...it was pretty rough.
On to Valentine's Day! (yeah, over a month ago today...at least I'm here now?) Brad has been going through his cases of Shiner that we bought on our way out of Texas. Somehow, he still has about four left...but they'll be gone soon I suppose, so I got him a 6-pack from the local grocery store of 6 different "local" beers to try, so maybe he can find a new favorite? Or at least an acceptable substitute? He got me some beautiful tulips and some lotion/body spray of my favorite Victoria's Secret scent! (I had only just "hinted" that I was running out...)
We didn't want to cook, but we also didn't want to do anything to fancy, so we ended up getting Chinese take-out and watching Taken 2 (also broke out the champagne from a brunch I recently went to where we didn't quite use it all for mimosas!) It was a really great, low-key night. And the next day was my 9/80 Friday, bonus!
After the tulips opened up!
Also, check out this very funny (accurate) chocolate bar from Dad and Lucy...the "marital bliss bar" :) They sent several treats including chocolates from a classic Austin candy shop, loved having those reminders of home!
Next blog-worth topic...I went to New Orleans at the end of February! It was for the Conference on Statistical Practice -- exciting, I know. It was actually a great conference, much smaller scale than the JSM and they had some good topics. But probably the best part is that Mom flew in to visit! We got to hang out in NOLA outside of conference time and do all the traditional touristy New Orleans stuff :) The food...was awesome. Here are some pics from Red Fish Grill - fried oysters in a buffalo-like sauce, shrimp po' boy, and seafood + gator gumbo! Yum yum!
A band playing in the street, like ya do. We got their CDs!
Of course...gotta get the beignets.
This was at the Palace...it was an appetizer! Crab cheesecake...kind of surprising at first since you expect it to be dessert-ish, but it was AWESOME.
We also got bananas foster...the waiter put on quite a show! Another amazing dish.
Of course, we had to go to Pat O'Briens and get hurricanes!
All in all a fun girls' weekend (oh yeah, and the conference too...) I brought back hurricane mix (complete with the authentic Pat O'Briens glasses!), seafood boil mix, and beignet mix...so one of these days I'll put on a little "NOLA in New York" for me and Brad :) Also brought back boxes full of Aunt Sally's pralines, but...those are all gone already ;)
Outside of those adventures, things have been pretty good around the Doherty household! (apartment-hold?) Brad is about to finish another trimester of grad school and he thinks he'll do pretty well again with his grades. Then it will be his SPRING BREAK and we're flying out to Montana for a few days to visit with my grandparents! I've been wanting to get him out there since we started dating...such a beautiful place. (and now made more popular by The Bachelor, haha.)
We're still getting snow sometimes...
...but I've pretty much gotten used to it, and can't believe we're about to have made it through our first New York winter. Yes, it was pretty mild, but no complaining from this Texan! There were even some snow flurries today, and Brad reminded me that the "first day of Spring" is five days away. Five days! C'mon, springtime! Let's stop it with all this snow business.
Tomorrow we're going to see Demetri Martin with our friends Eric and Kate! Eric and I started at the company on the same day (can't believe it's been over 8 months!) He and Kate had us over recently to make homemade ice cream -- not the kind where you press a button and it's magically done 20 minutes later, but the kind where it's in a barrel and everyone takes a turn cranking it by hand. Much more rewarding that way! Anyway, they're cool people and they share our love for Demetri Martin, so it should be a fun night!
Whew, nothing like an impending holiday to make me feel like I'm behind on my blog. So let's do this again, say, Easter time?
