Getting the Baby's Room Ready!

We've been moving furniture around the house for the last couple of weeks trying to clear out the room that will become the baby's room. Angela is making a great sacrifice (that she's happy to make) of giving up her former sewing room for the baby. We decided to combine the sewing room with the current guest room. That was stage 1. The guest room has turned out well and we actually find ourselves spending a great deal of time in there now.

We didn't want to repaint the entire nursery because we had a lovely shade of green throughout the room and some fun wall decals already in there. But Angela can't leave well enough alone and decided that we needed to have a focal wall with a new design treatment. In her great love of all things geometric, she decided to cover the wall in a grid of squares. Her gracious husband Michael agreed to professionally help her out in her grand endeavors. :) After painting the wall white, he quickly taped off the grid of squares and the fun began!



Not content with just one color in the room, Angela decided that we needed to have 6! So Michael purchased all the paint and gamely went along with her plan. We planned out how large the squares should be for maximum impact and minimum chaos. Yes, math was used! Then we got to work painting each of the squares in a predetermined random pattern.



Two shades of green, two shades of blue and a shade of grey and white later....here's what we ended up with!



After letting the paint dry for a day, we wanted to see the room as complete as possible. So Mike waded through our current lake of a backyard (got to love LA rain and flooding) to get the crib. And we moved the changing table and the dresser into the room as well. All three pieces Mike had painted beautifully earlier in the summer and we've been waiting to put them in the room!






Everything is starting to come together and now Angela just needs to get cracking on all of the fabric additions to the room. Here's some of the fabrics that might be used for the nursery.

Mardi Gras and Disney World...what a fun way to spend the last week!

Hello everyone! We're back again with more antics from the Pingel population in New Orleans. Winter took it's sweet time, but Spring is on the way and the weather is warming up again. We recently got to celebrate Mardi Gras here in New Orleans...well at least we got to go to some Mardi Gras parades. Life was busy for us, so Mike and I only made it to one night of parades. But we had fun! It was great to be there especially with the Ronaynes and Paul Rose who were celebrating their very first parades. I distinctly remember my own first parade just a few years ago and it was fun to act like I'd been doing it forever. Another unexpected treat was having Hannah, Kathleen and Jen in town as well. I believe that it was Jen Torma's first parade as well.




We didn't celebrate the rest of Mardi Gras in town because Mike and I had to head to Florida to spend some quality Disney time with my family. We kept extending our stay to hang out longer and experience more Disney goodness. It was fun that everyone from my family was there and hopefully we'll have some good pictures to prove it. Jeremy and Amy scoffed at our Mardi Gras beads, but Mike and I dutifully brought some and wore them at Disney on Mardi Gras day. There were many many LSU fans around, so we were in good company. Highlights of our trip there include dinner with Jon, mom and dad at Rainforest Cafe, sushi with Jeremy, Amy and Josh, the fillet mignon at Jiko with mom, dad, Jeremy and Amy, and drinking around the Epcot worlds. Oh and of course, my favorite ride Splash Mountain. Good times.



We're back home now getting back into the groove of real life again. Mike is working hard to find more jobs and making his wife happy by helping her organize the house. I'm working hard at my sewing machine again. I've been creating lots of items lately and have opened a shop on Etsy.com. This is a site devoted entirely to artists creating and selling handmade items. If you haven't checked it out before, please do. There is all kinds of stuff there, and you know you'll be helping the little guy! Always a good thing. My particular shop is called Tweedledee Designs and can be found here.



Most of my creations are baby gifts at this point, but I'm also looking to add quilted wall hangings, eye glass cases and perhaps some makeup cases. If there's anything you're interested in, let me know! I'm a fabric-aholic and I have so much waiting for me to create. :)

For all those stuck with cold weather, feel free to come visit and we'll try to arrange some warm weather for you! This is a great time to visit when we don't have any humidity!

Back in the Saddle again

Well we're back in the South after a couple of CHILLY weeks in South Bend. The last month has just flown by with Christmas and out of town trips!

Mike and I had our annual Christmas party here in New Orleans right before Christmas. We were delighted by all our guests, but were especially pleased to see friends and family from out of town. Mike and I have worked hard in recent years to perfect (I know you're all shocked by this!) all workings of the party. As part of this, we've taken to creating many of our signature drinks in bulk before the party so that we can pour them quickly. It really helps free us to be better hosts (we hope!). This year we had some great drinks including self titled Father Christmas Fizz, Little Drummer Boy, and Snowflake. They were all super yummy concoctions and were topped with our handmade garnishes out of gum drops. If it looks like something Martha Stewart would do, you're right. It's straight out of her magazine! Mike got really good at this (better than me in fact) and started making fun variations himself.



After much work for both our Christmas party and the community Christmas party, we set out with Joan up to South Bend. A long but thankfully uneventful trip later, we finally arrived in the icy cold north. The next two weeks were filled with probably more conversation than I have the whole rest of the year!

We celebrated Christmas Pingel style with lots of laughter and singing. Pat and Beth and family had recently purchased "Rock Band" and there was much fun to be had watching and participating in this game. Others sat around the piano, pulled out the guitars, and sang in harmony to all sorts of Christmas songs. It was great because it was the first time that all of the Pingels have been together since Mike and I moved almost 3 years ago! And I don't think any of us will ever forget Beth's questions about the nature of life at IU. :)





We were also able to visit with a number of friends in town including checking out Matt and Carrie's lovely new home. And we were excited to catch up with many people from my high school class at the annual Stowebash party! We also took off to Chicago for a couple of days to visit with James and Jenni and their sweet girls as well. And despite Mike getting the stomach flu while we were there (sorry James and Jenni!), Mike and I were able to attend the musical "Wicked". We've been playing the soundtrack non-stop in our car ever since thanks to Jim and Colleen gifting us with the music!



The Finke Christmas celebration proved to have it's own set of hi jinks as well. Unfortunately we've all been sworn to secrecy, so I can't share them with you. But Mike claims that he has never laughed so hard in his whole life. Rest assured, the famous Finke eggrolls made a grand appearance, mainly due to the hard work of Mike!



The weeks ended out with Sean and Gretchen's wedding. The wedding was full of beautiful music and it was so fun to be able to catch up with so many out of town guests. There were people there that I easily haven't seen in 5 years, probably more. But boy was I done talking after that!

Since arriving back home, we've celebrated Mike's birthday with any number of great meals and were blessed by some great new work that came to Mike's company. Life is good in '09 so far. Let's keep it that way!

let it snow! let it snow! let it snow!

Thanksgiving and such

Oh my goodness! It's been far too long since our last blog update. I think about it often, but haven't been able to garner the mental energy needed to update it. However today I'm feeling slightly more inspired. Blame it on the Christmas music in the background making me feel sentimental or the kitty snuggling with me under a pile of blankets, but most of all blame it on the fact that it is SNOWING IN NEW ORLEANS!

We've had a few visitors to the great South over the last couple of months and it so exciting to have them. Back in October we had great fun when Matt Sgroi came into town from Sweden for Ben Jerhing's wedding here in town. Jim and Gerry Sgroi also made it down from South Bend for the event and we were able to see everyone a fair amount. The five of us took a day and went to one of the local Plantations, Houmas House. It was beautifully maintained with stunning gardens. There was a giant oak tree that is over 500 years old. We even saw in the kitchen on the tour that their Stove was made in South Bend, IN maybe a 100 years ago. Quite the coincidence!



We a had few more trick or treaters for Halloween this year. We're never quite sure what to expect since Katrina wiped out so many people. Our neighborhood changes daily. Mike was feeling inspired and got our fog machine. He blasted the kids with fog as they came up to the door for candy. And then we got out some green glowing ice cubes for our adult beverages. It was pretty entertaining!



Thanksgiving seemed to follow quickly and we had even more visitors thanks to the Brewer/Reinhardt crew. Carolyn's Uncle Mike stayed with us later followed by Liz Brewer and eventually Sarah Engles. How fun to see everyone! The Reinhardts, Brewers, Pingels, and Ronaynes plus a few all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving meal at the Ronaynes. But I think our favorite part of the day was hanging out in the warm (slightly rainy) weather on the Reinhardts back porch. Mike grilled some fantastic shrimp and I brought some cheese and crackers. We all sat around relaxing and enjoying one another's company. Mike and I were laughing that this year Thanksgiving seemed very relaxed when we realized that for the last 6 years we've done at least 2 full meals. :)

We're onto to Christmas plans now. The house is officially finished being decorated. That always takes me a couple of days. And our Christmas party plans are in full swing. Mike and I have enjoyed our research on what should be our feature drinks of the party this year. We've done more trials with guests and gotten their opinions too! (Although no one's opinion means too much after a couple of drinks!)

Soon after the party we will be on our to South Bend where we will be for Christmas this year. We're excited to have a good two weeks to try to see people and catch up. And we can't wait of course for Sean and Gretchen's wedding. But I can't say that we're looking forward to two weeks of cold weather. We're spoiled by the South this time of year. Yes, it is snowing now, but it will 75 in a couple of days!

Waiting for Gustav (and now Ike)

Well it's been one exciting last week and a half. Ever since Gustav came on the scene our lives have been a bit hectic. Friends started evacuating the Friday before the storm and the city was looking quite cleared out.

There was a lemonade stand sale at the Rose's on the Friday before. Grace Marie ordered a super cute stand from Sunkist and we had lots of people stop by. Many of them were people evacuating!



Nora Byrne came to visit us Friday as well. She flew all the way to New Orleans from San Diego only to find a city already half empty from evacuations. Mike and I picked her up from the airport at 1:00 am and took her straight to the French Quarter! We did some sight seeing on Saturday at any place we could still find open. And then Nora got the illustrious honor of packing up with us and evacuating. We had to make fun decisions like what we couldn't live without if we lost our house. And then we traveled to Shreveport leaving at 1:30 am on Sunday, with the contraflow and with our cat Tabitha.


In Shreveport, we got to stay with Joan and her household. They graciously hosted us for almost a week while we waited for Gustav to pass and NOLA to reopen! The Reinhardts also ended up there, so Carolyn, Nora and I got to hang out. I doubt we've done that since college. I had about 10 hours of sleep in 4 days, so I was utterly exhausted. But I was happy to be out of the way of the storm.



Mike and I also took the opportunity to jet off to Dallas/Fort Worth for a day to visit some of Mike's family who lives there. We stayed with Uncle Phil and Aunt Laura. We went to dinner with Mike's cousin Scott and his wife Christine along with Phil and Laura. It was fantastic Mexican food and I'm very sad that restaurant is now 9 hours away! Mike indulged me by taking me to a fantastic fabric store and then we were able to go to the Fort Worth zoo.


We finally made it back home yesterday evening. Thankfully the power had come on right about 2 hours before we came home. We traveled back with a priest who was the brother of a friend and of course our cat. We're happily recovering back home with minimal damage and just waiting to see what Ike will do!

Hello to everyone! Summer has sped along this year, although the heat has kept us going slow. :) For some reason we're noticing the heat a bit more this year. I can't wait for fall and winter when it is so wonderful to be living here without snow.

Mike and I were so happy to once again be able to briefly join the Coney clan on vacation this year. Lucky for us, they were vacationing fairly close by, so we could drive in for the weekend. It was the first time that we had been to the Gulf and it was an eye opening experience. And it was definitely wild kingdom! There were tons of jellyfish making it very difficult to swim in the water. And yes, we did get stung and yes, it REALLY hurts. And we saw dolphins swimming off the coast and stingrays and tons of fish. We even got to hunt for sandcrabs in the dark. And of course we had great meals, cocktails and conversation with the Coney family.


We also TRIED to go to a Sound of Music sing a long at the WWII musuem downtown with Reinhardts and the Roses. Unfortunately we found out when we got there that we were some of the many people being turned away because it was completely sold out. This was so sad and particularly because we had all gotten dressed up to go. It's more fun if you look like an Austrian! So we decided to defy convention and instead went bowling in our costumes. The workers there thought that we were Menanites, but when they saw we were drinking decided to ask us what we were about. I happily informed them that I had worked hard on my costume and gosh darn it, I was going to wear it. They were highly amused.





This week was exciting because Mike injured his knee on Monday falling about 3 feet through a floor. I had to pick him up from across town and he was in intense pain. We decided not to go to the emergency room right away and then remembered that we could see Dave Edwards instead. Dave got us in within a couple of hours that Mike was able to spend at home resting on the couch. Mike had a few people come over to pray with him and by the time he went to see Dave, they were able to tell that his knee was not broken. Mike and I had been having visions of surgery and deductibles. :) His knee is still really stiff a week later, but he was really spared a worse diagnosis.


We're happily in the midst of some interesting weather. A tropical depression perhaps? Whatever it is, it's the first of "bad" weather we've had since we moved here. So far, so good. It has been pretty mild, but we're prepared for worse if it happens. At the very least, we're going to have a lot of rain for the next week.

Summer Times

Well once again time has gotten away from me and it's been far too long since we've updated the blog. We've been super busy and we're ready for some boring times. :) At least for a few days.

Mike and I took a much needed vacation to the Smokey Mountains in early June. We had a great time hiking in the mountains and seeing the local sights. We were able to visit a couple of caves and saw a bunch of waterfalls. We even made it to Dollywood! We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast with great views of the mountains and yummy dinners and breakfasts. It was fun to see the local artisans and check out their quilting, pottery and carvings.



We've also had a slew of visitors staying with us lately. It's made the house hopping! The Ronaynes recently moved to the NOLA branch and we've been hosting their family in various capacities for the last couple months. It's been great to get to know them all. We've been watching lots of episodes of "The Office" with Mark and Mike is working hard at perfecting imitations of the characters.

In June we also had the special treat of my parents visiting. They were here for about a week and a half and stayed with us for part of the time and downtown for the rest. We were able to go to a great Plantation, the zoo and even some festivals in the quarter. They particularly enjoyed going to the insectitarium, but anyone who knows me knows that I did NOT go with them. :) Dad and I also worked hard on a number of puzzles. Each one was harder than the one before it. But we did eventually finish them all.



We recently had a big 4th of July party. Mike set off a great show of big beautiful (and probably illegal!) fireworks. It was great fun. We had lots of fun guests including a bunch of people newly in NOLA including Paul and Grace Marie Rose and family, Mark and Heather Ronayne and family and the very new Peter Reinhardt.



Life has been very full and wonderful!

Here comes the rain and the bride

Well spring is in full swing here in New Orleans. It's been a lovely cool spring that's just starting to develop into summer heat. And time has flown as quickly as our cool weather has.

After our trip to South Bend, Mike and I found ourselves very busy with fun times. We were able to host Mark and Heather Ronayne from the Portland/Vancouver branch at our home. They recently decided to move their family down to NOLA and we're super excited. Mark has been staying with us these couple of months while he starts his new job and waits for his family to join him in the summer. We're watching lots of Office reruns and having a great time in general.

We were also really excited to have Joan and her household from Shreveport come join us for Jazz Fest. Billy Joel was playing and we were all looking forward to it. We did get to see him but it was under the cover of inches of rain. It poured rain the entire day we were there. But Joan and the girls ran to the stage and danced in the rain anyway. It was definitely a memorable day!


And most recently we've been very busy with all of the details for Andy Shaw and Elyse Pappenfort's wedding. I hosted a shower for Elyse and we just hosted a craw fish boil rehearsal dinner as well.



And just today they had their beautiful wedding here in New Orleans. It was pretty hot, but that didn't deter anyone from having a great time. Elyse looked beautiful and Andy was beaming from ear to ear. We were all happy that it didn't rain today b/c it's been raining buckets the last couple of days and we have plenty of water.




Mike and I are looking forward to a little vacation to the Smokey mountains in a week and I'm sure that I'll have lots of beautiful pictures to share from that. We hope everyone is doing well and isn't too busy with the end of the school year!

I leave you with a darling picture of Tess Meehan and Daniel and Jane Reinhardt playing in the water in our yard after all the rain.

Musings from March and April

Hello All!

This year Mike and I were able to host our first Seder meal. We had a great group of people and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. Mike made some excellent lamb and everyone LOVED his matza. Everyone said that they wanted to be there again next year.

March

Recently Mike and I got to take a trip to South Bend. We were able to surprise my mom for her birthday. You should have seen her face! She was shocked to see us there. :) It was fun to see my family and have a great dinner with the Zwernemans to celebrate my mom's birthday.

I was also able to attend a baby shower for Jenni Busk. She's expecting identical twin girls! It was very exciting to be able to finally give her the quilts that I'd been working on for the girls. Mike and I were also able to go to Chicago and spend some time with James and Jenni. Their hands are going to be very full soon!

Here's Jenni with the quilts for the nursery.




We also got to catch up with many friends and Pingel family. We apologize for anyone we didn't get to see, but it was a super quick visit.

Mike and I have also been busy in the yard a lot lately. Here in New Orleans we're almost into summer weather, but we've had a lovely spring. Mike and I spent a lot of time working in the back yard planting and building raised beds and steps. Everything is looking great and we've made even more progress than these pictures show.




Our spring continues to busy with visitors and parties. There are many fun activities coming up including Jazz fest, wedding showers and rehearsal dinners for friends.

March is already here!

I know it's been a shamefully long time since we have updated the blog. But I promise, I am planning on being better about it. I know...promises, promises.

Life has been pretty full this winter. I mentioned last time that we got to go to South Bend for Thanksgiving. It was a busy time with between the Finkes and the Pingels. We celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas there.


When we got home, we started planning for our Christmas party right away. This year we had a fun addition of LED flashing light cubes in our drinks. The green glow worried some, but they were quickly reassured when we told them that we hadn't added anything radioactive to their drinks.
It was fun once again to have a mix of New Orleans and South Bend friends at the party.


Right after Christmas we received news that sadly Mike's Uncle Ted had passed away. Mike and I drove the 10 hours to St Louis to join the rest of the Kastner family in celebrating Ted's life. It turned out to be a wonderful time of honoring and good fun among the family.
We were pleased to see all Mike's immediate family and quite a bit of the extended family. It was great to get to know everyone better.

Ted's funeral

Mike turned 35 this year and I managed to throw him a little surprise party. He wasn't expecting it all, so it was especially fun. Dave and Megan Edward's graciously hosted it and all had a good time.



Mardi Gras came especially early this year with Easter being so early. So we quickly jumped into those celebrations. This year we had a better idea of what to expect . It was fun to go to different parades in different parts of town.
For those in the know, we saw Endymion, Rex, Toth and the end of one of the parades in Metairie. We also made it through about 60 of the truck parades! This was my first Mardi Gras day (I was sick last year) and it was so fun to see all the costumes that people dress up in. I'm determined to wear costumes next year!


Most recently we made a trip to Shreveport for Joan's graduation. Joan received her Masters of Science in Education. She did amazingly well in school and graduated with VERY high honors (I told her that I was going to brag about her ;) ). We were expected guests, but she also had a whole group of surprise guests from Minnesota, South Bend, and Indianapolis. Many have lived with Joan in the past. We were equally surprised and delighted to see these friends! It turned into a great weekend of fun and fellowship.


Life in New Orleans continues to go well. We're certainly enjoying the weather at this time of year (especially when we hear how cold and snowy it's been this year in South Bend). We just bought a few trees for our yard, a river birch and a couple of palm trees. We're slowly making this house a home!

Love you all and miss you!!

A Busy Fall

Hello All!
I know that it has been far too long since we've put up a new post. We've had a busy fall with a cruise to Mexico with my brother Jeremy and his wife Amy, a quick trip to Disney World with our friends James and Jenni, and a couple of trips to South Bend. We were able to spend Thanksgiving and celebrate a bit of Christmas while we were up North. We even got to see snow for the first time in a couple of years. We're currently planning our Christmas Party and looking forward to that in another week. We'll be spending Christmas in New Orleans and hanging out with the Coney's. It should be a lot of fun!
Here's some pictures from some of the trips that we've taken this fall! I hope you enjoy.

cruise 2007

Disney 2007

Greetings in the summer heat

Hello everyone!
Well once again, time has gotten away from me and I've been a bit lax in posting a new update on the blog.

Mike's business continues to thrive and he just got a new job that is just a couple of blocks away. It's great because he's able to come home for lunch, so I get to see him just a bit more often. He's busy doing estimates for other jobs and learning the ropes of what's required in the cities here.

We did manage to pull off hosting the POP baby shower for Eileen Timler at our house the other week. It was full of fun including a great game with melted chocolate bars in diapers...just imagine it! Here's some pictures if you would like to see them!

Eileen's Baby Shower

We hope that everyone is doing well and will hopefully keep you more updated on our lives in the future. We have a few trips planned for the next couple of months and we'll share all of that with you!

Love, Ang and Mike

Visit to South Bend

Well, the craziness of the 4th of July has passed and I finally have a moment to sit down and update the blog.

Recently Mike and I took a trip to South Bend to visit with friends and family. Once again we stayed with the very hospitable Matt and Carrie Urbanski. Thanks again guys! The first day and a half that we were there we spent some time looking over a couple of properties that Mike is trying to sell and ending up doing a bunch of yard work to increase their curb appeal. The weather was actually very cool (by our new standards!) and we didn't suffer in the heat doing all that work.

Mike then took off for a few days to hang with some guy friends of his and I continued to visit with people. Highlights include going to the Spa at Colfax with my mom, spending the day with my mom and later the rest of my family, shopping with Carrie in Michigan city (which I really miss!) and Lord's day with some friends. I was also able to attend the community meeting on Friday night and it was really interesting to go back to such a big meeting after only attending our small branch meetings for the last year and a half. It was great to see everyone there and get a quick chance to catch up with people.

On Sunday the guys came back and Mike and I again visited my parents (they claimed that they wanted to see him!) and then we took off for Pingel world. We had a great afternoon and evening visiting with all (well most) of our neices and nephews, brothers and sisters and parents. That's when I actually broke out the camera, so here's a collection of pics with lots of Pingels (and some JT). Beware, there are alot of pics...but they're great ones, so try to make it through them!

pingels 2007

For those of you we didn't see, we'll catch you next time! It was just a few days that we were there and we packed every minute in. Hopefully we'll see people in the fall!

Love, Mike and Ang

Summer Heat

Well it's officially summer here in New Orleans. The heat has finally made it here and it's coming down hard. Thankfully we had a really lovely spring and got to be outside alot and enjoy the great weather. But now reality is setting in and I think that we might be spending a bit less time out doors. At least in the middle of the day!
Life has continued to fly by. Mike's business is continuing to be successful. He's been working on the same job for a couple of months now and they are very pleased with his work. It looks like they may be a good couple for passing out recommendations too. So more work could be coming in because of this job. I'm pretty sure that he's got the next couple of jobs lined up after this one although they're a bit smaller.
Our major changes lately have been vehicles. Mike made the decision to sell his dump trailer because given the work that he is doing down here and the great trash service, it really hasn't been necessary to hold on to it. Another big reason is that there just isn't a lot of land to store a piece of equipment like that. Then, given that he sold his heavy trailer, he's decided to downsize his truck (it's big! and bulky) to something smaller. So I'm pretty sure that he's just selling that today...after just putting it up for sale yesterday. So praise God for that. Although Mike might have to scramble to find a new car now! Haha! We've also been looking at new cars for us (me!) to use everyday. The lease on our pilot is coming up and we are looking at other vehicles to buy or lease. We've been very happy with the pilot, but I've been pressuring him to downsize that car too. It's just a tad to big for me (I don't think that I could ever drive a 15 passenger van!) and I want something smaller. So we've been looking at cars like the Honda CRV and Hyundai Tuscon...we'll see what kind of deals we can find!
We come into South Bend on the 20th and hopefully we'll be able to see some of you then. I'll be able to compare summer heat and reassure everyone here that it does indeed get hot in South Bend! We're looking forward to that trip and some others towards the end of the summer. Finally we get to take a vacation! We're also getting ready to celebrate our 5th anniversary in July. Hard to believe!
It's great to hear from everyone and we always appreciate any news...keep in touch!

-Mike and Angela Pingel

Greetings for May!

Hello Everyone,
Well life is pretty much back to normal around here. I had surgery about 3 weeks ago and we've both been recovering from that :) But therefore there have been no new updates from our life...I've spent much of that time glued to my couch and I'm just happy not to be there anymore. Mike has been busily working away on a fire damaged home of some friends of people we know down here. It sounds like they are making good progress there.
We've had a little drama around here the last couple of days because we made the big decision ( :) ) to keep our tree in our backyard and just get it trimmed. Both are expensive decisions, but the termites down here have made it a necessity. Apparently our tree has a death sentence, but with treatment and trimming we should be able to keep it for a good 10 more years. I have some fun pictures of the tree trimmers that I will post when I get them on the computer. It's been a pretty amazing thing to watch...they have to go really high and drop pieces of lumber within inches of the house and other plants. We've been really impressed with them and the tree looks so much better already.

Tree trimming May 2007

May will be an exciting month for us because my brother is in town for a few days and then many Coney's will be in town for a wedding. We're excited to get to see all of those people. And the Reinhardt's will be moving 2 doors down on Memorial Day. That will increase our life activity!
We're planning on coming to South Bend around the 20th of June. Mike will be around part of that time (he's off with friends) and I will be around the whole time. I decided to come with him this time because last time I realized how many people I would be able to see then. Sadly air fare has really gone up! It's very prohibiting to visit :( But we miss everyone and want to see people. So look us up when we're in town if you will be there!

Okay, well that's all for now. Obviously nothing earth shattering is happening in our lives, but that's okay. If the earth shattered all the time then I would wonder what we were doing wrong! :)

We miss you all and love you!
Mike and Angela

Visit to Shreveport

Hello Again Everyone,
Mike and I got to take a trip to Shreveport this weekend for Jack Lynch and Teresa O'Connor's wedding. The wedding was beautiful and very moving, but we were most excited to get to see Joan and all the people in Allendale. We've both been there before, but not in quite a while. In fact, I hadn't been there since the women even started living there. It was wonderful to see their life and enjoy the southern hospitality. They definitely have a great thing going.
Of course I thought that I was taking lots of pictures there all weekend, but as is often the case I was wrong. It's not too shoddy an amount, but I have more pictures in my head! We were excited to see all the other people in town for the wedding including Chris Vieck, Debbie Mixell, and Sean Connolly...and of course there was a good turnout from the New Orleans branch because we always like a party! Hopefully now that we've made the trip once it won't be so overwhelming to do it again. It's a 5 hour drive which is do-able, but not necessarily all that enjoyable...plus the roads are a bit bouncy which makes for some upset stomachs :( But we prevail! It just makes us all that more appreciative when someone makes the trip for us. My new goal is to find a halfway point so that we could each travel a couple of hours and spend the day with each other.

Shreveport Visit

We've also been doing lots of work on our garden. I've told a number of you that and have had requests for pictures of our work...hence the somewhat boring group of pictures of plants. But they make us very excited. I always find that when I plant something I feel like our house becomes more of a home. There's more permanence about it when you take the time to plant something new. Plus Mike and I just like to make everything look more beautiful. Regardless, we're just getting started...so don't laugh (or do!) at the size of our fruit trees. One days we will be able to make great gin and tonics with the limes from our back yard! The plants that we moved with us from South Bend continue to thrive here (kind of like us!) and it makes us want to go get more from our old house...haha! But we're also trying to explore all the different kinds of plants that you can grow down here that you can't up north. If nothing else, it's been amazing to have flowers in our yard all year round.

Garden April 2007

Hopefully most of you are no longer experiencing any snow...but if you are, you should just come visit. It's 80 degrees here!

Love, Mike and Angela

Happy Easter

Easter

I just wanted to post some pictures on the blog of some of the people that we spent Easter sunday with.

As usual the Coney's graciously hosted us at their house for a grand meal. Thank you! We also got to attend the same Sunday mass as Tom and Diane, which was very beautiful...worthy of an Easter Celebration.

Later on in the day, the POP had their Easter celebration filled with songs, sharings and lots of food. There was even an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Many of the pictures are from this event.

We missed seeing all of our family for Easter, but had a special treat this year because Jim and Colleen Pingel and family came into town for Easter. That's the first time they have all been here since we moved here! What fun!

We hope you all had a blessed and wonderful day...even if it was snowing where you were!!

Love, Mike and Angela

Late Pictures of Joseph Edward's Arrival

Sorry that these pictures have take a while to get posted.

Mike and I had the honor to be at the airport when Megan Edwards brought home her newly adopted son Joseph from Guatamala along with her mother Linda Coney. I know I was moved to tears by the site of Dave getting to see his son for the first time. (and I wasn't the only one)

Joseph seems to be adjusting beautifully these days to his new family. We got to go to a birthday party for his 1st birthday just a couple of days ago. Let me tell you that kid is not hurting for toys! :)

I hope you enjoy the pictures.
-Angela


click for more pictures

Our 1 Year New Orleans Anniversary!

It's hard to believe, but Mike and I moved to New Orleans exactly one year ago today! Life has definitely changed alot for us in the last year...we have lived with Tom and Diane Evans for 5 of those months, worked on fixing up our own house, and finally moved into it at the end of August. We've enjoyed all the new friendships that we've developed over the last 12 months and all the great times we've had with people.

Some highlights of the year include Andy and Elyse moving down here too so Andy could work with Mike. Getting to live with Tom and Diane. Crashing the Coney family vacation. Going to Portland for David Shaw's ordination and South Bend for Susan Ranaghan's wedding. Throwing our first Christmas Party in New Orleans. Both our parents visiting and James and Jenni Busk visiting. Bill and Carolyn Reinhardt deciding to move in just two doors down! And of course most recently (if you haven't already heard) was little Jane Reinhardt being born just a week and a half ago.

We're both a year older and hopefully a little wiser! HaHa! We definitely want to invite anyone down who wants to come see us or New Orleans. We have a guest room that ya'll are welcome to.

Sadly I still don't like seafood, but happily Mike loves it. We had a great little cookout the other night with Dan and Anne Brewer and Bill and Carolyn Reinhardt and Tom Mulhearn (who was visiting law schools)...it was on a Friday during Lent, so they all made shrimp and I had cheese pizza! Maybe someday it will grow on me, but don't hold your breath.

We're looking forward in the next couple of months to Jim and Colleen and Family visiting (they'll see Colleen's family too), Amanda Coney's wedding, and a trip to Shreveport for a wedding and a chance to see Joan, Gretchen and all the Allendale folk. Hopefully we'll have some good pictures to add for all that!

Oh and today's my mom's birthday, so I wanted to wish her "Happy Birthday!" Yep..that's right, we moved on my mom's birthday. That's how I remember the day. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

Love, Mike and Ang