The King of Rock & Roll

Last week Jennifer, Gwen, Evan and I went to see Elvis. Believe me when I say Elvis lives on...the theater was full of happy fans. One little girl chanted "We want Elvis, we want Elvis..." How cute is that? :)

It was very cool! I wasn't a huge Elvis fan when I was young...but now I really appreciate his music so much more. The amazing thing is that even in the era in which he performed, (when singers didn't wear the ear monitors) he was always right on. Right on pitch, right on the beat. And what a powerful, emotional singer he was. See for yourself - check out "Elvis, Aloha from Hawaii" and the "68 Comeback Special" Those are Elvis at his finest.

For Easter vacation one year, Don, Jennifer and I went to Memphis and visited Graceland. It was awesome and we want to go back soon.

"Twenty Interesting Things About Elvis"

1. Elvis was born in Tupelo, Mississippi.
2. Elvis had an identical twin brother, who was stillborn.
3. When Elvis received a guitar for his eleventh birthday, he was disappointed; he was hoping for a bike.
4. Elvis was reportedly regarded by fellow students as a “trashy kid who sang hillbilly music” when he took his guitar to school and sang during lunch.
5. In the eighth grade, Elvis received a “C” in music.
6. Elvis never learned to read music.
7. Elvis made only one appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, in October of 1954. They never invited him back.
8. The first riot following an Elvis concert occurred in Jacksonville, FL, after Elvis finished a show by saying, “Girls, I’ll see you backstage.”
9. Frank Sinatra, in a magazine interview, decried the new brand of music that Elvis introduced as “brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious.
10. “Heartbreak Hotel” was the first Elvis single to sell over a million copies.
11. After a controversial (and sensuous) performance of “Hound Dog” on The Milton Berle Show, Elvis appeared on The Steve Allen Show, where he sang “Hound Dog” to a Basset Hound.
12. The first Grammy Award Elvis won was for the 1967 Gospel release, “How Great Thou Art.”
13. Elvis reportedly had a problem with teenage boys wanting to beat him up on his tour stops.
14. Elvis was six feet tall.
15. The Cleveland Browns was Elvis’ favorite football team.
16. Elvis’ natural hair color was blond (in his early years) and light/dirty brown; he dyed it black.
17. Elvis wore a cross, a star of David, and other religious symbols around his neck, explaining “I don’t want to miss out on heaven due to a technicality.”
18. Elvis was awarded two medals while serving in the Army, one for expert marksmanship, the other for sharpshooting.
19. Elvis held a black belt in karate.
20. Elvis died of a heart attack on August 16, 1977. Many mistakenly believe he died of a drug overdose.

Bonus fact: Graceland is the 2nd most visited house in the United States (The White House is #1).

He was an American original and he was fantastic! ~

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Without a doubt, that title implies that I made dinner. For someone. I didn't. (it was Saturday!)

The best surprises are when you least expect them. After a busy day, Don & I arrived home at the same time late Saturday afternoon....wondering, what are we going to do this evening? At about that time our doorbell rang, and there stood wonderful friends!!! Well, two friends and one stranger, ha.

Steve Christiansen had driven over from Houston with his daughter Sarah and her new husband Jacob. They'd spent some time down on the Creole Nature Trail looking for gators. We were so tickled to see them!! We have such a long history together and it's always fun to visit. We got out some old video of years ago and watched Sarah, Jennifer, and Michelle tear it up as mini-cheerleaders.

Steve said they were wondering if we had any recommendations for a place with good Cajun food for dinner? Hello, is the Pope Catholic?? ;) So, we headed for....

...Steamboat Bill's on the Lake, our go-to place. Diets flew out the window for the night. At least mine did.

Jacob & Sarah stop and smile by the turtle shell.

Steve, Sarah & Jacob

Our gang. If we look happy it's because we have just eaten food from heaven.

Jacob & Sarah are such cute newlyweds!! (married less than a yr. = newlyweds in my book) They ate gumbo, shrimp, crawfish and more.

Steve hasn't forgotten how to eat crawfish.

After dinner we drove around a little and stopped off at Chris & Jennifer's house. A fun night, sweet friends, good food.

~ laissez les bons temps rouler ~

Summer Reading ~

When I was a kid, I loved reading in the summer. It was such a relief to be able to read for pleasure and not for school. No homework!!! My sister and I always joined the summer reading program at our library. It was one of the few places we could get to on our own...walking or riding our bikes. We lived in town, but with a dad who was working shift work and mostly unwilling to take us anywhere, and a mom who couldn't drive (poor vision) we were basically stranded. So going to the library was a big deal.

The head librarian was Mrs. Charles, and she liked me - but still, she was unwilling to let me check out Gone With The Wind unless I got a note from my mother. And so I did. I think I was in about 5th grade...I sure thought I was something to be reading such racy stuff.

I've always loved reading, so choosing my minor in college was easy...Library Science. ;) These days it's hard for me to get into fiction, but I make an exception for John Grisham. I'm also on the list for House Rules, by Jodi Picoult. Anyone read that?

I rarely buy books, but I keep my library in business. I usually go to Central in Lake Charles. It's so easy to choose a book, request it online, and go pick it up when I get the email that it's waiting. Cool, huh? And, no I don't have a Kindle. I really like the feel of books...you know, turning the pages, holding it in your hand.

So, here's a partial list of some things I've been reading:

Last night I finished Women Food and God by Geneen Roth. It's about emotional eating, and overeating. To me, her approach is both very deep, and yet overly simplified. This has been excerpted in several magazines so chances are you might have read part of it already.


I was anxious to get into Laura Bush's book. She's intriguing, really. I enjoyed the story of how she grew up as an only child and married into the larger than life Bush clan.


Several insightful stories in her book...the story of the car accident (she was at fault) in which a young man died. It happened when she was a teenager. Also, hearing about when the twins were born and she was a young mother. This isn't a page-turner though. Laura writes in much the same way she speaks...measured, and matter of fact, but with sincerity. I'm glad I read it.

I also finished Switch this month. This book is awesome!! It was a fun read and I really learned a lot. Some of their ideas are not new, it's things we've heard before, but these guys - Chip & Dan Heath (brothers) are very cool.


You might not have heard of this one, Making Toast, written by Roger Rosenblatt. When his daughter, Amy - 38 years old, a gifted doctor, mother, and wife - collapsed and died suddenly, he and his wife moved in to help care for the 3 little ones she left behind.

Making Toast is the story of that first year together. It's touching, poignant and even funny - yes, even in tragedy, that are things to smile at. This is a family story, how people who love each other can hold on tight and walk through heartbreaking pain. I loved this book. It's short and a fast read. Run, don't walk, to the library and get it.

And... (you had to know I would) I read Kitty Kelly's unauthorized biography, Oprah. It was fascinating.


I enjoyed it. Every. Single. Word. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

What are you reading this summer???

Heads: barbeque, Tails: crawfish (heads too)

We recently held our 1st Heads & Tails weekend. We started with heads...Saturday morning, our ward was having a Barbeque. Jennifer is the Activities Comm. Chairman so she was in charge...and basically the rest of us (me, Don, RaeAnn, Wayne and Chris) were enlisted too. Charles and Lou Ellen were in town to join the party. Don and Charles were the official Masters of the Grill and they did a fine job of grilling the chicken. It was hot but there were some water games and plenty of shade. You may wonder how heads relates to barbeque chicken, but we did have burgers (beef) too and I was humming the old cowboy theme song: "Head 'em up, move 'em out...Rawhide!!" If you're not old enough to remember that, you're just wet behind the ears.

The guys napped through the afternoon and the girls shopped. Lou Ellen was wearing a green shirt, so I put on a green one too. Because of course, we should match - just in case Matt Lauer appears on the doorstep to interview us for something. Or a reporter from a major newspaper wants a quote about...say, Keith Urban. Hey, it could happen! And it has. ; )

We make a lovely citrus trio here, don't you think?

That evening the tails portion of the weekend commenced. We all went to Sausage Link for another round of crawfish and other assorted good stuff. Chris got fried chicken strips and onion rings. Jennifer went for the full 5 lb. tray.

Don had so much fun he could barely contain himself....
Same goes for Wayne...
Lou Ellen & Charles were ready for boudin and the crawfish tails...and the heads too.
Charles is mighty proud of his tray. After all, these are primo.

Lou Ellen was living large with her crawfish heads. That is, until...
...until she finished with the heads and claws and had what we shall call, the case of the burning lips. FYI, when you eat the claws and suck the juice out, that's the hottest part of the crawfish. Capable of inflicting pain. So be aware, only milk-based products can take the heat away. Ice, no. Water, no. Coke, no. Milk, yes. Ice cream...yes, yes, yes. So off we went, straight to Winky Doo's. Ice cream and yogurt.

Heads & Tails...Rawhide!! ~

Justin

Our first baby!! I was due on May 14, except I had other plans. I was graduating that day from McNeese State University and really wanted to be there. I was setting a record of my own since I was the first person (and first grandchild) on the Lyons side of the family, a large and motley group - to earn a Bachelor's degree (Aunt Helen told me so). So I hoped that the baby would be late. And he was. Justin was born the next week, on May 20th, weighing in at a healthy 8 lbs. 8 oz., and quickly became the center of our universe! That was many moons ago, but I still remember what it felt like.

Each baby changes a family, but the first one is amazing. It's not like no one has ever had a baby before, but when the first grandchild comes along, it just seems like it. That's what happened when Justin was born. He was a cute and happy baby and everyone adored him...my whole family delighted in holding him, playing with him, talking about him to anyone who would listen.

Having a baby changed me and Don too. We went from being a couple to having a little family of our own. Everything seemed sort of magical to me...(well, not the sleepless nights or diapers, but everything else!)...almost like I got to live my childhood over again, but better. There were kittens to laugh at, swings to swing on, round fat pumpkins to pat, and Christmas lights, filled with wonder, as I saw them all through Justin's eyes. And I loved falling into the world of children's storybooks.




I love being a Mom. And I love you, Justin...Happy Birthday son!

Son of a gun, we'll have big fun...

OK, I'm guilty. I ate, I drank (diet soda), I danced around in my pajamas. Yes I did and I'm proud! We had a houseful of sleeping people (2 babies) and Keith Urban was on the Late Show, what ELSE could I do???

Anyway, we had some good food, a whole lotta fun, and an intense round of Pirate's Dice (our favorite!). My niece Clarissa & her hubby Wade and their girls came over to visit last week. Wade figured it was time he got in on the crawfish around here. After all, his girls are part Cajun...he needs to know from whence they came. So off to Sausage Link we went, in search of our roots.


It's not a true Cajun-deal unless you: 1) order boiled crawfish and boudin balls 2) in a former convenience store 3) with granite-topped tables 4) with a baby perched on top. Check!!

Something hilarious happened. Just take my word for it.

Jennifer shows how it's done. Her Cajun heritage is intact.

The weekend before was Mother's Day. We took Don's mom, Mary, out to eat at Pat's of Henderson. The frog legs and oysters were delish! It's not easy to get these two to smile in the same picture but I did it. I'll never tell...

On Mother's Day afternoon we continued our long-standing family tradition of having a crawfish boil (Jason gets the credit for starting that).

Sam lounged on the trailer while we ate. He is happy I'm his mother. You can tell by the look on his face.


I got some nice gifts for Mother's Day. My favorite was a Southern Living Galveston Memo Board. Love it! Justin and Barbara got me a pretty basket of flowers.

And a good time was had by all. ;)

Got to roll me ~

I posted this on FB, but if you missed it... :) I'm sitting here watching the video of Keith Urban on Jimmy Fallon. Keith did Tumbling Dice (Rolling Stones) and he just killed it!!!

I thought it was noteworthy enough to warrant a post all it's own. Things to watch for: the backup singers are famous, see if you know who they are...and the keyboardist is crazy-good!! At the end Keith gives a shout-out to Nashville...he's been heading up support for all the people who lost so much in the floods.



Keith will be performing on the big telethon to help Nashville, this Sunday night on GAC (someone have mercy and invite me over...we don't get GAC)
http://www.theboot.com/2010/05/13/gac-flood-relief-telethon/

Got to roll me...keep on rolling.