my little Catholic baby...

We baptized Evangeline on Sunday. She was so precious. Everyone kept saying they had never seen a baby not make a single peep in the ceremony. That's my girl!

Before the big day, we wanted to have the godparents over for a "rehearsal" if you will. Tison cooked crock-pot ribs and everyone pitched in with potato salad, salad, and bbq beans. Justin and Sara, who traveled from Dallas, brought some Texas craft brews for us to try. The Revolver: Blood and Honey was very complex. I want one right now, actually.

We gathered on Sunday at St. Joseph Catholic Church (where I was baptized) for the sacrament of baptism and were joined by family and a few close friends. Evangeline wore my baptismal gown that my godmother bought for me many moons ago. My sisters were baptized in it, as well as Hudson and Andrew - kind of a special garment!

A special thank you to everyone who took pictures of this special moment for our family! My hands were getting a little shaky without my camera - ha.

The reception at DeeDee's was special. The house was full of love and FOOD! The menu: dips, finger sandwiches, beautiful personalized cookies, cake balls, pecan sandies, lemon squares, fruit and veggie trays, beer, champagne and punch. -pheew!

Now we've got a little cat-lic' bebe ;) 

Jordan and Justin- y'all are now officially family! Thanks for being a part of Miss E's life.

Click here for Hudson or Andrew's baptismal day.

lately through the linz...

life according to my iphone:

What can I say- pregnancy is tiring! By the time I have done the things, I am too tired to blog about doing the things! I have, however, been snapping photos along the way. Here is a "lately through the linz" update for ya...

We did some house hunting and we played some mini golf. I used this specially-for-me reserved parking.

I've craved burgers, I've watched my belly grow, I bought an outfit for little girl, and I have loved the fall.

We went to the new Dunkin' Donuts and it was so good- the chocolate filled ones are my new favorite, but their lattes are even better than their donuts!

We celebrated Andrew turning one, I visited Mom's Day Outs, I got to see baby girl sucking her thumb. AND we signed our lives away- err- I mean, bought a new house!

We said goodbye to the Dudley- my home for 5 years... we traveled to Canton and found this adorable halloween outfit for next year ;)

 We went on a road trip to Tahlequah, Oklahoma with Russell and Tiffany for Nick and Angie's wedding.

We held a successful work meeting, Tison finished the fence and the boys were welcomed into our new home, and I picked out chalk paint at Milling Around for the nursery furniture!

I read Divergent and loved it- Allison threw an amazing book club. We are currently reading Gone Girl.

We painted the nursery walls and the furniture and picked out bedding...

We celebrated Halloween at Kate's house with delicious treats and pumpkin carving.

 We made smores.

I went to Paul's wedding and watched Maggie dance, I started noticing Christmas items in stores already. We had special visitors from Chicago over for dinner. Aiden is such a precious baby girl! And Tison and I both dressed up for Halloween at work. Aren't we festive ;)

 Our friend Leslie threw a Halloween party and her house was decorated to the nines! Loved it. There was also a pretty heated debate about the rules of beer pong... yep, my husband led the discussion.

 The boys are having a ball in their new backyard. I am enjoying watching them play in this bigger space. We had the family over for 'family dinner' and Tison made homemade french onion soup!

I have been looking around at TJMaxx, Marshalls, Tuesday Morning, and World Market for home decor ideas :)

I am 26 weeks pregnant! Whoohoo!

 And we are still going strong with Movie Night every Thursday- last night we watched White House Down (a very silly movie) while dining on bbq bacon wrapped chicken, bbq beans, salad, hawaiian rolls, and rice crispy treats (a very good meal)!

Well, there ya go! We are all up to date now :) xoxo

new year, new plans...

{My friend Jordan and me at Tacomania over the holiday achieving # 9. See below.}

Notes for this New Year:

1. Become more organized in the kitchen.
     - plan out meals and grocery shop before you are hungry!
     - clean out pantry; organize spices
     - clip and keep our favorite recipes in a cookbook
         + repeat favorites to get better and better at them :)
     - learn how to bake bread, to can veggies, pre-make and freeze food for the week

2. Be on time!
     - wake up earlier to share breakfast, actually pick out an outfit instead of throwing on
       what's clean and at arms length.
     - it takes longer than you expect to get ready!
     - if you aren't rushing out the door then you aren't rushing in the car
       + this will help prevent road rage.
          Note to self: throwing your arms up and yelling at innocent drivers is not cute.

3. Start doing group fitness activities like:
     - walking/strolling with Lauren and Hudson
     - biking and tennis
     - walking the dogs with Ty on a more regular basis
     - yoga with coworkers during lunch break

4. Wash car on a regular basis - you are still paying for the automobile- it should look like new.

5. Keep a detailed budget (pretty sure this has been one of my resolutions since my first allowance)
     - account for where you $ is going every month.
     - try the envelope method like Lauren and David.
       + an envelope for entertainment and put cash in it - when it's gone, it's gone!

6. Take good care of yourself by making regular doctors appointments!
     - dentist, dermatologist, optometrist, gyno

7. Continue once a week training with James, but add 1 group class and 1 cardio night.

8. Organize a proper office area that inspires creativity and organization.
     - for painting supplies, photography, magazine clippings, etc.

9. Reach out to friends you haven't spoken to in awhile by calling or sending a handwritten note.

10. Learn about gardening and practice in the backyard
     - plan an outdoor party in the spring to motivate this goal.

11. Paint more.

12. Practice the violin on a regular basis.

13. Take knitting and card making lessons from mom.

14. Find an alternative to Visine. Admit it, you are addicted. In fact, I could use some right now...

15. Plan a romantic getaway this year.

16. Remove the clutter from your life- too much excess...

17. Spend most of your time and energy with the ones you love.
     - Love unconditionally and with no restraints...

poolside...

Let the summer fun begin!

My friends Jordan and Patrick were in for a visit from Chicago for a few days and I caught up with the Gedeon gals poolside. This family amazes me. I honestly love everyone so much. Babs, Jordan & Patrick, Ryan & Jase, Adrienne, Allison, Lauren, and Matthew- y'all are awesome! Jordan and Ryan have been my friends for over 10 years now and I treasure each time we get to to spend together, whether its sharing the serious stuff or having a chicken fight in the pool ;)

{how precious is baby Frannie!}

{1-2-3-cheeese! ha- can you see her feet?}

Chicago Tomfoolery...The Trilogy, Part 2

by: Justin T. Tison

Friday November 5 had Lindsey and I waking up with a clear cut plan of action. Eat breakfast, shop, see the sights, and get to South Bend, Indiana in time for Jordan and Patrick’s rehearsal dinner. Plans are good for Lindsey and I because without them we tend to meander and procrastinate through life. November 5, however, was not going to be one of those days. After the already photographed and exhibited breakfast for that day Lindsey and I took to the hip streets of Lakeview for some shopping. Lindsey was able to get to one of her favorite places, Anthropologie, which I learned several times this trip, is a shopper’s destination not afforded to the affluent citizens of Shreveport/Bossier.

After a complete dismantling of her checking account, aided by their extremely courteous and doting staff it was off to Wrigley Field for some guy stuff, i.e. taking cute and fun pictures outside of it because baseball season is over and we couldn’t get in there.

Once we saw Wrigley and the majority of the beautiful Lake View neighborhood on foot it was off to South Bend, Indiana for the wedding that was the main reason for our trip to Chicago.


It was during our trip to South Bend that Lindsey and I saw our first, and if seasonal weather patterns have anything to say about it, possibly only snow of the winter. It was already cold up there but then it starts snowing off of Lake Michigan and that stuff is for real. This snow was totally different than the snow we get down here. Up there it’s all huge snowflakes that mean it when they say they are going to stick to the ground and make travelling Southerners think twice about living around here. Down here we get snow that has already given up on life and is just wafting to the ground in hopes of finding a nice place to lie down and die. No sticking to the ground, no beautiful snow capped sunrises on our wedding day, nothing but gross wet slosh that we have to plod through till 9:30 am when our temperatures rebound into the eighties.

Thanks to Richard and Emily Raley and their gracious family we were able to procure free living arrangements for our time in South Bend. They have a nice condo right off of campus that has a stream or something behind it, which housed real life deer and geese. The place was free, it was warm and we both truly appreciated being able to stay there.

After getting into South Bend and getting ready we headed on over to the Basilica at Notre Dame to watch the rehearsal and so that we can follow the people we know to the rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal dinner was housed in an old mansion (Tippecanoe Place) that had been converted into a restaurant. The place was really nice with a definite old world feel, plus on cold winter mornings you can hear Old Lady Tippecanoe’s cries for solace over the din of harried South Bend breakfast lovers. It was a beautiful dinner in a charming, historical setting, you can’t ask for much more than that. Plus, afterwards we headed to the Madison Oyster House and Bar and really took in the local color. This place has huge draft beers (Fat Tire anyone?) for 3 bucks and the atmosphere of the place was very cool and laid back. It seemed to be a favorite haunt of our hosts because we went there both Friday and Saturday night and it was a definitely a good time. Plus we got were able to astound people with our ability to talk to absolute strangers with absolutely no compunction or alarm.

Saturday November 6 had Lindsey and me up and at ‘em as early as any day during the trip would, not including our travelling days. Due to the busy schedule of Notre Dame’s Basilica, Jordan and Patrick’s wedding was at nine in the morning. Now, in theory we were both taken aback by this time but in practice it is absolutely marvelous. By 10 am we were already on our way to the reception, which being from the Catholic variety had plenty of alcohol to get party going. The best part was that since the wedding was over in the morning there was none of that, “oh great, I have to go to a wedding later” feeling that can really bring you back down to Earth.

I feel that I would be amiss if I did not mention that the wedding was beautiful, the basilica was beautiful and the bride was beautiful. Plus, God had seen fit to kiss his creation with a light dusting of glittering snow that made the morning all the more magnificent. I was really happy to be there for all that plus for a chance to experience a 10:30 am – 3:00 am wedding reception featuring an open bar. I am not sure if I can go back to the old way of doing business after experiencing it that way.

After 4 hours of morning wedding reception tomfoolery it was off to find a place to watch the LSU game. Well, it just so happened that Lindsey and I had a condo that offered cable at no extra charge. But before we had come to that conclusion we had been discussing with fellow LSU fans about where to watch the game. The only option that seemed agreeable to everyone was a place called Between the Buns. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it there as everyone else seemed to teeter away from the idea once that became the only location to watch. Perhaps it was the less than appealing name or the idea that maybe we just didn’t know what we were going to get into in a place named as such.


So with our new friend, Dan, whom we had met at the reception and had decided to follow us wherever we were going afterwards, we went back to the condo to enjoy the Tigers football game.


A little over half-way through the game the three of us had to get back out there in time to meet a chartered bus to take us across the Michigan-Indiana border for a evening at the groom’s father’s bar. This quaint little watering hole was in Niles, Michigan. I cannot imagine a life cooler than owning a bar and only opening it for family events and St. Patrick’s day but that is, apparently, the Stein & Vine’s hours of operation. Packed with food, family and friends, it made for a great finish to a wonderful day in South Bend celebrating the nuptials of some good friends.

{Check back Monday for the third and final Chicago Tomfoolery:The Trilogy}