Graduate School

This month begins a new chapter in the House of Hanley, Graduate School! It's official, I am a student once again! I had to take the Praxis I AGAIN (apparently LA and MS require 2 different tests for teachers).  All the studying I did for this test, you would have though I was taking the State Bar Exam.  It's a good thing I studied as much as I did though, I passed with flying colors but it was HARD! It was nothing like I remembered it 13 years ago when I took it as a college freshman! Your brain cells really do diminish as you get older!!!

Coast Living

Things are great on the coast! We said goodbye to Northrop Grumman and the new company, Huntington Ingalls Industries, was born! Peter loves his new manager position and especially loves being home from work before the sun goes down.

Settling In!

After the big move from Mandeville to Ocean Springs in a torrential downpour, we took a break to revel in NOLA for Lundi and Mardi Gras. We've been home for a week and are finally settling in! We still have some unpacking to do but our new house is starting to feel like home!

We finally got out this weekend and enjoyed Ocean Springs! What a fabulous city! We started our day with the pups and took them strolling through the neighborhood, then we all headed out to the farmer's market.  We walked from booth to booth, sampling breads, sauces, and sweets and talked plants, herbs, and  trees with local planters.  While Georgia and Peaches enjoyed the attention from the local dog lovers, Peter and I stocked up on fresh bread, milk, cream, and veggies from our local farmers.  We walked across the street to a dog friendly restaurant and sat on the patio with the pups and enjoyed coffee and breakfast, delicious and relaxing! When we finished our pot of coffee and breakfast we loaded up in the car and drove down the street to the beach where we walked along the waves on the new sidewalk! After our relaxing morning, we came home and began unpacking and cleaning! We rewarded ourselves a few hours later with a bottle of wine and porterhouses on the grill! What a Saturday!

Carnival is Here! ***Click the sax player above for music

We've been eating king cakes, listening to the Mardi Gras Mambo, and yes I changed my ring tone to the Second Line since King's Day (Jan. 6).  All of this to prepare for the next 2 weeks, and get this, we will be moving to the our new home right smack in the middle of it all! However, that is not going to stop the Hanley revelers! We are looking forward to our visitors, Peter and Debbie, arriving tomorrow just in time to make it to our 1st parade of the season, Eve in Mandeville! I've ordered the fried chicken from Saia's, the "McKenzie's style" king cakes from Mandeville Bakery (yes, that's cakes-plural, I ordered 2), made my list to include Abita beer and Barq's Root Beer, and updated the ipod!

Ready. Set. Revel!

Garage Sale

What a busy, busy weekend! All of our hard work: cleaning, pricing, and hauling finally paid off on Saturday! We had a very successful garage sale, it was definitely worth the lack of sleep and sore muscles the day of the sale.  Thanks to Mom and Dad who helped control the 6am chaos and a big thanks for the donations, and to my little helpers, Lila and Adair, who modeled the high heels and set up the flower pots, to Nikki and Blakely for the doughnuts and the crowd control early in the am before the sun was up and at 'em! All volunteers were treated; little ones to ice cream, parents of little ones a little peace and quiet, and to my biggest gold star volunteers, dinner! Thanks again, everyone!

Chronicles of Lafayette Street

After spending day after day inside cleaning out the house and pricing all of our garage sale treasures for this Saturday's sale, I woke up to the sun peeking through my curtains inviting me outside from the second I opened my eyes this morning!  I enjoyed a cup of coffee and today's paper outside under our fig tree (still barren from the harsh winter) while the pups sunbathed at my feet.  Spring is getting close!  I've  mentioned in my previous posts, how we will miss this old house but the property, ahhh! how we will miss the living off the land, fig, grapefruit, pear, and bay-leaf trees keep me busy all spring!  We will definitely be making a produce run once a month to enjoy the plethora of fresh fruits and herbs! I spent the morning clipping bay-leaves and picking ripe grapefruit to sell this weekend at the garage sale, what a great way to enjoy the arrival of spring!

Happy Valentine's Day

What a fabulous day to spend with all of my valentine's! I had brunch with my mom at the Hungry Forager, it was delicious for those of you on the Northshore and worth the drive for all of you out of towners! 

I came home and had 2 valentines in my mailbox from my little Valentine's in the Brown Brown house! I can't wait to enjoy my Fruit by the Foot, this will really take me back to grade school! Thank you Adair and Maeve <3 Bobbie!  

 

I spent the afternoon with Lila, the oldest of my little Valentine's, making valentines! We made brownies for everyone, BB, Tiggy, Blakely, and Peter of course! Lila even tried the new york style black and white brownie for BB, pretty impressive! This girl might open a bakery one day, watch out Doe Doe!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

  

We set a date!

It's official, we are closing on our new house on March 2....let the packing begin! Yes, yes it looks like our big move will be on Endymion Sat.....but now worries, we'll be all settled in by Lundi Gras and Fat Tuesday, we hope! If not, we'll just revel in our new home in Ocean Springs! Just a heads up, watch out everyone, we'll need packers, movers, pup sitters, etc! You might want to come by Sat. Feb. 16, we'll be having a Moving Sale to help lighten our load on the big day! These next few weeks are going to be super busy but don't fret, I'll be keeping my blackberry close by to snap pics and post updates! (yep, I said Blackberry, thanks to our new, lil pup we have resorted to cell phone camera use only!.......Yes, Peaches ate our Nikon! So that's 1 ipod charger, 1 mac charger, 2 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of slippers, 1 pair of flip flops, another mac charger and a Battenberg lace pillow case for anyone keeping track or considering a puppy! But for all you doubters out there, I wouldn't trade her for the world and even Georgia would agree with me!!!) It's time to get busy, I've got to get insurance quotes.......blah!

Sunny Days

You have to love this gorgeous, sunny, 60 degree weather and I get to spend it with one of my favorite nieces, Adair! After carline pickup and a king cake snack, we are watching Barney and resting up for gymnastics......what a busy life this 4 year old lives!

Enough of this Cold

After spending a day in refuge from the cold yesterday (thanks mom and dad), the pups and I are braving the rainy, cold weather at our old, little cottage by the lake today! We are stocked up on hot chocolate, leftover chicken and dumplings, and king cake, of course! It's a good day to catch up on laundry while cooking something warm and hearty on our good old Okeefe and Merritt stove!

Snow Day

Baby, it's cold outside (32 degrees out there, right now)! Today, we stay in with a pot of coffee, pj's and a good book! The gas heaters are lit, the pups are snuggled up in front of the "fire" and I'm wrapped up in my blanket and slippers.  Old houses, you have to love them to live in them because in the winter, on cold days like this, everything you love about them makes you shiver......old wooden windows, old wooden doors, and 15 ft ceilings sure do make it drafty! We're sure going to miss this old house, too bad we can't just pick it up and move it right in the heart of downtown ocean springs!

(Yes, Georgia has on the cone of shame but she's ok! She has a scratch she keeps licking!)

Happy Carnival Season

Let the king cakes flow freely...

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It's been a while but we're back for good!

It's been a long time bloggers, but we are back! Where have we been? Here's a recap of 2008-present...

June 2008: After a couple of years in Maryland the long, cold winters finally got to us and we packed up the family (Peter, Brittany and Georgia) and moved back to Louisiana!

......but we had a lot of fun there during spring, summer and fall!

Since our move back to Louisiana, we have welcomed 3 more nieces to the Brown/Hanley Clan...

                          Congratulations Jessica and Jason and welcome Baby Madeline, March 13, 2009

                                                

                          Congratulations Nikki and Josh and welcome Baby Maeve August 5, 2009

                  

                   Congratulations Ashleigh and Derick and welcome Baby Hayleigh February 8, 2010
                                    
                                                

....and don't forget our other two nieces, Lila (Nov. 8, 2005) and Adair (Sept. 11, 2006)

We have added a new addition to our family, welcome Puppy Peaches, April 18, 2010

...and our latest development in the Hanley House is our big move to Ocean Springs, we're not there yet, but we have a contract on this house!  Check back often for the latest Hanley Happenings!