Geaux there!

Last week I had the good fortunate of spending some time in New Orleans for a conference. While I never left the French Quarter {I didn't have a car}, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. Leslie, my conference buddy, and I decided to arrive in New Orleans a day early to maximize our visit. Within 90 minutes of deplaning, we made our way to Café Du Mondé for beignets, chocolate milk, and a café au lait. The 2011 Krewe du Vieux Parade was conveniently scheduled for the day we arrived.  We made sure to get front row seats for the satirical spectacle!  

On my last morning in New Orleans, I heard Scott Cowen, the president of Tulane University speak. When asked, "What can we do for New Orleans?" he responded eloquently. Above anything else, he requested that people visit and see first hand what is going on in the city. After my short stay, I know I would like to go back and explore outside of the French Quarter. 

Scheming

People ask me about "our situation"and how it's going all of the time. The short answer is that long distance marriage sucks but it's only temporary. Fortunately it's not harder than I expected.  When I applied to graduate schools I knew I didn't want to go too far away.  While I briefly considered some other schools, I ended up at Vanderbilt which was the closest of the schools I seriously considered.

While we were dating, Peter and I were on-again-off-again long distance the entire time. I went to Baltimore and Sicily and he lived in Cincinnati, Atlanta, and Memphis. Of course, their were brief periods when we both lived in Clemson but they never lasted very long. At the time, we couldn't see how we were being prepared for the future. But we were.

Long distance is not ideal. And I suppose I could write at length about long distance relationships but that is for another time, maybe. Recently I've been scheming. A couple of weeks ago I realized that if I take a semester's worth of credits over the summer  I can graduate in December 2011 instead of May 2012. As soon as I realized this, I started looking into the details. Well, it's two weeks later and December graduation has gone from an idea to being the plan. Basically, I'll have a busy summer but that is just fine. I can handle busy. I kind of love busy.

Just about everyone has been understanding and supportive of this decision. They know its best for Peter and me. And so do we. I actually firmed everything up on Monday and sent the good news to Peter as a sort of Valentine via Gmail {because I'm fancy}. Never mind the fact that we said we weren't doing anything for Valentine's Day.

Sunday Funday

Peter was fortunate to have the opportunity to play in the 2011 Smith & Nephew Doubles Pro-Am. I was in class on Saturday but booked it back to Memphis afterwards so that I could watch Peter play Sunday. Lisa, Peter's sister, also came to visit and watch Peter.  Peter played with three different Pros and even got a Swag Bag. It was a quick trip and it flew by. I did manage to snap a few pictures at the event.  Here are a few highlights:  

Hanging out in the  VIP room. 

And watching from the grandstand. 

Doubles tennis involves loads of high fives. 

S. and C. supporting Peter {which was very, very kind}. 

Overall, the Pro-Am was fun for all. Professional tennis appears to be a sport for giants. 

I'd say the guys Peter played with were all over 6', easily.