For this shower, we planned a cowboy theme.  Because nothing says cute, cuddly, and baby like this…

Why, hello there Mr. Cowboy!  Unfortunately, he was not in attendance, as I am quite sure he was performing at an entirely different kind of party.  The kind of party that only exists in Lulu’s incredibly shrinking brain.  But I digress.  Our party involved this type of cute and cuddly cowboy…

Which I incorporated into the shower invitations…

I also painstakingly rubber-banded 96 tiny, newborn-size diapers in order to create this cowboy-themed diaper cake.  I’m pretty sure that I’ve lost all feeling in my right index finger and came dangerously close to snapping out an eyeball.  Don’t try this at home, people.

I made Cowboy Cookies for take-aways, which were AMAZINGLY delicious if I say so myself!  The Girl Scout cookies that are camped out in my spare bedroom ain’t got nothin’ on these babies.  Or is that the other way around?  Regardless, the recipe is apparently Laura Bush’s recipe, as posted by Helen over at Cowgirl Cuisine.  For an extra touch, I stuck them on 7″ cookie sticks (while they were still hot), decorated them with chocolate icing, wrapped them in cellophane, tied them up with matching ribbons, and yee-haw!  Cowboy cookies in a basket.

I’m thinking that I could use this idea in the future for a cookie bouquet, no?  Cute, snappy, fun.  Much like Lulu in her twenties.

And we displayed it all on a table covered with a white table cloth topped with a vase of white daisies and cowboy confetti…

Because Lulu is such a control freak and abnormally OCD about party details, I convinced Tiff (my hairdresser, dear friend, cousin’s wife, and cohort in this shower) to color-coordinate the food.  Which she did.

There was actually more food, but I’m quite sure I was spazzed out about a napkin being misaligned and forgot to take a picture.

The cake was made by a young friend of Tiff’s who is just learning pastry techniques and methods.  It was magically delicious, and I think that she did a wonderful job!

It turned out to be a beautiful shower with a fun theme.  And much to my chagrin, not a cookie was spared.  Like Lulu needs another freaking cookie…

I’m trying to keep the door closed and wish them away, but it doesn’t seem to be working. They continue to taunt me from the other side of the door. Especially the Do-si-dos. They are evil.

Let’s move on.  As some of you might know, I have a mild obsession with junk collectibles.  And if you’re so inclined, you can read about some of my collections here, here, and here.  If you’re so inclined.  And if you have a spare bottle of wine to wash it all down with.   

So in keeping with tradition, I’ve delegated today’s Thursday Thirteen to showcase my vintage tin can collection that perches on top of my kitchen cabinets.  Maybe showcase is too strong of a word.  It’s far from a Ming Dynasty vase collection.  Hell, it’s far from a dimestore vase collection.  These are tin cans, people!  Am I yelling?  I don’t mean to yell.

Without further ado, here is my showcase.  Of tin.

1.  I believe that chips in a large can were (maybe are?) a northern U.S. kind of thing.  Someone please fill Lulu in.

2.  I’ve never heard of this brand–Homfresh.  I tried doing a Google search, but no luck.  Anyone ever heard of these chips?  The tin is pretty old.

3.  More chips in a can.  Not familiar with this brand either…

4.  This Red Star baking powder can started my entire collection.  I’m assuming this is restaurant size, because I’ve used the same, tiny red can of baking powder for years now and have hardly made a dent.  That reminds me, does baking powder expire?  Ew.

5.  I can eat an entire mountain of Cracker Jacks.  No, really!

6.  I seriously love the fact that you could once buy marshmallows in a can.

7.  Wheat Thins, kind of like a cracker, but more like a snack…

8.  Along with Ginger Ale, the savior of all hang-overs, morning sickness, and the stomach flu…

9.  I love to eat Ritz crackers slathered with cream cheese and jelly.  On a daily basis.

10.  Milk-Bone® is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year…

11.  Mmm…candies.

12.  This tin is not vintage, but the colors really matched my kitchen.

13.  This one is not a tin, but it sits on top of my cabinets alongside the others.  This was my grandmother’s sifter…

There you have it.  Lulu’s Showcase of Tins.

IMPORTANT SUCKY NOTE:  After I labored over and wrote this post, I found out that the Thursday Thirteen meme no longer exists.  Serves me right for staying out of the blogging loop for so long… 

Anyhow, my trip down to Florida means that I will get to spend a delightful 8 hours in the car with my grandmother, Nanny.  Lovely as she is, I’m kind of sad that I no longer have my grandfather, the Dukester, to entertain me with 8 hours of war stories and snoring.  Nor will I have the entertainment of my grandmother yelling at the Dukester in the back seat to discuss his bowel movements or waking him up every five minutes to ask if he wants a Mountain Dew or a cracker.  It will be just my grandmother, me, and a couple of dime store gospel CDs.  It will be a long 8 hours.  And, God help me, I will blog about it be thankful for it.

Speaking of being thankful, I am thankful for my blogging buddy, Mrs. W.  She has been a longtime sufferer of my blog, and she has tagged me with a Thanksgiving meme.  Thank you, Mrs. W!  And I must say that your Panettone French Toast looks amazing!

Which do you like better: hosting Thanksgiving at your home, or going elsewhere?
Considering that I feel compelled to deep clean my house before anyone steps foot in the door, I’m all for going elsewhere!  Lulu does not like to clean.

Do you buy a fresh or frozen turkey? Organic? Free-range?
I’m not sure that I would know the difference.  But I once stopped at Bates House of Turkey in Alabama to eat lunch, and their free-range turkeys are unbelievably delicious!  Plus, they’ll ship them anywhere in the U.S.!

Do you make stuffing or dressing? What kind?
This is a serious point of contention between GR and myself.  He thinks that his mother makes the Best. Dressing. Ever.  He will barely bring my dressing to his lips.  I make mine with cornbread, canned biscuits, and a mixture of other top-secret ingredients.

Sweet potato pie or Pumpkin pie?
Hmm…this is a tough one. I like both, and it’s sometimes hard for me to tell the difference between the two.  However, this year I will be having neither.  I will be having pumpkin fluff—a Weight Watchers recipe:

1 can pumpkin
1 small package fat-free vanilla pudding
½ cup skim milk
1½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
Mix all ingredients well and fold in 1 cup of fat-free whipped cream

A 1¼ cup serving is only 2 points!  Have that along with one fat-free graham cracker sleeve and you have a guilt-free pumpkin pie dessert!

Are leftovers a blessing or a curse?
Cursed leftovers!  I can eat them for one day only.  I’m apt to change the rule for turkey or ham.

What side dishes are a must-have in your family?
If it were up to my mother, um, everything.  For me, it’s definitely dressing and deviled eggs.

What do you wish you had that might make Thanksgiving easier?
I’ll go with this baby right here:

If/when you go to someone else’s house for the holiday, do you usually bring a dish? If so, what is it?
I usually only go to my mother’s house, and I end up cooking while I’m there.  I would definitely bring a dish if I were going elsewhere.

What do you wish one of your guests would bring to your house?
A check written to me for $1 million dollars.  Or one of these babies right here:

What do you wish one of your guests would NOT bring to your house?
Fleas.

Do you stick with a particular menu from year to year, or do you mix it up?
There’s no mixing it up at my mom’s house.  She’s very strict about her 50-dish, Southern-style menu.  And no sage, onions, or steamed anything for her, please.  Must use plenty of milk, butter, and lard.

Is Thanksgiving a religious or secular holiday in your home?
Besides the “Good food, good meat, good God let’s eat!” before the meal and the “Oh, God, what have I done!” after the meal, I would say it’s pretty secular.

Share one Thanksgiving tradition.
People have Thanksgiving traditions?

Share one Thanksgiving memory.
There was one certain Thanksgiving in Key West that I spent on the rooftop of The Garden of Eden (by erroneous mistake, no less), but that’s probably something that I shouldn’t mention here or especially in the presence of GR.

Name five things you’re thankful for.
1.) My family and friends.
2.) My job.
3.) My teeth.
4.) My paid-for Buick that has a window held in place by masking tape, as well as a missing hubcap.  You have no idea about the thankfulness.
5.) That my son, Gus, is going away to college in January. Not necessarily thankful for the away part (I’ll miss him!), just the going part!

And since I waited so long to complete this meme (Thanksgiving is Thursday, right?), then I’ll skip tagging anyone else.  However, feel free to play along if you wish!

I hope that all of you have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween everyone!  With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings, when friends come to call…it’s the hap- happiest season of all!  Hmm…perhaps I’m confused with Christmas.

Regardless, it’s a holiday, y’all.  Or a semi-holiday anyway.  Okay, it’s a pagan ritual that any God-fearing person should really not be celebrating lest they be doomed to hell and damnation.  I, for one, choose not to celebrate Halloween in the pagan sense, but more in the sense of celebrating the Kit-Kat bar.  The great love of my life.

I also choose to celebrate paranormal tales of spookery and ghostly hijinks…whether they are true or not.  And that is why I participated in a ghost walk tour in the small town in which my mother was raised.  Not that my mother has anything to do with it—it’s just that her hometown is apparently overrun by spectral spirits (come to think of it…that kind of explains some things).  The local community theatre was smart enough to see some money in all this supernatural nonsense, so they gathered some facts from the vast number of paranormal experts that visit the area, and they put together a theatrical, ghost-telling stroll through the town square.  Actually, it was quite entertaining!  And theatrical!  Oh people, it was theatrical.

Just to give you a sense of the intense theatrics involved, please watch a few seconds of this video promoting the tour.  I beg of you, for all things holy and non-Halloweenish.  Watch!  And listen!

Bless her heart.

So, here I am with Big H, Phoo, and a gaggle of other friends preparing to be spooked (thanks again Didi for organizing the big event!):

During the walk, we were able to go inside the old Gwinnett County jail that dates back to the early 1800s.  The iron bars are still intact on the windows and cells of the jail.  If you look closely behind the Xerox copy boxes in the following picture, you can see a patch where an imprisoned slave had tried chipping his way out.  I’m pretty certain that the Xerox copy boxes hampered his escape.

We circled and listened to tales about the Gwinnett County Courthouse in the town square, which is now home to the Gwinnett Historical Society.  There has been a courthouse on this square since 1872.

The courthouse was once flanked by two large oak trees, which were sadly used as hanging trees.  One tree was recently removed due to disease, but the other remains and has been proven by experts to have heavy paranormal activity surrounding it.  Looks pretty spooky to me…

We also visited The Singin’ Bean karaoke coffeehouse, which was a war veterans hospital in the late 1800s.  Apparently, three ghosts frequent this establishment.  One of the ghosts, Beau (on old army general), is associated with a tragedy that will befall upon you if you actually see him.  I tried not to look while I was taking the picture…

The tour lasted for approximately 90 minutes—the perfect amount of time, as it was getting colder by the second.  But, I actually learned a couple of new things about Lawrenceville that I had never known before.  My grandmother has owned a home in that small town since the early 1950s, and I thought that I had heard it all.  Apparently, I can tell her a few stories now.  And I will tell them in Madame Macabre’s voice.

Have fun trick-or-treating tonight!  As for me, I plan to turn out all the lights and lock myself in the basement with 4 taped hours of Survivor and a bag of Kit-Kat bars.  No evil spirits allowed.

Anyhow, here’s a picture that I took from our patio on Monday morning before we high-tailed it out of town:

You can barely see over the sand dunes, and I should have walked down to the beach to take better pictures.  However, I was afraid that the Nikon camera that I spent my entire freaking life savings on would end up getting rained on or swept away (along with me) into the Gulf of Mexico.  I am willing to risk my own life, but never that of my precious Nikon.  Never.

But prior to our unwelcome visit from Hurricane Gustav, we had several days of fun in the sun and oysters on the half shell.  And as for my list of 13 things to do while in the Gulf, well, I did most all of them.  Mainly the eating of the key lime pie.  Mainly eating in general…

Okay, so I know that my trip to Germany is like 3 months away (I’ll be leaving 12 weeks from today to be exact), but I’ll have you know that I have my itinerary planned out in complete minutiae detail.  If you ask me what I’m having for breakfast on October 13, I can probably tell you (cold cuts and hard rolls, if you really want to know).

Actually, through my diligent and painstaking research, I’ve discovered that Germans are big on cold cuts for breakfast.  Well, maybe not Germans per se, but definitely German inns and hotels.  Factoring in that along with all of the wienerschnitzel that I will be consuming, I’ve vowed to become a strict vegetarian when I return to the States.  One can only eat so much meat before turning into some kind of primal beast.

Anyhoo, because I’m now in full Germany travel-planning mode, I’ve decided to do a Thursday Thirteen for the first time in…well…a damn long time.  And I figured that there’s no better way to rejoin my once-loved blogging meme than to bore you all with what I’m planning to do while I’m in Germany.  Besides eat meat, that is.

1.  Tour Munich with Mike’s Bike Tours

Some of my longtime readers may remember my little biking episode in Mexico last year and wonder why Lulu is getting on another bike.  And for those of you who don’t remember, believe me, it wasn’t pretty.  And just to add a little something to the mix, this 4-hour biking tour stops at a biergarten halfway through the tour.  Nothing like getting the jet-lagged tourists all inebriated while riding bikes.  Can I get a BUI for that?  I’ll be sure to wear my helmet.  Knee and elbow pads may be an option, as well.  Pray for me.

2.  Tour the Salzbergwerk Salt Mines in Berchtesgaden

Going deep into the dark, salty earth is a bit scary to me.  But I think that there are miner clothes and a sliding chute involved, so all should be well.

3.  Take a boat tour on Lake Königssee in Berchtesgaden

Obviously, I’m going for depth here—deep, salty earth, deep, dark lake.  Lake Königssee is Bavaria’s deepest lake and is situated in the valley between the Watzmann, Jenner, and Hagen mountains.  I think that this could very well be the highlight of my trip.

4.  Visit Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden

From the depths of the earth to the heights of mountains…what a stunning place.  It’s highly unfortunate it was built for such an inhumane monster.

5.  Tour Salzburg, Austria

Even though Salzburg is best known for all things Mozart, during the month of October, the city will be overrun with visitors to celebrate the music of Bach—at Bachfest 2008.

6.  Go on a Sound of Music Tour

Assuming that I survive my drunken biking tour around Munich, I will be climbing every mountain and fording every stream on a tour that highlights many scenes from The Sound Music.

7.  Visit the town of Mittenwald

Mittenwald is a town famous for violin making and beautiful fresco paintings.

8.  Visit the town of Oberammergau

Oberammergau is another small village known for fresco paintings, as well as wood-carvings and The Passion Play, which takes place every ten years.

9.  Tour Neuschwanstein Castle

Mad King Ludwig’s built this castle in honor of his great obsession, Richard Wagner (a great opera composer).  The castle served as the inspiration for Disneyland’s, Sleeping Beauty castle.

10.  Visit The Abbey of Ettal

It’s a beautiful monastery, but I’m visiting mainly so that I can drink beer with a bunch of monks in their brewery, Kloster-Biere.

11.  Tour Rothenburg

This is a fairy-tale village that is known as the most well-preserved of all medieval towns.  But I’m more excited about the most awesome Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas shop than anything else!

12.  Go on the The Walk of the Night Watchman Tour in Rothenburg

The very famous evening tour of Rothenburg led by the Night Watchman.

13.  Take a boat ride on the Danube

So, I have no link for taking a boat ride on the Danube, because I can’t find any Web sites related to boat rides on the Danube.  How can I plan a boat ride on the Danube, when there are no official Web sites?!  This leaves me in deep planning distress.  Not a good thing for Lulu…

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There are just that many good restaurants here, y’all!  Don’t get me wrong…I have been doing other things besides eating, such as a lot of sightseeing, sitting through countless conference sessions (the real reason I’m here…yawn!), and did I mention a helluva a lot of sightseeing?  It just seems that no matter where I go, there’s a wide variety of food for the partaking!  

And my most favorite place of all?  Well, it’s not just one place, really.  It’s the wonderful Reading Terminal Market.  The market is described as a “gastronomic bazaar.”  And I can’t think of a better description than that.

It’s a fairly crowded place throughout the day:

I ate at Profi’s Creperie for breakfast this morning—I had a crepe with bananas, honey, and walnuts…

I ate at 12th Street Cantina for lunch today…fish tacos…yum!

I ate at Delilah’s for lunch yesterday.  Oprah raves about their macaroni & cheese.  Personally, I think that my Aunt T makes it better…

And I had a cookie from here…

Who could resist?  They are amazing!

There’s so many places to choose from…

And one must not forget the candy and cupcakes:

You can even buy fresh milk.  Fresh milk straight from the farm, people!

The Amish will be at the market in the morning selling their wares.  I’m totally going one more time before flying home…

Bon appetit?

D-L-ishified…