Soar-Dream-France: Where There's a Will There's a...

...WAY! Without a car, it isn't always easy to get to places far afield. The evening of our New Orleans International Overalls Weekend Party in November 2013, I met Michael Edwards for the first time in person. It was the first time I'd seen John Wilson in probably 20 years!

As everyone was leaving, Mike said: You'll have to come over and have dinner with us one evening." Me: "I would, but without a car it's difficult." For those of you who know Mike and know him well, he didn't let that stand in his way. Mike-"We can handle that-John will pick you up on his way home from work. You can come have dinner and spend the night with us and he can take you home in the morning!"

As I'm sure y'all have noticed...we've moved from one night sleepovers with a morning return, to two night sleepovers with a day sanwiched in between; and, for those longer visits Sammie Cat comes along. We are also very good at cramming a lot of activity into a short period of time (to which I'm sure my friends and family would attest!)

Wednesday evening's arrival had us enjoying a selection of favorite cheeses, pate, a nice Bordeaux, martinis stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes, and a wonderful dinner of steak, salds, fresh vege, and ice-cream for dessert. Mike had already suggested that evening that we spontaneously spend my birthday in Bay St. Louis where we both have friends. What a nice surprise!

After a rousing Happy Birthday sung by Mike, coffee with John before he headed off to work, a rousing Happy Birthday from Mom and Dad over the phone from St. Louis; Mike and I headed for the beach.

Our timing was off for finding friends, but not for finding fun. We are fun-finding pros! Even though Jamie was busy with family that morning, Tabitha took very good care of Mike and I at Buttercup's on Second Street in Bay St. Louis. After I nice breakfast and I littlle collectible oggling across the street, we headed to see if we could find my friend Pat Davis's house. I was amazed that we did, but Pat's husband told us she was out entertaining family. Unable to raise a few other friends, we decided to take a drive along the beach and then find a spot for a walk and a sea shell gander.

Everything felt good. Everything was a treat. On the way home we stopped in Slidell so I could scoop some shoes and a few dresses at very good prices. I got to wear one for dinner that night as we celebrated with Carmen and John, opened presents, wine and martinis encore; and Mike outdid himself again with an incredible Chicken Marinara, I got to make the salad with a little bit of the twists I like to use at home in Cadrieu, and a beautiful, fruit stuffed, doberge cake and champagne to top off the dinner and the evening.

We even got home in the nick of time to shed a few Katrina tears together as we watched our wonderful Presidet, Barak Obama laud and encourage our City of New Orleans.