Moving the Blog

A few months back I had a wild hair and decided to re-vamp toddboudreaux.com by using Squarespace. My goal was to consolidate all of the pictures, videos and blog entries to make things easier for everyone. And by everyone, I mean all 2 of the subscribers.

Anyway, Squarespace worked out just great so this is officially the last Blogger post that I'll be making here. Mom, Dad, from now on you'll have to go to www.toddboudreaux.com to read the blog. On second thought, I'll just re-do your shortcut nextime I come by the house.

-Boudreaux

Retirement Planning

Kate and I were talking the other day about what our retirement should be like. Being that it's about 40 years away for her she didn't have much of an opinion. I, on the other hand, am trying to be proactive for once and have decided that I'll be spending my days sailing from one exotic place to the next.

So, in keeping with our (my) retirement plan, I signed us both up for sailing lessons! By the end of June we should have our ASA 101 Basic Keelboat certification. We've got a ways to go before we'll have our Bareboat Chartering cert, but that's our first goal. Meanwhile, money is still being put into the 401K (boat fund) until I can swap it over to an IRA. Wish us luck! =)

-Boudreaux

Provo : Day 6

Today was probably one of the most relaxing (and depressing) days of the wed-cation. With the wedding stress long gone we were able to slow down and really enjoy our surroundings.

We started the day off with an awesome breakfast at the Salt Mill Market. Gage was excited to finally get some good eggs and sausage. After breakfast, we checked out some of the local shops around the tourist area. They had some really nice stores there...not like your usual souvenir shops full of cheap crap.

By the time we were done shopping it was time to head out to Turtle Cove and catch a ride on the semi-sub. Never been in a semi-sub before...pretty odd-looking thing. Kate and I were worried that Gage would lose interest ten minutes in and want to get out, but he did good. I think all three of us had a great time and, according to our tour guide,we had one of the most eventful trips in a while. We saw everything from sea turtles to sea anenemys (however the hell you spell it)...very cool.

We ended our day with one last sunrise on Taylor Bay beach and an amazing dinner at Las Brisas on Chalk Sound. Believe it or not, I'm ready to go home...but only because everything is so damn expensive over here. Otherwise I'd just tell Kate that our flights were canceled for another week. =)

-Boudreaux

Provo : The Big Day

Our goal today was to relax before what we figured would be a pretty stressful afternoon. Everything was going as planned until Kate realized she had forgotten her jewelry back at home. So, we jumped in the Terios and headed into town to find some jewelry. Lucky for us, there was an open market down in the tourist area that had exactly what Kate was looking for. Crisis averted.

After that we headed back to the room, but not before stopping at the highly recommended Conch Shack for some lunch. Food was ok, but the atmosphere and view definitely made up for it. We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get Gage to nap so that he'd be in a good mood for the ceremony. Needless to say he just sat in his crib and played (loudly) for 3 hours, right up until it was time to go!

Kate and I were terrified that he would go nuts once we got to the beach, but Rachael (our wedding coordinator) did an excellent job of keeping him occupied. In fact, he was so quite during the ceremony that we started to wonder what he was doing behind us. The ceremony went off without a hitch and everyone had a blast taking pictures afterward. (especially Gage) After all the excitement was over we had a nice, quiet dinner at Coco Bistro with Gage fast asleep next to us in his carseat. I can honestly say that this was the best day of my life thus far. =)

- Boudreaux

UPDATE: Our photographer, David, has posted a little write-up about our wedding on his blog with some of the pictures he took.

Provo : Day 3

We've spent the past two days here on Provo driving around and trying to decide on a beach for the ceremony. So many beaches, so little time. (I know...life is tough right?) So today, for a change of pace, we decided to take a break and explore a few areas of the island that looked interesting. In the process I think we pretty much covered most of the island. You could still see some evidence of Ike, but for the majority of Provo is back in business.

After we'd had enough exploring it was time to make our way out to #1 on our list of Top Wedding Beaches, Taylor Beach, to check out the sunset. After careful deliberation, and an amazing sunset, it was decided that Taylor Beach was definitely the spot we wanted to tie the knot. And so finally, with the last piece of the puzzle, it was back to the room to make sure everything was lined up and ready for the big day tomorrow!

I'm already twice as nervous as I thought I would be and I've still got 20hrs to go! Ah well, nothing a Corona can't fix. =)

- Boudreaux

Provo : Day 1

What can I say? It's been quite an interesting journey from Louisiana to Providenciales. After 12 hours of flights and layovers we thought things could only go uphill from there. We missed our first Provo sunset while standing in the customs line, but half way through families with children were allowed to cut to the front! Even better, all of our luggage made it! Things are definitely looking up.

It was pretty dark when we finally made it outside. And no, I'm not being racist. I think there was literally only one light in the "parking lot"...and it may have been burnt. After I finished signing the rental car papers and waiving the insurance I was handed the keys to a righ-hand drive Toyota Terios and told to "Keep it left". I had mixed feelings at this point. So...way too tired to even comprehend what just happened, we stuffed Gage's car seat in the back seat and took off to find the Northwest Point Resort. After about 20 minutes of driving (10 of which were down a dirt road) we found our way to the room and crashed.

This morning we woke up to quite a view out of our bedroom window. We'll spend this morning meeting with our wedding coordinator, the pastor and the photographer before driving around the island to see the various beaches and decide which one we'd like to have the ceremony on. In the meantime, check out the Provo 09 gallery, we'll be adding new pictures as we go:

Provo 09

- Boudreaux

Helluva Weekend!

I kicked off this past weekend with a trip to Venice, LA on Friday. Not by choice, of course, but rather for work. If you ever get the chance to go down to Venice, don't. Aside from some freaky old abandoned motels, a freaky old abandoned fort and a few speed traps (one of which we found the hard way) there isn't much down there. Horrible place to start your weekend. Awesome place, on the other hand, to film a horror movie. Just throwin' it out there...

After helping out the Plaquemines Parish School System (41 mph in a 25 mph school zone), my buddy Anthony and I went on to Belle Chasse, LA where we slaved through lunch to finish something that should have taken about 30 minutes. Why would we put ourselves through such misery you ask? Four words: Company, apartment, french, quarter. The plan was to start early, finish early and then relax while the old ladies drove down to meet us so we could have a nice dinner and maybe a few drinks. Let's just say Plan A didn't go as planned and Plan B involved Anthony and I sleeping off an Big-gulp sized Daquiri and a seafood platter.

The rest of the weekend, however, panned out to be much better. Kate and I brought Gage to the Audubon Zoo on Saturday. Not only was the weather perfect, but all of the animals were out and Gage had a blast. The Audubon Zoo is very nice and well kept. It was nice to be able to put Gage down and let him run around without worrying too much. Although he did almost find his way inside the Rhino exhibit. (I'm not kidding.)

The worst part of the weekend by far was the drive back to Lafayette in the rain and construction traffic. That and the fact that I didn't win the Superbowl pool. But, despite the snags it was a good weekend. Next weekend, on the other hand, will be a different story though with having to pack for Providenciales!

-Boudreaux