NOLA Recap

I have returned home from a whirlwind girls' weekend in NOLA and barely have the time to catch my breath before heading back out to chaperone the class trip. Ugh! Don't get me wrong. The weekend was AWESOME. It's the coming back and turning right back around and leave again.

We arrived in NOLA around 10pm on Friday night after a fun and alcohol-inclusive flight. Despite being exhausted from a long day at work and two flights, we headed directly out to Bourbon St. to grab a bite to eat, have a few drinks, and listen to some good ol' Cajun music. Southern Decadence -- The Gay Mardi Gras -- was in town this weekend and there were a ton of happy gay men celebrating in the streets. Of course with such a large gathering of gay men came the descent of the "You're going to burn in hell forever!" Christians who came to protest and spoil the happy gathering. Some of the signs they had were absolutely ridiculous, but it didn't stop the good times. We ended up staying out until about 2am NOLA time which was 3am RDU time. We had a blast. We went back to the hotel tired and very ready for bed.

Our hotel has a sweet view of the city. 

Saturday was filled with food and shopping. What more could we want? We attended a cooking class in the quarter which gave us  very tasty lunch as well as filled us in on some great historical details about NOLA. After lunch, we shopped a bit while wandering over to the streetcar to head out to the Garden District. We hit up House of Lounge first, and we all bought some very pretty things. Ms. Bride-To-Be bought some very fun pieces that will make her Soon-To-Be-Hubby quite happy. At that point, I needed to return to the hotel to get ready for mass at the cathedral, so I went my separate way and the ladies continued shopping.

I met The Boy for mass and afterwards we did a little shopping before we met the ladies for dinner. I bought an awesome new Mad-Men-esque wig at Fifi's. It is so very Joanie, and I pretty much LOVE it! We had dinner with the ladies at The Bombay Club which was a total blast. It was really great to hang out with The Boy and my girls so they could all get to know each other a bit. It was a very good time, and we had very good food. And good drinks. After dinner, The Boy headed to his place for some one-on-one time while the ladies hit the casino.

The Boy and I met back up with the girls Sunday afternoon after the parade. He and I had a great lunch at a little Italian place that he really loves. After the parade, I headed off with the ladies to have some fun while The Boy left to do some of his own things. The ladies had some oysters at an oyster bar before we headed back to the hotel to prepare ourselves for dinner. It's kinda funny that we spent the whole weekend planning what we were going to eat next. That's kind of how I roll normally so spending the weekend doing it with the ladies was pretty fun.

Sunday night was an early night because we were all pretty exhausted. And today was our flight home which was bittersweet. Leaving was sad because we had such a great time, but we were all ready to get back to life. We were all safely home by 4pm.

Once again, I took hardly any pictures. I wanted to take a ton, but it is hard for me when I am with a group of people. I take so much time to take multiple shots and get really great pictures, and I don't like slowing people down. I'll be visiting NOLA again in the months to come, so I'll be able to get some great NOLA pics in the future.

So here I sit in a quiet house. No Bailey. I can't pick up The Beast until Wednesday because I leave for the school trip early tomorrow morning. I miss her! The house is so quiet without her, and I keep looking for here and expecting her to be around every corner.

All in all, it was an amazing weekend and incredibly relaxing. I feel rejuvenated. Ahhhhh ....