So Saturday morning, my DH and I knew we had to leave by 7am to get to NO by our 10oclock, Cafe Du Monde meeting with Bridgette and Susan. We got up, although exhausted, and jumped in the shower and were surprisingly on time for getting out…until my DH goes to pack a few last minute things in his bag and discovers a cat got in his bag and PEED on his clothes, his shoes, and the suitcase.

After a few choice words and nearly a loss of a life of a cat, we had to run the laundry, get new clothes, find a new suitcase, throw out the old one…you get the point. We get out of the house and into the car around 7:40, to discover I left my shoes in the house. I had this bright idea to wear my “Ohio” boots, since it was 40 degrees outside, and bring my walking sandals. Well, I put them out, but didn’t put them in my bag.

Most people would go back in the house to get them….except us, who had locked ourselves OUT OF THE HOUSE. Here am I….winter boots and all, with NO other shoes except for brand new high heels, on the trip. My Dh had given his key from his keyring to his parents since they took Charlotte for the weekend, in case they beat us back to the house on Sunday…and then forgot and locked the door before he grabbed the other one.

Off to New Orleans we go……..(me overly fashionable for the entire trip in my fur boots,) expecting to be majorly late and we shockingly get into town only 5 minutes before we are due to meet them! Yeah! We head over to Cafe du Monde, which is right by the water, and parking lot. We park our car….and a train comes. And stalls out there. We couldn’t go over or under it, for obvious reasons, while it sat for about 20 min. Then when it proceeded to go, it was about a mile long and only was going about 10 miles an hour.

We actually got to cross the tracks and meet the girls at 10:30! It never fails. When one thing goes nuts, its all down hill, right?

I already know Bridgette, but it was my first time meeting Susan and she was WONDERFUL! We had such a fun time. We walked through the french markets, through Jackson square, down through all the streets and went into all the shops we wanted, ate lunch at a cafe.

While we were out and about (getting some totally fun Funky Fridays for you all) Bridgette’s husband Randy and my husband, Chris, were in and out of a few stores.  We had just left them and ran off when Chris said they came out and said….that guy looks like Tommy Hilfiger….oh, crap, it IS Tommy Hilfiger and Tommy and some arm candy girl, walked right by them. Of course I had the camera since we were off being idiots in the street. I must have the only husband in the world who could recognize Tommy Hilfiger in the street. We watched a whole season of his reality TV show. LOL  We later found out he was in town for an opening of a Macys department store there. Bridgette had to leave at 3 for a Halloween thing with her kids at the zoo and Susan and I went to the mall.

By then, my feet were D-Y-I-N-G and I needed some real shoes. Not only were they sweating, but i had some pretty rough blisters. We could not find a thing in New Orleans until almost 5pm when we found a pay-less. Susan met her mom and sister in law for dinner at 5 and we said our farewells, but we will definitely be meeting up again and would love more of you to come!

Let me stop and add that the New Orleans police department SELLS SHIRTS and SOUVENIRS right outside the police station….please, give them some STATE funding, this is beyond degrading.

Chris and I went back to the hotel where I could cry about my feet and soak them in a tub, and then we took a nap for a few hours, and went out to dinner around 730-8ish. We went to this place called Fire of Brazil, which is probably one of the neatest restaurants I have been to.

You pay a flat rate and you get access to an extravagant salad bar (We are talking asparagus, full mozzarella balls, red potatoes, hearts of palm, olives, etc-not your average green leaves) and all you can eat meat, with 12 types that are brought out by men with machetes who carve it right on your plate.

They give you a little card that is red on one side and green on the other and when you want meat, you turn it green, and they send out guys with lamb, tenderloin, flank steak, fillet, pork sausage, you name it, it was coming out. They stop at your table and they carve it and you pull the piece with tongs back to your plate and flip it on red when your done. Its all you can handle as long as you are there. VERY VERY cool (btw, not cheap, $41 a person, but worth it…New Orleans is pretty much that expensive anyway).

Then Dh and I went and walked up and down Bourbon, all the way down to the gay district (I am saving my best picture for WW this week) and went back to the hotel. Of course, our Wi-Fi didn’t work in the room we were in, which was fine, because i had to go to bed anyway, and I probably would have been up talking to yall and looked like doodie in the morning.

Got up again at 630 this morning so I could get ready for the Hot Blogger Shoot with a good friend of Bridgette’s, (Here is Aprils site, she is a New Orleans photographer..if you go to her site, that 2nd picture on the front page is Lily, Bridgette’s daughter, when she was a baby) who I am sure, will make me look better then I really do. Bridgette picked us up at 745 and we spent a few hours taking pictures around New Orleans. Here are a few shots that my DH took of me getting my picture taken…LOL…I have not seen the real shots yet, but hopefully, I will look decent.

and one of Bridgette and I

After that, we went back to bed for a few more hours (we had a late checkout at 2) and around 1, headed off to the CheeseCake Bistro to indulge in a little cheesecake (and great service) before our ride home.

We get home and my in laws had not made it back. Luckily for us, my irresponsible husband had left the windows in my computer room unlocked last time he opened up the house, so we were able to bust the screen in and break in.

And how was your weekend?

~Trisha