mud fest...err, I mean jazz fest weekend!

10 of my girlfriends traveled to New Orleans for Jazz Fest in honor of my Bachelorette party. It was a large, but enthusiastic #focusedbatch, ready to meet the weekend head on. Our road trip crew was separated into 3 different cars, so the first order of business was meeting up in our hotel rooms where gift backpacks were awaiting everyone. Thank you Emily, MC, and Rachael for your thoughtfulness! This was the PERFECT bag for the weekend. (who am i kidding- I'm bringing it on the honeymoon too) Across from the Renaissance Hotel we ate at Lucy's Retired Surfer Bar for dinner. Burgers were split, shots were had - and then we were off to Frenchman! Rebirth was playing at d.b.a.'s and we found a little nook in the bar that was made for us! We laughed, we drank, we took pictures, we listened to the band, we made new friends from Baltimore/Boston....Friday night was our fun night for sure!

Saturday (the day of Jazz Fest), we woke up for brunch and located about 1/2 a mile from our hotel was The Ruby Slipper, we walked the streets of Nola until we bumped into people waiting in line... bloody mary's held us over until we were seated an hour later with our entire #focusedbatch! Emily drove in from Baton Rouge and met us there! Neither of us could believe it had been at her wedding 2 years ago since we had seen each other. Time- she is a-flyin'. We trolleyed to City Park for Jazz Fest. (well...ahem, some of us had to stop at Family Dollar) We got to hear Norah Jones band, The Little Willies, play. Then Phoenix came on and Lauren and I swayed to the music. "They came all the way from Paris, France just to play for us!" We met up with the other half of the group at the Fleetwood Mac stage. When I tell you it was muddy- I mean liquid sewage sludge a football field length long that smelled A LOT like cow manure. What were we gonna do? NOT see Fleetwood Mac? I don't think so!

Even my sis, Laur with her flip flops on, trudged through the muck of it to hear Stevie Nicks. This was the last show of the day and I'll say exiting with 11 women that have to use the rest room and are tired and hungry is interesting. Oscar, the VERY attractive city transportation worker, assisted us in providing bus transport back to Harrahs, where we decided upon a dinner location, Gordon Biersch. Somewhere between our appetizers being served and our entrees arriving- a little rodent friend decided to poke it's head out and run around the room where we were seated. Never in my life. Sometimes you just gotta laugh to keep from crying.

Exausted but determined, the girls hosted a lingerie shower for me in the hotel room. I have such lovely friends.

Sunday morning we departed the hotel for Baton Rouge, where Emily selected Beausoleil for us. It couldn't have been a more quaint spot for our brunch. As if they knew the running theme of the weekend, an acoustic guitarist serenaded us throughout the meal playing songs we all knew by heart. Instead of say bread or chips, an unexpected table food was served in a basket - cracklin'- and it was yummy! As Lauren recently said to me, "weekends like this are unforgettable, they are stamped in your mind forever." I consider myself a lucky lady to have such thoughtful, fun, and beautiful friends & sisters.

New Orleans lady...

Remember this little trip to New Orleans? 

My post holiday work (and over)time has been spent planning for our conference this weekend in NOLA. It is back to the beautiful Windsor Court for a weekend of neurosurgical festivities with Katie-bug!

{This is some of the work crew at our department holiday gathering. I've said it before, but it really makes a huge difference liking the people you work with. Everything is more fun!}

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and I also hope that you don't mind me sharing my Christmas and New Years pictures with you next week! Better late than never :) and who doesn't want to pretend it is still the most wonderful time of the year?

The Big Easy...

During a recent work related trip to New Orleans with Katie, I stayed in one of the nicer hotels I have ever been in, Windsor Court. We were surprised to learn upon arrival that we had been upgraded to the club level suites. (a perk of planning an upcoming meeting at their establishment)

I took pictures of every inch of the room. I plan to some day decorate my home in this color scheme.

The meeting space is exquisite. I told Katie that had I not already put down deposits for my wedding in Shreveport, we would be relocating to Windsor Court as our reception venue.

 Notice the painting that Katie is displaying for you. Care to guess what it's value is? I'll just go ahead and tell you. It is a 1.5 million dollar Van Dyck. The hotel itself is basically an art museum!

Their 4-star chef recently left the hotel restaurant, so what did they do? Hire a 5-star chef! This will be the chef de cuisine for our conference in January and I can-not-wait.

In the lobby they serve high tea every day. Unfortunately we missed it, but after our tour ended we hit the road toward Luke on St. Charles Avenue for a late lunch.

A flamenkuche is basically a pizza on uber thin crust with thick cut sweet bacon topped with cheese and onion. Filling and delicious. Katie and I both agree that the pork pâté is interesting on toasted bread with side options to top it with watermelon, pickles, mustard & gelée. I have definitely never seen it on a menu before. Props, John.

We walked around stopping in a few local shops, meandering through the colorful streets of NOLA until we found ourselves at the Green Goddess. Katie appropriately ordered "The Katie" and I got the "Glory for your salvation" - cucumbers muddled in ginger syrup, Pimm's No. 1, Koval Jasmine liqueur, Creme de Cassis, Flor de Cana 7-year aged Nicaraguan rum, Hibiscus liqueur, Orchard Apricot liqueur, fresh lime juice, and topped with ginger beer. Yep, that is all in that white cup I am holding there. Lizette did her thing, and I did mine ;) After taking a breather at the hotel for a bit, we hit up the complimentary club level lounge. I was most definitely feeling like a princess at this point.

Then we meet up with Griff and Alex and taxied to Magazine Street for our night out on the town.

Before leaving NOLA for the LSU game in Baton Rouge, we had to stop at the Rum House for their famous Caribbean inspired tacos. Check out this menu for their combo options. (We both ordered the Two Dat which allowed us to pick 2 types of tacos and 2 different sides) If you haven't been in the Rum House, RUN to the Rum House!!!

{next up- our day spent at Tiger Stadium}