Thursday, October 17, 2013

Nola in September

I spent the last weekend in September in New Orleans with five of my lady friends. We were celebrating M's upcoming nuptuals.

Aimee & I were the first to arrive Thursday evening and after settling in at the CBD abode, we proceeded directly to the French Quarter. We had a burger at Clover Grill and then went to Bar Tonique for drinks.

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Pro tip--if you go to Bar Tonique and the tall bearded bartender and the short Indian woman bartender are there, order 4 of something. They will fill four shakers and then he will sling her legs over his shoulders and she will hang upside down and they will shake all four shakers together and do a little show. It's awesome.

M's sisters arrived around midnight, so Aimee & I had to cut our drinking short and head home. They all went to bed and I waited for Launa and M, who arrived around 1:30am. Friday morning, the six of us prettied ourselves up and headed out for breakfast...at noon-thirty. (We were on vacation!)

I was the self-appointed cruise director and I led everyone to the Ruby Slipper. I'd never been there, but it was close, had good reviews, a nice menu, and a bar! Since there was a decent sized line and it seemed as though a table for 6 might take awhile, we all had drinks.

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I tried a Bloody Mary to see if I would like it, but I didn't. (I still drank it though! Well, most of it)

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Aren't M and her sisters cute?

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We actually got seated pretty fast. The food was a bit of a wait but everyone was happy with their orders once they came out. I had the cuban breakfast.

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Some of us may have felt it necessary to take a breathalizer during the meal.

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After brunch, we decided to walk down Magazine Street for some shopping. None of us realized we would have a good mile or two before we hit anything exciting. Thankfully one of the first places we saw was one of my favorites, Juan's Flying Burrito.

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It was sad that we couldn't eat there (we were still full), but great that we could get frozen margaritas to go. It was hot out!

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Once we all had frozen beverages, we all perked up. Some serious shopping was done, the highlight being me trying on numerous black dresses at Trashy Diva (which really isn't trashy at all) until I found the perfect one for the wedding. My entourage was quite rowdy, but thankfully I think the store ladies loved us.

Pretty sure that after three hours on Magazine we all dropped quite a bit of cash and filled our shopping bags with treasures. I have always wanted to shop my way from one end of Magazine to the other, so I was super happy.

We were pretty wiped out so we ended our tour of Magazine at Byblos, a Greek restuarant we discovered on a previous trip. The haloumi wasn't as we remembered (even though I had photo evidence that it was exactly the same presentation), but the gyro nachos were still rockin.

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After our linner, we took a taxi back to the apartment and all immediately went to sleep. Around 8pm, we woke from our slumber and did our best to rally. We wanted M to stand out from the crowd, not that she doesn't anyway, so we provided her with a crown and Bride-to-be sash. Pretty sure the sash came off almost immediately, but the tiara stuck. As you will see in a moment, our group was much more low key about the festivities than most groups that come to Nola to celebrate the end of bachelor(ette)hood.

We planned to head to the Quarter, but a quick scroll on Facebook alerted us to the fact that one of our favorite Memphis bands, Star & Micey, was playing just down the street at the Howlin Wolf. Off we went!

[While searching a taxi, we saw a film crew on the street. We paid them no attention and went about our very important business. The next day we learned that Jon Hamm and James Franco were shooting a movie in New Orleans!!! UGH!]

The Howlin Wolf wasn't exactly hoppng at 9:00pm, but we did run into a band of ninjas who were also celebrating an upcoming nuptual.

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We got to hang with the band a bit. And of course, we heard some great music.

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From there we did eventually venture into the Quarter. And what happens in the Quarter, stays in the Quarter!

The next morning, ok afternoon, I finally persuaded the bride-to-be to let us eat some New Orleans food. Off we went to Mother's.

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It totally hit the spot, at least for me. Then we went back to the Quarter for some more shopping, more frozen beverages, beignets, and whatnot. It was all very dignified.

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We were all pretty beat from Saturday's activities, so we had a nice dinner in the Quarter, and then headed back to the apartment for some R&R. (M's sisters had a really early flight on Sunday.)

M, Aimee & Launa planned to leave Sunday afternoon, and I didn't want them to leave without a mini tour of the Bywater and a slice of pizza at Pizza Delicious.

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After lunch, we couldn't help noticing that the footbridge to the new Riverwalk was unlocked, so we went to have a peek.

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The park isn't offcially open yet, but it's awesome. A lovely walking path, gardens, and I think maybe even a dog area.

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We tried one last time to get a popsicle at our beloved Meltdown (which closed it's FQ location the day before we arrived), but the Bywater location wasn't open yet. Sad! So we had a brief stop at one shop in the Quarter, and then the ladies hit the road.

I planned to stay another night, so I took a little nap. Then met up with my friend, Amy, to do some errand running and hanging out. I saw my first ever two story Target, complete with a separate escalator for carts.

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And I got to hang out at Amy's house and play with the cutest two year old ever.

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Then Amy, her husband, John, baby Leo, and I went to dinner at Maurepas. It was my second visit and I just love it. It was way too dark to take any food pics but here's a peek at the menu.

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The drinks are pretty awesome too.

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Been awhile since I dined with such a little monkey!

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Leo could only handle fine dining for so long, so John took him home. Amy and I eventually went over to Marky's Bar and had a few drinks with her neighbor. My phone was dead, so there are no photos. We spent most of the evening attempting to plan a 20 year Peace Corps reunion. We'll see how that pans out!

Monday morning I got up, packed up my stuff, gathered some goodies for the family, and hit the road. I really like driving TO New Orleans so much more than driving AWAY, but it was time.

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