I {heart} NOLA!

As I mentioned in a previous post (maybe even 2), we went to New Orleans this past weekend for the Red Dress Run.  We had a blast! To recap the weekend...
Friday- We left a little later than planned because one of the guys in the group could not find his wallet when he went to leave his house.  We made a detour to the DMV before heading down south, because he had to have an ID to truly have fun in NO!  Then we were delayed with all sorts of traffic between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.  (Apparently the Saints first preseason game was on Friday night, so everyone and their mother, including us but without our mothers, were headed to the Big Easy)  Once we got there we went to eat at Luke, "an authentic brasserie on St. Charles Avenue."  It was wonderful!  Jon and I had been there before and loved it then, so we decided to share the love with the whole group.

{Josh and Alissa @ dinner}

{Me and the Hubby}

{Jacob and Lucy}

{Jon and Adam}

Everyone seemed to like dinner.  Some people's portions were a lot larger than others, for example, Jon ordered some sort of pork ensemble that came with TONS of food and I ordered shrimp and grits and it was not so much.  I was still full and satisfied when I left there though!  After dinner we went to Bourbon St. to show Josh (Jon's friend/co-worker) what New Orleans was all about.  He had never been partying in NOLA before.   We stopped at quite a few places, but ended up spending most of the night at Pat O'Brien's dueling piano bar...SO FUN!

{Jon and Josh decided they needed a cigar}

{silly husband!}

{sweet couple!}

{1/2 of the crew}

{other 1/2 of the crew}

Saturday- That was the big Red Dress Run day! We dragged ourselves out of bed and to Washington Square about 9:30 AM (which came real fast after the night out).  The hubby wasn't feeling too hot (well actually, he was feeling hot being as it was about 100 degrees outside).  We listened to a couple bands play, ate a little food, and drenched ourselves in sweat.  After a few hours of that, Jon and I decided to go back to the hotel, cool off and rest, in hopes that he would feel better soon.  

After a little AC and a nap, he was feeling much better! We went and grabbed a bite to eat at Johnny's Po-boys, which I must say was a hole in the wall but quite delish.  That night we hit the town again.  Alissa (Josh's girlfriend) and I picked up some way cute headbands at a store on bourbon before we all headed over to Frenchman Street to hear some live Jazz music. 

{see our way cute headbands!}

{I had to have a "huge ass beer"}

After Frenchman St. we caught a cab back to Bourbon and ended the night with watching a little karaoke.  It was very entertaining to say the least!  

Sunday- We headed home, but first stopped in Baton Rouge so the guys could play a round of golf and the girls had a little retail therapy.   I am not normally a big shopper, nor do I ever find things that I just have to have...but that was not the case on this trip! :)  I found a super cute cardigan type top that I had to buy because it was only $11! Who would pass that up?  I also remembered I had a Victoria's Secret gift card, and once I was there I found a LSU jersey that I couldn't leave without.  Then at Sephora I bought mascara and some self-tanning wipes.  I haven't tried the wipes yet, but when I do I'l let you know how I feel about them.  I did try to mascara and it is amazing! Thanks for the recommendation Alissa!  {on a side note- I was contemplating buying the Bare Minerals Starter Kit because I have heard great things about the makeup.  So I asked the sales person, who happened to be a dude, what it was all about.  Here is how the conversation went...  dude: "you can get it in Original or Matte"    me: "what's that mean?"     dude: "the matte makes your face have a matte look and the original looks like you aren't wearing makeup"     me: "so I would probably want the matte?"       dude: "it's whatever you want"     me: "well  I need something with a decent amount of coverage"     dude: "then you don't want this"   alrighty then...at least he was honest!  He then proceeded to tell me that my eyes were in bad shape because I did not wear a cream!  WHATEVER DUDE!  long story short...no dude should know about makeup}  Last stop of the trip was to eat mexican food in Lafayette.  In case you didn't know, I LOVE MEXICAN FOOD!  I really think I could eat it every day!  That may have a big part in my terrible acid reflux...oh well! :)  So our trip to NOLA was so much fun!  It was nice to get out of town for the weekend and hang out with some new friends!  I {heart} NOLA!