Sugar Bowl

We had a really fun time in New Orleans over the weekend, except for the hours that we sat in the Superdome and watched our boys crumble. Other than that and the fact that I was getting sicker by the day we had a blast.

Jason and I went down to Tuscaloosa to stay at the condo on New Years Eve to try and cut my car trips into two smaller trips.  There are no pictures from New Years Eve because our evening was just too fun filled!  I mean, what else can you call dinner at Full Moon (which really was superb), a shopping trip to Target, and watching half of 21?!?!  I can only imagine what our New Years Eve's after having a child are going to look like! They can't get much more boring! :)

On Thursday we met Charlie and drove the rest of the way to New Orleans.  We stayed at the JW Marriott right on Canal which was so centrally located.  We were the only five of maybe ten Alabama fans staying at the hotel but thankfully they all left early Saturday and we didn't have to bother with them!  For dinner we walked down Bourbon to a restaurant called Embers.  It was good but my goodness, I'd forgotten how much I dislike Bourbon Street!  It just makes me sad walking down it!  Here are pictures from dinner:

On Friday we all slept late and then walked across the street to enjoy lunch at The Palace Cafe. It is really neat inside and had really good food!  We shopped some at Rubenstien's next door to the hotel.  It is such a nice men's store that they have a valet for the store!  Maybe it's just that we live in Alabama, but I can not think of another store that has a valet!  I made Jason try on some Rag and Bone jeans that were on sale because I read that they're Jon Hamm's (from Mad Men) favorite jeans but sadly, the ones on sale didn't fit.

After shopping we hung out in the hotel bar/restaurant (aptly it was a Shula's restaurant -- we should have known our game was going to go badly!) to watch Ole Miss annihilate Texas Tech.  That was a lot of fun!  And pretty much the football highlight of the weekend since we lost and then Charlie's Falcons lost.  Here we are at the table that became ours over the weekend.  

Luckily, our hotel was centrally located so it wasn't too much of a trek to the Superdome on Friday evening.  Also, we were very fortunate that all of the weathermen were wrong and it wasn't raining.  The walk home from the game would have been so much worse if had been raining!  Here's a full shot before the game with the belly so that everyone can see how huge I am!  I'm having a hard time believing that I'll be able to get bigger but I know that it will happen! :)

We'll skip over the game except to say that we, again, had fantastic seats.  We were just across the aisle from all of the player's families so that was fun.  

Saturday was our "shopping" day because Mom and I usually require one.  Sadly, with my growing stomach I think the guys found more stuff that they wanted in the autograph store and gun and coin store than we found!  Lunch at Red Fish Grille was great and then we proceeded to go out shopping on Royal and Decatur streets.  Thankfully it just drizzled off and on throughout the afternoon so we were able to stay (mostly) dry.

Saturday night we went to Emeril's restaurant Nola.  If you have not eaten there you have to go!  It was amazing!  We had plans to go to Cafe Du Monde after dinner but when it started raining sideways while we were eating we decided to stay and eat dinner at Nola.  I'm glad we did because that was when things got exciting!  Charlie is an international business major and so, conveniently enough, he had to go and study in Italy a few summers ago.  He apparently was introduced to a Scotch in Italy called Lagavulin that he has not been able to find since he left Italy.  Well, Emeril provided a great dessert menu that offered the beloved Lagavulin so Jason and Charlie both tried it!  Charlie almost disowned me when I told him I needed a picture of him and Jason with their Scotch but he was a good sport!  When they were ordering their scotch they talked Dad into getting some Cognac.  So there's a picture of him and Charlie and their drinks also!

We tried to get a cab to take us back to the hotel but couldn't flag one down and the street in front of the restaurant had been closed so they couldn't call us one.  That ended up being a great thing though because we ran across a wine store that had Lagavulin and the Remy Martin that Dad drank so the guys got those for the wine cellars as their souvenirs! :)

Overall, it was a great trip!  During the ride home yesterday my cough kept getting worse so I went to the doctor this morning.  I don't have strep or anything, just a horrible cold, so there's not much that they can do.  But the extra rest I got today while I took the day off of work has really helped me feel better.  I feel much better now than I did tomorrow.  Now all I have to do is count down the hours until my Wednesday appointment!

In case you made it all the way through that post, congratulations! :)  I got word from one of my favorite retailers, Doodle Bugs Paper, that she wants to do a giveaway on my blog.  I should be ready to put up the giveaway by the end of the week so be on the lookout for that post!  Have a great week!