Hey Ya’ll!

March just flew by and so did I!  I spent the first couple of weeks getting ready for a trip to New Orleans for a very special birthday celebration.  A dear family friend and the closest person I have to my mom, celebrated her 39th birthday on March 19.  We have an agreement, I’m 36 & she’s 39 ALWAYS!!  So I headed to New Orleans for an entire week of FabUlousness.  She lives every day to the fullest and I can only hope that I am as FabUlous as she is when I reach her age.  I’ve been to New Orleans many times as my mom was born there, but never by myself.  I went prepared with Yahoo maps & directions for all of the important points of interest. 

So after waiting for what seemed like forever for my bright blue Toyota Matrix with Colorado license plates rental car, I was off on the I10 with  my trusty maps in hand only to find that my exit was closed!  WHAT???  It’s late & dark and I have no idea where I am other than I’m NOT on the right offramp!   I was on the Causeway?  WHAT??  So after driving back and forth on that for about half an hour I decided to stop & ask for directions at a gas station convenience store.  At least the girls behind the counter were honest and told me they really didn’t know where I was trying to go.  I did call my friend, but since I didn’t know where I was, she couldn’t help me!  Ahhhhhhhh!  So I got back in my Matrix and drove past the on ramp that had a police car with flashing lights parked right at the entrance.  As I drove by, I could have sworn I saw cars getting on.  Hmmm, I’m gonna turn around AGAIN and see if I can get back on the I10 and there ya have it; I got on and my exit was the very next one and was at my friend’s house in about 5 minutes.  In the light of day, I saw that I was seriously down the street from her house the whole time!

We did a lot of “running around” as she doesn’t venture too far from home and of course, you can’t go to New Orleans without eating and boy, did we eat!  I had the muffuletta I’d been craving forever; actually I had two while I was there!  Click here for more info on this amazing sandwich.

We ate at Acme Oyster House which has been in business since 1910 twice, and we ate at Shogun, a sushi/tepan grill restaurant where we had a crawfish roll – how cool is that!

We went down in the French Quarter on St. Patrick’s Day in the afternoon so it wasn’t too crazy.  She lives about 15 minutes from the Quarter, but hadn’t been there in years.  If you’ve never been, it’s a lot of narrow, one-way streets some of which are blocked off so you can’t drive down them at all.  The entire area is off of Canal Street and looks a bit like a movie set when you’re approaching it.  They were actually filming an episode for a cable TV show on one of the streets – pretty cool!  I scored a great parking spot by the French Market and with a little help from a local (driving a Hummer), was able to figure out the new fangled parking meters they’ve installed.  Seemed sort of odd for these digital machines to be installed in such a historic area, but the city needs all the help it can get.  We had a great time walking around.  Most of the souvenir stores were decorated for the holiday but the real treat was all of the chandeliers – OMG!

 

And we found the most amazing store called Rendezvous in Jackson Square (bummer, no website).  Take a look a their chandelier and all of FabUlous goodies in the cases . . .

  

On March 19, we drove to Biloxi, Mississippi to the Beau Rivage Casino.  It’s part of the MGM/Mirage group and is very much like a Vegas casino.  It was only an hour and a half way, so it was like driving to work for me!  LOL  It’s located right on the Mississippi coast and there were still quite a few empty lots along the coast left from Katrina’s wrath.  We ate at the buffet where it was seafood night and then we had tickets to see Hair Spray; what a great show.  After the show, we decided to go wild and play some slot machines.  Here’s the big birthday winner herself; Miss Leah . . .

Yup, she won a whole dollar on this Kitty Glitter penny machine!  And here we are, the two 30 something girls!  She’s just the cutest thing; I love her to pieces!

My next adventure was to Grand Coteau, to meet up with a new friend I met at Silver Bella last year, Jodie.  When I told her I was coming to New Orleans, she told me about the famous 7 mile yard sale in Grand Coteau and I knew I had to go.  So, I headed out in the Matrix with Yahoo maps in hand at 6am on Saturday morning.  This place is past Baton Rouge AND Layfayette and many, many miles of bridge over swamps - yikes!!! 

If you read Jodie’s post, then you already know that the sale was a bust, but the day was the best.  Jodie met me at a truck stop where I parked the Matrix and got in a real car, Jodie’s Suburban!  LOL   She had a few friends with her, Sandi and Sarah.  She made each of us one of these FabUlous goddie bags (d0 you recognize the chenille?  It’s from another one of her comforter purchases!)  and she did actually find me a few things before I met up with them.  The shoes are just for the rhinestones; not to wear.  LOL

I wanted to bring her a little something from California and didn’t want it to be too “touristy” so what better than some sand from Orange County in a tiny vile with a few beads & a little bling.  Jodie is a FabUlous photographer & got a much better pic than me so I’m lifting this one and the ones of her & Sarah; thx Jodie!

 

                         Me and Jodie                                                                 Me & Sarah

We went to Jodie’s secret place for vintage velvet ribbon.  It was like walking into a time warp; like a Woolworth or Newberry’s.  They only take cash and the register is a crank-type – so cool!

Then we went to Rayne, the frog capital of the world, for lunch at Chef Roy’s Frog City Cafe.  No, I did not have frog legs, but the Cajun shrimp was FabUlous!  They have this huge metal frog statue as you go down the main road off the highway.  Sorry the pic is fuzzy, it’s from the Internet cuz I didn’t get one of my own.

And of course, we made a visit to the local Hobby Lobby and ya know I had coupons ready to go!  And why don’t we have them in So Cal???

On my last day in the Big Easy, unbeknownst to me, they were having a parade on the main street where I need to get on the I10; what is it with that I10??  Geeze!  So, I had to change my route to get on and lucky for me, I’d been on that main street so many times, I knew my way around and made it the rental drop to return the Matrix while eating my last muffuletta.  She did her job, got me all over Louisiana & Mississippi with Colorado plates and no tickets!

It’s good to be home ya’ll!

Oh and P.S. . . This post was published using Windows Live Writer.  Check out Jodie’s how-to post here.