NOLA Take 2

We arrived in New Orleans on Friday night just in time for some dinner and touring Bourbon Street. Our original plan was to go to Acme Oyster House for dinner but after arriving there and seeing the line was out the door, we went across the street to Bourbon House which also had great seafood. K and I shared some oysters, gumbo, and the most delicious crab cake ever!

Since it was already late we went to check out the bar scene on Bourbon Street which is a never a dull moment.

My favorite bar was probably Huge Ass Beers because they had the cider I like and well the name is just funny. Labor Day in Nola is also Gay Pride weekend (as I mentioned yesterday in Part 1) so there were some protesters on Bourbon Street which caused a scene considering the crowd. We saw crazy characters like drunk Homer Simpson and most of K and I's photos together had a funny photobomb of some sort.

On Saturday after touring Jackson Square and trying some beignets, we met up at Lafittes Blacksmith Shop Bar to go on the Bloody Mary's Ghost Pub Crawl with a small group of people who were also visiting and a tour guide, who shared lots of great history about New Orleans along with all the ghosts stories. It wasn't exceptionally scary and we didn't see any ghosts (thankfully) but it was a fun tour.

On Saturday night we had dinner at Oceana Grill. K and I shared more oysters, crab cakes and ettouffe. We clearly couldn't get enough of trying all the seafood but we enjoyed taste testing everything instead of getting big meals.

We also really liked the view from our hotel every morning and the location was perfectly central in the French Quarter near to the Mississippi River.

Sunday was all about some jazz brunch, touring the Mississippi Riverwalk, and then over to Frenchman Street which is where all the locals hangout as opposed to Bourbon Street.

We ate at The Original Pierre Maspero's. I definitely recommend this restaurant for lunch or dinner. So good!

Finally we ventured over to the Decadance festival to walk around and check out all the action. There was so much going on. So many fun costumes, dancing in the streets and just overall craziness. I think the pictures can speak for themselves.

As you can see from the photos, we had a blast touring NOLA and celebrating K's 35th birthday.

Wanderlust Wednesday: New Orleans

I'm back online today just in time for Kate, Kerri and my Wanderlust Wednesday travel linkup. On the 2nd Wednesday of every month, we host WW so feel free to linkup your travel-related posts. I love reading and living vicariously through your travel adventures.

My trip to New Orleans this past long weekend was a fantastic and very hectic time. K and I stayed in the heart of the French Quarter which made it easy to walk around and explore. The only time we took a taxi was to and from the airport. We arrived on Friday night with a loose itinerary and a list of restaurants to eat at. It wasn't possible to accomplish it all in 3 days but we covered good ground and kept very busy from morning til late night. Needless to say we're pretty exhausted but it was all worth it.



The food there is incredible and of course Bourbon Street provides great entertainment and live music all day everyday. What we didn't know is that it was also Gay Pride weekend or "Southern Decadance" so you can imagine people watching was at it's finest and I'm glad we got to experience the craziness that is Labor Day/Decadance weekend. I love attending the Gay Pride festivals in downtown Orlando so it was great to experience it somewhere else.

On Saturday we went to Coop's Place on Decatur St which has amazing local food if you're looking for casual New Orleans style dining. 

We went over to Jackson Square to walk around and check out the art, architecture, and history scene.

The line for Cafe Du Monde was about 100 people deep so we decided to go to New Orleans Famous Beignets Cafe instead for some beignets and coffee.

On Sunday morning we had brunch at Mr B's Bistro with live jazz music which was amazing!

We then toured the Riverwalk along the Mississippi river. Unfortunately the ferry was closed that day so we couldn't make it over to the other side of the river. 

We stayed at the Sheraton off Canal Street. Great location and price and we also had a nice view of the Mississippi River!

I literally have almost 200 photos on my camera and iPhone so it was hard choosing which ones to share. I've decided to split this trip recap into two posts and share photos from my camera today which are more touring the city photos with some food and restaurants we enjoyed.

Part 2 tomorrow will also be food and touring but more of the bar scene which is when my big camera gets put away and iPhone comes out. So check back tomorrow for some of the crazier sites and scenes we experienced in New Orleans.

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Link-up Rules:
1. Follow Kerri, Kate and myself on Bloglovin
2. Link up your favorite travel recaps or travel related posts
3. Grad our Wanderlust Wednesdays button and link back to our blogs
4. Be sure to visit other blogs and build your travel bucket list!

Weekly Recap: All The Cute Things

Hi everyone and happy Friday! The long weekend is finally here. I've been awaiting this weekend for months because its not only a long weekend, but it's also K's birthday and we're heading to New Orleans to celebrate and explore. I will probably be MIA for the next few days but you can follow me on instagram and snapchat (emilyalisonb). Hopefully I'll actually remember to post my whereabouts.

This week I ventured over to Woof Gang Bakery to get some treats for Lola. This place is seriously the cutest pet bakery and grooming place in Orlando. I wanted to buy all the treats but I managed to walk away with the one treat I had in mind.

We celebrated Lola's birthday last night. She got lots of healthy grain-free treats from Chewy and Amazon so hopefully they will last her a while but the Happy Birthday cookie I bought at the bakery was the cutest.

It is also K's birthday this weekend so I got him a Milky Way cupcake from Jillycakes in Winter Park. That makes two cute stores I visited this week.  

We had some dinner and pumpkin beer at home last night and that was the extent of his birthday celebration until we get to New Orleans tonight.

I'll leave you with a quote that I love. Enjoy the long weekend everyone!

With Monday being a holiday, our Recipe Swap scheduled for next week Tuesday (09/07) is cancelled until Tues 09/15. 

Our Wanderlust Wednesday travel linkup is still on for next week so please feel free to share and linkup your travel-related posts!

Linking up with Amanda.

September Goals

Okay so this might be more of a to-do list but there's also a few goals in there. I can't believe it's September already. This year has been flying by quickly, probably because I've been keeping myself very busy on the weekends and the work week is usually packed to the brim.

1. Celebrate Lola's 1st birthday this week. Oh gosh, she's turning one and deserves a little fun tonight before we leave for the long weekend.

2. Tour New Orleans for Labor Day weekend (K's birthday trip) and try all the food. Some places on our list are Coop's Place, Acme Oyster House, Mr B's and a few others. I'm still looking around for a good brunch spot for Sunday. 

3. Attend Helene's free webinar to learn ways to monetize your blog which was last night. (DONE)

4. Get started on the 17-module online photography class that I just signed up for to become a certified photographer. I'm not sure I'll be able to complete it in one month so my goal is to be done and certified by the end of October. 

5. Pack more healthy lunches and fruits for breakfast. Eat out less. Spend less. 

6. Finally make it out to Wekiva Island one weekend. 

7. Pressure wash our house and driveway. Well, pay someone to do it because I don't own a pressure washer and have no desire to get on a ladder or roof.

8. Go shopping at Ikea for a new living room rug and outdoor walkway lights. I've had my eye on shag rugs like this grey one but I'm not sure how well they hold up. 

9. Weekend trip to Ft Lauderdale to visit a friend and her kids who all just moved to Florida from Trinidad. 

10. Celebrate with friends for a joint bachelor/bachelorette party at a local resort's lazy river pool.