I was going to title this post “Catching Up”, but if I’m honest, I could title every post “Catching Up”. I feel like there’s always so much catching up to do and not nearly enough time to actually do it. We have been busy little bees, going back and forth between the brown house and the rental house, packing and unpacking, visiting with friends and saying good bye to friends. Living in limbo between the two may be catching up with me, and honestly, I’ve found myself being tempted to despair. When I feel overwhelmed, or like this limbo game is one I’d rather not play any longer, I remind myself the alternative is to live alone with the children and have weekend visits from Justin. I had that last year. While it offers the material comforts of home and is lacking the stress of running two homes, it is truly void of what our family needs, which is being together. So we are all still together, and I am thankful for that. I just have been a little overwhelmed keeping up with, and going between two places. We initially thought we would be here through December, but it looks like it will be quite a bit longer… which is great because we love it here. I just need a better system to manage being in two places.
So, back to the catching up business. We packed up the week of Thanksgiving and headed back to the brown house to spend Thanksgiving there.
Our Thanksgiving dinner plans weren’t to begin until later in the day, so we had the pleasure of spending Thanksgiving morning at Justin’s family’s farm. We gathered leaves, picked Satsumas, climbed deer stands, checked on the bees {which gave us a little concern with their lack of activity– we are hoping the chilly temps were to blame for so few coming and going from the hive}.
The kids and I sat in the car while Justin got a closer look at the bees.
On our way home we had the pleasure of spotting a bald eagle… it was beautiful!
My mother-in-law always does Thanksgiving up right with all the festive accoutrements. The food was fantastic, and it’s always good to be among family that we don’t see as often as we used to.
Like a crazy person, I ventured out on Black Friday with the kids to buy an artificial tree. There seemed to be no alternative considering no one would be there to water it. We survived our quick trip to Lowe’s, got back home, threw that baby together in a matter of minutes and wasted no time stringing the bright colored lights. If I only get to see that Christmas tree for 3 or 4 nights it was worth every penny.
After the Thanksgiving festivities were all said and done, we made our way back to Orange Beach. Justin had a conference in New Orleans this past week and guess who got to sneak away and join him!? {It would be appropriate to enter excited squeals here.} My very kind and generous in-laws came to our house last Tuesday so that I could head over to New Orleans for a few days with Justin. I feel confident many of you have children and understand how few and far between nights away can be. In fact, this was our first time to get away together, just the two of us, since we’ve had kids. {Shame on us, we know!} I rolled in to New Orleans alone, Justin was already there, and somehow I didn’t know, or forgot that New Orleans is a pretty big city! I managed to get myself a little turned around but eventually found the hotel.
Night 1 we snapped a picture together before walking out the door…
We made it to the lobby where I ran into a college friend and took another picture of my handsome husband. 🙂
We stayed at the newly re-opened Hyatt Regency by the Superdome… it was way nice. {As the Raiger would say.} I’d go again and hang out with a bunch of crazy archaeologists just to stay there. Speaking of crazy archaeologists, I’m married to one and we got to spend a great deal of time with others as this was a “Cultural Resources” conference. The first night we made our way on foot to John Besh’s Luke on St. Charles. I ordered something terribly awful for my health but absolutely delicious to my taste buds…. the Croque-Madame et Frites.
There was lively {the nicest way I can think to say it} college football banter & a little archaeology talk to accompany it.
The next morning came early, and Justin was to be in scheduled meetings all day. I did my homework and knew that I wanted to spend at least one day in the Garden District on Magazine Street. Now, let me tell you, all of that was easy to plan out beforehand but when the rubber hit the road and I knew that I was about to venture out in New Orleans alone, including a plan to brave public transportation, I admit I had to have a little pep talk with myself that there’s no reason why a 31-year-old, mother-of-three can’t get around New Orleans on her own. To reassure myself I stopped by the concierge to run my plan by her and make sure she didn’t advise otherwise. She said it sounded good to her. I’m sure some of you are old pros at navigating cities… I’m getting there!
My first encounter was with the street car. We stayed in the Central Business District {CBD} right beside the Superdome… it was a fine location but I probably walked about 20 miles both days I was there. Day one, I ventured down Poydras to St. Charles and planned catch a street car to the Garden District. The first lesson I learned was: it helps to wait for a street car at a street car stop. Don’t think I didn’t chase him down & beat on the door. I also learned very quickly that public street cars are usually very full, and not of tourists. In fact, I may have been the only one. I wondered if I looked like a tourist. Maybe the 14 layers of clothes and sweat on my forehead gave me away. Too bad I didn’t have my big camera around my neck to seal the deal.
My first stop was the Brass Menagerie where I may have spent way too much time with the older couple who own it, but in turn received first hand accounts of their Katrina story. They have beautiful pieces but I currently am not in the market for gas lanterns, door knobs, faucets, or drawer pulls!
This is Magazine Street…
It’s a fabulous stretch of antique shops, cafes, old houses, thrift shops, & boutiques. Thankfully it lacks the scantily clad, or naked women, cages and Voodoo shops that you can find in the French Quarter. I also noticed the homeless folks I encountered on Magazine didn’t scream “*@&# you!” if you didn’t contribute to their cigarette fund.
Here are a few more pictures of my time exploring Magazine…
I had a delicious lunch {tomato bisque & salad} at Gott Gourmet Cafe. I sat at the counter, which seemed like the most logical place to sit when dining alone.
And then I ventured back out…
And loved every minute of it…
I found several little things at an antique shop to give as Christmas gifts, and for myself, I found a pair of twig-like earrings at a boutique/antique store and a sweet mustard yellow shirt for myself at a thrift store.
Since I can’t show my gifts, I’ll show two of my finds for myself…
This night we opted for dinner alone at Emeril’s NOLA. We walked from our hotel and while it’s not terribly far, it’s kinda far. But it was so good! And it was so nice to have dinner together, just the two of us.
A creme brulee trio followed our meal…
… and after!
After all that food we decided we’d walk some more. We headed up to Marigny which is a part of town Justin enjoys for it’s music joints. We strolled around a while, poking our heads in different bars, listening for music that would draw us in. We finally found it… with a street band, their dogs, and their instruments. I would imagine they were all late teens to early 20’s. We spent about an hour with them. Justin played their guitar and they accompanied him with the fiddle and mandolin. It was entertaining and they were great kids. I gathered that they weren’t truly “homeless”, but they welcomed food money and leftovers. I was so thankful to be out in the fresh air with these nice kids than to be sitting in a smokey loud bar. We wanted to go back the last night we were there but didn’t make it. If you’re familiar with NOLA, when I tell you I walked from the Superdome to the streetcar and then walked all of the Garden District and then walked from the Superdome to NOLA and then to Frenchman in Marigny… you know it was a day with lots of walking {not in any kind of athletic shoe}. Justin very graciously heeded my suggestion for a cab ride to the hotel from Marigny.
I’m apparently a slow learner because the next morning when Justin headed out for his conference I, again, had to have a similar pep talk with myself… go explore the city. have fun. you will regret it if you don’t. So again, I set out on foot. My first stop didn’t require too much gumption… Anthropologie. It was my first time in one and it didn’t take me long to realize I really like Anthropologie. From there I ventured further into the French Quarter. I made my way to The Little Toy Shop on Decatur, past Jackson Square. I found a few things for the kids and then made my way to Felipe’s {you need to read that in Spanish, not French} for lunch. I happened to go to Felipe’s by way of Cafe Du Monde because I could think of nothing that was better suited to follow my Mexican lunch than a beignet. Even Felipe’s Taqueria is beautiful… I love OLD cities! I spent the rest of the day poking around the French Quarter which was great, but I may have secretly wished I was back in the Garden District.
When Justin’s conference wrapped up that evening we planned to meet some folks at Napoleon House for dinner. I was nearly walked out at this point so we hopped on a pedicab and were actually a little early so we stopped in a great bookstore on Chartres before dinner. Napoleon House had good ambiance but the menu, in my opinion, didn’t measure up to the ambiance of the restaurant. But we had a great time with the dinner crew… I was again outnumbered by the archaeologists but had a great time and enjoyed their conversations. They are a super nice group of folks, and I believe we all had a great evening. We shut down the Napoleon House and made our way to Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, one of the oldest buildings still standing in New Orleans. I am not a night owl so at this point I was fading fast, but I was thankful to be able to see a really cool spot on Bourbon Street, they have NO indoor lighting, all candles. Very cool. From there we called it a night and headed back to the hotel.
We headed east the next morning early and were so excited to see the little rovers, all so big and dearly missed, but we sure enjoyed a weekend away just the two of us… such a great little reminder we need to do it again soon and not wait 8 years! I absolutely loved our time in New Orleans. It was surprisingly much more charming than I remembered, and I look forward to going back again!
I took my camera but it stayed in the suitcase most of the time… I did take a few pictures of our view from our room on the 23rd floor.
Wow… long post! Time for bed, I’ll be back soon.
