The Big 4-0

No, not me...my older sister, Tiffany. Back in June, she, my mom, and my sisters all headed down to New Orleans to celebrate. It was one of the funnest and funniest trips I have ever taken. That is saying a lot too, since I was about 8 months pregnant. We had wanted to fly down, but instead opted to drive down which resulted in more fun and wet your pants laughing.

We left early and arrived in Nola right around lunch time. We checked into the hotel and immediatly made our way to the French Quarter but not before grabbing a bite for one of the best po-boys ever at this little place...



We browsed the flea market first, and then went into every clothes store we could find. My other sister, Holley, has a trip to Miami coming up and wanted to find the latest trends. Although, this would usually be right up my alley, this was not so fun with a basketball for a belly. But I made due and gave my fashion advice when warranted. :) We kept shopping and then decided to get on a carriage ride to show us French Quarter. We saw all the sights we have seen a hundred times before, but learned a little more about the history of everything, although, I can't remember a single fact except that Bill & Hillary Clinton like to stay at the B&B with a corn fence and that Brangelina were in town! :) After the carriage ride we decided to trek back to the hotel in the rain to get ready for dinner, but made one last stop here...



This was the cutest little beneigh place in an old police horse stable. Food was delicious, but there was a tiny little bird in the place (I hate birds) that kept messing with me and there was a particular employee that STUNK! I am all for au naturel, but for goodness sakes, when you serve food you have got to cover the stench. We once again got the giggles over joking that we would clean up the tables around us and we could get our own cream and sugar as long as that one particular emplyee stayed away from our table. It sounds kind of mean, and maybe it is, but it was really funny at the time!

So my favorite part of the whole trip was our dinner at Brennen's. It was certainly not the best food but it was the best time I have ever had dining out. I was kind of shocked at the ambience or lack there of for such a landmark restaurant, but I do believe we made up for it with all of our laughing. I swear I was laughing so hard at times that I thought I might have gone into labor. And I was the one NOT drinking, so you can imagine the others. We were trying to get a perfect group shot and after 3 or 4 tries of someone blinking, or the fan blowing my hair in my face...



...or whatever it was, we were giving it one last shot. So we all held our heads high, chin down, smile (not too much or too little) and ended up with this.



She is going to kill me for outing her, but Mom was trying to "open" up her eyes and ended up with the craziest smile. :) This is when I thought for sure I was going to laugh my way into labor. We could NOT stop. And to make it worse, there was no overhead music, only one or two other tables in the entire place and we were so loud!! That's alright, because we were certainly enjoying ourselves and I'm sure entertaining everyone else. (Looking at the picture now, it's not as bad as I had thought, but then again we were zooming in on her face with the camera and I believe we were into the 3rd bottle of wine :))

We made our way out around 10 and decided to head to Bourbon Street. This is where the night kinda went downhill for me but got really fun for everyone else. I admit I felt very inappropraite in my 30 week pregnancy state in the middle of Bourbon Street, but I sucked it up for fun and we scooted into Cat's Meow, a karaoke bar on Bourbon.



My sisters really wanted to sing but would never sign up and were insisting that I get up there and sing "Oops, I Did it Again". I considered it and perhaps really wanted to myself but couldn't get the nerve to actually do it. :) I ended up taking a taxi back to the hotel around midnight and calling it a night...but I can tell you, I was the only one in that taxi. And apparantly, as soon as I left, the sisters and mom got brave! They finally called it a night in the wee hours of the morning!



The next morning, we grabbed a bite and made our way to Magazine Street....so much fun! I wish I had been a little more prepared for how fantastic the shopping would be from antiques, to linens, to clothes, furniture, art, sweets, shoes, etc. We met up with our oldest sister, who definitely had been there before and knew all the stops. After shopping we grabbed lunch at Maspero's, one of my favorites in New Orleans. The sky fell out while we were eating so we got to visit a little while longer. And that was that...our 24 hour birthday trip to New Orleans.



Happy Birthday Tiffany! You are one of my most favorite people and I am so blessed to not only call you my friend but my sister too!