Weekend please hurry up!

I am not down with being at work today. While I have a few things to do, they are not things I want to do and they are not urgent. I have a pretty big deadline coming up so I have been notified by most of those who will submit that day, but now they have all disappeared. Only to reappear later all at once demanding me to work! So I am trying to enjoy the downtime.

However, it is FRIDAY and I just want to go home.

And today is food day so I also want to go home to get away from all the food. I used to like food day but now it kinda puts me in a bad mood. It is just not fun anymore.
1) I don't feel like cooking for such a large group
2) we have groups for main dish, breakfast, dessert, ect. and sometimes I do not feel like making something that fits in my group (and the one time I was a rebel in didn't follow orders I brought the exact same thing as someone else)
3) I don't need to eat ALL DAY and it is really, really, really hard not to do that when the food sits outside my cube.
4) It is always at the end of the month when I have no extra money.
But everyone else loves it so I guess I am the only fuddy duddy in the bunch.

Tonight a bunch of my highschool girlfriends are coming into town. We are going out to Ninfa's for dinner. It should be fun, it usually is. I always just have a wierd anticipation when I get together with them. I think it is a mix of guilt for never talking to alot of them anymore and then also just thinking will they still like me? Stupid, really, because then we get together and have a good time. And it is not like I purposely avoid them or that they do that to me either. But I still have an awkward feeling about it sometimes.

Sunday I am going to be a baptism sponsor for one of my friends little boys. I have never done that before. It should be interesting. I hope she does not ask me to hold him during the process! I don't know who the other sponsors are going to be.

Bear is going to San Antonio for a coaching clinic this weekend. I just wish it was not so far away. Gas it too expensive! But at least everything else is paid for... for once by the school.

Well this took up a few minutes of my time. Now I am going to see if I can sneak out early...

Vacation Recap

We had a very good time on tour trip to New Orleans with Dee and Jason. We tried several new places and went to the Garden District which we had not done before. We still have a few things on our list for next time, but we found a few more favorites to add to our list of MUST DOs. Here is a recap.

We left Dee and Jason's about 8:30 and made the necessary stop at Starbucks before we officially hit the road. Jason drove until we needed to stop for gas the first time, then Bear took over until Baton Rouge. Dee and I kept busy with crosswords, sudoku and Southern Living magazines.

In Baton Rouge, we stopped for lunch close to the LSU campus as The Chimes, which our friends from LSU suggested. The food was very good and they also had beer from 'Round the World. So Jason and Bear had fun sampling a few.

We had a pretty leisurely lunch and then Dee and I took over the front seat with me driving so the boys could nap after their beers. We got stuck in traffic (once we finally figured out how to get back on I-10 East!) as we usually do in Baton Rouge plus it started to rain. We finally go going and then hit traffic AGAIN once we got into New Orleans. Finally, we made it to the hotel, unloaded our bags and took the car to Harrah's to park it at the casino. Then we went to gamble for our 30 minutes so we could get the free parking.

Next we went to walk around the Quarter. We saw a sign for drink specials at the Cat's Meow and decided to go in. It was 3 for 1 beers. So you couldn't get 4, you had to get 3 or 6. So 6 it was. We sat in the outside courtyard while people inside karaoked. There was a wild bunch of older women in there, whoa!

Eventually, after going to Walgreen's for pepcid and energy drinks (I told Dee aren't we with some old men who need that stuff!), we went to dinner at Cafe Maspero. We had to wait in line a little bit but it was well worth it. It wasn't the grandest establishment, but it was good food, really cheap! We ordered the Seafood platter (10.75!) and also each of us had $1 Strawberry Daiquiri. You really can't beat that.

Bear started not to feel good during the meal, we were all guessing it the was possibly the energy drink... We walked down Bourbon scoping things out for the next day and headed back to the hotel.

Thursday morning we slept a little late. We all got going and ready by about 10:30, almost lunch, but we of course wanted to visit Cafe Du Monde. So we headed over there and had beignets and cafe a laut all around. It was so YUMMY! Even better than I remembered. Then we began exploring. We went down to the French Market, which now has a fancy covered pavilion type place with bathrooms and a business office. And we went by The Gazebo Cafe and picked up a few ice cream daiquiris. They are SO good, but very filling.

Next, Bear and Jason had scoped out the oldest bar in America, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar. They went in while Dee and I strolled the block and finished our daiquiris.

It was SOooo HOt! And somehow I had lost my pony tail holder at breakfast. We went in the bar to cool off for a while. Luckily, Dee found an extra pony tail holder for me!!! YAY!

We walked around a bit more and eventually stopped at Chartres House Cafe for Bloody Mary's. We also decided to share an appetizer. We had the BEST Crawfish Cake ever. And the drinks were great!

Next, we wanted to go to the Garden District so we went all the way down to walk along the River. We heard what we thought was someone playing a recorder, you know like the one's you get in 5th grade music class? But really loud! It turned out to be a River Boat playing with the steam whistles.

We took the St. Charles Street rail car into the Garden District and went on a walking tour we found online. Jason and Bear were our tour guides. The houses were beautiful, but we were getting so HOT and we had to go to the bathroom and we were getting hungry. While Dee and I were appreciative, we told the boys we had been there done that and they were happy they wouldn't have to bring us back again. We passed a home owned by John Goodman and one owned by Nicholas Cage. The landscaping was beautiful as well as all the homes. Some were under construction and some were for sale. You don't get to go inside any of them so next time we said that we want to pretend we are in the market so we can go inside!!!

We went back to the hotel to rest and shower. Once we were revived, we headed out to have some fun. We had dinner at the Crescent City Brewhouse. It was good food once again. Then we were off to various bars for the rest of the evening.

We discovered the Chart Room bar. They had $1.50 Miller High Life ON TAP. That was very "unique". Cheap beer. But also THAT beer. On Tap. Plus the oddest mix of music ever. Fun, but odd.

Then we went to the Old Absinthe House. The beer there was skunky to say the least. Either skunky, or definitely NOT what I ordered. We were in and out.

Next we went to the Hotel Monteleone and sat in the Carousel Bar. It was actually moving!! Not fast, but still moving. The bartender was staying in one spot and we were going round and round. Very cool!

Then we went to Pat O'Brien's. And as I had told Jason and Dee earlier, it suddenly became a good idea for Bear to drink a Hurricane even though he swore he would not have one ever again. It did take him a while to get it down. We sat in the Piano bar for a long time. It was so much fun!!

Then we all had one more beer on the balcony of the Jazz Emporium.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped Daisy Dukes for breakfast. DO NOT ASK. It was food and we needed it. They were open all night. And yes, the girls dressed accordingly. I remember feeling like I was eating at Mel's Diner in Giddings like we used to do when we had late nights in high school!

Needless to say were not moving too terribly fast on Friday. We all felt fine, but sleeping in felt great. We didn't get going until around 11 so we skipped Cafe Du Monde and went straight to lunch. We had gumbo at Court of Two sisters and then shopped on Royal Street. We found alot of cool art places, and while I love the style of all of the NOLA art, I can't afford it. Maybe one day. We had another snack later that afternoon at The Gazebo and listened to some live music. Then we went back to shopping again. While Bear and Jason finished up looking at some places, Dee and I headed to a bar to sit down for a while. Our legs hurt so bad! And again it was hot so we decided to go back to the hotel and shower and rest up again.

But on our way back, we were finally able to stop at Napoleon House Bar. We had tried several times and it was always closed and we couldn't figure out WHY! So we stopped in and had a drink.

I had their "special drink" made with a liquor they invited called Pimms. It was Pimms, lemonade and 7-up with a cucumber. It was Ok, nothing really special if you ask me, just kinda weird.

Once we all had some energy again, we went to Harrah's to get a free drink we had acquired earlier. Then we went to The House of Blues for their happy hour specials and live music. It was really neat! I had not been before and I will definitely go back. Next, we made a stop at Red Fish Grille so the boys could have oysters. Red Fish is one of our favorites but it is a little pricey. But they had really great, guess what, Red Fish! Then we tried to go to dinner at a place that Aunt D suggested but they were not open anymore and it was only 9! So we ended up at The Original Pierre Maspero's. It was really, really good. Or what I had was. It was Shrimp Remoulade that will never forget!!!

I didn't take any pictures of the third evening or Saturday ... not exactly sure why! I guess I was tired or something...

Saturday we didn't sleep to late. We had to go to the Casino and gamble our 30 minutes to get our car out of the garage for free. It turned out, that we only had to gamble 30 minutes on the day we needed to get it out of the garage and not 30 minutes per day as we originally thought. Then we loaded up and had one last meal at Mother's. Then we had to be on our way back home.

It was a very fun, much needed and much appreciated vacation. And while we did several new things, the great thing is there is always more to do when we go back!

Last Friday...

I was in New Orleans. And today I am at work. I really wish I could reverse back to last Friday. I believe I was getting out of bed and getting ready to go eat lunch about this time. We went to Court of Two Sisters for our first meal of the day. Or if you are Bear, you call it Tale of Two Sisters. And then we cruised the shops on Royal Street. AND Bear was actually into it and said I could go into any shop I wanted. Which of course, he regretted later. It was fun! No purchases just browsing, but still fun. I will have to post the whole 4 day trek when I download the pictures. I suppose I will get to that this weekend.

Until then, I am stuck here at work. Amazingly, I can still get to blogger as management picked this week to lock down all outside websites. Ah, the joy of working with people who can't act like adults on a regular basis. And therefore ruin it for everyone. This is me sticking my tongue out at you, as most of you are all older than me, and therefore should know to act PROFESSIONAL.

I am ready. Well, almost ready.

So 2 days of vacation are gone :-(

I have done alot in the past 2 days though. And I am tired. I am sore. I can barely move. But darn it, I got everything done that I wanted to do.

• I weeded the flower bed. (I wanted to mulch it too, but I am saving that for a day my husband can lift the bags for me. Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy.)
• I vacuumed out the truck. I did a half ass job but Bear made a MESS of that thing. HE can clean it up.
• I vacuumed out the car, windexed the windows and washed the outside. AND even vacuumed out the trunk too. Downside was 20 minutes after I finished, it rained.
• I organized the file cabinet and shredded old documents. I signed up for paperless billing for utilities and phone stuff. I don't need those piles of paper now do I? I had been holding on to things from 2003!!!
• I also cleaned up the guest bedroom.
• I ironed things that had been sitting there for ever.
• I got all the clothes washed.
• I cleaned the entire kitchen. Not even any dishes left on the counter to "dry".
• I mopped the whole house.
• I called the extension office to ask about our dead tree. They are coming next Tuesday.
• I mowed the football field and got really sunburn. It looks very special since I was wearing a tank top.
• I ran errands: mailed stuff, went to the bank, had change counted at bank, went to Ssteinmart to return things and went to Walmart.

Still a few things I wish I had done:

• Mulching the flower bed.
• Get a hair cut and highlight.
• Get oil changed and tires rotated and balanced on the car. It can wait until we get back from NOLA (or that is what we think anyway, we have roadside assistance if something happens)
• Organize pictures and buy negative protectors. I actually was about to order some stuff online, but then I decided not too. For another day...

Next, I need to pack and get ready for our trip. I have kept myself busy so I haven't really been thinking about it enough to get excited. But I am excited... I am sure I won't be able to sleep tonight... I really feel like a nap RIGHT NOW but since I usually have sleep issues anyway when I stay somewhere else, I guess I better skip it. I still have to wash my hair, shave and paint my toes. Then I have to pack everything. That will probably take me the next 2 hours until Bear gets home. And I will probably still make us late somehow.

YAY for VACATION!!!