We were the lucky recipients of a fantastic apartment in New Orleans last weekend. While we didn’t go to Jazz Fest (because *someone* thinks its a bad idea for a pregnant lady), we did enjoy the amazing food NOLA had to offer…and Drew enjoyed the drinks.
There were many trips to Magazine Street (my absolute favorite), a couple of parking tickets, and a random peacock involved. Also included: a rousing game of Clue and a lovely brunch with Joy the Baker.
In all honesty, after spending a mere 3 hours in the heat at the zoo and complaining of aching feet and swollen legs, I’m pretty sure Jazz Fest would have been a terrible idea. Glad the Hubs is looking out for me.
In other news, there are only 100 days until Westley arrives! This may very well have been our last little getaway until we become a family of 3.
It happened. I actually completed my New Year’s resolution from last year and video-documented 2011 through our eyes. Now I have this amazing video to remind me of my favorite year yet. The year I became a kid again at Disney. The year I fell even more in love with my husband when he told me he wanted to have a baby. The year I saw the Pacific Coast for the first time. The year I found out I was pregnant. The year we went to NOLA more times than we can count. It was a damn good one, ya’ll.
And the song? Definitely our song of the year. There’s even a clip in here of The Head and the Heart singing this very song at a show we went to in NOLA. See if you can spot it.
We woke up super early after staying the night in La Push so that we could drive back to Seattle in time for the Iron Bowl (that’s the Auburn-Alabama game for you yankees). Alida hooked us up with the Seattle Auburn club, which is a group of die-hard Auburn alum and fans in Seattle. They were all so much fun! We even met a guy from Mobile that now lives there. Small, small world.
We spent our last evening in Seattle at Game Night at Keridwyn & BBoz’s place on Capital Hill. Check out their view!
If you have never played Quelf, give it your best shot…which is all you can really do because THERE ARE NO RULES! This game is insane and super fun.
After an incredibly confusing game of Quelf, the dance party began. I just remember thinking, “We don’t have these in Alabama!” and also loving every single second. Drew even busted out his Single Ladies dance. It was hot.
I want to thank so many people! Thank you, Kristi, for taking the ONLY picture of me and Alida from the entire trip. Thank you to all of Alida’s friends for being so welcoming, especially Erin and Paul for letting us stay at your place during our visit. And thank you, Alida, for being the best hostess and friend ever. You are a super shiny, sparkly star and I love you. The end.
It’s hard to believe that we are back home after such an incredible week in Seattle. Thanks to our dear friend, Alida, we saw the city through the eyes of a resident, allowing us to truly decide whether or not this is the place we want to live in the future. Here is a recap of our trip. Warning: you will definitely want to journey to the Pacific Northwest after reading this post. Read about our first couple of days in my last post, including our amazing Thanksgiving meal.
It rained non-stop for the first couple of days, but we turned out to be the most lucky people alive the Friday after Thanksgiving. Let me explain. We woke up to beautiful, clear, sunny skies that day, which was perfect because that was the day we were driving to the coast to see the Pacific ocean for the first time. On the way to breakfast, we could finally see Mt. Rainier. It was gorgeous! We knew it was going to be a fabulous day. So we hopped in the rental car, got on a ferry, and made our way to La Push, Washington on the Quileute Reservation (otherwise known as the home of Jacob Black.)
While the drive was absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful, it was nothing compared to what we saw when we finally made it to the beach. Shock and awe. And that’s why we just had to spend the night when we saw that there are quaint hotel rooms right there on the beach in La Push. Here’s where our luck continues…We walked into the hotel office and asked if they had any rooms available. Yes, they had one. ONLY ONE. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity! So we paid for our room, called Alida from the front desk (there was no cell service, no room phone and no tv…it was bliss) and told her that we wouldn’t be back that night. We felt bad but we knew Alida would not only understand, but encourage our romantic spur-of-the-moment-ness. There was one gas station, which is where we bought 3 bottles of wine, a toothbrush and some contact solution, since we didn’t bring our bags with us on this “day trip.” Who needs anything else, right? Photos from La Push are below, but you have to understand that these pictures do it absolutely no justice. It’s just too beautiful for pictures.
As soon as we got out of the car the first time, Drew could not stop saying, “It’s like the GOONIES!!!”
We stayed in the Whale building and drank Washington wine called “Orca.” Awesome.
Drew successfully gave me a heart attack by climbing this monstrosity.
I knew that the beaches wouldn’t be composed of the same soft white sand that I’m used to on the Gulf Coast, but rocks? Crazy. So many of these rocks are straight up granite, which was surprising but also highly obvious since these are volcanic rocks. Duh. I love geology!
That night was one of the best nights of my married life, and I’ve had a lot of those this year. I’ve even called this the best year of my life…like, EVER. It’s that awesome.
P.S. We saw this sign on the side of the road between Forks and La Push. We got a good laugh out of it.
We’re spending Thanksgiving with Booyah in Seattle! The plane boards at 6:15 this evening and we will see the Seattle skyline by midnight (PT). I’m so excited about this trip, that I hope to blog from my phone as we go (this may or may not include a recap of our trip to the Pacific coast via Forks, WA…geez, I’m such a nerd). Stay tuned and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
P.S. I plan on blogging more frequently from now on, so hopefully this will get the ball rolling.
Between NOLA, Jazz Fest, boat rides and Genevieve’s birthday, I’d say we did way too much this past weekend. But the slow recovery was totally worth it!
The weekend started for us on Friday morning. I watched the DVR version of the royal wedding before we went for a nice, relaxing run. Then we got ready and headed to NOLA. We were drinking beer and eating crawfish bread at Jazz Fest by 1pm. I’d call that a great start to the day!
The reason we went to Jazz Fest was for two bands: Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers playing on the same stage back to back. Can’t beat that! My friends Noelle and Chris joined us for the Mumford show. What a great band! And it helps that the lead singer looks somewhat like Gerard Butler. Always a plus in my book.
The Avett Brothers closed out the day. Best song: Kick Drum. That’s good stuff.
Of course, I couldn’t let the following video fall by the wayside…
From there, we went to the French Quarter with the Morrisons for some good food and drinks, but by that time I had had enough. My head hurt, my feet hurt, my sunburn hurt. It was over for me.Especially when I had the cab driver take me to the wrong hotel because Drew had the wrong address. I was just happy to get in bed.
Saturday was nothing short of lovely. The morning started out with a yummy breakfast at Satsuma’s, then progressed to bloody mary’s at Columns and finally we found ourselves walking on a levy with frozen daquaries in our hands. Nothing wrong with this picture. At. All.
After an afternoon full of walking and a fun dinner at Jaque-Imo’s, we were done and heading back to MobTown. Thank you, Tim and Alicia, for showing us such a wonderful time in NOLA! We loved every minute.
Sunday was also a doozie, especially since we were so worn out already. Drew, Lauren and Glenn went for a boat ride on what can only be described as the slowest sinking boat in history, while I worked half the day.
Lauren and I then made our way out to Genevieve’s birthday party that evening. I may or may not have gotten Genevieve on stage for her birthday.
Quite honestly, my favorite part of the weekend may have been the ipod shuffle dance-off in the car with Lauren after a few drinks. How many songs can we get crazy to?!?! Only the Prius knows, and she’s not telling a soul.
Hey ya’ll! As you saw from my vacation video, we had an excellent time. You also may have noticed that we spent a good amount of time at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! I want to take the time to explain that glorious place to you, and the goodies that I walked away with. Good times!
When you first walk in, the Hogwarts Express is immediately on your right, along with the conductor, who patiently waits while everyone and their bestest friends take pictures with him. He was very British, but when I asked him where he was from he simply said, “Hogsmead!” Of course.
Hogsmead is gorgeous and full of all of the wonderful things we’ve come to know and love about the little town: The Hog’s Head, The Three Broomsticks, Honeydukes, Dervish & Banges, Butterbeer, pumpkin juice and so much more. I loved all of the details, including the crooked chimneys of all of the shops.
I didn’t get a chance to go into Dervish & Banges, which is where you can buy wands, because the line was way too long. From what I heard, you go in there and play with wands and the wand chooses you. Pretty neat, but I didn’t plan on buying a wand anyway. I did go into Honeydukes and purchase some Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, which are absolutely legit. I swear I got a lettuce flavored bean yesterday. Yuck. I also purchased some pumpkin juice, which is really apple juice with pumpkin puree. It was okay, but it was a hot day and all I really wanted was water…so I tossed it.
There is one ride in Hogsmead called the Dragon Challenge, which was really fun! Its one of those feet-hanging-down roller coasters that goes upside down and all around. My kind of ride.
Then you get to Hogwarts. You actually go IN to Hogwarts. So effing neat. I didn’t enjoy all of the pushy people, but I loved going in and seeing moving and talking pictures and even the sorting hat, which was talking up a storm. Unfortunately, it was so dark in the castle that I couldn’t get much footage. I even filmed the entire ride, but nothing showed up.
Speaking of the ride, I was VERY impressed, and so was The Hubs, which is remarkable, since he hates how obsessed I am with HP and refuses to watch a single HP movie. The ride was part virtual reality, part real. I can’t give away any more than that. Just go see for yourself.
Finally, I walked away with the one thing I really wanted – The Marauders Map. If you don’t know what that is, I feel sorry for you. I was so excited about it that I allowed The Hubs to record the following video, which shows me without makeup and with unwashed-just-got-out-of-bed hair. If you watch this video, I feel sorry for you.
The Davis’ Family Vacation has officially come to an end, and I couldn’t be happier. We had an amazing time, but nothing beats the comfort of my own bed and the water pressure of my own shower. Its the little things, people.
We weren’t the only ones who escaped Mardi Gras madness to go see Mickey. There were more Louisiana and Alabama people in Orlando than I would like to admit. Sidenote: why would you escape Mardi Gras just to flaunt the hell out of it at Disney? Not necessary.
I have a gift for you! You KNOW I had to make a video of our escapades, so here it is in all of it’s glory. Enjoy!
Happy Mardi Gras, everybody! We’re skipping town while the craziest of the festivities take place. We’re going to The Most Magical Place on Earth. That may be Disney’s Magical Kingdom’s slogan, but I’m pretty sure it will be said all next week. Four Disney parks and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I hope The Hubs is prepared to be a babysitter, because I’m going to be a squealing little girl the entire time.
{
