I just booked a flight to Phoenix to see one of my best friends, Rachel!  I haven’t seen her since Mark and I’s wedding.  We always go a good year or two in between visits but I knew if I waited until I got back from my trip to VB that it would take me another year or so to really get to see her.  Once I get back I have to buckle down and really start working and saving so I decided to just take some of my Southwest points and just do the damn thing.  All in all it’s costing me $5 for my flight. It’ll probably take another $50 to park my car again.  But $55 is nothing! We’ve decided that we will just relax and enjoy each others company and not really spend any money so I think it’ll be good.  Once I get a job I won’t be able to just take off like this.  I just feel guilty leaving Mark behind so much but luckily his mother is coming to visit next month and his brother will be here during some of the time that I’ll be in VB so hopefully he won’t be too lonely.  What did I do to deserve such a loving, understanding man in my life? 

We woke up pretty early this day because we had plans to go on this swap tour and the shuttle was picking us up at 11 and we needed to eat breakfast before hand so lucky for us The Ruby Slipper was attached to our hotel and we had a delicious breakfast there!  After that we packed some bottles of champagne and sipped on a couple glasses during our 45 minute ride to the swamp.  The shuttle driver did an excellent job telling us all about New Orleans and pointing out different landmarks and things that used to be different before Katrina.  Of course the one day that we had an outdoor activity planned it was raining so that was cool but luckily they had $1.50 ponchos and let me tell you that was the best $1.50 I’ve ever spent! The swamp was beautiful and we got to see several alligators and birds and plants.  I loved it all!  Our tour guide really liked us and pulled us aside afterwards to let us hold a baby alligator! Poor thing was adorable!

After the swamp tour we headed back to the hotel where we all needed to take showers of course and get ready for our evening.  This was supposed to be our dressed up night of the trip.  The fanciest dinner and the fanciest club.  First we stopped at the carousel bar for “happy hour” eventho there was no happy hour.  The bar looks like an actual carousel and it slowly moves the entire time you’re sitting at it.

**Please excuse the warped weirdness of this photo.  Sometimes my panoramic app does weird things**

We went to Muriels which is supposed to be haunted.  To their credit they were the only restaurant I went to that had a vegetarian dish.  Just one, but I’ll take it!  Everywhere else I was forced to have a side salad and french fries or red beans and rice.  After Muriel’s we wasted a little more time on Bourbon Street where we were completely out of place.  High heels, which I never wear, were especially difficult seeing as all the bricks that make up the street and sidewalk are all out of wack and sometimes even missing.  So finally we were like screw this and we headed to Masquerade which is the club in Harrah’s casino.  It really wasn’t that crowded but they let us into the VIP section for no reason which was nice because we never had to stand in line for a drink and it protected us from all the creepers!  We spent the rest of the night just dancing out little hearts out until last call and then we all got burgers in the casino food court (mine was veggie of course) and then walked back to our hotel room where we of course proceeded to hula hoop again.  Can’t resist.  

Let me just say that originally I was disappointed in myself for choosing flights that would get me there 12 hours before everyone else and leave me there a good 12 hours after everyone left; but in the end I’m glad that’s what happened.  I’ve spent a lot of time with myself this year and I’ve really grown independently in a way that I wasn’t sure was possible.  I got to see New Orleans in ways that we didn’t have a chance to when all the girl’s where there with me and I’m really thankful for that.  Ok, so anyways…..

After a good 36 hours of no sleep I finally arrived in New Orleans.  My shuttle dropped me off at our hotel around 10 Thursday morning but i was not allowed to check in until 3.  The front desk guy said he would tryyyy for 2 but that it was probably going to be 3.  So on zero sleep or food for what felt like days I now had 5 hours to kill.  I decided I needed to get some food, preferably breakfast and a bloody mary or two to prepare me for the massive nap I was planning on taking once I could lay down.  I found the cutest open air cafe with a live band and I planted myself right next to an outlet so I could charge my phone.  I stayed there for hours just listening to the music and soaking it all in.  It was actually quite pleasant.  The front desk guy called me around 1:30 and said I could check in at 2 and coincidently it started raining like 5 minutes after that.  And when I say raining I mean torrential downpour.  I’ve never been one to really be afraid of rain.  It doesn’t bother me if I get wet I only care about my phone hahaha!  I had two choices here, walk home in the rain, or pay for a taxi.  So I obviously got a to-go lid for my bloody mary and a plastic bag to wrap over my purse and I walked my way all the back to the hotel.  It was about a mile and it took me about 15 minutes and I loved every second of it.  I got back to the hotel, took a hot shower, and took a 6 hour nap. It was glorious!

I woke up from this nap around 8 because I knew the girls would be getting there around 9:30 and I wanted plenty of time to wake up and get ready and just be ready to roll when they got there.  Unfortunately their plane was a bit delayed and they didn’t get there until almost midnight.  Which is a shame because I spent so much time thinking they would be there soon absolutely starving when all the while I could’ve just gone and gotten something to eat! Oh well!  They finally got there, we all changed, and we headed straight to Bourbon Street.  Everyone on Bourbon Street was already trashed by the time we got there so we had a hard time really getting in the groove but in the end we were right there with everyone else!  Once we got back to the hotel we found a granite statue outside the elevator just holding a hula hoop and we decided we just had to have it.  We took it upstairs and several of us learned how to hula hoop for the first time while Keely tried to climb the gigantic granite pole in the center of our room.  Hahaha! It was perfect!

(via littlemiss)

The night after our anniversary I headed back in LA to go to a wine and magic night with Katelyn and her mother again.  It was at Bardot which I’m not entirely sure what Bardot is other than a nightclub in the evenings. It was so quaint and interesting when we first got there and then by the time we got out of the “magic room” it was set up to go into full night club mode.  We got to do some wine tastings and have a few appetizers and then we went into this smaller room where this magician, named David, did some tricks for us.  He was pretty good I have to say! Here are some pictures of the inside of Bardot.  The lighting was pretty bad so it’s kind of hard to really see.  There is no roof where we were just these panels of fabric that could be pulled across is need be.  

After the magic show was up we wandered the streets of LA.  We randomly walked across Mark Wahlberg’s star on Hollywood Blvd and then we went into this quaint little bar called Wood & Vine and then we made our way to the W where after a good hour of trying to get in for free we finally did.  We had to do some major scheming but this girl just simply will not pay $20 a piece just to go pay $15 per drink. Nope!  So we got in for free, bought 2 drinks total and got one bought for us and then we just danced until we were sober again.  I’m from a small casual beach town so we have nothing like this at home.  I felt like I had been teleported to Vegas because those are the only real clubs I’ve ever been in.  It was super fancy and lots of toolbag guys everywhere.  I’m sorry but I’d rather just spend $15 on a drink than have to fake some stupid conversation with some sleezeball just so that he’ll buy me one.  So yeah, supposedly we met the percussionist for Santana but that has yet to be approved or denied.  I think I’ll google him right now…..yeahhhh nope!  Unless he’s a secret member definitely not.  So yeah after all that we wandered back to our car and made it safely home.  I definitely had a great evening but when it comes down to it it’s not really my style.  It’s nice to do things like that out of the ordinary but I can’t imagine that being my normal life.  A) I just don’t have the funds for that kind of spending and B) those just aren’t my people.  I spent a good hour talking with this fake Santana band member and Katelyn’s mom and who knows if everything else he said was true except for that part but I’m willing to bet it wasn’t.  Where are the genuine people because that’s where I wanna be! Hah!