megans knick-knacks

I’m still recuperating after my birthday trip, but New Orleans was a blast – full of good friends, excellent food & drinks, laughter & sweating!

To start off the trip, we cheated and had some amazing Mexican food in Montgomery, Alabama at El Rey Burrito Lounge! Of course, I sampled the margarita! Our trio of dips was delicious…nom nom nom!

Thanks to Joe, we stayed in Mobile the first night and simply drove into New Orleans the next morning in time to have brunch at Surrey’s Café & Juice Bar! The migas at this place was scrumptious!! MMM!! From there, we walked down Magazine Street & across a park onto St Charles Ave. Joe decided he wanted to be a Navajo and stuck a feather in his hair…

We visited the Avenue Pub for our craft beer fix…rather, the rest of the group’s craft beer fix…I’m getting there…slowly!

Lunch on Friday was at St James Cheese Company which Kristen had been drooling over for a few weeks where the food was yummy!! We rode the streetcar to lunch, which was nice & gave us a chance to let the wind blow through our hair instead of sweating an Olympic sized pool. Word to the wise, there are no Wells Fargo ATM’s in New Orleans….anywhere…take cash!!!

We traipsed down to Canal Street, Bourbon Street & the French Quarter after lunch & stopped by Margaritaville for a License to chill margarita in their tire swings…Weeeeee!! We took a stroll to the Mighty Mississippi after Margaritaville & oysters at French Market :)

Dinner that night was at the Gumbo Shop in the French Quarter – I had BBQ Shrimp over linguini pasta! After dinner, we took our adventure to the French Quarter & Tropical Isle & Pat O’Brien’s! Of course, I had to have a Hand Grenade at Tropical Isle…which was surprisingly better than I had heard!! I threw my plastic toy grenade into the nets at the ceiling…I think I hit about 6 people in the process but that’s ok…it’s all in the fun! Jonathan and I had quite a bit to be excited about at Tropical Isle…apparently!

We walked around the French Quarter and went into the other Tropical Isle “location” in pursuit of a pin for dad, but no such luck. After finishing our hand grenades, we moved on to Pat O’Brien’s! The hurricanes were delicious, as always!!! Too easy to put back as well ;) We ended up going into the Piano Bar part after some coaxing! I decided to wear a hat that was left on our table for the remainder of the night!! After leaving there, we roamed around  & went to a bar called Jimani…we only stayed for one drink but that’s alright!

We proceeded to get our late night snack…of Krystal’s (French Quarter has the most expensive Krystal with terrible Coke fountains…) & pizza!

Finally, it was my birthday!!! Yay, Mayor Bee!

We went to brunch at the Ruby Slipper – some gooooood French toast! The place had a really neat atmosphere! Before lunch, we grabbed a beignet from Café Du Monde….powdered sugar galore!!! We went to the French Market & had some peel-n-eat shrimpies!

(ohmygosh...i'm so nervous LOL)

We walked around the French Market district on Decatur Street and in the market! We bought me some birthday beads in the market to wear around– thanks Kristen!!

They bought some muffulettas for their late night snack. We decided to go split a few half-price pizzas and drinks at happy hour at Domenica! Their pizzas are to die for!!! Best $6 spent in NOLA!! Yum! Then we headed over to Mother’s Restaurant to split a few po-boys. We got shrimp and roast beef…delightful!

After our food tour, we headed off to go through downtown and get to Frenchmen Street! Three Muses was the first bar we went to in that part of town! We stayed there for a few drinks and to hear some jazz music! Afterwards, we snuck over to dinner at Snug Harbor! I got the BBQ Shrimp again because I was told that this would be better than the night before…I was NOT let down in the least bit!!! The marinade and seasonings were AMAZING!

After this, we ventured over to the Spotted Cat Music Club! This place could have been so much fun…except the band was on break while we were there. We only stayed for one drink and decided to head back toward the Quarter. We snuck into a hole in the wall bar to have a few drinks over near the Quarter and ended the night there!

By Sunday, I was pooped! My birthday weekend had been a success!!! We went to Camillia Grill in the Quarter for the last brunch on the trip. We all had omelets – which were awesome – and our waiter was hilarious!

We all have great memories & had a great experience!!

Now to get some much-needed sleep from my fabulous weekend in Orlando for Kathy's bridal shower which you'll get to read about later this week!!

 

Catch y’all on the flip side!