well the motivational

videos had no impact on my get-up-and-go yesterday.  Actually, after I got off the computer, the day went to the dogs... for real.  Maybe I'll talk about that tomorrow, after the trauma has worn off or the bruises show up.  For now let's talk about awesome things.  We went out on Thursday and had a couple of drinks and by the end of the night I was trying to book a hotel in New Orleans.  I say "trying" because I was using Priceline and no hotel in the French Quarter or Warehouse District were accepting $59/night for a 4+ star hotel... greedy SOB's.  (Speaking of $59/night, I'll tell you about Thursday night's room another day)  Anyway, we decided we'd leave Friday and come home Sunday.  While Cosme was at work on Friday, I was trying to get a room.  I finally found one to accept our offer.  The Marriott on Canal Street took me up on $99/night which is still better than hotel.com's $170/night.  Then I found out parking was $46/day so we basically broke even, in a way.  Oh well, it could've been worse.  On the plus side, we stayed here last time and I remembered they sell Pepsi products so I was prepared and brought a few drinks along.

We arrived later than planned but that was okay.  And I wasn't sure why but the check-in clerk told us she gave us a room upgrade.  Anyway, I made Cosme walk me over for beignets as soon as we put our bags down.  Since all the restaurants were closing up, we had to do room service which was okay with me.  That just meant we were waiting for our dinner to arrive at midnight.

Saturday morning view from the hotel room.

 The next morning we walked down to the French Market.  I decided a few years ago that I wanted to start collecting things that could be displayed when we go places.  Last time we were here I checked out the artists set up on the walkway at Jackson Square but I didn't find anything.  This time I did.  I saw some paintings and knew they were me.  The colors were a little light but the style was me.  The artist was busy and talking to another interested buyer so we walked off to see other things.

We stopped in at St. Louis Cathedral and then went on for breakfast.  After breakfast we went back to the room to cool off, change shoes, oh yeah, and drop off those Pralines I bought.  After resting up we went back out for more walking.  We stopped at the Cigar Factory and I went back over to the artist set up at Jackson Square.  This time he was painting and guess what.  He had another painting that wasn't up there earlier.  It wasn't framed like the others but the colors were SO me.  I bought it.

I was so happy.  Now I'm excited to get it framed.  I've been looking online to see how I want to go about it.  I still have some figuring out to do.

This is at the cigar place.  That chair just looks comfortable and I like the whole vibe it gives off.

After that we went for a late lunch at NOLA.  We had to.  We can't go to New Orleans and not go to NOLA.  It was awesome.  The only problem was after NOLA, I was miserable.  Between the pocket bread, bbq'd shrimp and my shrimp and grits, I could barely handle the small bite of the crepe we ordered for dessert.  We went back to the hotel to rest again but that turned into a 2 hour nap and then I didn't want to get up again.  That was fine though.  The heat and walking wore us out big time.  Isn't that the whole point of a vacation though?  You get to do whatever you want?  Well, I did exactly what I wanted.  While I would've loved to have looked around at a few more stores, I really didn't need to.  I already found the painting I wanted to find the last time we went and since everyone in the family has been to New Orleans (except Eric but I figure he'll be going soon enough), I didn't see the point in souvenirs.  ("Hey, here's a tshirt from my trip to Nola. Remember that time you went?")

Sunday morning's view

We headed out pretty early, because that's how we roll.  We really like visiting New Orleans but it's one of those places where it can get old fast.  We're not really into the whole Bourbon Street scene.  Sure, it can be fun but it's the other people that can ruin it for me.  We saw and ate what we came to see and eat and then we headed out.  It was a great trip.

There was a guy staggering down Canal Street on our way out of town.  The back of his dress shirt was wet, one pant let was tucked into a boot while the other wasn't and he didn't look like he had a clue which direction he needed to be heading.  Considering it was already 7:30 in the morning, I'd say his Saturday night was pretty wild... making me feel that much better about turning in early.

i wish i had more time to

sit here but I don't.  I'm moving in slow motion today.  I'm so far behind.  It's already 1:00 and I still haven't made the bed.  I've run a few errands, went to the store and forgot orange juice, have the dogs inside because of a dead possum in the backyard and I just can't seem to find any energy.  Maybe today's the day for one of those motivational YouTube videos.  Yeah, I think so.

For now I'll post this picture.  This was from an early morning walk through the French Quarter.

Until tomorrow, when I hopefully have more time, more energy and less on my to do list.

the theme for

yesterday was "younger you".  Here is younger me on vacation in Acapulco.  Nothing says cool like gold sunglasses and a Swatch watch.  80's, anyone?

Speaking of vacation, remember that pity party?  I couldn't stand it anymore and we left for New Orleans Friday afternoon.  Cosme left work early and we headed out.  I got a room through Priceline and it was in a great location, just not the best as far as housekeeping goes.  We stayed at the Marriott on Canal in the French Quarter.  Luckily I hadn't made dinner reservations requiring us to change clothes.  Our room wasn't ready when we got there at 7:30.  We checked our bags in and went for dinner.  We went to Ralph and Kacoo's.  It's nothing fancy but the closest one to us is several hours away, we enjoy the food and there isn't a dress code so we stopped in.  By the way, I never liked hush puppies until I tried them here.  They're pretty tasty.

The hotel called during dinner to let us know the room was ready.  Instead of walking back, checking in and going back out, we decided to finish our night.  The next stop was Pat O'Brien's for a hurricane.  Then was a walk down Bourbon Street with a stop in a blues club.

We finally made it back to the hotel and crashed.  The next morning the line for Cafe Du Monde was so long we decided to skip breakfast (it was, after all, 11:00) and headed to NOLA.  Man, that place is good.  We'd eaten there for dinner a few years ago and loved it so we figured we'd go back for lunch.

Shrimp and grits.  Delicious.

I'm not the biggest fan of bread pudding but it was pretty awesome too.

We did some walking afterwards.

Next was nap time.  When I woke up I wasn't feeling too good so we went for a walk looking for crackers and ginger ale.  We came across a reflexology center that I'd read about.  Since I'd always wanted to try reflexology, we stopped and I'll definitely do it again.

We still weren't very hungry so we just stopped for a little bite at the Gumbo Shop.  I had planned for us to try a certain restaurant but we weren't very hungry and felt like sticking to the French Quarter.  Darn, I guess we'll have to go back to try the other.

The food wasn't the best so instead of sticking around for dessert, we decided to hit up Cafe Du Monde for beignets.

After another stroll down Bourbon Street, it was back to the hotel.  We woke up early, checked out and left for more beignets and a few pictures.

I left out a few details.  Long story short, I probably wouldn't stay at that Marriott again... unless Priceline sticks me there with an awesome price.

And then there's the word for today.  Cold.