greatest hits

things are happening on the selling-our-house front.  i can't say anything definite yet, but it's looking up. (and truly, the thought of no longer having to have the beds made and floors clean everyday before leaving the house in the near future is enough to make me do cartwheels.  i mean, isn't getting two boys and one momma dressed and out the door every morning adventure enough?)

i'll keep you posted.

but in the meantime, 

1) we went down to the arts district last friday because museum admission was free.  woot!  we walked through a crocheted installation which automatically put big, fat smiles on all of our faces.  read more about it here.

icing on the cake, chris won a drawing for a membership to the nasher sculpture center.

sweeeeet.

 2) dr. jekyll/mr. hyde benjamin had his first tball game.  part of him loved it, part of him didn't.  i on the other hand thought the whole darn thing was super cute.  go pirates!

 3) and just in case you haven't already fallen in love with my newest niece, addy;

 here you go.  

she's awesome (especially that ear).

click here for more addy pics.

looking forward to a tball game, baby snuggles and ducking away to the lakehouse for a night.

how was your week?  what are you looking forward to?

until next time,

xoxoxo

addy girl

addelyn elizabeth

4:54 pm

7 lbs. 12 oz.

{these were the first few pictures circulating of addy before we were even allowed to see her in person.  since, i have been able to get my hands on her!  i'll post my pics soon.}

greatest hits

in no particular order, here are some shots of my week:

1) FINALLY eating a banh mi from nammi food truck (i've been eye-balling them for a while now).  ummmm, delicious.  the grilled pork was our fave.

2) a mother's day spent brunching at whiskey cake (omg, the actual whiskey cake is amazing) with the whole fam damily, hanging at the house with my boys and enjoying a perfect dinner at goodfriend.

{the coop}

3) hanging out with marcy on her day off and then later at her house for an epic dinner and happy hour.

4) a seriously successful play/dinner date with baby nolan and crew.

5) an end of the year program where ben spent half of the time happily singing and the other half pouting and shrugging.  oh well, you win some, you lose some.

 6) a tball practice that involved ben hitting the ball, sloooowly running the bases and digging in the dirt.

 7) this french-fry loving baby (i know, big surprise that my baby loves french fries).

 he also prefers to play in the toy basket instead of with the basket's contents.  whatevs.

 looking forward to: ben's first tball game and the birth of my niece (woot, woot!)

how was your week?  what are you looking forward to?

until next time,

xoxoxo

a couple of favors

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1) fact: i was a teacher for years. after ben was born, i was lucky enough to have a principal that kept me employed part-time (almost unheard of in my profession). 

fact: my family has a business that employs the majority of us. last year, due to the growth of the business (and the family), i left the classroom for a different part-time gig helping out my sister. 

fact: my little sister runs the office. she is really good at what she does. she is also really pregnant. she has done her best to prepare me for her departure, but here we are, two days into her maternity leave and i am in the weeds, y'all. used to working with kids, i am a smidge out of my element in the world of excel documents and quickbooks.  i get frustrated a lot.  and when i get frustrated, i cry.  it's not cute.

favor: due to the impending arrival of my precious niece, my work schedule has changed.  my greatest hits will more than likely move to fridays, i think.  so hang with me, friends.  and pray that i get better at my job.  fast.  because things, they are a-changin'.

2) fact: my precious niece, previously mentioned, is scheduled to arrive into this world on monday afternoon.

favor: if you can, please send my sister, her husband and baby addy some good vibrations, happy thoughts, prayers, etc. on monday.  we are all beside ourselves with excitement to meet our little angel.

thanks.

happy mother's day

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best of new orleans

my friend sherry is headed to florida soon with her little family and plan on making a pit stop in our sweet new orleans.  she asked for a restaurant rec that was kid-friendly, and though we visit nola sans kids, her impending trip lit a fire under me to get my 'best of nola' list in order.

chris and i try to visit nola once a year.  we've had to skip a year here and there due to little things like having babies and such.  each year we try new places and things in the never-ending quest to find our favorite spots.  and i must say, we are well on our way.

bear with me~

best of breakfast:

Stanley: we read a review from a local that said if he had only three days in new orleans, he would eat breakfast here all three days.   i had an eggs benedict po-boy, for the love of god.  there.are.no.words.
the day after we ate there the first time, we had plans to pick up some beignets for a "light" breakfast.  the line was too long, so we marched right back to stanley where i ate a "light" breakfast of corned beef hash with a bloody mary to-go.
{sherry, i saw kids there.}

Mother's: could be the most intimidating breakfast spot in town.  the no-nonsense staff doesn't have a ton of patience if you aren't 100% sure of your order.  but hell, you should be ready to order after waiting in line for thirty minutes.  order the debris (pronounced day-bree).  it's tasty, y'all.

Le Croissant d'Or: if we have a big lunch planned, i will take my time getting ready in the mornings and chris will walk to this french bakery and bring me back the most delicious almond croissants with a cafe au lait.  he makes me feel spoiled rotten.

Cafe Beignet: if you have never been to cafe du monde, go.  it's an institution.  you can't go to new orleans and never eat a bag of beignets on their patio.  however, the lines tend to wind down the block. so if you have already been there, done that, then we recommend going to cafe beignet.  same fried delicacies and coffee minus the lines.  bingo.

Luke: dang.  this place is tasty.  i love any place that serves french fries with your breakfast (which just happened to be a crab omelet).  they come wrapped in a newspaper cone placed inside a silver mint julep cup.  the presentation alone is worth the price to me.

best of lunch:

Acme Oyster Bar: this is our we-are-almost-out-of-money go-to place for a meal.  the shrimp po-boy never, never fails. 
Pascal's Manale: oh baby.  this place is known for their bbq shrimp for a reason.  and when i say bbq, i don't mean the thick tangy sauce we baste our brisket with...i mean a magical sauce made of mystery ingredients that i can only identify as a stick of butter and loads of black pepper.  they hollow out a loaf of french bread and dump a dozen or so shrimp in it with extra sauce and bread on the side for sopping.

Coop's: this place is a dive.  and for us, the divier a bar, the better.  we would belly up to the bar for a few abitas and watch giant plates of fried chicken pass us by on the way to table after table.  we finally got with the picture, ordered food there and were not disappointed.  the kitchen is out back (as in on the back patio) so you can drink a beer, watch the chefs stir giant pots of gumbo and shoot the shit with the crusty bartender all at the same time.

Mona's: i know that eating middle eastern food in new orleans might seem a little random, but this plate of falafel, hummus and all the fixins was one of the best "snacks" we had during our last trip.  there are a couple locations: on magazine and in the marigny.

Central Grocery: go here, order half of a muffaletta, buy a coke from the machine and enjoy this tasty lunch in the back of the store or even better, down by the river.  if you have a fridge in your hotel room, order the large and save some for later.

Praline Connection: smothered chicken, greens, mac and cheese.  you get the idea.  go here, eat, unbutton your jeans and order sweet potato pie for dessert.  you are welcome.

best of dinner:

MiMi's in the Marigny: when people ask questions like, 'what is the best thing you ever ate'?, my mind goes blank and i can't seem to remember any meal i have ever eaten.  except for the fried goat cheese croquettes drizzled with honey that we ate at mimi's.  i can't seem to get those out of my head.  ever.  mimi's is a bar that serves tapas.  it came highly recommended by a local and once there we were seated at the table right next to stifler's mom.

Adolfo's: this place is tiny, the wait is ridiculously long and the waitstaff is unapologetic.  so much so that you are convinced that your night might be ruined, that is until you take a bite of the catch of the day smothered in their 'ocean sauce'.  then all of a sudden you are planning your next visit.  

Cochon: if you love pork (ahem, chris), you will love it here.  hands down the best meal we had on our last trip.  and the choclately-salted-caramel-bourbon-ice-cream-dessert-thingy was to. die. for.

Louisiana Bistro: if you are feeling adventurous, make a reservation for dinner at this tiny restaurant and order the chef's tasting menu.  he will come to your table to serve the courses personally.  it sounds fancy but the food is delicious, the restaurant is unpretentious and the experience is exciting.

Irene's: if italian food strikes your fancy, this is the place to go in the quarter.  

Clancy's: this place is charming and delicious and a smidge fancy.  the shrimp remoulade salad was my favorite.

best bars:

Lafitte's: if you can, snag a table by the window because this bar was made for people-watching.  make sure you have some extra cash for the jukebox.  

Coop's: my new favorite place.  here you can order an abita strawberry with a side of soft-shell crab pasta.

The Spotted Cat: i promise, promise, promise that you will love ANY band playing at the spotted cat.  the music is amazing, the beer is cold, there is a piano in the ladies room, and the dancing is infectious.  cash only.

Vaughn's: kermit ruffins plays at this hole-in-the-wall every thursday night.  and it is a sweaty-dancy-good-time.  get there early if you want a good spot.

The Carousel Bar: generations of my family have stayed at the hotel monteleone for years.  it can be pricy, but you can manage to find a good deal on a room there depending on when you travel.  if you are ever feeling fancy, stop by their newly remodeled bar and order yourself a 'grown-up' cocktail you wouldn't normally order elsewhere.

Port of Call: there burgers are tasty, but let's be honest, they aren't known for their burgers.  their drink, the monsoon, is a game-changer and can either make your day much better or much worse.  the drink is potent.  share one with a friend.

Napolean House: it's like stepping back in time.  order a pimm's cup on a hot day and you won't be disappointed.

best bloody mary:
{all bloody marys are different.  my father-in-law prefers his all vodka with a splash of tomato juice.  i prefer mine like a salad.  a snack and a cocktail in one???  sign me up.  these are my recs for bloody marys done my way} 

The Superdome: chris and i took our first trip to nola together when we were dating.  we went to a saints game where i ordered a bloody on the recommendation of a friend.  best ever.

Stanley: they will make you one to-go, fyi.

The Golden Lantern: we walked by this place a million times on the way to and from our room.  chris checked yelp to see if the sign in the window boasting of the best bloody mary in the city was legit.  it was.  and they are tasty.  once again, to-go.

travel guides we have used:

here
here

greatest hits

 it is still spring and we are still celebrating!  

we will slow down come summer.  surely. 

take a peek at our week:

1) most importantly, biggie smalls turned one.  

we spent the weekend celebrating him. 

 {baby loves chocolate}

 {he loves his daddy, too}

 {baby joe enjoyed a cupcake of the red icing variety}

 {super-dad}

{look alive, kids!}

2) i also spent the weekend celebrating that i miraculously didn't keel over and die after running five miles on saturday morning.  around mile 3.5 i was hoping someone would put me out of my misery, but my coach somehow convinced me to keep putting one foot in front of the other until the finish line.  so i did.

{me, happy i didn't die}

 {my beginners running group}

 {tim and jules ran the race too.  i ate their dust loved hanging out with them after the race}

3) "mismatch" day at ben's school.  he was in a really good mood that morning.

 4) an afternoon outside feeding ducks (they like stale cheezits, no?), avoiding geese and swinging.

 {BABIES!!!}

{bigfoot bonner}

looking forward to dinner with friends and mother's day brunch.

how was your week?  what are you looking forward to?

until next time,

xoxoxo