My March Madness

I have dubbed March as my "get with it" month.  I've done my budget and set goals.  I have  a workout plan in place.  We took all the junk food out of the house and I have recipes set up for our dinners. I applied to school.  I have a better sleep schedule established.
I want this year to be an amazing one so January I settled into my new living arrangements, made new friends in my family and moved to a new state.  In February I was selfish and celebrated me and my birthday and did even more traveling.  Again in March I am focus on me but it is a better me, I want to really get into a good workout routine, drink more water, give up soda.  I want to get more organized and finish some projects.  I want to treat myself better, floss, moisturize, stretch.

School

I applied to Kaplan University this week.  I will be starting the 20th of April and will be going for my Bachelor's degree in Psychology.  I am excited about starting a new adventure and am really hoping that a degree in psychology can enable me to continue travelling as well as help people.  I register for classes in a week or so.  Kaplan has an all online program so I can complete it while travelling.

Louisiana_New Orleans

Let me start off by saying I did have a good time taking a road trip with my little family.  I did not however find the overwhelming appeal so many people seem to have with New Orleans.  We left Thursday night and first on the agenda was checking out Bourbon street and Canal.  We drove by several gay bars which looked like fun and then explored a little.  It seemed like any other "bar district" I have been to and besides being allowed to drink on the street it wasn't overly appealing.  I will also admit that I am not a drinker.  If you are drunk maybe the smell and dirtiness of the locale won't bother you but for me it was not exciting in the least.  We went back to the hotel to rest up because Friday we wanted to really explore the city and check out some of the "must sees".

In the morning we headed back to Bourbon street.  We had planned on breakfast at Café Du Monde's as it was highly recommended by everybody.  The line for Café Du Monde's though was extremely long so we opted for the Market Café instead.  I had the French toast and a side of ham.  Both of which were extremely good.  It was delicious.  After breakfast we walked around the French Quarter.  Jackson Square was gorgeous and it was fun to see the different street preformers and artisans around.  We walked through St. Louis Cathedral which was absolutely gorgeous. 

There were some very interesting stores around the French Quarter.  We found a place called The Jazz Funeral.  It had some great voodoo type items and shirts. Everywhere we went, we found beads and shirts that were pretty cool and throughout the quarter they had music playing.  The daytime was definitely more interesting but I reiterate that it didn't astound me as I expected it to based on everything I had heard.

I was in love with the architecture around New Orleans.  The buildings were so intriguing, the balconies the doors, and the cemeteries all had such appeal.  It was definitely my favorite part.  Also because it hasn't been long since Mardi Gras there were also a bunch of beads hanging from trees like above and balconies and doorways.

We had lunch at a place called Jesters on Bourbon Street.  I got the Jester to drink which is advertised as the world's strongest drink.  I ordered the Chicken and Andouille Gumbo and my cousin got the Turtle Soup.  We both felt like the entrees tasted like Chef Boyardee soup which is definitely a bad thing if you are paying $12 for it.  Very unimpressed with the meal as whole.  Our server was very forgiving about us not liking our meal but we still ended up paying full price for food we didn't like and didn't eat.  I would not go back.  We walked up to Canal after lunch and checked out some of the sights there and then called it a day for the French Quarter.

We went to check out Lafayette Cemetery No 2 after wards.  It is so interesting to see the graves displayed this way and one of the things that struck me is that 1) there are more dead people in the world than living 2) most of the people in the graveyard have been completely forgotten.  It's astounding to think about I think.  The graves looked beautiful and very intricate.

We checked out a couple of the cemeteries.  Lafayette No 1 is the most filmed cemetery in New Orleans.  I especially wanted to see that one because I watch the show called The Originals, which is a CW show that I have watched for a few seasons.  A large portion of the show has scenes from this particular cemetery so I definitely wanted to check it out.  Make sure you check out the cemeteries while you are in town just for the sheer fact that the architecture is beautiful. 

We also went to a place called Longue Vue House and Gardens and did a tour of the house and property.  The house was gorgeous and our tour guide was informative and had some great tidbits to share about the property and the owners.  The tours are only twelve dollars.  The downside of the tour was that no pictures were allowed inside the house.  It would have been nice to have some photos of some of the items that Mrs. Stern collected during her time, but alas it was not so.  We were however allowed to photograph the garden which was amazing.  It was a path with several fountains and a little "secret" vegetable garden in the back. 

There was also a goldfish pond in the back of the garden.  There are only stairs inside the house and several stairs within the property so keep that in mind if you decide to visit this property.  I do recommend checking it out.  The tour doesn't take very much time and it is not far from the city.

For dinner we went to Drago's Oyster bar.  The food here was FANTASTIC.  I had a half dozen char-broiled oysters and rosemary potatoes and we started out with alligator nuggets for an appetizer.  Everything about the meal was absolutely delicious and I would beyond recommend it for your visit.  Our server was Jeanie and she was kind of rude to us.  She walked off as quickly as possible and left us without refills longer than I think she should have.  She seemed super chatty with her other tables and the other servers seemed nice to their tables so I don't know if she just had an issue with us or what was up.  We didn't have anything out there happen so I can't explain the bad service but I am chalking it up to a one time thin.

All in all it was nice to get out of town Drago's was great for dinner.  I wasn't overly impressed with the city itself.  I don't know that I would go back and most of the "must see" sights didn't live up to the hype that I had found.  I liked the shops on bourbon and Jackson Square.  I didn't need to do anymore than the day to feel like I completed most of the things I wanted to do.  I would like to go back again and trying out one of the steamboat tours, a swamp tour and we didn't have time to go to Mardi Gras world so my next visit I will have to check these out.  It will be a short trip next time.  Below are some more pictures from the event.