Farewell Beignets

We asked ourselves...if we only had 10 day in New Orleans, what would be on the "must" list? Then, we went and did those things! We have turned the page on this chapter in our lives and are back in Tennessee with family and friends. We are buying a home and plan to enjoy the great outdoors more now that we'll have easy access to the mountains and rivers of Tennessee and Georgia. I am working on a short memoir of our time spent in New Orleans...I'm sure it will be months before it is finished. Until then, we leave you all with photos of our last trip to Cafe Du Monde and of the 10 things on our "must" list :)

1. Eat one last Po'boy (We went to New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Co. on St. Charles)
2. Eat beignets (If it's not Cafe Du Monde, it doesn't really count)
3. Eat crawfish (Crawfish Pie, thanks to Mike!)
4. Eat some sausage (We went to our favorite, Dat Dog, for the Duck Special)
5. Eat a "New Orleans" dinner (We enjoyed steaks and amazing appetizers with friends at Doris Metropolitan in the French Quarter)
6. See some live music (We went to our favorite jazz pub, Fritzels on Bourbon) 
7. Drink a daiquiri (I had a Jazz Daiquiri on Bourbon)
8. Take a walk through the French Quarter at night 
9. Cool off at the Creole Creamery (their ice cream is the best!)
10. Stroll through City Park and around Bayou St. John

Some major contenders included one last streetcar ride, burlesque, snoballs and Swamp Pops...there just wasn't enough time for it all. We know we will visit!

'Nooga Bound!

Most of you know by now that we are turning the page to a new chapter of our adventure... can you believe it has been over 2 years since we sold our house, found new jobs and moved to New Orleans? We have had the time of our lives! We are moving back to Chattanooga to be closer to family, by a house and soak in some outdoor adventure. We are so excited. Matt starts his new job at Signal Mountain Middle High School in just a couple weeks. We are house shopping and I have been interviewing for some pretty exciting jobs. We are uhauling our belongings in a week. I will still have one week left at work after that so we'll essentially be camping out in our house for a week :)

Stay tuned for updates!

Rocky Mountain Reflection

It's been a few weeks since we came back from vacation. It's always fun to plan, pack and go but not so much fun to come back and unpack! The mountains were beautiful. We saw snow and tons of wildlife (no bears!) We hiked several days, did a little shopping and soaked in some hot springs. Most days the temperature was in the 70s. Back in New Orleans, the heat index has broke 100 just about everyday since we've been back. We are ready for fall. 

The Summer Bucket List

As most of you know, I just love a list. I can make a list of just about anything and I'll admit I've even made a list of lists once or twice before. Ya'll know know I have a bucket list or two... but today's rainy weather somehow inspired a summer bucket list. We thought we'd share. Here are some of our plans over the next couple months:

Outdoor Adventures:
-Go Stand Up Paddleboarding
-Take the Ferry to Ship Island
-Explore St. Bernard State Park
-Go to Colorado!

Food Adventures:

-Manhattan Jacks

-District Hand Pies and Coffee

-Breads on Oaks

-Toast

-P’s and Q’s

-Country Club for Brunch

-Another Broken Egg Café

-Tableau

-Brigtsen’s

-Brown Butter

-NOLA Smokehouse

-Rocky & Carlos

-Austin’s Steakhouse

Personal Adventures:
-Michelle: write a Memories of New Orleans mini-book
-Michelle: develop a yoga practice
-Matt: finish writing at least one book
-Matt: make homemade pasta sauce

Crawfish for Everyone

One thing is for sure, New Orleans knows how to throw a party! Our company picnic was a crawfish boil and there were literally 12 table tops FULL of crawfish, sausage, potatoes, corn and garlic. To top that, we even had Plum Street Snoballs there making snoballs for all of us! It was a great time :)

 

What Snoball Flavor are You?

Yes!!!! It is snoball time again- the only good thing about summer in New Orleans in my opinion! We made it over to Plum Street on Sunday- the Nectar Cream and Blackberry Cream were delicious as always! The best use of $2 I can think of!!

New Orleans is Margaritaville

On May 6 we headed to the French Quarter to enjoy some time outside and to hear some live music. With all the "local" options, somehow we ended up at Margaritaville....but you know, New Orleans is Margaritaville. It's like the motto of the whole city is "it's 5 o'clock somewhere". I'm sure the honky tonk country tunes of "Bicycle Jones" lured us in. Somewhere between Alan Jackson and George Straight covers it just felt like Tennessee to me. It didn't hurt that Happy Hour Hurricanes were only $4 either! Here's a photo of us on our way to dinner.