New Orleans Baby!!!

I am a little late in posting about our wonderful trip to New Orleans, LA. We had so much fun spending time together on our little getaway, sharing such a great city. We arrived in NO Saturday, February 28th around noon and headed to our hotel, The W off of Poydras. Geoff and I have stayed in a couple of W hotels before and really enjoy all that they include. It's such a nice treat to stay the night in a great hotel.

We arrived at the hotel and were given our room key and went straight up to the room to unpack before heading to get some lunch. I believe when you are paying for a nice hotel and room you should get a nice hotel and room. Our first night at the hotel was not very satisfactory, dirty room, stained furniture, broken fixtures, horrible room service, dirty walls in the bathroom, etc. Geoff made a list of all the problems in our room, it just looked like this room had not been fully taken care of in a couple of months, and took it to the management. After hearing about our problems they immediately gave up double points for our stay, and upgraded us to a suite on the 22 floor. I wasn't expecting much with the other room we had but I was very excited to see our wonderful (and CLEAN) room that afternoon.

Here are a few pictures of our room:
Our Bedroom...Our Bathroom... (I love the subway tiles they used in the shower/tub)Our living room, with bar and table...

And our guest bathroom... (This suite had great views of the river, I hate I didn't take any pictures of that)

We spent all of Saturday down in the French Quarter. It was nice to walk and see all the beautiful architecture, iron porches, small alleyways which lead to small courtyards. I love New Orleans and the feeling it gives you. We went shopping on Royal Ave. and found a couple great antique stores, art galleries, and gift stores. We went to the French Market hoping to find something great, and we came away with some good ideas and a wonderful candle (French Quarter Candles) that smells so good. I love burning at home, it just takes us back.

When we were walking back down to catch a cab back to our hotel we stopped in my dream store, What's New Gift and Home Accessories. They had so many fleur de lis in this shop I could have bought everything. I have a bit of an obsession with fleur de lis items, they make me feel good and part of my Kappa background (or at least that's what I blame it on). I didn't buy anything in the store, they were in the process of closing and trying to get a homeless many out of the store who was being a little to friendly with the sales clerks. I will have to go back to this store when I go back and will be visiting them online.

Geoff and I stayed in Saturday night so we could rest up for Sunday. On Sunday, we went on a walking tour of the Garden District of the city. I did my reseach beforehand and this was the best tourgroup I found (Historic New Orleans Tours). We had a blast on this tour and our tour guide, Bob, was excellent, he gave great detail to all the stories he told and answered all the questions we had. He even gave us trivia questions to answer, Geoff got 2 out of the 3 correct! Here are some pictures of the homes we saw along the way,

This is the "Curious Case of Benjamin Button" house. This is the house I really wanted to see throughout the whole tour and it was the last one we came to. The next picture is of the back of the house with the stairs, where the baby was found!! It was pretty exciting for me to see this since I enjoyed the movie so much.



I had so much fun seeing all the homes in this area of the city, they are so beautiful and I love the Greek revival architexture. While we were walking we saw Nicholas Cage's home (now for sale), John Goodman's house, and the author, Anne Rice's home (also for sale). This neighborhood has the best coffee shop and book store (The Garden District book shop) which has so many signed copies of books, I picked up a few books as presents. What great gift ideas!!

Once our tour was over, we took a streetcar back to our hotel to go get ready for a surprise dinner Geoff had planned for us that night. This streetcar ride was my first one and we had a blast. Here is a picture of Geoff and I riding along:

After getting to the hotel and cleaning up for dinner we took a cab to the secret location. Geoff had been keeping the location of the dinner a secret since we started planning and I had been trying to guess all week long but he wouldn't budge. We took a cab to Emeril's New Orleans restaruant. This was a great choice and one of the ones I had been guessing. :) He did a great job planning and we had the best dinner, Thank you to my wonderful husband!
Monday morning was bittersweet, we were excited to spend the morning exploring a little more of New Orleans but we had to leave such a great city. We got up early, packed our bags and headed to Cafe Du Monde!!!! This is the one place I really wanted to go and we saved the best for last.
The beinets were delicious, I debated on whether or not to bring some home with me on the plane. We truely enjoyed this treat on our last day in NOLA.
After eating our fabulous breakfast we strolled around the french quarter for the last time. We went to Saint Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square. It was so beautiful inside and out. We spent alittle time inside and enjoyed experiencing this historic church.

Afterwards we walked down Royal St. again and bought some artwork at one of the many galleries in the French Quarter then we headed to Brad and Angelina's home. I was given the address the day before by our tour guide and I was excited to see where they have a home. I'm not a crazy fan or anything but it was something I just had to see before I left. Here is a picture of me standing in front of their home (don't worry they were in NYC while we were there):
After this we caught a cab back to the hotel and then off to the airport. We had such a good time visiting and can't wait to go back soon!!
~Katy

Walking for a Cure

This past weekend I was involved in wonderful cause, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I have been a diabetic since 1989, almost 20 years, and have learned to manage everyday life while living with this chronic disease. Over the past 20 years I have never been involved in a walk like I was this weekend.

This weekend Geoff and I walked to raise funds for research to cure diabetes with some friends we have met this past year. Stephanie and Brooks Bunn invited us to be a part of their team honoring Stephanie's niece, Hailey. Hailey is 10 years old and has been a diabetic since she was 8 years old. I found it a great opportunity to join together as a team and raise money for such a great cause. I was able to raise $700 for the research foundation with the help of wonderful friends and family who have supported me throughout my life, from childhood into adulthood. I appreciate each one of the donors and thank them for their help.

On Saturday morning Geoff and I got up early and headed to the Greenville Convention Center for our walk. I was excited to get walking and hoping this would help to motivate me to start excercising more. :) Here are Geoff and I before the walk.

Here we are with Stephanie and Brooks, Stephanie was our team leader and kept everyone in order.

We had so much fun walking in the sunshine, even though it was a little chilly with the wind blowing. :) We tried to keep warm by keeping up with the kids walking with the sign. They were fast and energized, how nice to be a child again.

We wore shirts that said our team name, Hailey's Angels. Hailey is the little girl in between the boy and girl with the blue zip up jacket.

I truely believe there will be a cure for diabetes in my lifetime and I know that with more conversation, donations made, and research in this field we will find a cure. Please get involved in your area and help to CURE diabetes. Insulin is only a treatment not a cure.

Love, Katy