THE BIG EASY

I'm the Maid of Honor. My friend asked me to be in charge of the turnup (the bachelorette party). I took the sh*t seriously!

So, we went to New Orleans last weekend and had the time of our lives! I've ironically never been to NOLA even though I'm from TX (originally Houston, which is just a few hours away) so I was really excited to experience all the city has to offer. Even though I've never been, I knew a few things had to happen.

1. Bourbon St

2. Cafe Du Monde' beignets

3. Hurricanes and Hand Grenades

4. ALLLL the cajun seafood 

I'm happy to report that ALL OF THAT HAPPENED. Well, except the Hurricanes but I've lived through a hurricane so I'm good on those LOL. Here are some photos from the first two days. We arrived on Thursday, got to the HomeAway house (which I loved, by the way...check out HomeAway for your next adventure!), and went to Walmart to pick up supplies, snacks and chasers for the liquor. Then, we stopped to get our first meal at Superior Seafood which was kinda subpar. Next stop, after dropping off the groceries, was the sex store! Hustler Hollywood had all of the knick knacks we needed to fill up a giveaway bag for the bride. I'll spare you on the details of what we purchased lol. The next few hours were spent decorating the house, setting up and preparing for the bride's arrival. She got to the house around 10 or so and handed out the cutest gift bags/hangover kits that included Advil, branded water bottles with bridesmaid/Maid of Honor koozies, sparkly rose gold slides (BIG HIT!), and some other essentials for the weekend. She opened her gift bag from us and we couldn't stop laughing at her reaction. By that time, the drinks were flowing and we settled into talking, laughing and just enjoying each other's company. 

On Friday, we headed to Dooky Chase's Restaurant to have some world-famous cajun soul food. The food was pretty good but the service was kinda terrible. :-/ From there, we headed to the rooftop pool area at The Ace Hotel and luxuriated in the sun for hours with glasses of Froze'. This was certainly one of my favorite parts of the trip. I love water in any form so pool time is right up my alley. After the pool, we headed home to relax and then ate dinner at The Delachaise, a mostly outdoor outpost with things like lamb burgers and mussels on the menu. Again, the food was pretty good but the service wasn't really up to par.  After dinner, we went to Frenchmen St which was recommended by native New Orleanians as "Bourbon St for locals". Some time at a club/lounge on Frenchmen then turned into a quick run to Cafe du Monde' for our beignets which definitely lived up to the hype! And then, finally, SLEEP. Check back for the rest of the trip recap where I'll cover the bounce dance class, rum tasting and distillery tour, Bourbon St and more! XO - Ashley