Updates on the House!

Drew and I have officially been in our house for a little over a year now. We have enjoyed the life of home ownership, despite it's up's and down's :) We have slowly been making our house a home and since I've been home all summer, I have definitely made some improvements.

We bought our leather sofa, loveseat, and oversized chair & automan last fall but I wanted to make them a little softer and bring in some color. They are sooo dark! I added the blue drapes and colorful arrangement of different pillows.

Sofa and center area of family room... I also put up our family's pictures!

More of the sofa and loveseat

Otherside of living room, looking into the kitchen

And because I bought all of the new pillows for the furniture, Drews Mama bought Lucy her own pillow to lay on... and it looks JUST like her :)

My next project was our dining room... Ever since we have moved in, we have not had ANY dining room furniture. Except our old antique book case that I'm using as a china cabinet and a small serving buffet table. So the room was virtually empty and when we had guests over that wouldn't fit at our breakfast table, we would have to use our white plastic folding table and metal chairs that are in the garage. Not very elegant if you ask me...
So, my Mom, my sister Amy and my niece Kaitlyn came in town to visit for a few days 2 weeks ago and we completely re-did the dining room in 1 day!! I was fortunate enough to find a cheap table and chairs at the Blue Bird Circle re-sale shop. It's a fabulous consignment store located in the Montrose area. Everything they have there is sooo nice and super inexpensive.
I wanted to find something temporary because my parents will be giving me their entire dining room set when they move to the ranch in Fredericksburg in 2 years when Dad retires. So believe me, I would never pick this table new at a store but it definitely works for now and we made it as beautiful as it can be! We even put up drapes, made a center piece (after making a quick trip to Hobby Lobby) and set the table (more to come later about the china...).

View of part of the table and my china cabinet and new centerpiece

Complete dining room, drapes and all!

My little buffet serving table that I already had... I need to work on the scratches though!

China cabinet!

Now, onto my china story... My BFF Gina had bought a complete set of china at the Blue Bird Circle about a month before her wedding. She was already getting her wedding china but when she saw this other set of china she couldn't resist! I told her she should TOTALLY buy it because a girl can never have too may dishes :) And this set was more "fun" rather than fancy. She ended up getting it and I was SUPER envious of her because she got it for SUPER cheap.
Gina goes with me to find a dining room table and chairs and while we are there looking around we spot another complete set of the EXACT same china that she had recently bought. I hesitated because I'm in LOVE with my wedding china and I didn't think Drew would fly with me buying another set. But, I caved because I couldn't stop thinking about it and I'm soooo happy that I did!!! So while setting up my new dining room, I had to set the table with my new beautiful china. I'm in love :)

Tobacco Leaf china set with my Grandmother's sterling silver :)

I finally feel at ease with our house. I still have ALOT more to do but it's finally looking so great. Our next project is our bedroom, buying our 4-poster bed that I've been eyeing. :)

Trip to NOLA!

Friends, where has the time gone? Summer is nearly over and school will be here before I know it!

Besides the two weddings we've attended this summer, working at the Junior League, soaking up time with my little pup, and Drew working extra hard at his job... We haven't had time to go on any vacations. So, he surprised me with a quick trip to The Big Easy!!

We went the weekend of July 15-17, and it was so perfect. We ended up driving around noon on Friday, Drew was lucky to take a 1/2 day :) We drove into New Orleans around dinner and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the most beautiful hotel in the French Quarter.

The Omni Royal Orleans

After checking into our hotel, we decided to head on over to Bourbon St., get a hand grenade or daiquiri and find a delicious place to eat! Our plan was to find Acme Oyster House, we had heard from multiple friends that it was phenomenal, however, the wait was TOO long :( So, we thought by drinking our daiquiri we would just wait in line and it would keep us busy. But, the STRONG drink and me did not mix so we ended up going to Bourbon House Seafood because the wait wasn't very long and I could eat some crackers quickly to help ease my sickness :( I perked up quickly after some water, saltines, and ditching the drink and the food was AMAZING!

Bourbon Street

Dinner on Friday night

Excuse my looks, it was HOT, and this was me before the sickness... FYI, don't get a Jester!!

After dinner we decided to walk down to the crazy side of Bourbon Street and then head back to the hotel. Our time was going to be limited this weekend to see everything and we knew we wanted to wake up early Saturday to pack as much in.

Saturday morning we headed over to Cafe du Monde for their FAMOUS benigets and cafe au lait. Let me just tell you that it was as AMAZING as everyone has always said. 

The line was ridiculous but worth every minute :)

After breakfast we spotted in front of Jackson Square, carriage rides! We hopped on one and decided to relax and find out history and some famous places around the French Quarter, via horse ride :) It was so delightful. It was the perfect way for two people to learn so much about NOLA from a local. We even stopped and took a tour of one of the oldest cemeteries. I thought that part would be creepy but it actually was so interesting!

Our carriage and horse, Christmas :)

Sidewalk art!

Jackson Brewery

William Falkner's House

One of these cute houses is worth about a half mil or even more! And this one is even a duplex...

Locals think that if they paint blue anywhere on their house it will ward off "spirits"

The cemetary

Entrance

All of the dead are buried above ground because of NOLA being under sea level...

Marie Lavaeu's tomb.... she was known as the Queen of VooDoo

Nicholas Cage's tomb... he is often seen when he comes to visit New Orleans standing on his tomb or near it talking with tourists... strange... Also, when he went bankrupt the bank took everything but they couldn't take his tomb.

The one of two pictures we took together! 

The only public school in the French Quarter

I'm obsessed with all of the balconies and fluer-de-lis everywhere! 

After our wonderful carriage ride, we decided to walk around Jackson Square and admire the gorgeous Cathedral. It was incredible inside, I didn't take any pictures inside though, not appropriate.

The GORGEOUS St. Louis Cathedral

Andrew Jackson Monument

In front of the Cathedral... the people behind me were taking engagement pictures, haha!

New Orleans

After our little walk around JS, we ate lunch at this cute little local place that served the most delicious shrimp po'boys! Then we headed over to the steamboat, The Natchez, and took a cruise down the Mississippi River. It was so much fun!!

The only steamboat left that you can actually cruise on down the Mississippi.

The Natchez

Delicious Daiquiris!

Deep in thought :)

Ruins left from Katrina

More sad ruins... these were near the 9th ward which was a large portion of NOLA that was demolished.

Domino Sugar Factory!

USS Kennedy

Love this man!

Gorgeous view of the bridge!

After our little boat ride, we decided to go over to Pat O's for the famous hurricane's and an appetizer. They were delish!

Soo good!!

Then, we got ready to go on our Ghost Tour!! We met with the rest of our little group at Jax's and then spent 2 hours walking around with our tour guide looking at the most haunted buildings and hearing some of the most scariest stories of the French Quarter. Here are a few pictures of some of the "haunted" buildings and where sightings have been seen. Also, near the end of our tour we saw Brad & Angelina's House!

Beauregard Keys House

Scary old haunted building... can't remember the name!

Jean Lafitte's Smoke Shop Bar

Cornstalk Fence Hotel

Le Petit Theatre

The Lalaurie Mansion... The most haunted building in the French Quarter!

Interview with a Vampire house!

Andrew Jackson Hotel

Jolie-Pitt... not haunted, just had a celebrity moment.

Muriel's Restaurant 

Muriel's Table.. they set it every night for the ghost!

Our ghost tour was soo neat! Afterwards, it was pretty late but we still hadn't eaten dinner so we ate the haunted ghost restaraunt, Muriel's. It was amaze! I had blackened redfish and dirty rice and Drew had gumbo. We didn't see any ghosts :)

The next day was Sunday, and we packed the car and headed home. Before we left though we drove down to the Garden District and oohed and ahhed over the huge houses. We had the greatest time! We definitely want to go back because two of the things we wanted to do was a swamp tour and the plantation tour. We will be going again VERY soon. For anyone that hasn't been to New Orleans, you should go! What a wonderful, unique place it is.