Floyd Jamboree

April 13th

This weekend I learned that I didn't have to go far to find a completely different world! Our friends, Mathis and Nicki, took us out to the Floyd Jamboree. If you have never done this, it is a MUST! We had so much fun.

We got there in time to hear Roscoe P and Coal Train. We found a few seats to sit and watch but it wasn't long before the four of us were up there trying to dance. Thankfully there were so many people, no one really noticed our crazy dance moves.

We took a break from dancing when they switched bands but when the new band started, my dancing must have been that good (or that bad) that a super nice lady came and grabbed me and took me onto the dance floor. She tried in vein to show me how to dance. We laughed and "danced" and chatted before she introduced me to her friend, Leo. I got to dance with Leo and by the end of the song, he was dancing with 3 ladies. Oh, it was so fun.

I am not sure what I expected when we went out there for the evening but it is definitely a night I will never forget. If this place isn't in the "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" book, it should be.

Kelly's Bachlorette Party

March 31st - April 1st

This weekend 14 ladies headed down to Charlottesville to celebrate Kelly with a super fun bachlorette party. Now please keep in mind before you read any further, this post might be a tad bit biase. It is Charlottesville after all...

I made it down to Charlottesville on Saturday morning. Fourteen of us grabbed a quick breakfast and hopped into our 25 passenger van for the day. We had a great time with loud music and funny stories as we made our way to our first winery, Afton Mountain Vineyards. They claim to be one of the oldest wineries in Virginia. We had our own personal tasting room. During our tasting, Kelly's friend, Amy, gave us all tags with everywhere we would be that day in case we got lost or in some people's cases, "ended up face down in a ditch". These ladies are so funny!

After our tasting we were able to sent some time on the grounds just enjoying each other, being really silly taking pictures and sharing in a little wine. Before we headed to our next winery we were able to get a group picture.

Our next stop was Veritas Vineyard & Winery. This place was pretty nice. It was PACKED! I am so glad that we had made reservations in advance. They had a table waiting for us when we got there. The lady that poured our wine, Frances, was really nice. I think we all really liked her. After we did our tasting she let us try anything that was on there list as long as it was already opened. We tasted lots of good wine.



Love is spelled out with wine corks!

After our wine tastings, we purchased a few bottles of wine and headed out to have a picnic at the vineyard. It was a beautiful day and there was a great spread of food. We laughed and talked and drank all the way through our last wine tasting appointment. We decided we were having too much fun to leave and head over to King Family Vineyard so we would have to go there another time.

David, our bus driver, did an amazing job and got all of us and all of our stuff back to the hotel after our extended time at Veritas. Once we got back to the hotel, we spent a few hours just relaxing, some took naps, others came and told stories that make me laugh just thinking about them. I am not sure I have ever laughed that hard before. Hilarious!!

After a little break it was time for the evening festivities! We set off for dinner at Mono Loco. It was a super fun restaurant with lots of atmosphere. We made Kelly wear a teira and sash so everyone knew we were celebrating her and we all got free shots when we got there because of it! The food was not the best and quite a few ended up getting a little sick but the experience other than that was good.

After dinner, the mom's headed back to the hotel and the ladies headed downtown for a few drinks and dancing. Our first stop was Zocalo Restaurant. This started the interesting people watching for part of the trip. There are some very unique individuals that spend time in downtown Charlottesville. They really didn't have room for all of us at this place so we decided to head to the only dance club in Charlottesville (or so I was told), The X Lounge. WOW! This place was like walking into The Twilight Zone. Bizarre. I wish that I could put into words all that we saw and experienced there but it would never do it justice. I think the most lasting memories will be Ashley & my trip to the bar with the guy at the bar that was weirdly interested in what my hand looked like compared to his and Jenna's, Ashley, Allison and my trip to the ladies room (XX, as the door said), and the couple going at it on the dance floor and not in a good way.
It was just the icing on the cake when we left, walked out the door and couldn't go back to the hotel because we were literally on the wrong side of the tracks and there was a train going by. We all got a good laugh at the irony of the situation. We did finally make it back to the hotel (but not before some of our group ran bare foot all over the streets wiping there feet on everything they could find). When Allison and I got back to the room we accidentally woke up the mom's and then spent over an hour recounting our time out and hysterically remembering the day. I think we kept the room beside us up because of our laughing.
Not sure I will venture back to Charlottesville or their wineries anytime soon but I am so thankful I was able to be a part of Kelly's weekend and all of the crazy memories.

Mother - Daughter Weekend

March 16th - 19th

For the past 2 years, mom and I have taken a Spring Mother/Daughter trip. In 2010, we went to New York City, 2011 it was Orlando/Epcot Center and this year it was New Orleans.

New York City 2010

Orlando 2011

We had so much fun. This year we met in Richmond to fly down to New Orleans together. The trip down was fairly uneventful. We got in kind of late so we immediately went to our hotel and when to bed to prepare us for the next few days.

Our first stop on Saturday morning (St. Patrick's Day) was breakfast. Everyone has to have breakfast at Cafe du Monde's at least once while you are in New Orleans so we decided to go there. The line for a table was long (like normal) so we headed over to the take out line to get our breakfast and find a place to sit else where. The take out line was really long but some how when we got to the end we were luck enough to run into a guy taking orders from the back of the line. We quickly ordered, too a seat on a little wall and waited for him to come back. It was great, except I ordered wrong. It was already starting to get hot and I wanted to get us frozen cafe au lait's but I just ordered cafe au lait's and they were very hot when they got to us. That was ok, they were still really good.

We were right by Jackson Square so we sat and watched some street performers for a while before walking around the square and checking out all of the art.

We decided a tour of the French Quarters would be a great way to get a lot of the history of the city so we headed over to 1850 House Museum where we found a tour given by Friends of the Cabildo. We were given a tour of what an 1850's home would look like in the French Quarter and then a very nice gentleman (we called him "The Dentist") gave us a tour of the French Quarter with a stop at his 400 sq ft living space and everything! He was great. We learned so much from him. (He was a dentist before Katrina when everything he had was washed away.)

 After the tour, we were starving so we headed to find food. We decided on a place that we had gone to breakfast the last time we visited there. It was in Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, called The Old Coffeepot Restaurant. We shared the sampler so we could try a little of everything. It was very good. But I think there breakfast was better.
We decided to go exploring after we ate and Pat O'Briens was right down the road. We had so much fun, mom had her first Hurricane. We found a table to hang out and talk and people watch for a little while (one table and only one chair we had to share). It was St Patrick's Day so they gave us green hats and drank a "Fuzzy Leprechaun".

After our trip to Pat O'Briens, we decided to head back to the hotel. But not without walking down Bourbon Street. It was such a memorable day.

Sunday morning we headed out for breakfast at Cafe Fleur De Lis. I really enjoyed this restaurant. They have really good biscuits. Then we headed to go shopping. We didn't have too much luck but we did find a few treasurers. We walked around the French Market. I loved the little shops, live music and fun food and drinks. After a few hours of shopping we stopped for lunch at The Gazebo Cafe. The food wasn't great but the ice cream daiquiris was great!

After a quick stop at the hotel to drop off our shopping purchases, we headed to Mardi Gras World. I loved this place! It is so amazing to see how they make all the Mardi Gras floats and so much more. We learned so much about the meaning of Mardi Gras.

After Mardi Gras World, we headed to dinner at Magnolia Grill before heading back to the hotel to call it a night.
Monday morning we grabbed breakfast in the hotel before catching the St. Charles Trolley to go to the Garden District. It was a fun trip on the trolley and such a neat area. We took a great Garden District Walking tour. But before the tour started we spend some time hanging out in a local coffee shop, Still Perkin', reading and catching up on emails. I really enjoyed our tour guide and the tour. Our tour guide was very opinionated and definitely spoke her mind which didn't go over well with everyone. She gave us a lot of history and showed us a lot of famous people's houses. But my favorite part was the cemetery. They are so crazy different.

Sandra Bullock's Home

Bob Dylan's Old Home

John Goodman's Home

Nicholas Cage's Old Home

After our tour we walked down to Juan's Flying Burrito for lunch before heading to the airport. Loved, loved, loved this restaurant. It has such a great atmosphere, very fun. The food was great and they even have cupcakes! We got the "car bomb" cupcake for the road and it was so worth it.

We had an amazing trip to New Orleans and I had so much fun spending the weekend with my mom. I can't wait for next year.