That time we went to New Orleans....

Being that I was born and raised in Louisiana you would think a trip to New Orleans would be no big deal right?  Well yeah....I did live only 30 minutes away right across Lake Ponchatrain but I could probably count on both hands how many times I've gone there....and only on one hand how many times I've been to the French Quarter.

Sooo...when I was checking my emails one day and see a Groupon deal for a certain fabulous hotel called Le Pavillion for $95 a night.....my little traveling wheels started spinning!  I googled the hotel and discovered it is a $300 a night grand historic hotel!  Well.... I started getting supa excited!

Lydia had an friend flying in all the way from Portland, Oregon to surprise her so I thought this would be a great treat for all of us.  And notice I used the word treat.  You see, driving down to NOLA for the weekend and staying in a fancy schmancy hotel is not something we do.  In fact...we've never done anything remotely like it.  So trust me when I say country done come to town.

When we pull up to the hotel,  this is our first sight.  I think we may have taken this hanging out the car window.  No lie.  I mean...I get nervous over valet parking y'all.  I was so out of my element.  I'm sure they knew we were a "coupon customer" as soon as we pulled up and a couple of Chick-fil-a cups fell out when the guy opened our door...that and the snapping of a hundred pictures while its happening. 

I mean, there is a man in tails and a top hat that greets you at the door...

We were snapping pictures right and left.

Of everything.  Even the bathrooms in the lobby which were off the chain.  I mean, we each had our own little vanities to sit at to freshen up. EEEEP! 

Did I mention this was in December?  Cuz it was.  And the entire hotel was decked out.  Lights were everywhere and it felt magical.

We had a few hours before check in and they didn't have a room available so we decided to take a walk a couple of blocks over to the French Quarter for lunch...

Only problem is, it started raining.  By the time we made it inside a restaurant to eat we were pretty wilted.....Well me and Lauren were looking a little wilted.

Marina and Lydia looked like they stepped out of a magazine.  So not fair.

We had fun getting all gussied up when we got back to the hotel.

Marina did her thing and did our hair and makeup for the evening.

We even waited for the elevator in style.... 

Check out our  "throne".  lol

and the chandelier and draperies.

We headed up to the rooftop where the pool is for a little photo shoot....

After all that excitement we came back down to eat in the hotel's fancy restaurant, The Crystal Room".

We were a little early so I had me a big ole cafe au late and ogled all the chandys and that massive wardrobe in the waiting area which I thought was kinda of an odd place to have it.  But hey...what do I know.

These drapes were straight up Scarlett O'Hara. I had a fit and had to text my bestie.  We had Gone with the Wind fests on a regular basis when I still lived back home. 

We dined in the Crystal room right next to fireplace.  This is where I almost died. Or at least thought i was dying.  I wore boots that were too tight for my chubby calves that induced a charlie horse straight from the pits of Hell.   It was like a charlie horse on serious steroids.  I could not move the pain was so bad and I have a seriously high pain tolerance.  You could literally see a golf ball size knot under my skin.   Anyways...enough of that.  You get the picture.... It hurt really really bad.

What hurt worse was my pride.

I had to unzip my boot to relieve the pressure and couldn't zip it back so I had to walk out of this fancy joint with my boot unzipped.  Very classy.

Like I said...country done come to town. 

Believe it or not, after the charlie drama and after we changed,  I convinced the girls to go walk in the French Quarter.  In this fog.

It was super creepy and not real smart.

We made sure we were back by 10pm though because the hotel has this awesome tradition...

They serve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the lobby.

This is why....

I'm not a peanut butter fan at all but this stuff was really good.

And their hot chocolate and homemade whip cream was incredible.

(this was Lydia's third cup or so with extra scoops of whip....she did live to regret the extra scoops later)

The next day was glorious.  We were sad to leave this amazing hotel.

I felt like Cinderella at midnight.

But I'm just blessed we experienced it.

We had a beautiful day with lots of sunshine...

We took in a few sights before we headed home...

I got to finally experience my first time inside an Anthropologie store! 

..... and ate some good food.

And before we headed home we ate some beignets from Cafe Dumond while we sat in Jackson Square trying not to get powered sugar all over us.

NOLA was great.

So thankful for the memories.

Now I  wonder where these TOMS are gonna take me next?