Surprise Travels

Everyone's posts about snow have gotten me revved up for the holidays even though it's a nice 57 degrees here in Mississippi. Besides an upcoming trip to celebrate Thanksgiving in the beautiful Alabama wilderness (well, not quite wilderness, but we're visiting my brother who lives/works in the woods at a camp) and then a quick trip home, the holidays bring another element of excitement.

Why, you ask? Because I married (dated?) into an awesome holiday tradition: instead of gifts, Nurse A's mom and dad take the fam on a Christmas trip!

The destination is secret for as long as possible, but now that everyone has to take off work and drive from different areas we usually find out ahead of time.

The first year, my sophomore year of college and the second year Andrew and I were dating, we went to New York. It was amazing, and it was my first trip to NYC. This one was a legitimate surprise--we didn't get to open our plane tickets until we got to the airport. We saw the Producers on Broadway, explored the city and ate lots of delicious food. I bought a poster at the MET that I have yet to frame.

The next year was another huge first for me. We occasionally get a thin layer of snow in Oxford, but this was a sight I had not yet seen firsthand:

Nurse A in front of our cabin in Winter Park, Colorado

Lots of snow! Lots and lots of snow! Snow so powdery we couldn't even make a snowman. We skied one day and I loved it, but I didn't want to push my luck on the slopes another day as I fear death by ski, so Nurse A and I took a horse and carriage ride which was more our speed. This trip was fun too, but my feet froze on our snowmobiling trip. Like for real froze. There was ice in my boots and everything and it was quite terrifying because we were on top of the mountain. I still enjoyed it though, especially when feeling came back to my feet.

The fateful snowmobiling trip.

Our third trip was to New Orleans, much closer to home for me and a lot less travel time. We stayed at the Hotel Monteleone, ate lots of oysters and took a class at the New Orleans School of Cooking. Andrew and I were in charge of making the barbecue shrimp (which oddly required no barbecue sauce) and tried to cut the amount of butter the recipe called for (like four sticks) in half. The instructor caught onto us and about an hour later we were feasting on gloriously life-shortening deliciousness.

Carousel bar in Hotel Monteleone. It spins, which is fun until you have one too many glasses of wine.

Look at all that butter!

Last year we went on a Caribbean Carnival cruise which was my very first. It was a lot of fun, though the first day I had to adjust to the sea. I tend to have a problem with riding on big boats (not small ones), but usually a few hours watching the waves helps. We cruised to Cozumel, where Andrew bought tequila with a worm in the bottom. The weather was gorgeous and it was hard to believe it was Christmastime.

Andrew being eaten by the vine at the Mayan ruins. Have you see/read (or in our case listened to on tape) The Ruins? I wouldn't recommend it, but it inspired our picture.

Pretty water.

The whole group.

A few weeks ago when Andrew's family came to tailgate, his mom revealed our Christmas 2010 destination! We're spending the week after Christmas in Highlands, NC. Andrew's parents love Highlands and we're looking forward to a relaxing week of reading, hiking and, of course, eating. Oh, and lots of wine drinking. And maybe some snow. Have you ever been to Highlands? Any recommendations on things to do?

A Bachelorette Bash in New Orleans

Recently, my main ladies and I celebrated my limited days as a bachelorette in New Orleans--so much fun, and my first time on Bourbon, even though I grew up about an hour and a half away. (The one time I walked down Bourbon during the day in highschool, a piece of toast--like toasted toast, not just bread--fell on my head. That didn't happen this time, but I now realize it could have been worse ...) I got to see some bffs I haven't seen in forever and hurricanes were had by all (well, almost all--the smart ones stuck to beer.)
The night flew by, and then bridesmaid Rachel and I were back on the road for our six hour drive home. Here are some highlights from the night, snapped by my wonderful MOH, sister and apparently fab party planner and Ashley.

Flavors included strawberry lemonade, and ... well that's all I can remember. But they were good!

Aren't these cupcakes adorable? They're from Frosting, a cupcake shop on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the area from which I hail. Ash picked up 18 of these babies, all in different flavors, to fill the eighteen slots on her cupcake stand.

Bachelorette accessories.

The set up. Not sure if you can see it, but the cupcakes are too big for the stand (there were so many that we didn't even get to sample all of them.) And yes, those are peen antennas in the center of the table. Bridesmaid Lexi rocked them all night and she looked pretty awesome.

Then my long lost friends Willow and Alex showed up in true NOLA style--rockin' to-go daiquiris they picked up just outside of the city for their drive in.

On our way to dinner at Emeril's NOLA Restaurant (which was delicious and everybody unanimously regrets not ordering the buttermilk fried chicken and bourbon mashed potatoes so get it if you go!) we took a group picture. I love these girls!

(left to right) Lovely lady Nikki (the fashionable wife), MOH Ash, bridesmaid Willow, fab friend Alex, me and bridesmaids Alisha, Rachel and Lexi all of whom deserve witty titles, but I'm too lazy to come up with some.

And so the night began.

First, we outfitted ourselves in bachelorette wear. Ash wore the leopard princess kitty crown (leftover from the lingerie shower Lexi hosted the night before--recap to come), while Willow went for a more roaring twenties look with her feather. Check out the peen antennas!

We saw Andrew's suit in the window of the J.O.S. A. Banks store connected to our hotel, and it was quite exciting. I had to pose.


There were so many other bachelorettes out in about, but this pink-haired lady was staying on the same floor as us. Notice she's holding cash in her left hand; I had a rainbow peen pop in my right hand, but I cropped it out to maintain my internet reputation. Shady, I know.

To sum it up there was dancing, drinking and late night pizza eating. And then we woke up to this:

The morning after. Poor cupcakes. But look, the edited penis pop makes an appearance!