houston shenanigans

A few weekends ago I went home for a friends wedding, and a best friends 30th birthday party. It was such a fun weekend! It started with seeing Holy Ghost at Fitzgeralds. Now growing up in Houston, and my friends always going there for concerts in high school, I don't know how I had never been. But I guess better late than never! If you haven't heard Holy Ghost, you should, especially when in the mood to dance. It's ok to do it by yourself, I have been known to have dance parties all by myself.

The next night I headed downtown for Sara's wedding! It was so pretty, and food was amazing! They also win for best grooms cake ever!

When I left the wedding I headed straight to Jillian's house for her joint dirty thirty birthday party with Katy featuring the best fashion from the 80's and 90's. Because I was coming from a wedding I had to plan in advance and I had a bag of clothes in my car. At every stoplight I took something off (heels, jewelry) and put something on (splatter paint shirt, leg warmers, etc.). I can only imagine what people next to me thought seeing me frantically trying to change clothes before the lights turned. 

It was a super fun night with all of my Houston peeps, celebrating my bestie! Enjoy our fashion show below.

Such a fun weekend home!

fredericksburg

Things have been hard this summer, and my girls trip to Fredericksburg came at just the right time. I met Angie and Patricia there who were getting their massages while I opened up some wine and waited for them. The hotel we stayed at had a Girls Getaway package where we each got a bottle of wine and wine glass, bath goodies, and a massage! Best. Getaway. Ever.

When they got back we walked downtown (a block away from our hotel) and walked around until we found a good place to eat. Something that sucks about small towns? Everything closes at 8 or 9. We found this super awesome place called Bejas Grill and after eating walked to a bar that had promise and was actually open until 2. Well...it was a craphole and didn't look like they were going to have karaoke with the 3 other people there, so we left. To give you an idea of this place, when we walked in I totally expected a record to stop while everyone looked at us.

at dinner

The next day I woke up and left to get my massage. It was heaven! Again, just what I needed. We then did some shopping downtown and ate at a delicious German restaurant called the Auslander. As we were about to leave for the wineries it started pouring, so we ran to a bar/wine store next door where they were doing tastings. This guy who looked like Gerard Butler was serving wine from his winery, and we ended up getting a glass and hanging out until the rain stopped. When it finally stopped I decided I would buy a bottle of this super delicious wine. Now I am normally a $10 bottle girl, and didn't check the price before buying. To my surprise it was $30! Even if I wanted to change my mind I couldn't because he signed the bottle for me! Oops. I guess I just need to find a special occasion to drink it!

We finally left for the wineries and decided to stop at any of them that looked cool. We hit up 4 different wineries and tried a lot of delicious wine!

First stop, Rancho Ponte

 Mandelbaum

 Grape Creek, home of the delicious hot tub wine

Four Point

Favorite stop and best way to end the day!

After a perfect day we ate dinner at a different German place we hoped would be haunted. Sadly, it wasn't, but the food was still delicious even without the ghosts. Afterwards we stopped by the candy store, naturally, and finished the night with some wine by the pool.

Sadly we had to leave the next morning after breakfast, but the quick girls trip was perfect! Who doesn't like to get away with 2 of their best friends and go on an adventure and drink wine? We've already started planning for our trip next summer to some super haunted hotel in Louisiana! I'll have to start getting my ghost hunting gear together!

laissez les bons temps rouler

For the past few years my teacher friends and I have been talking about taking a trip to New Orleans. (One of them is from there and has been wanting to take us and show us the city.) We finally made the plan and went this past weekend! The last time I was there I was 3. Since I don't remember that trip, this trip should just count as my first time there. We left Thursday and came back Sunday, the perfect amount of time. 

I knew some things to expect, like lots of drinking. But holy cow, I wasn't really expecting what happened. The first thing we did when we got to our hotel was head to the Carousel Bar inside our hotel for a drink. The main bar area was a circle and spun like a carousel! It was really cool.

One things I loved there were the old buildings and how cool and colorful all the doors were. We walked everywhere, getting tours by Heather and a mule drawn carriage we rode. I don't remember the last time I went on vacation and didn't get in a car once to drive somewhere. It was really nice being so close to everything.

Our second night there we went to a bar called the Blue Nile to hear Kermit Ruffins, an awesome jazz musician. (If any of you watch Treme, he is all over that show.) Apparently this guy usually plays at this bar in Treme and when he takes a break halfway through his set he cooks and serves BBQ outside to everyone listening to him play. (The Blue Nile isn't in Treme, this is another bar he plays in pretty often.) He put on a really great show!

At one point people started jumping on stage and singing with him and a girl I was talking to while there pulled me up with her. At one point Kermit put the mic on me and we sang together. He clearly knew who the most awesome person up there was.

(Sorry it's sideways. I couldn't get it to straighten out.)

Heather and I talked with him for awhile during his break. He totally loved us!

The drummer, Derrick also loved me.

We ate a ton of great food, heard a lot of amazing jazz music, and had the best time ever!

We've already started talking about and planning our trip for next year! Although next year I think I will just fly instead of drive for 9 hours.