New Orleans, LA

Our annual conference for work was held in New Orleans this year and I was pretty excited to go.  I was 29 weeks pregnant, so I made sure to not push it too hard since I didn't want to have this baby across the country without Ryan.  Ryan was nervous about me going, but I assured him I would take it easy.  The weather was cooler than normal, but it was still warmer than SLC weather. 

Friday, November 14
Dropped Nolan off at school at the normal time.  Picked up Alicen on our way to the airport at 8:15 am.  We didn't have any trouble getting to the airport and made it through security in like 5 minutes - the airport was empty!  Our gate was the very last one, which always seems to happen.  Our plane took off at 10:30 am.  We had a long day of flying ahead - stopping in Phoenix, Dallas and then New Orleans.  Luckily we didn't have to change planes, but it still made for a long day on the plane.  We took a crazy taxi ride (seriously thought we were going to die) to our hotel.  Walked to Mulates for dinner which was 1 block from our hotel. 
Funny story - while we were waiting for our food to come out, the band was playing and there were some people dancing on the dance floor.  An elderly gentleman was walking around to each table trying to find his next lady to dance with.  He stopped at our table and Pam, and Alicen declined.  I felt bad, so I said sure - i'll dance with you.  So we danced and it was pretty fun.  He gave me a Cajun dancer card with his signature on it, and a lobster necklace.  I'm sure it was quite a scene to see, a pregnant lady dancing with an older gentleman.  The food was pretty good and we were all pretty tired from flying all day.

Saturday, November 15
We all got breakfast from the Starbucks in the hotel lobby before heading across the street to set up our booths.  One of my boxes got lost and was randomly replaced with another package.  The company was really nice and replaced the containers that were in the missing box.  The other things in the box were 2 bags of pens, and they wouldn't be able to replace those which wasn't the end of the world.  I'm just glad I took the papers out that were in there.  I finished setting up my booth, but Pam and Alicen still had quite a ways to go with theirs.  I helped them set their booth up. 
After booth set up, we parted ways.  Alicen's husband was on the trip as well, so she went with him.  Pam and I went on a bus tour that took us around the city and all over New Orleans.  We saw way more than we would have if we walked around and it was really fun.  The bus stopped at: Jackson Square; French Market; St. Louis Cemetery; Canal street; Harrah's casino; drove through the central business district; Louisiana Superdome; The National WWII museum; drove through the Garden District; Mardi Gras world; and the arts district.  The garden district was beautiful and the homes were just like you would think - traditional southern homes and they are very expensive to buy.  The bus made a long stop (15 minutes) that was within walking distance of a cemetery.  I hadn't seen an above ground cemetery before and it was so interesting to walk through.  They can't dig the graves below ground since the water table is so high.  Families are supposed to take care of the graves, but a lot of times the family will move away and the grave (little home as I like to call it) just deteriorates away.  The French market was my favorite place and so after taking a full loop on the tour we stopped back there on the next loop around. 

We ate lunch at Market Cafe where I had a Po-boy sandwich and fries in the French Market and walked back to our hotel.  I took a little nap and walked to the convenient store on the corner for milk and cereal.  I worked for a couple of hours before going to bed.

Sunday, November 16
Pam and Alicen had meetings in the morning and the expo didn't start until 2:30 pm.  It was a nice day, windy and humid, but pleasant.  I walked over to the nearest bus stop since our ticket from yesterday was good for 3 days and took it to the French Market.  I wanted to have some beignets from Cafe Du Monde and they did not disappoint.  At first I was going to get them to go, but decided after waiting in that line for a few minutes that I wanted the full experience, so switched to the other line. 

I walked back to the hotel along the river walk.  The river wasn't very pretty, but the walk was enjoyable.  I walked through the outlet shops that are just across the street from the convention center and our hotel.  I picked up lunch and went back to the hotel to eat before heading over to the expo at 1;30 pm.  Set up the booth for the afternoon before they opened the halls for people to come in.  We only had to be there until 5:30 pm which wasn't too bad.  Went with Pam, Karen and Julie (from another department) to Mulate's again since it was close to the hotel.  We had alligator as an appetizer and it actually wasn't too bad.  I talked with Ryan and Nolan before heading to bed.

Monday, November 17
Happy birthday to me!!  I enjoyed by cereal while looking out the hotel window.  We expo'd from 9:00 am - 5:30 pm.  After breakfast I didn't feel very well which isn't the greatest on your birthday, or when you are on a trip.  Alicen was so sweet and bought pink cake pops for my birthday.  I started to feel a little better, went to Subway for lunch and ate a few bites in my hotel room and immediately didn't feel well again.  I tried to drink as much as possible, but I wasn't going to get any food down.  I laid down for a few minutes before heading back to the convention center for the afternoon.  When the exp ended, I went to the hotel and had a nap for about an hour before going to dinner with Alicen, her husband, Steve A., Pam and Juliana from Africa.  Alicen had made reservations at Emerils NOLA restaurant.  It was very fancy and very nice.  I had the grilled pork chop with glazed sweet potatoes and it was delicious.  Luckily, I was feeling better but didn't want to overdo it.  I had the Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cake for dessert.  It was very nice of my co-workers to take me to dinner on my birthday.  It was a great day, even if I wasn't feeling 100% and was away from family. 

Tuesday, November 18
We had expo today from 9:00 am - 5:30 pm.  I was feeling better, but again didn't want to overdo it.  For lunch I had a smoothie and salad which hit the spot. 

After expo was over it was our dinner reception that I was in charge of and had been planning for months.  It was at Maison Bourbon on Bourbon street and I was looking forward to it and hoping it went well.  There were 20 people that RSVP'd and the minumum order was for 35 people.  I planned on the 35 people coming but thought that might be a stretch.  As it turns out, there were 70 people that showed up and everyone had a great time.  There was a nice balcony that looked out on Bourbon street and I wish the weather was warmer so more people could enjoy the balcony.  I was so glad it went well and that so many people showed up.  Bourbon street at night it a sight to see.  We walked over to Cafe Du Monde and had some beignets with Kim, Steve A., Pam, Alicen and a few other people. Caught a taxi back to the hotel and went to bed. 

 

Wednesday, November 19
The expo was open from 8:30 am - 12:30 pm.  We took down the booth after that and made sure it was ready to be shipped back to Utah.  We went back to the hotel and since Pam had arranged for a late check out we were able to keep our bags in her room which was nice.  We still had some time to kill before heading to the airport, so we left the bags with the bellman and went to lunch.  We ate at Cochon which wasn't too far from our hotel.  The food was amazing and my meal was fantastic!  I ordered the special and it was some type of salad with braised short ribs and the meat was so tender and flavorful.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

After lunch we went back to the hotel, grabbed our bags, caught a taxi and headed to the airport.  It is a good thing we left extra early because traffic was crazy to the airport.  We had plenty of time to spare before boarding the plane.  We stopped in Denver, and then made it home around 11:45 pm.  It was a long day!  I was glad to be home and see Ryan and Nolan.  Nolan was fast asleep when we got home, when he came in our room the next morning he was extra happy to see me.