THE EDDY FILES: The Big Easy

I can't complain. Life has been good to us lately. John travels like a maniac, and I am on the road more than ever. The good news is that some of John's travel is down to New Orleans, and yours truly had the good fortune of accompanying him on his most recent trip. I took three luxurious days of vacation, and we drove down on Wednesday morning returning on Sunday. Michael Murphy was gracious enough to host an event called Key to the Cure which raises funds for cancer research. It is an annual shopping event at Saks Fifth Avenue, and a percentage of the proceeds go to cancer research. Michael sponsored the fur salon, and this year, his sponsorship was in memory of his grandmother and my mother. I was truly honored, and she was truly smiling down on us. Anyone who knew my mother can attest to her love of fur. She literally convinced me to have a winter wedding by dangling a new fur in front of me like a pony to a carrot. I bit. I have a beautiful white mink to show for it. The evening was awesome, and I'm only sad that we didn't get more pictures. It is hard to try on furs AND take pictures of myself.

On Thursday, I slept in and the men went to work. We had a late lunch at a local restaurant in the Garden District and then went looking for a costume for the upcoming Superhero costume gala. We had dinner in the Garden District and took a wonderful walk around while I coveted the houses (and vespas). The vespas...oh, the vespas...the colors are to die for...mint green, Tiffany blue, candy apple red. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the vespas. John is concerned I'm going granola. I just love pretty colors and the sleek look of them.

On Friday, John and Michael stayed home from work to play with me (lucky me). We had coffee at Sandra Bullock's favorite coffee shop (or that is what John is telling me) and brunch in the French Quarter. We spent the day driving around all of the different districts, walking in the French Quarter and antiquing. We had so much fun and ended it with a wonderful dinner at home.

We had tea on Saturday at a downtown hotel-what a treat! We all got different teas and they were all fantastic. We had beautiful sandwiches, scones and a variety of desserts. I could have stayed there all afternoon and people watched. We saw a wedding party, a birthday party, and lots of tourists in and out. We also saw a tiny mouse that ran under our table and the desire to people watch ended abruptly. Ok, it was funny and abrupt! We napped, lounged on the patio, took another walk and finally got ready for the costume party. Well, since we completely sputtered out on the costume part, we went in suits/dress. I think the kicker was that it was a superhero costume party. I'm sorry, but there just is not a female superhero that doesn't don some sort of super tight outfit. I just couldn't do that to myself. What can I say, I'm a stick in the mud. John wanted to start a drinking game based on the different variations of the same costumes. It was pretty funny.

Sunday was time to wrap up the fun. We attended early Mass (8 AM) at St. Patrick's and then headed out for our last New Orleans breakfast. Let me say that I ate lots of good food, but my omelet on Sunday morning was the best. It had brie, lobster, and asparagus with a lobster sauce on top. Shut the front door. It was AH-Mazing!

Thanks to our hosts for the great great great time!