big easy birthday

Last weekend Sister, Heather Lane, and I headed toward the bayou for Sister's birthday getaway! It just so happened to be the weekend of Heather Lane's birthday and a week after mine. In other words, good timing. Coincidentally, none of us had been to the Crescent City since 1992! We had a fabulous time strolling/eating our way through historic New Orleans.

Laissez bon temps rouler...

we stayed at the quaint park view guest house in uptown

here are a few pictures of the beautiful interior...

our cozy room. it was so fitting with framed prints featuring the new orleans nutcracker and camellias
I loved all the details especially the original fireplace surround tile with fleur de lis

our watercloset

upon arrival, heather lane greeted us with famed georgetown cupcakes sent to her from dear friends in d.c.

birthday treats

we all arrived on saturday afternoon and ventured straight down mansion lined st. charles and headed towards magazine street

the birthday girl!

we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping along magazine street. I was so bummed that this store was already closed for the day.

we stopped at sucre for a little lagniappe

their famous macaroons were not only fabulously iridescent but yummy too!

saturday night we headed to the french quarter for cocktails and dinner, but first a stop on bourbon street! {the next few pictures are from my iphone...not the best quality but they will do}

we felt like true steel magnolias ;)

we enjoyed cocktails at arnaud's french 75 bar. home to the original french 75...a drink first mixed for ms. scarlett o'hara herself!

cheers to birthdays and hometown homies!

sister and her french 75

we had dinner reservations at bayona. we chose this restaurant because of the soup below but started our meal with a stormy monday! all the waitress said was "elder flower and violet liquers"...we'll take it!

cream of garlic soup
so. worth. it.

on the veranda at parkview

we headed into the heart of the garden district sunday morning...

...for the jazz brunch at commander's palace!

the recently renovated interior was gorgeous. my favorite detail was the colorful embroidery on the upholstered walls of the entrance.

the jazz brunch and ambiance was everything we expected and more. the service impeccable and the food divine.

balloons were tied to the backs of each of our chairs to signify we were celebrating our birthdays!

I had a delicious alabama peach bellini - cheers to me and my new home!

the best bread pudding in new orleans. and it was my absolute favorite thing I ate in new orleans. it takes 40 minutes to prepare and 5 minutes to devour. it's not too rich and the most fluffy piece of heaven you could ever eat.

...after

the jazz trio sang happy birthday to us!

{with cp's james beard awards framed in the background}

I loved the mississippi river facade of his guitar

following brunch, we headed along the great river road to oak alley plantation

look familiar?!
{not sure why the picture is so hazy}

we took a brief tour of the grande plantation and decided we wanted to be as southern as possible {and we wanted the very cool souvenir cup!}

the view from the second floor balcony...looking towards the mighty mississippi. the oaks are around 300 years old, only half their life expectancy!

we spent sunday evening exploring the french quarter

dinner...and so glad we did. we saw darryl hammond from snl here!

sister and I had a twist on the classic muffaletta...with turkey instead. it was so good!

lane eating an entire crab

gumbo

we headed back to bourbon street {just couldn't get enough!} for some beignets, more chicory coffee {we consumed a lot}, and a little live music

beignets at cafe beignet
featured on food network's "best thing I ever ate"

soooo good

on monday morning we continued our tour de food and had more beignets and chicory at cafe du monde. then we were off to purchase olive salad to take home and get a glipse of the jolie-pitt home in the heart of the french quarter. check and check.

more please...we didn't want to leave!

this trip truly was the icing on the cake!

january babies are the best!

Happy 3rd Birthday Sally Kate!!

sister sent me this picture the other night when they celebrated with marcus's family. so precious.

my sweet little niece is growing so fast and more beautiful each day!

(photo compliments of lane gunter photography)

Sweet Sk is celebrating with her parents at Disney all weekend! David and I wish we could be there with them so badly. But we loved spending as much time with them as possible last week. Sk and David adore eachother and I especially loved seeing them interact last week. She is his silly goose and she will correct you if you try to call her that because she will tell you "Only David calls me silly goose!"

In other birthday news, mine was fabulous! David took me to Chez Fon Fon and it was c'est si bon! I had the day off on my birthday so it was a wonderful day spent with my husband exploring more of Birmingham. Thank you for all the sweet birthday wishes and cards! Looking forward to the rest of the January birthdays...

they'll be much mistletoeing...and hearts will be glowing...

...It's the most wonderful time of the year!

This is how I felt all last week. On Christmas Eve, David and I traveled to Tallahassee to join the Micas. With Tallahassee as our home base for the week we had no agenda and two side trips to Ocala mid-week and St. George Island for new year's eve. It was truly a much needed and wonderful week - my heart was glowing.

I didn't take a ton of pictures but they add up when you're on vacation for eight days!

Happy New Year! enjoy~

a new stocking greeted us on the mica mantle

mc, allison, and julianne

we made it just in time for a beautiful christmas eve midnight service at st. peter's

we welcomed in christmas with eggnog and treats after church

julianne got fancy with all her wrapping

christmas dinner place setting

throughout the week we had several visitors...the campbell family came over for cocktails one night!

glad to see those wedding koozies in use

I loved alli's new leopard bow

on wednesday we traveled to ocala for radcliffe family christmas and to celebrate my birthday! mom and sister planned for a birthday dinner at latinos with cake at the house afterwards.

sally kate enjoyed hosting a tea party with lulu and ella and letting everyone know that her birthday was "coming up!"

thanks mom and sister for planning a fabulous party!

sally kate helped mom bake my chocolate devil's food with seafoam icing - it was delicious!
the vintage florida tablecloth was a surprise birthday gift that I adore.

my sweet, sweet husband

we used grandmother mary elizabeth's sterling, which was a special treat.

friday morning back in tallahassee I arrived to see sk watering the flowers with her new watering can from me and david

me, sister, lane, and kids had a delicious meal at a new midtown hotspot...paisley cafe.

we shared nutella bread pudding for dessert!

sk and camp

after lunch we all headed up to lucy & leo's for birthday sweet treat

love my sweet little birthday girl

on our birthday date :)

I have to say they've come a long way

on saturday we headed down to the island to ring in the new year. the girls had lunch in apalachicola at the grille and feasted on yummy tea...

...and fried oysters!

on sunday back in tallahassee, we had a traditional new year's day meal and then celebrated my birthday again! karen and allison made this delicious fresh apple cake from the new happy everything cookbook. we were graciously sent home with the leftovers.

thank you to all my dear family and friends for helping celebrate my birthday all week (month) long!