Party in the N-OL-A: Day Two

We woke up just in time to run downstairs and take advantage of the free breakfast at Embassy Suites... definitely what the doctor ordered on this particular morning. We re-energized with a good meal, relaxed a bit in the hotel room, and then made our way outside to soak up the Louisiana sun and explore the French Quarter. The architecture in New Orleans is incredible - I couldn't help snapping pictures left and right. It is such a neat city, and the French Quarter was so much fun to leisurely walk around. VL and I came across a magical park that had fountains, shallow water pools, and places to sit and read. It was SO cool. We pranced around a bit (and by prance, I literally mean prance... like ballerinas) while yelling for our friends to join us. They finally realized that we weren't leaving this magical place until they witnessed it. We continued on until we reached Emerill's restaurant NOLA, where we had a reservation for lunch. The food was delicious, but the service was aaaawful. Regardless, we had a good time, enjoyed good food, and drank good cocktails. Following lunch, we did a little shopping and eventually made our way back to the hotel to prepare for the glorious bachelorette night ahead. We locked VL in the bedroom while we decorated the hotel room with pink and black balloons and streamers, and set up for her bachelorette shower. Kristen did an amazing job putting this weekend together - she even made peacock feather headbands for all of the girls and a white feather headband for VL to wear with her hot pink dress. We were finally ready to start the evening off... 6 girls + one hotel room + one shower = slowest getting-ready process ever. We had a fun evening filled with gifts, card games, and a lot of laughs... and soon after, it was time to paint the town red... well, pink really. We made our way to Bourbon Street and had a BLAST. We must have popped into six or seven different bars and venues, danced to a few songs, enjoyed a couple drinks, and continued down the road. SO much going on down there, it's just insane. My favorite part of the night was standing on the balcony with VL swinging our beads at a dangerous speed around our head yelling ridiculous things to those below.. and have no fear Nana, we did not do anything inappropriate to score the beads. Which I've been meaning to ask... how did you and Papa used to bring home boxes of beads from New Orleans for all of the cousins? ...dare I ask? I think people were impressed by our classy bachelorette party theme and were happy to throw us some beads... props to Kristen! Although I'm sure VL wished she had been sporting a "beer belt" and cowboy hat like a few of the other bachelorettes out that night... definitely more her style. I kid, I kid. But VL really was the most classy and beautiful bachelorette on Bourbon Street... she must have gotten her picture taken with two dozen bachelor parties. EJ, you are one lucky guy. We ended the night at "Red Republic", our most favorite bar across the street from our hotel, and danced our tails off. Roger Rabbit, Grocery Cart, Pizza Delivery, and all the right moves. I'd say we hit it off on the dance floor with a group of Norwegians, but by hit it off, I mean I was trying to scream over the music, "I'M PART NORWEGIAN! WE MAKE FATTIGMONDS AT CHRISTMAS!!!" Judging by their looks of confusion, not everyone in Norway makes the same cookie at Christmas. Who knew? Overall, the weekend was AMAZING and I was so happy we all were able to get together and celebrate the soon-to-be bride Kristin von Lunz! Cheers to the most FUN bride out there! Cant wait for your wedding this weekend!