So both my parents finally made their way to the Big Easy together. All we did was eat.
Seriously, they arrived by 6pm on a Friday, I scooped them up, dropped their bags at the house & ubered them to Fogo de Chao by 8pm.

Yes its one of my favorite restaurants despite the meat sweats at the end. I figured, what better way to introduce them to the city that’s held me captive the past year than a big dinner and a stroll down Bourbon street. The true Friday night experience.

First encounter there? “I’m just the weed man”… Welcome parents… (cue Dad giggling).

We marveled at the architecture of the French Quarter, I showed them my favorite bar and we ended the night singing Billy Joel along with Pat O’Brien’s dueling pianos.

This was the first night I realized I’d become an old woman, my parents didn’t realize they were still operating on Eastern time and it was midnight CST at the bar. I was tired, they were not…

Saturday I finally took Mom to Brennan’s for brunch. I’d been there twice with my boss and always snapped a picture of the Eggs Benedict to send to mom, now it was finally her turn.

We each tried different appetizers, grapefruit for dad, baked apple for mom,  strawberries & cream for me. Mom’s was the favorite, although each was delicious. Then we all got the same Eggs Benedict. Happiness all around. I think we all licked our plates clean.

My parents got the true feel of just how friendly New Orleans people are when one of our waiters offered to give us a tour of the king & queen’s rooms upstairs.

Pretty sweet!
We took a quick snap in front of the building, stopped in a couple stores on Royal St and showed Dad Jackson Square before heading back to my apartment to change shoes and grab rain gear for jazz fest.

We knew the rain was coming but had high hopes for it MAYBE missing us…

It didn’t… As soon as we walked through the gates it began to spit on us… And then rain for real. We attempted to find a poncho for mom but alas, they were all sold out, so she got a Mardi Gras colored umbrella instead.

We kept being optimistic that “this too shall pass”, and took cover under a tent for the time being. Then the thunder & lightning reached us… We felt like we were back at the ’99 Softball World Series in Chattanooga, TN.

We were NOT letting a little rain get between us and Stevie Wonder…. guess the organizers had different plans, around 5pm they started coming around letting us  know the festival was closed for the day…. gee. wonder why…

Out we sloshed to the puddle ridden streets of New Orleans to the New Orleans Museum of Art to wait for a Lyft…. at like 300% upcharge. Whatever, we were waterlogged and ready to take a nap.

Sunday Mom and Dad started in on all my housework. Seriously, Dad did all my laundry (thank you Daddy), Mom emptied my dresser and then the two of them started painting it black. It kind of felt like college all over, no matter how old I get, they’ll always be taking care of me. The dresser looks fabulous and now matches my bedroom – mom also re-folded and re-stuffed the finished dresser. THANKS MOM!

I did have to work Monday- Wednesday, but we were able to have a little fun. I walked them up and down Magazine Street for some beer tasting at the Bulldog, burgers at Charcoal, and of course back to Cafe Du Monde for beignets.

I also had ONE more surprise reservation for them. Since I wasn’t home to celebrate Mom’s Birthday and Mother’s day was right around the corner, I got a table at Commander’s Palace. Very upscale place, lots of awards, and some seriously delicious food.

It was a great week and I was sad to see them leave. The quote of the week was in fact, “OMG, I’m so full” but that didn’t stop us from continuing to eat. Mom even made her own photo for that empty frame on my wall.

As soon as I dropped them off at the airport I had about an hour before I had to change and head out to my first slowpitch softball game in a couple years. I signed up for the Wednesday night league with PlayNOLA as a free agent, so off I went to join a team  of strangers.

I was already sore just warming up. That couldn’t be a good sign. The team put me at Catcher, hooray for leg day a whole game. Seriously, I don’t know how all my catchers did it. My quads were shaking by the end of the 2nd inning. Thank goodness we only had to play 5, we slaughter ruled 10-0. We bonded a little bit after over beers and then home to an empty house I went.

I had to go to Mobile towards the end of the week for some agency trainings but there was beautiful weather for Cinco de Mayo. Or, if you live in New Orleans and a sinkhole appears the week before…. you throw a party and call it Sinkhole de Mayo. And yes, people dressed as construction workers, traffic cones and even a few sinkholes.

I also managed to find a friend to go fishing with. Ahhhh relaxing. Pay no mind to the new tan lines I’ve acquired.

Only caught one little baby fish, but had a few “almost” catches. Meh, a bad day fishing is better than any day inside.

Back into the work-week I go, slow week this week, travel picks up again next week and then Workshops start up. Counting down the days till I can go back to Jamaica for my first FAM of 2016 – good news, it’s all MY agents going 🙂