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Confessions of a Misplaced Southern Belle

Not so misplaced anymore!

Where to lay your head while in New Orleans–the Old No. 77 Hotel and Chandlery

When I started looking for hotels in New Orleans, I started looking, like most people do, in the French Quarter.  I stayed in the French Quarter a couple of years ago and it made everything so convenient. This year, I wanted something different. Amanda had visited in New Orleans last summer, so with both of  us knowing that there were only a few things we wanted to do in the Quarter, I started looking for hotels elsewhere.  I had couple of requirements, while not in the Quarter, it needed to be within walking distance of the Quarter and it had to be something different than a traditional hotel.  Enter The Old No. 77 Hotel and Chandlery on Tchoupitoulas Street in the Warehouse District/Central Business District of New Orleans.

Confession time. I was talking to my friend Chip at Oceans and Lands Travel about this hotel and he highly recommended it, and said that he wanted to stay there the next time he got to New Orleans. It also houses Compere Lapin, the restaurant of Chef Nina Compton , one of my favorite chefs from Top Chef. (More on our dinner there, later) We talked for a bit then I went ahead and booked it. Like an idiot, I forgot to let my bestie travel agent BOOK MY HOTEL.  While all’s well that ends well, I feel guilty that I didn’t let him get the booking. So a piece of advice. When your bestie is a travel agent, let him book the hotel even if it is only for two days!

When you walk into the hotel, you are greeted with a mix of what Amanda called ‘western industrial’ I just called it fabulous. (the following photos are all from the media kit from the hotel)

The second part of the hotel’s name is Chandlery. What the heck is a Chandlery? Well, a chandlery is a warehouse where goods are sold. As this building’s history is that of a warehouse, the Old No. 77 has sells goods made and produced from local artists and entrepreneurs. We wanted to take one of everything home with us, but we refrained.  I really loved seeing a hotel support locally produced goods.  It also honors the history of the building.

I originally booked a king room with Lagniappe, meaning, my rate included parking and a credit to their lobby coffee bar.  When we checked in, they asked if I would rather have a room with two queen beds instead. Yes please!  Upgrade time! Our room was awesome. We were in the Lafayette section, on the third floor in a corner room. Pretend I have photos because yeah, photographer fail! I forgot to take photos because we were so tired that we both collapsed and made a mess of the room. You’ll have to enjoy these photos provided in their press kit  and pretend that I took them.  We had HUGE windows that looked toward the river then the down Tchoupitoulas. Below are some examples of their rooms.

I did take a couple of photos of the view, which was lovely.

 

One thing that did make me laugh and is SO appropriate for New Orleans is the door hangers. Instead of a typical “Do not disturb” sign, we were greeted with this:

The beds were super comfy with Egyptian cotton linens imported from Italy and a pillow menu in case you are picky about your pillows. We just used the standard pillows on the bed and they were some of the most comfortable pillows that I have had in a hotel.  The hotel is pet friendly and has complimentary Wi-Fi should you find the need to work while in New Orleans.  A complete list of amenities can be found here: Signature Amenities

As part of their commitment to embrace local culture, the Old 77 displays and sells local artist’s works throughout the hotel and host an Artist in Residence every July.  I’ll have more information on the Art-o-mat in a later post.

 

While we were in New Orleans, Travel and Leisure Magazine named The Old No 77 Hotel and Chandlery to their list of the Top 15 City Hotels in America, coming in at number thirteen.  Overall our stay was great and I will stay there again–this time remembering to book through Chip!  The only issue that we had was that the room wasn’t as cold as I like, but I like my hotel rooms to be arctic temperatures, (not like a normal person) but giving that our room has massive windows on two sides,faced east, it was July in New Orleans and temperatures reached into the mid 90s every day, I’m not surprised that the air conditioning had trouble keeping up.

One last thing, I wasn’t paid to stay here or asked to write a review, so these are my own thoughts and opinions. For more in depth information, please click on the links, and if you are looking for a fabulous travel planner who LOVES to do custom planning, click on Oceans and Lands Travel Planners.  There is also a link in the sidebar.

Next up, Part 3, our one full day in New Orleans…we go to a zoo. Literally.

 

 

Road Trippin’ 2017 Part 1, the drive to New Orleans

What do you do when your daughter moves home, you both have the summer off before you both return to the classroom and you need a break? You take a road trip to Louisiana with a two day stop in New Orleans, that’s what!  After our trip to TSA Nationals, Amanda and I were both ready for a break. After talking with my husband, we decided that it would be cheaper to drive, spend some time in New Orleans and then drive to central Louisiana to see my parents.  We decided to take Amanda’s Mini Cooper instead of renting a car, and after a little bit of planning…meaning, I set up a hotel and made reservations for dinner one night, off we went the morning of July 9, 2017.  We left ridiculously early in order for us to have most of an afternoon and evening in New Orleans.  Amanda insisted on driving, as it was her car and she’s a little bit of a control freak about who drives her car, and I was totally ok with that.

See…early.

Just outside of Ocala, we made out first Starbucks stop of the day. Iced tea for me and an iced caramel macchiato breve for Amanda. I got to talking with the nice barista while waiting for our drinks and she asked where we were headed, and I told her that we were doing a mother/daughter road trip and she wished us safe travels and gave me a gift card for the next stop. Wasn’t that sweet?

About three hours after we started, give or take ten minutes, we see the sign to head westBy the way, the drive from Tallahassee to Pensacola has to be the most boring stretch of I-10 ever.  When I did this trip last year, I thought I was going to fall asleep during this stretch. There is NOTHING except for rest areas and the occasional off ramp to get gas.

See ya Florida, on to Alabama where we passed this sign. Wonder if I could find some shrimp in Bayou La Battre

So what do you do when you have a 10-ish hour drive? You sing…badly to movie soundtracks, Broadway soundtracks and Spotify…I’m going to warn you…it’s very off key, but we had a great time. 😀

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One of the coolest things on this stretch of I-10 is the George Wallace Tunnel that goes under Mobile Bay.  It’s also where a huge bottleneck happens, so it took a little bit for us to get through it. Amanda was a little freaked out driving through it. I agree, though, if you think too much about exactly where you are, you start to get nervous. And yes, we blew the horn as per tradition.

Tunnel at Mobile

After one last Starbucks stop and a potty break outside of Biloxi, we drove into some torrential rain just outside of New Orleans, but once we got through Slidell and onto the bridge over Lake Pontchatrain, it was smooth sailing to our hotel.

 

You can see New Orleans in the distance.  The trip wasn’t bad at all. Amanda wouldn’t let me drive, so I just rode along and kept her company. It is a weird experience to be the parent and not do ANY driving, especially on a trip that long, but I teased Amanda and told her that it made up for all the driving I did for her until she went to college! She just pursed her lips at me then laughed.  In the next post, I’ll have a review of our hotel, the Old No. 77 Hotel and Candlery plus some photos from our first evening in New Orleans.

Wired for the Weekend

Yeah, I know, it’s Wednesday and I’m just now getting around to this post.  It’s the last day of school, so the last couple of days have been nuts of giving finals, grading finals and doing all the end of the year stuff that is part and parcel of being a teacher. I’m also moving rooms so that has been fun trying to figure our what to toss and what to take, and I still haven’t bought any boxes. I need to do that on the way home today.  Ok, so the weekend.  Most of you know that I am a volunteer photographer for Southeastern Guide Dogs and for the last four years I have been photographing both Guide Dog University (when the dogs return from their puppy raisers) and Puppy Raiser Day, when the dogs are matched with a handler and are graduating.  Plus, I also photograph Service Dog dinners/meet and greets and other things as needed, which means that my weekends are sometimes over run with obligations.  Earlier in the Spring I decided that I needed a break and took off from volunteering for the summer, beginning in May.  As of now, I plan on returning in August, but we’ll see how I feel then.  I didn’t realize how burned out I had gotten, even though I love doing that work.  So, last weekend was the first weekend that I didn’t have any obligations, and to give my hubby a break from us, Amanda and I headed over the Skyway to St. Pete to do a coffee run, because why not. It’s basically a twenty-ish minute drive, and for good coffee.. I’m there.  Our first stop..Intermezzo Coffee and Cocktails. This shop started off as a pop-up and is now a permanent fixture on Central Ave in the Edge District.  They have expanded their coffee menu to include cocktails after 5pm and have Empire Oyster setting up shop in the lot next door.  I have yet to try the cocktail or the oysters, but that is on my list for this summer.

Our favorite drink is the Iced Vanilla Latte I get mine with light ice.  Amanda is in heaven, can’t you tell?

The caffeine has kicked in.

The thing about Intermezzo is that it so set up for Instagram shots, and Amanda is taking advantage of that.

And my shot that I posted in my Instagram feed;

 

After Intermezzo, we did a little shopping at Plain Jane and Whim So Doodle Amanda and I both picked up a few things. At Plain Jane, I picked up a little cross body pouch and Amanda got a couple of super soft shirts.  Whim So Doodle is so dangerous to go in as I always find something fun for my art journal or craft room.

One of our favorite places to go is Swah-rey, St. Pete’s only dessert bar.

Leslie and her team have the most delicious cakes and minis, plus if you have some four legged furry friends at home, you can take home some Pup Cakes.  Amanda’s favorite of the moment is the cookie dough cake, but my favorite is a luscious, decadent, perfect strawberry shortcake.

This doesn’t in any way do this shortcake justice, but I was in too big of a hurry to dig in to take a proper photo, so this is what you get.  Sway-rey has a full menu of cakes and desserts and other treats as well as a beer and wine menu.  If you are in St. Pete, I highly recommend stopping in, but check the store hours as they are currently open Thursday- Saturday, but they are open late, so it’s never too late for dessert.  (Well, unless it’s 2am, then it probably is too late…lol)

One would think that after coffee, and then dessert, we’d be too wiped out for more. Nope…. enter Bandit Coffee Co.

 

When I first started going into St. Pete to explore their coffee shops, this was the first one that I visited and they have been improving every since.  Barely open a year, they are always busy when I stop in and it is such a relaxing place.  I confess that I feel like I’m twenty years too old for this place when I walk in, but the entire staff is friendly and knowledgeable and they brew a delicious bourbon vanilla latte. Amanda loves their bouquet latte that is infused with lavender.  On this day, I opted for a Earl Gray iced tea.

Waiting for the next order.

We didn’t stay to enjoy our drinks at Bandit, but took them to go as we needed to get back home.  It was a pretty quick visit, just a couple of hours, but we love spending time in St. Pete.  With the exception of Whim So Doodle, all of the places we visited are on Central Ave.  There are other coffee shops in St. Pete that we have yet to visit, but that’s on our list for the summer.  This weekend, I think Amanda and I are going to do a Coffee Crawl in Tampa.  Their coffee scene is booming and we’ve been wanting to try several of them for a while.  I’m sure we’ll be wired for the weekend.

Over the Sunshine Skyway on the way home.

And finally, a gorgeous if warm evening.  The view from my backyard.

Last bits of sunset.

Soul Food Love–A Review

 

I grew up in the south and anytime the word ‘southern’ or ‘soul food’ is mentioned in a cook book title, I am all over it, add to  it the bonus of a healthy twist on traditional recipes and I was so excited to get this book. Alice Randall has combined family history and tradition with a cadre of family recipes that she has adapted to suit a more healthy lifestyle. Soul Food Love has garnered rave review in the cookbook industry.  Blogging for Books sent me a review copy, so I set out to make a few recipes.    I really wanted to love this cookbook, but at the end of the day, I ended up not liking it as much as I thought I would.  What I liked. I loved the history and the stories woven through the book and the recipes.  I loved how the author drew us into the recipes by sharing the family history of each dish.  I did like the Fiery Green Beans and the brittle recipe.

What I was disappointed by. Surprisingly the lack of flavor in several of the recipes.  I always make the recipe as stated the first time around to get a feel for what the author is going for, then I will tweak and adjust to my taste. Unfortunately the recipe I was most looking forward to, Spicy, Pepper Chicken, was nearly inedible.  I’m willing to chalk it up to user error, but I double checked the recipe and it was just too spicy to eat, and I love spicy food. I also tried the chicken with grapes and this time I adjusted the seasoning.  I was completely shocked at how well grapes went with chicken. My husband was skeptical, but he agreed that it was good.   I think I will give some of the recipes a second chance, but at first pass, I was a little underwhelmed by the recipes, but LOVED the stories behind them.  I would give this book a solid 3.5 stars out of 5.

An Artsy Afternoon in St. Pete

Last week, my inlaws came into town from Atlanta and not wanting to sit around and stare at each other all day, we took a short, 25 minute trip over the Skyway into downtown St. Petersburg to the recently opened Chihuly Collection  on Central Avenue.

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I have loved the work of Chihuly for years and it is such a joy to be able to see some of his pieces up close.  The original Chihuly Collection was located a little farther south on Beach Drive, but October saw a new, dedicated building open.  The space is open and airy, and the rooms where the sculptures are located are kept dim with specialized lighting illuminating each piece.

 

This one is probably my two favorite shots of the day. (All of these photos were taken with my iPhone 7plus…I didn’t want to take my Canon 6d..fear of banging it into something…lol)

Joel said this one reminded him of a balloon animal!

After our trip through the Collection, we walked across the street to the Morean Arts Center Glass Studio and Hot Shop. Your ticket to the Chihuly Collection also includes the glass blowing demonstration at the Hot Shop. You MUST go. This is a wonderful 30 minutes demonstration where a piece of art glass is made from start to finish. The two gentlemen who gave the demonstration were so entertaining and spent time afterwards answering all of our questions. My husband enjoyed it so much that he wants to go and take one of the glassblowing classes. I took a ton of photos, so I put them in a couple of collages plus two of my favorites.

Paulie clearly loves what he does.

After the twirling, he ended up with this:

Tools of the trade.

And finally, after all that, we had lunch then headed back home, but first we had to stop at our favorite dessert bar, Swah-rey. Hands down, Swah-rey has the best cake, minis, tea, coffee and best of all…Pupcakes for the pooches.  We almost always make a stop on our way out of St. Pete, and as you can see, Swah-rey minis make Amanda a happy girl.

If you are in the St. Pete area, give these places a visit. Click the links for more info.

If you’d like to see more of my day to day photos, please follow me on Social Media. I’m fairly active on Instagram! You can click on the icons at the top of the page.

(Not a sponsored post, I just wanted to share things that I love.)