BIG NEWS!

I am in recovery.

Food, Drink, Merriment Detox.

Recovery from New Orleans. 
The city stole my heart yet again.

I will start from the beginning....
We arrived late Wednesday night, checked in and went en route for some food and music.  We walked a few miles to Frenchmen Street away from the quarter a bit and stumbled upon mainly closed restaurants.  We decided to have a few cocktails and discovered an amazing old 20's Parisian inspired Jazz vibe. 

Total Heaven!

We then went to Cafe Du Monde for Beignets and Cafe Au Lait.  My first (of two the whole week) stuck episode of the evening. I was so worried I would never be able to partake again.  Low and behold, it came up and I was good to go and enjoyed a nice fluffy french doughnut. I was able to enjoy beignets not once but three times this trip. Oh do I wish I had one now!  Oh My, we were here.

For the next four days, we had tickets for Jazz Fest.  We had basically the same routine daily.  Take the shuttle to the fairgrounds, zip around the grounds for 7 hours and see as much amazing music as possible. 

At night, we would go on a hunt for great food and even greater jazz.  We had two nights at Preservation Hall which is lifechanging and a must for me, a night at Irvin Mayfields club for Los Hombres Calientes, and tons of smaller joints for local flavor.  

We packed in SO much.   I can't even describe the amount of spots and things we saw and packed into this week. 
It was much more than I ever recall and I am not a Jazz Fest Virgin or NOLA partaker in the least.

We had friends fly in from Denver and it was amazing to spend some time with them.  They have not seen me in 40 pounds and have no idea I was banded, so the first response out of their mouths were "Holy Shit, you are thin!"   THAT was a nice feeling.

So anyways - four days of MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC and more music.

By Monday - the fest was over and it was time for some downtime.

Zack and I took the streetcar down St. Charles to the Garden District and we walked a few miles.  We stumbled upon a beautiful park (Audubon Park) and we went inside.

This is when it gets interesting.

We are at a gorgeous old fountain with beautiful statues all around us.  Beautiful big oak trees shading us and all of a sudden... I had no idea what was happening.

Zack decides to tell me how wonderful I am, how much he loves me and pulls out a gorgeous diamond ring and asks me to marry him. 

Say What?!!  I was not expecting that!! 

So I am officially engaged! :)  I decided after 6 years, I was definitely ready! 

The rest of the day consisted of a lot of wonderful champagne toasting, great brunch, celebrations, big smiles, a chefs dinner, more music and ending an amazing week in the Crescent City.

New Orleans has always held a special place in my heart.  Now even more so!

Photo porn to follow:



Breakfast of Champions!



Before Florence & the Machine



Salsa Band - Congo Stage



Beignets - Mmmm



Down on Frenchman Street



The Goods!

Where He Proposed :)

There a ton more pics but I don't have the patience right now to post them because Blogger isn't very user friendly.   All in all, we had an amazing time, ate incredible food, saw the best music, received amazing bling and walked over 50 miles in 6 days!

Guess it's time to start planning a wedding!!