Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend was so great. It did my heart good.

I took the day off on Friday and drove home to go to Carols By Candlelight at church. This is something I loved doing when I was a kid and I know my mom loves participating in it. Usually she has a solo but this year, she just decided to forego the solo and enjoy just being up there.

She sang in an ensemble at the beginning and it was incredible. The sound was so great and the acoustics of the church made it even better.

This was one of my favorite shows in a while. Usually I can pick out my favorite parts but this year there were too many...

I loved when it snowed inside.
I love when the "brothas" come out and play the neat trumpets.
I loved the presentation of "Shine On Us" with the sign language and the lighting was incredible.
I always love when the ballet dancers dance. I can't believe Kathy Thibadeoux is 50 and she can still take my breath away.
I love hearing Joel sing.
I love watching Bonnie show everyone up in the dance parts.
I love seeing my mom's smiling face on the screen.
I love hearing and watching Derek sing. It's so soulful.
And most of all, I love how worshipful every part was. It wasn't a Christmas program. It was a time of worship and that's the best part.

Saturday, I got up and headed to New Orleans with Casey, Julie, Hollie, Allie and Teri for Casey's Bachelorette Weekend. It was so much fun and we have realized how old we really are. We were back at the hotel by midnight! Sheesh! And once our heads hit the pillow we were out!

We arrived at about 1:30 or 2 p.m. and headed to the mall to eat and browse a little bit. After a couple of hours, we headed to our hotel, the Dauphine Orleans. It's a beautiful hotel and I was surprised to realize that I had stayed in the same hotel about 15 years ago.

The Woman of the Night

The beautiful view from our cute little balcony at the hotel

Teri, me and Casey at the hotel

After doing the whole bachelorette shower thing, we got ready to head out on the town.

We got a parking attendant to take our picture by the pool
(L to R: Me, Julie, Casey, Allie, Teri and Hollye)

We ate a great place that Casey and I love to eat at and I, of course, got the friend shrimp. Yum!

We then headed to Pat O'Briens to hear the dualing pianos and spent most of our time there enjoying the entertainment.

Me and Julie at Pat O's. By the way, congratulations to Julie. She got engaged right before Thanksgiving and we couldn't say anything until all her family knew. So Congrats Julie and Marshall!

When we finally decided to leave, we walked down to Bourban Cowboy so Julie could ride the mechanical bull, just so she could say she did it. But, the line was too long so we left.

No one could decide what to do next, so we went to Cafe' Du Monde and got some beignets. As we were sitting around the table, the majority of us looked like we could fall asleep right there. We were exhausted. So we headed back to the hotel and went to bed.

It was a whirlwind trip, but it was worth it.

I hope everyone else had a great weekend!