New Orleans

This past week, I traveled to the New Orleans for my Interstate Hotels and Resorts Conference.  All of our region's General Managers, Directors of Sales, Sales Managers and Corporate team came in for it.  This was my first trip to The Big Easy and I am absolutely smitten. We flew in a day early so we could explore the city a bit before the conference began.  

We ate grilled oysters and beignets (not in the same sitting of course!). We wandered around the French Quarter and took a tour guided horse drawn carriage ride to see more of the city.  On top of having meetings for three days, I still managed to get to Bourbon Street every night for some live music and stiff drinks.  

Now it wasn't all play and no work.  Interstate threw a fabulous conference... they always do.  When your company is the hospitality industry, they tend to go all out for events like this.  On Wednesday night, we had a parade from our hotel to another Interstate managed hotel.  Now this was not some rinky-dink parade...  We had a 6 piece brass band, 3 police escorts and 1 fire truck.  Each region dressed up differently and we marched our butts through New Orleans with Hurricanes in our hands and beads around our necks.

 All in all, it was a fabulous time.  I am incredibly fortunate to work with some of the best in our industry.  Seeing old faces and meeting new ones year after year is so special to me.  On top of everything else, I was honored on stage by my Vice President of Sales with the Interstate Special Achievement Award for my efforts and results at my hotel.  I am equally humbled and elated to have been recognized in this way.  

Here are a few glimpses into my trip to NOLA...

The BEST chargrilled oysters

Gumbo and Jambalaya 

Bourbon Street

Beads and shoes on the lines

His bucket was FULL of cash

I bought one of the identical owl vases on the right/left

Me and our mule, Red Bean

Some houses were big...

And some small

Above ground cemetery

Balcony on Bourbon

Los Angeles

Oh my, oh my has it been awhile!  Last week, my mother and I took a short trip out to LA to visit my baby (and by "baby" I mean 25 years old) brother, CJ.   Forgetful me, I left my camera at my brother's apartment and just got it back today!  

Originally I had planned for this blog to just feature food but as you can tell, that has changed a bit.  And of course my camera came a day late because boy did I cook up a storm yesterday!  For Mother's Day, I made my mom and grandma lump crab benedict with a homemade hollandaise.  This week at my hotel is Associate Appreciation Week so I made a huge brunch spread for my co-workers.  Unfortunately I did not capture any pictures nor write down the recipes so I will share at a later time. Stay tuned. 

Back to LA...  My brother moved out there last year and works at one of the big Hollywood Talent Agencies.  If you have ever seen the show Entourage, CJ is basically Lloyd, with a Masters degree from Duke (proud sister bragging)!  He works insane hours and was a bit homesick.  Since he can't get away too easily, my mom and I decided to bring home to him. 

Compared to our small suburb,  LA is like a different world.  I had such a blast hanging with my family but was glad to come home to Matt and our pups!  

LA likes:

*  The beautiful weather with zero humidity

*  Houses covered in ivy and flowers

*  Gorgeous plants, landscaping and vegetation... everywhere

*  Mountains and ocean in one place

*  Easily available healthy dining options... juice bars, gluten-free, raw, organic etc... 

*  The cottage style houses in Bel Air and Beverly Hills... albeit multimillion dollar cottages
*  The conference room at my brother's office (due to surveillance cameras everywhere, he couldn't let me take a picture) 
*  The little FIAT we rented to bop around town
*  Seeing my brother's new adventure in Cali firsthand 


LA dislikes:

*  Snooty people and workers on Rodeo Drive.  I felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman; minus the hooker attire 
*  Traffic.  Period.  
*  The fact that we bought t-shirts, got tickets and waited in line for The Price is Right for over an hour but came to find out that is was a back-to-school themed episode and only college students were eligible...grrrr!
*  7:00am PST flight home which meant a 4:00am alarm

I will warn you that a good amount of these pictures are of plants, trees and flowers.  I was borderline obsessed.  

Off to New Orleans for work tomorrow...