Twenty Eight

On July 20, 2011 I turned twenty eight years old.  Two years away from Thirty - ahhhh.  I absolutely love celebrating my birthday and this year was fabulous as always!

I started the celebrations on Sunday July 17th getting together for lunch at the Country Club with my in-laws.  I am truly blessed to have such wonderful in-laws. They are super fun and thoughtful and we love getting together and celebrating with them!

The regular ladies monthly happy hour fell on Wednesday, my actual birthday, so we moved it to Tuesday, July 19th.  I just thought this was the regular HH so I was surprised when the girls showed up with gifts.  Annie came with a huge travel pack full of goodies for my New Orleans trip which was fabulous and definitely got used.  I also got a pair of Tory Burch sandals from Jenny, Jessica, Sabrina, Lindsay and Sara that I absolutely love and I wore them all over NOLA.  These girls know me too well and I'm so thankful for their friendship!  Here is a pic of a few of us enjoying Absolve Wine Lounge.

On the actual birthday I spent the day working and then running around shopping for last minute travel items and packing.  The highlight of the day was receiving my birthday present from Ladd.  My wonderful husband spoiled me this year with a fabulous watch!!  I love it and I think it looks gorgeous on my wrist :)  Thanks hubs!!

Thursday I went in to work for the morning and then Ladd picked me up during lunch and we were off to New Orleans.  This trip probably deserved it's own post so be prepared things are about to get lengthy!

Arriving in New Orleans on a Thursday afternoon and what does the Williams family do?  You guessed it we checked in to the W, unpacked, changed, and headed to Harrah's.  It's no secret that we are a gambling family.  Unfortunately, the tables were not being kind to us!  We didn't last long and left and met up with Trey and one of his co-workers for dinner.  We enjoyed some fabulous food at Red Fish Grill on Bourbon Street:

After dinner, we decided to try and take our luck to some cheaper tables.  The three of us headed outside of New Orleans (glad that Trey had a rental car for work!) to Boomtown Casino.  Again, the tables were not good to us :(

Friday we woke up early and met Trey at Mother's Restaurant.  I had always heard that this place had some great soul food and people line up out the door to get in.  We got there before the line got long so that was nice.  BUT the food was terrible, probably the worst dish I've ever had, although I only had two bites and then threw up in my mouth.  I can't get over how disgusting it was because I am not a picky eater - I'm a foodie and this place was the #1 worst place I've ever been.  I WILL NOT ever go back!  Needless to say, no pictures necessary from here!

The rest of the gang started arriving on Friday.  We picked Lauren up at the airport and cruised over to a boat casino for a bit - Alisa finally started making some money!  Notice I only say Alisa and not Ladd :(  After a couple of hours, we headed back to the hotel to meet up with Jenny, James, Joe and Sally.

Whole Gang minus Jessica!

Friday Night Dinner

After dinner we all hit Bourbon Street.  We enjoyed the usual places -



Pat O's

Cat's Meow

Then as we were walking down Bourbon we ended up at a place called Jester's.  You would think it was the most awesome place on earth since we stayed there for hours.  But really it was just a pizza and daiquiri shop.  They were playing the best music though - we made that place a party!  We danced and drank and did the catwalk outside the front of the building.  Great time there!

Beware of Lauren's fingers when dancing!

Saturday was HOT - perfect for day drinking.  After trying out Cafe Dumonde for the first time (it was just ok...) we headed to good ole Bourbon Street. 

 

Buy 1, get 2 free!

Providing washboard entertainment for the folks of NOLA

Sporting our cool new bling rings!

Saturday night was my birthday dinner with everyone at Crescent City Grill - so yum!! 

After dinner, the ladies picked out their masks!


Hubs helping!





Of course need a pic in front of Harrah's!



Sunday we went to the Gospel brunch at House of Blues. 

After brunch, we packed up and headed out.  It was a great trip and I would love to go back to New Orleans again soon.  I'm so thankful for the friends that made the trip with me.  It was so much fun to celebrate my birthday and run around NOLA with them!

The week I got back I had a birthday dinner with some lovely ladies who could not make it to NOLA.  Jackie, Kate, Ashley, Amelia, Mobs and myself (we missed you M'lee and Sue Ellen!) hit city centre for some din din.  I freaking love city centre, there are so many fun restaurants there and I love getting together with these girls. 



My awesome birthday present from all the girls - some TB flats that I've had my eye on for awhile!!

Lastly, I saw my lovely Corpus ladies in CC for Paul's 1st birthday the second weekend of August.  And what a treat it was to see Vanessa, Crystal, Emily and Michelle and celebrate Paul's birthday AND get a little birthday surprise for me too :) These fabulous friends of mine got me some beautiful pearl earrings that are so my style - they know me very well!! :)

I really had a fabulously amazing birthday and am blessed to have such wonderful friends and family in my life!  Thank you so so much to everyone who celebrated with me. 
It really was one of my best birthdays yet!!