Me and my Lawyer Friend went to Mardi Gras in New Orleans! What an experience. We stayed at the Hyatt right next to the Super Dome (we booked way back in July of last year.) When we got there on Saturday, we found out that Endymion, the biggest parade, was only a block away from our hotel. It lasted until about midnight and all the floats drove into the Super Dome for a fancy after five private party with Kelly Clarkson. We had so much fun at the parade catching beads, cups, stuffed animals and other throws. It’s totally family friendly too, no boobs flashing.
We didn’t rent a car, so we walked everywhere, and we only caught a taxi once. I was so glad that I’ve been in the gym lately. I remember just a few months ago, walking a couple blocks down the street to grab lunch made my back scream in pain. I knew I had to pull it together, I didn’t want be a party pooper at Mardi Gras. How could I walk down Bourbon Street if it hurt to walk? Speaking of Bourbon Street, I wasn’t quite ready for that experience. The smell is indescribable, sort of like swap and shrimp and beer and pee. Yeah, that’s about how I would describe it. I almost gagged. You have to be like really drunk or 18 years old to enjoy it. I was neither. However, we decided to brave the crowd with a pina colada in hand. We saw everything from old ladies flashing boobs for beads, drunk people stumbling, and one guy that was walking with blood running down his face, as his two equally drunk friends tried to help him down the street. Luckily we were pre-warned not to wear open toe shoes, as the street was covered in dirty beads, half eaten food, trash and the mystery moisture substance.
The next morning we went to Huck Finn, and I had an order of BBQ Shrimp and Grits that “changed my life!” OMG so delicious. Whew. I was mindful of my food the entire time, but not so strict that I wouldn’t allow myself to enjoy the local cuisine. We walked down to the market area and we split an order of beignets. (Normally, I would have wanted an order to myself, it’s ‘only’ three pieces of the doughnutty goodness.) My Little Sister ranted and raved about Blue Bell ice cream, so I ordered one scoop from a candy shop (even though my mind wanted 2 or 3 scoops.) It was really good, but nothing really topped the shrimp and grits. We walked and shopped until it was time for our second parade. We bought tickets for reserved bleacher seats. They were prime seats for bead catching and we were so glad to be off our feet. We probably walked at least four or five miles each day. After the parade we had dinner at Dragos which was a highly recommended seafood restaurant. We walked back to the hotel and crashed after being gone for about 12 hours. It was definitely a fun trip. We ate good, shopped good, saw parades and even survived Bourbon street. We Came, We Saw, We Conquered! I was not mad at myself for eating ice cream or beignets, and I got back on my regular meal plan the next morning. Fruit for breakfast, meat and veggies for lunch and stir fry veggies with steak and brown rice for dinner.
And I got up on the scale today, totally okay with having gained a pound or two. I know that you can’t out exercise a bad diet, even if I did walk till my feet hurt each day. I was surprised again; I lost .4 pounds, taking my total to 16.2 pounds. I feels so good y’all. I’m still on my mission to go from Fat to Fit to Fierce….
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