Happy Thanksgiving and New Orleans!

Oh, my!  I'm approaching the realization that I am almost TEN MONTHS behind in my blog!  But I have to admit I've started a few other blogs (my 1001 movies, my classroom blog and my teachers blog).  But, trust me, travel is still my #1.  I just have sooooo many other things going on including: school, getting into UT, and an extra job.  But, let me share my travels with you!

Thanksgiving 2011 started at the scrapbook retreat house with my friend Kristi but then I came back into Houston to eat the traditional meal with my family (dad, mom, aunt and Heather).

The last few years my family has eaten Thanksgiving dinner at Landry's Seafood in the Woodlands.  It's got a good buffet of seafood and traditional Thanksgiving food.  Last year, though, we had to have a table of 5 and waited for almost 2 hours.  And that's with being a "select member".  Might not go back this year if we have enough time to research a better place.

After dinner Heather and I headed out to NEW ORLEANS!!!!  The Texas/Texas A&M game was on and was really tight.  So about 30-45 minutes outside of New Orleans we went ahead and pulled over so I could watch the 4th quarter.  It was a shadddddddddddddy sports bar with crappy tvs and shadddddddddy people hitting on us but it was an AWESOME, HISTORICAL victory over A&M that they won't get to play for again.  A&M leaving for the SEC was their choice.  Good luck to them (not really).  It was an awesome win!  Just wish I had been in Texas to watch it, because the skanky LA friends were more worried about finding their ride home.

The shady sports bar...but hey, ladies drank free :)  Can't beat that...

Then Heather and I headed into New Orleans, in the French Quarter and got to our room at the Crowne Plaza around 10pm.  It was a nice room and I'm pretty sure I slept on the other bed to the left.  This appears to be the only picture I took-probably more for Trip Advisor purposes.  The bed was super comfy!!

Once we put our luggage and car up we walked up and down Bourbon street.  It was a pretty mild crowd but oh, Bourbon Street, how I had missed you! Lol, it was still the same as it always had been...years later.  I think we had a grenade to welcome ourselves back to the NOLA.  But it was a mild night with not much going on so we went ahead and headed back after walking up and down.  Tomorrow the real exploring began.

Scrapbook Retreat-Thanksgiving 2011

So, last year I got the WHOLE WEEK of Thanksgiving off and decided to go on two little trips.  This would be trip 1:

I went to the Scrapbook Retreat House in Rockport, Texas which is pretty close to Corpus Christi.  It's got a very beachy, small-town vibe.  The house is about 5 minutes from the actual city.

We mostly stay at the house and scrapbook (and ok, surf the internet) when we're there.  But my friend Kristi and I LOVE books so we checked out the local book store.  Love the name-Lori's Book Nook.  I love supporting local bookstores so I think I found a book or two.

The reason we went into town was to visit Enchantments, a scrapbook store.  They offered a coupon on Groupon and I wanted to get my money's worth.  The coupon had actually expired but they gave me the credit for it.  Loved it!  A bit pricey, and not a huge selection but still a nice scrapbook store for such a small town.

Rockport's little "downtown" area... I wanted to look more around but it didn't seem to be on the agenda.

Then we headed to Panjo's.  Kristi and her mom love their pizza.

Doesn't it just look delicious??  And it was!!!!  It was so good, I ate that pizza for the next 2-3 meals. :)

These were some of the scrapbooking pages I made while I was at the retreat house from my England trip.

Kristi and I found these while we were at the Walmart getting some groceries.  They're $2 and sooooo worth it!  So good!  At the scrapbook house we stay up til the wee hours of the morning scrappin, laughin, drinkin, etc.  It's such a cool getaway!

And another page...

Not bad, huh?  Thought of that one on my own...as I do most of these.  This was a seafood restaurant Kristi and I ate at in Boston from 1000 Places to See Before You Die (the name of my scrapbook, too).

I really got a lot of pages done...geez!

And this is the backyard of the Retreat House.  It's huge!

And the view of the little lake from our scrapbook room.  I went back in March and I think I took some extra pictures that I'll have to post.  This scrapbook stay was such a nice getaway for the busy holiday season came!  I went home for Thanksgiving dinner with my family and friend after this... Then Heather and I took off for NEW ORLEANS!!  And that's what you'll see next time....... :)  Safe travels!!