New Orleans Trip (21 Mar - 23 Mar)

I took a trip to New Orleans, LA with Ben and Luis. It was one of the most exciting trips I've taken recently.

We left Thursday night, after I got out of class. Our plan was to drive to Mobile that night and then leave for New Orleans from there. Mobile is kind of half way in between Tallahassee and New Orleans. So that was good, it broke up the monotony of driving on I-10.

Mobile was nice at night. We stayed at Ben's mom's house. It was a really nice house, for what I imagined Alabama to be. I don't know if that came out right... Anyways, Ben's mom was really nice. We watched some tennis, Nadal beat Blake. Oh man, the beds were amazing. My bed and pillows were extra extra soft, just the way I like it. (Sidenote: When I get my new place, I'm going to have a nice bed like that)

Friday morning, wait make that afternoon, we left for New Orleans. We had to hit up Waffle House (breakfast), Fresh Market (chocolate covered espresso beans, saw Rachel Ray), Sam's Club (Moët), the mall (Luis got some cool Sperrys). Alright, we got all the shopping done. Onward to New Orleans! But not until after we stop in Biloxi, MS for some gambling. We spent some time in the Beau Rivage for roulette, slots, and free top shelf drinks :) The waitress we hunted down was really nice and she remembered our drinks. I like when waitresses remember what I get, Grey Goose and Tonic please.

Ok so for real, we finally make it to New Orleans! As with Biloxi, you could see the damage that happened and remained from Katrina. The area we stayed at was nice. We stayed at the Hilton Riverwalk. It was connected to the Riverwalk Mall and was right next to Harrah's. I'd have to say that we spent a good amount of time at Harrah's and the Ice Bar inside the casino. The room was the typical hotel room, nothing too fancy...except for that breakfast sausage that was waiting for us. The sausage was just chilling behind one of the chairs. It didn't look rotten or anything.

I will be posting a separate entry for the restaurants soon. We spent the majority of our time in the French Quarter. Friday night, after popping some champagne, we hit up Bourbon Street. I got a lot of beads, and I didn't have to do anything to get them. We got a lot of hurricanes, checked out some strip clubs, and went looking for food. Ben was royally drunk. I had to support him walking around Bourbon St and back to our hotel. Let me tell you, my feet were not happy. Walking around in heels and supporting another 100+ pounds was not good. I got a big ol blister on my heel :(

Saturday morning we were woken up by the sound of someone pounding on our door. We were not expecting Ben's mom to be there, at whatever time its was in the morning, talking about whatever it was she was talking about. Saturday, we took it easy, especially since Ben was still drunk. We walked all around the French Quarter, checked out Jackson Square, got more hurricanes, and also discovered hand grenades. The quote for the day has to be from Luis, "Man, I don't know how people can drink more than two hand grenades." We were walking around, enjoying the weather, and Luis randomly comments on the hand grenade he was sipping on.

Saturday night, we popped another bottle of champagne (I will post that video sometime soon as well). I was really tired, I don't remember much of Saturday night. I know I took a long nap. We had a midnight breakfast buffet at Harrah's and saw a massive amount of Asians hanging out at the Ice Bar. I don't know what that was all about. Must have been spring break for some (Asian) college. I do remember watching a lot of late night TV. The stuff that plays late at night is so ridiculous and funny. We saw the same infomercials 20 times, watched COPS, and Cheaters.

Sunday, we started our day off the only way we knew how to in New Orleans. We stopped at the first shop we found that sold hurricanes. After polishing off those hurricanes, we headed back to Tallahassee. I miss New Orleans :)

5k Update

I think I'm making very good progress with my training for the 5k in April. Monday it was just Ben, Matt, and me that ran. I felt bad cause I was slowing them down a ton. Oh, and it was pouring. That was a tough run. The rain wasn't very bothersome at first. By the time we got to Wescott, I just wanted to go home and have dry clothes. The rain started getting cold. Matt ran into a blind person. We ended up taking the shortcut through the Leach :( But you know what, at least we ran.

Thursday we ran at Godby's track. Being there brought me back to the old days in high school. I decided to run 200m and walk 200m. That helped pass the time quick. I don't remember what all my splits were. My last mile was about 8.30. I'm really happy with that time since I've never run a mile that fast before. My usual mile is 12-15 minutes. Also, I broke in my new running shoes :( My left leg was killing me. Stupid shoes.

I can't wait for this 5k!

More rock climbing

Last Wednesday we (Ben, Matt, Elliot, Mary, and Me) all went rock climbing. It's fun doing it as a group.

This time I got the cool shoes that lets you climb up a wall like Spiderman. While Matt was going through orientation, Ben and I were practicing belaying. This time was a lot different. I had trouble letting people down from the wall. I kinda just dropped Ben off the wall, but he landed on his feet. But it was a different story when he was belaying me. I was coming down off the wall and he just dropped me on the ground. I fell flat on my butt! Ben was just laughing, Matt was in the middle of orientation with our buddy Daniel (who I went camping with once).

They changed up the walls. It was tougher climbing up. And it sucks that I'm short, Mary had the same problem. I couldn't reach pegs that Matt could reach. He kept telling me to grab a hold of a rock right above me....2 feet above my reach. But I let him have it, well not purposefully. When I was letting him down off the wall. I would let the rope go and then it would cinch abruptly. I feel really bad, he might not be able to have kids for a while.

What would be a better way to end a night of rigorous rock climbing?? A big ol slice of pizza from Momo's. It's great. We work out a crazy ton and then stuff ourselves with pizza and beer. :) And then of course Cranium to top it off. Mary and I won...again. Woot Woot!!

5k Training

Ben persuaded me to run a 5k in April. So now I have to train for it. I am not a long distance runner by any means. And when I say long distance, I mean anything more than a mile.

Thursday was my first day of training. It was a nice, cool night out, which is great cause I hate to run when it's hot. Ben, Matt, Elliot, and Mary met up at my house and started out from there. Ben almost got killed crossing Woodward and Tennessee :( . He ran across Tennessee and never stopped to check traffic. We ran around the outside of campus. Although Mary, Elliot, and I cut through the Leach. But it was our first time running any long distance.

When we got back to my apartment, Matt was there but Ben wasn't. So we formed the MCC 5k Run Search Party. Not long after Matt took off looking for Ben, Ben showed up. And then we had to start looking for Matt. Next time, we'll be more coordinated in our running and search efforts.

We are going to try and run every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. I think this is a great way to get in shape. If I decided to just run to stay in shape, I would give it up to easily. Now I have a goal. I have to run to stay in shape and be able to finish this 5k.

Rock Climbing

Saturday, a group of us went rock climbing. It was wicked (awesome, neat, and cool --to steal a saying from my high school Chem teacher, can't remember his name :| ) fun!! I'd recommend it to anyone. I am scared of heights big time. Elliot wanted to chicken fight outside of the gym, but I was too scared....even though we were about four feet off of the ground.

We took a class on how to belay and tie knots. I was so paranoid that my knot would come loose or that I would plummet to my death. But I guess as long as you and your partner are competent, you should be ok. We had to double check each other's knots. And you have to have faith in the person belaying you.

It was no problem scurrying up the wall. Getting down was the hard part! I would also advise people not to look down. It's the scariest thing. I looked down to find a spot for my foot, I ended up looking past my foot and to the ground. And then another time I looked down to Ben to make sure he was ready to let me down, that wasn't a good idea either. Another time, I turned my back to the wall and looked out, that was scary too. When we got to the last wall, I wasn't as scared anymore. I knew that if I fell off the wall, I wouldn't die--or at least I shouldn't.

I hope next time we go, we can get a big group together. It is definitely a fun group activity. :)

Friday Night Happy Hour and more

This past week was extremely stressful. Friday was a necessary stress reducer. We went out to Andrew's for Happy Hour. Luis and I like to go there cause we can get 5 bottles of Stella for $13! :) But every time we go, the service is slow and its really loud in that place. They always turn up the music and its hard to have a conversation.

We wanted to check out this new place, The Winery at the Red Bar. It was a chill looking place. The jazz music wasn't as good as we thought it was going to be. The wine was regular. I got a white wine from Cheverny (I visited the château last summer). It was tasty. We weren't really feeling the music of the atmosphere so we headed out. But first we had to settle the check. Luis and I were both charged more for our wine. The waitress thought she could pull one over on us....no no no.

Luis left after that, so it was just Ben, Nancy (Farley), and me. We went to Tantra. That place was ok. I got hungry again, so we got some awesome sushi! I think it was called South Beach. It was salmon with a fried outside. It was yummy yummy in my tummy.

I was getting bored at that place. I pursued the Ben and Farls to go to Paradigm. We met up with Ben's friend Marlena (?sp). From there, we got our drink and our dance on. I ran into Paul Salvo there too! Haven't seen him since....the last time I saw him at Paradigm a coupla weeks ago. And I also saw one of my professors there. he was with a girl that Ben knew. It was kind of awkward. I'm not sure if my professor recognized me or not.

Such an exciting Friday night!

Things

I lost my voice Thursday night. :( It's finally coming back now, still a little hoarse though.

Yesterday Ben Jackson and I went to the FSU Rez. It was a beautiful day for hanging out there. The sun was out, there were a few clouds in the sky, and it wasn't too hot or too chilly out. We kayaked for I don't know how long and then did rock climbing. Firstly, the lake had lost a lot of water and we couldn't go to the connecting lake. So when we were shoving off, I was stuck in about 2 inches of water. Ben was off paddling, while I was shimmying my way into deeper waters. I think I got a slight slight tan from relaxing on the lake :)

After kayaking we did some rock climbing. I'm still afraid of heights though. I wanted to conquer one of my fears and I've never climbed all the way to the top of a rock wall. So I was doing well until I got to the middle, I was trying to find a place to put my foot and then I looked down and saw the ground.... I was freaked out then and really wanted to come down. But what would that leave me with?? Another failed wall climb. I sucked it up and kept going. When I reached the top, I freaked out again. I didn't know how to drop down. I started climbing down but that was even more scary. Finally I let go of the wall and sure enough I didn't plummet to my death. I bounced down off the wall...just like in the movies. :) And everyone cheered for me when I got down. I forgot to mention that I was screaming with my hoarse voice. So I sounded extra funny and scared.