Back in the Bayou

I just got back from five days in Louisiana. The official reason was to attend Kate and Eric's wedding, which was on Saturday, the 13th (I was married on a 13th also and love it when people pick that as their wedding date - it's a strange sense of solidarity!) However, while I was there I was so excited to spend time with Cyndi and Lee, eat at some of my favorite places, go back to some of my happy places in Shreveport and just relax in the town I used to live in.


I got to Shreveport on Friday and got a manicure and some Starbucks while I waited for Cyndi to finish up with the decorating for an event she was helping with on Saturday. (An interesting note on the manicure - usually, I can't stand nail polish on my hands and just get a super sheer pink during a manicure. This time, I went with a bronze-y metallic to go with my dress for the wedding and I am *still* wearing the nail polish. This may not sound like a big deal, but it is. I take nail polish off usually within 12 hours of it going on. I just can't stand it. The morning of my own wedding I stopped by a Walgreens after I got my hair done to pick up a 6 pack of chocolate donettes and nail polish remover to take off the polish I had gotten from the manicure the day before. I know this is a goofy side note, but I like to point out moments that I feel are signs of me growing.) I got to her house in the early evening and we caught up while waiting for Lee to get home from work. I was hoping we could hit Superior Grill (great Mexican, and the hottest spot in town for hanging out) but it was packed and we were hungry. So, we headed to Cantina Laredo where we snagged bar stools while waiting for our table and had some margaritas and did some more catching up. I had asked Lee and Cyndi if they wanted to go for a run the next morning since I'm training for the 5K and they just ran two of them. Apparently Lee had the same thought and Cyndi couldn't believe that the two of us wanted to go jogging. Dinner was good, despite a few server issues, the company was great and the margarita strong.

We did go running the next morning. It was awesome! We ran on treadmills and this was the first time I had done that in my training. I had been doing interval training before and was often worn out by the time came to start my 3rd or 4th running interval. I had decided to start running and see how far I could go. I ended up running a mile and a quarter before switching to a walk! I thought this was awesome. I ran a mile and a quarter! I was running at a 5mph pace and it was nice that the treadmill was keeping my pace steady. I did the 5K in 40 minutes 15 seconds and ran a total of 2 miles. Woohoo!!!

Cyndi and I went to get the best chocolate chip pancakes in town after we cleaned up from the run. After that I headed to the airport to pick up Colin, the road warrior. He and I checked into the Hilton and got ready for Kate's wedding, which was at 7pm. And for those of you keeping track - yes, this is Colin - the estranged husband. We get along well, I think we like each other very much still and enjoy each others company. So yes, we were staying together.

Kate's wedding was very lovely, Kate was a stunning bride. She looked so happy and so beautiful. Here is the wedding in pictures:






















































They had a lovely wedding cake plus a chocolate groom's cake. These were the best wedding cakes I've ever had. I'm not going to lie, we went back for seconds. I'm happy to say that I continued to follow my make friends with the photographer rule at this wedding - and hopefully the pictures she shot of us are great as a result! The food was heavy appetizers and it was some of the best shrimp I've had in a loooooong time. Yummy baked brie and carved brisket and crab cakes and catfish. Mmmm. They had a band that I was familiar with from the casinos and Colin and I had lots of fun mocking the sax player who wore his sunglasses inside all night. We walked back to our hotel after the reception and caught the Weekly Update on SNL before crashing. Good night.

Sunday brought one of my Shreveport happy places - the Louisiana Boardwalk. It's pretty hokey, but I loved it. I have nice memories of Sunday morning/early afternoon movies, breakfast or lunch and then wandering around this outdoor shopping/entertainment complex. Colin has this theory that he's proven again and again regarding the number of people in the theatre and how many millions of dollars the movie will make and it's pretty accurate, which is spooky. So, this Sunday we started with breakfast at IHOP and then went to see UP in 3D. UP was very cute. We did the mandatory walking around, poking into my favorite stores afterwards. We were having dinner at Lee and Cyndi's later that night and looking forward to some Salsa Verde turkey burgers. Our friend Amy joined us also and it was a great night, just like many we had when we lived there just like this. Our little dinner party group is fun.

Monday I had the day mostly to myself. I had lunch at Pepe's, the best hole in the wall Mexican in all of Shreveport/Bossier. It was every bit as good as I remember. I took myself to get one of these massive caramel/chocolate covered apples and then snuck it into the movie theatre to see The Hangover, which was very fun. I liked it more than I thought I might. It was worth it, and I recommend it. Monday night I grabbed dinner at the Cheesecake Bistro - a local knock off of The Cheesecake Factory.

Tuesday was Tea Room day!! Another very happy place for me is the Glenwood Village Tea Room, with the best chicken waldorf salad and scones with lemon curd and devonshire cream. I met Cyndi for lunch there. There was some more stuff to fill Cyndi in on, and I can't think of a better place to do it. Hot tea, buttermilk scones covered in butter, lemon curd and cream. Mm. That is a happy, happy place. I had to leave to catch a flight after that - a flight that was delayed a bit due to weather in Chicago. I arrived, late and soaking wet, back to my apartment late Tuesday night.

So, there is my in depth review of the weekend. I'd like to take a moment to give a very special thanks to Cyndi for hosting me, listening to me, gossiping with me, running with me, eating pancakes with me, giving advice to me and being a super teriffic friend this weekend. It was great to see you and spend time with you. Thanks Cyndi.