NOLA & RT

This is two weeks in a row that I’m getting a blog out on time. How ’bout that!

Recap blog #2

Ross and I recently got back from the Romantic Times Conference and a pseudo vacation in New Orleans. The humidity was ridiculous and it was only May. I sweated through every piece of clothing I brought which was…disgusting. I can’t imagine living there in the middle of July. I don’t even want to think about it.

Anyway, we went to the aquarium, cause that’s what we do. Aquariums and Zoos. I finally broke Ross of going to Natural History Museums because how many stuffed sheep and rocks can one person look at. But I digress. At the aquarium they had an albino alligator.

 

Now, this is evidently a thing because not only was there an albino alligator at the aquarium, there were two at the zoo. Why? That’s my only question. Why? It’s not a Yeti for fuck’s sake. It’s a genetic mutation. I would like to point out that there were the most adorable sea otters at the aquarium which I could watch all day. Otters are hours and hours of fun.

We stayed on the edge of the French Quarter so we could practically walk everywhere which was great. However, the Quarter and especially Bourbon street get old quick. There are only so many bars situated like ice cream stands down the street, selling slushy drinks with minimal cheap liquor that a single person can take. Here’s a question. Can someone please explain to me why people feel its perfectly fine to leave trash (empty plastic cups and beer bottles/cans) on window sills and the sidewalk when there are trash cans on every fucking corner? At some point, I just couldn’t take it any more and started picking it up and throwing it away. Ross begged me to stop.

But it’s also a place where shit like this just happens in the middle of the week…

We did all the touristy stuff like going to Jackson Square and taking a cemetery tour

At some point I took a picture of the drainage trench in the quarter and Ross stopped, asking me what I was doing. I told him I was taking a picture of the trench.

He asked, “Why?”

I said, “Cause! Couldn’t you imagine it filled with blood? Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

He shook his head and started to walk away. “You know,” he said, “sometimes you scare me.”

Ha! I guess my mind just works in a different way. The gruesome, urban fantasy author part of me loves that kind of shit.

We did go to Cafe Du Monde and had some wonderful coffee and beignets. It was totally worth it. However, there was so much powdered sugar on those things that the entire place looked like a coke den. It was like scarface had set up shop, cause the white powder was all over the floor.

But TOTALLY WORTH IT! 

I actually got Ross to go to a plantation (I’ve included a picture of the only plantation he would go to, since it didn’t down play slavery. Me…I just wanted to see a pretty house.). Here’s a picture of him in front of the giant cyprus tree at the plantation. Isn’t he cute?

 

Once the convention started, it was all down to business. Ross was awesome! He helped me carry shit, he passed out excerpts for me, and went into the giant book fair to get author signatures for me while I was on the other side, signing books myself. That’s because my husband is awesome and loves me. I have no idea why. LOL!

I did have a little bit of a fangirl moment at a panel. Kim Harrison (who’s husband is awesome and I might want to be his new best friend), Kresley Cole, and Larissa Ione were all on a panel together. I won’t say that I squealed out loud but I might have shoved some smaller woman out of my way to say hello. I’m not ashamed. This picture sucks (because it is a well established fact that I cannot take pictures of people – with the exception of Ross. No other pictures of human beings turn out. Wonder why that is???) but it does prove I was there and they were there.