My husband and I have travelled so much this year that I was quite content to be staying home for Thanksgiving. I missed being with family, of course, but it was very nice to just relax and be grateful for my life here on the Gulf Coast. We started the day with a walk in the neighborhood (and the backyard.)
Then it was time for our Thanksgiving lunch! I am not ashamed to admit that we didn't cook a single thing. We let Cora's restaurant at the White House Hotel do the work for us, and it was a great choice. The food at their fabulous buffet was absolutely delicious--especially the dressing and the squash soup. And the bread pudding! We thoroughly enjoyed our feast, and the service was excellent, too.
After we finished eating, we wandered around a bit. You might recall that Diana and Nayarda are getting married at the White House Hotel VERY soon! I like to scope out my wedding venues ahead of time, and I got quite inspired by the beautiful interior.
The only thing better was the exterior! The stately columns, the antique cars, the sprawling live oaks... all of it is gorgeous. I am so, so excited to return next week!
Continuing this theme, the next part of our day was inspired by one of my wedding couples, too. When I was researching to prepare for Kim & Scott's engagement session, I discovered that the Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge includes another trail I had never been to. Alex and I changed that on Thanksgiving afternoon! We really enjoyed walking along the Fountaine Bleu trail as the sun went down.
Spending time in nature was the perfect way to spend Thanksgiving. How can you not be thankful when you're surrounded by such beauty?!
Our celebrating continued on Friday, too. Thanks to Facebook, I found out that my cousin Natasha was in Louisiana briefly for work, so we met up in New Orleans to catch up. At Alex's recommendation, the three of us dined at Cochon. It was scrumptious--especially my oyster sandwich.
We ended up spending much longer than intended in Jackson Square watching an amazing group of street performers. I wish I had taken better photos, because these guys were really incredible. They were awesome athletes and clever comedians. We couldn't bring ourselves to leave until the show was over!
That didn't leave us much time left in town, but we tried our best to show Natasha around before we had to part. Of course we walked down our favorite street in NOLA: Royal Street!
Such fun! I have so much to be thankful for, indeed. I hope you and yours had as lovely a holiday as we did. Stay tuned for some Christmas cheer in my next post. :)