I am still winding down from the "best weekend of my life"...this is what I told Brady about a million times this weekend.  For my first birthday as Mrs. Brady Peters, my wonderful husband surprised me with a weekend getaway that was jam packed with wonderful activities! 

Friday
We left around 11:30 and started heading southeast on 74.  I had no idea where we were going or what I was in for.  We just drove and talked, and sang, and Brady graciously listened to some girly podcasts that I picked out.  Then we got into the weird little corner between IN, OH, and KY...and I asked, "Are we going to the Creation Museum?!"  Sure enough we were!  This is somewhere that both of us have wanted to go for a long time so it was awesome to finally be there.  The museum was amazing...I learned so much!  The pages of Genesis really came alive, and the museum proved that creation is indeed true and evolution is a manmade myth.  The museum took all day, and that was barely enough time!  I can't wait to go back!  Brady's favorite part was the Planetarium and my favorite part was the Garden of Eden.

After the museum we headed to the Drawbridge Inn, went to happy hour, then proceeded to dinner at Bonefish...one of my favs!  And look at the special list that was on our table...

Saturday
We woke up, headed to breakfast, then made our way to Chateau Pomije Winery.  We tasted many delicious wines, had a private tour of the winery, and bought a couple of our favorite bottles.

Then we headed to the Hickory Road Inn.  It is a true Bed and Breakfast, which means we actually stayed in someone's house where they lived.  It was our first "real" B and B experience...and we are hooked!  They run about the same price as a hotel, or even cheaper...and they have so much more to offer.  The ambiance and food were both amazing.  Jerry and Leacarol were such gracious hosts and we have already booked our next trip to stay there...we are taking both of our parents down there in December for a little "triple date" weekend.

After spending some time enjoying "Grandma's Room" at the B & B we headed to Ertel Cellars.  This was my favorite part of the trip!  Ertel Cellar's Winery is known for its sweet wine!  And they had an amazing resturant where the special was Macadamia encrusted Sea Bass...it was so delicious...I felt like I was back in Hawaii.  We had a great time at this winery and of course we didn't leave empty handed!

It was a wonderful weekend, a perfect mini vacation, and an awesome time to relax and spend quality time with my best friend/hubby.  I am so happy he planned this with the busy planting season only days away.  Yeah in case you didn't catch that earlier...Brady planned all this by himself, I had no idea we were doing any of this...I was so surprised! 

Until next time!

What is the deal with this weather?!  I am loving it!  I will take 80's in mid-March any day!  The only negative about this weather is that I feel like I am behind on my summer projects...and technically it is still winter...how crazy is that?!

With the nice weather comes a lot of work, that is just the nature of the beast when you live on a farm.  Brady has been working long hours repairing the cattle lot, repairing the outside hog lot, and tearing out fence.  I also have been working mega long hours along with lots of traveling.  Today is Sales Closing Date for crop insurance though, so starting now I am going to have a little lull until after planting time.  Which is perfect because I can help around the farm while the boys are putting the crops in the dirt by being their go getter.

My birthday is also this weekend, and I just can't believe it is going to be pushing 80 on March 18, because I can remember multiple birthdays that were spent with snow on the ground.

I am not sure what we are doing for my birthday this year...you know 24 is a big one!  All I know is that I am supposed to be packed and ready to leave by tomorrow morning at 8:00 am and we won't be home until Sunday around noon or 1:00.  And I am not supposed to snoop on Brady's laptop because he has an hour by hour itinerary for the weekend saved on it....oh my gosh, for those of you who know me well I am sure you know that at this moment I immediately because super horny because I LOVE ORGINIZATION!  And I love surprises so I can't wait...I have such a wonderful husband! 

Well I better get going because I have lots of cleaning, organizing, packing, and working out to do before tomorrow morning!

Hope everyone has a wonderful St. Patty's Day filled with much beer, corned beef, and cabbage!

In case anyone didn’t know the Big Easy is New Orleans, Louisana.  The locals call it NOLA, Nawlins, and they are all proud to be part of the "Who Dat Nation" (that is what the Saints fans call themselves).  Brady and I went there for a business trip with my company.  We figured since I had to go anyways, he might as well tag along, we went a couple of days early and stayed one day late so we could check everything out.

New Orleans was a fun city but we don’t plan on ever going back.  The city was very unique and unlike any place either of us had ever traveled to.  The city was alive, it pulsed with music and art.  Many of the streets are constantly closed with bands playing on them, donkeys pulling carriage rides, and palm readers telling people’s destinies.

All in all it was a great trip and I am happy we went.  There were many things we liked about the vacation and some that we didn’t love so much.  I’ll start with what we didn’t like so much.

The Strippers 
-usually this isn’t an issue because we don’t go into strip clubs so we don’t see strippers…well in New Orleans it is a little different story.  Bourbon Street is peppered with strip clubs and cabarets where the naked girls stand in large doorways that face the street and ask men to come in.  I am an extremely open person about nakedness and sex, but I do believe it should be confined to the covenant relationship of marriage and it just grossed me out that these girls were shaking their thang on a busy public street and I am not even kidding, the only thing that was covered up was their lady cha cha.

The Poverty
-There were a lot of homeless people, which is common in most cities so it’s not like we were super shocked.  But one unique thing about the homeless people in New Orleans is that they all had pit bulls.  I love, love, LOVE dogs and have nothing against pit bulls, but I do have something against homeless people who take on the responsibility of having one.  If you can’t afford a house for yourself and food to put in your own mouth, then don’t bring a poor little pup into the mix.  Just a side note on this whole subject…I love to be generous and help people out, especially “the lesser of these” but if your health is good enough to sit on the street and heckle people for handouts, then I am sure you
are capable of getting a job somewhere.

Bourbon Street 
-was extremely filthy.  Yes it was entertaining and had some cool bars and shops, but overall it was pretty nasty.  The cops patrolled the street by horseback.  It didn’t make an already dirty city any cleaner having cops riding around on horses that would crap everywhere.   In addition to the horses, 90% of the people walking around on the street are hammered…you are even allowed to have open containers on the street so many of the bars sell cocktails “to-go”.  When the drunk people barf on the street in addition to the crap that the horses already left behind it's not a good mix.  Also let’s not forget about the strippers and homeless people that are already roaming the street.  Horse crap + drunk people + strippers + homeless people = don’t touch anything and when you get back to the hotel first wash your hands in boiling water then give them a nice soak in some hand sanitizer.  PS…I saw girls walking on Bourbon Street with no shoes on!  AHHHH!

Now onto the good things about New Orleans…

The Food 
-Oh my gosh…the food was amazing.  I thought I knew what good food was since I grew up fairly close to Chicago, but Chicago food can’t touch the Cajun flavor of Nawlins.  One thing we especially liked was the Beignets (pronounced ben-yay).  These are French donuts that are light and fluffy and covered in a mountain of powdered suger.  Next up...Bananas Foster…this is made of rich vanilla ice cream covered with a delicious rum sauce with slices on banana in it.  Yum yum yum we are going to try to make this one at home. 

The Southern Charm
-The people were so nice.  You could just feel the southern hospitality everywhere and it was awesome. 

My Co-Workers
-I am planning to do a post on my job in the near future so I will elaborate on this sometime very soon.  All I can say is that I work for an awesome company with lots of very amazing, fun, and downright crazy people!

Houmas House
-One day we left the city and did a tour of a grain export facility, a barge trading company, and a plantation.  The grain export facility was amazing...they could unload a barge filled with 84,000 bushels of corn in 45 minutes (thats 4,704,000 pounds)!  The barge company was also really neat, but I really can't think of any highlights except for the fact that the tour guide's name was Bobby Brady =)  The highlight of the tour day for me was a place called Houmas House.  The house was built over 15 years from 1810 to 1825 and today is restored to its natural beauty.  In it's prime the plantation sat on 300,000 acres of gorgeous Live Oak Trees and thousands of acres of cotton and sugar cane. 

Isn't that house amazing?!  I want a plantation for Christmas...hint hint Brady =)