Hello, blog world! I don’t know about you, but I had to drag myself out of bed for work this morning. Yesterday was dreary and rainy (so much so that I stayed in my pajamas all day), but Saturday was action-filled and marvelously beautiful, so let’s focus on that.

We left the house around 8:00 am to drive into New Orleans for French Quarter Fest. The drive was quick and traffic-free, so we parked by the convention center around 10-something before walking through the Riverwalk on our way to the Quarter.

First on the agenda: a delicious Bloody Mary (one of the best!) from Muriel’s.

When we finished our drinks, the square was open and vendors were serving food. I opted for the Crawfish Louise from The Court of Two Sisters (tasty!) while Mark waited in the long line for Galatoire’s shrimp BLT po-boy, which wasn’t that impressive. We gobbled it up, though, and grabbed an Abita Strawberry before stopping by a few shops on Decatur and walking through the French Market.

The in-laws were in town for a wedding, so we met them at the flea market. Because I just need more stuff, I bought a painted oyster shell to hang on the wall and a beaded fleur de lis pin.

We then meandered back to Jackson Square to look at the artwork and re-join the festivities.

We were still hungry, so we checked out the vendors by the river. I had some charbroiled oysters from Royal House (meh—they were tiny, difficult to remove, and full of shell fragments) while Mark had a tasty alligator sausage corn dog from Somethin’ Else Café.

At this point I got a little irritated because it was so crowded. We walked a little bit along Royal Street before stopping to hear a little music and heading back to the car.

We made a pit stop at Rouse’s (for muffalettas, coffee, and beer) and drove to Bud’s Broiler for the trip home.

I wish I’d been in a better mood toward the end of our trip because it couldn’t have been a more beautiful, spring-like day. I am looking forward to this weekend for our first 5K and the Queen symphony, though.

Before I go, I just wanted to say that the Boston Marathon bombing victims (and their loved ones) are in my thoughts and prayers. Any event like this is gut-wrenching and awful, but it seems that much worse when these runners have been attacked at what’s simultaneously their strongest (proudest) and weakest moment. Tragic.