#vacationamonth2014

This month I decided to cross something off of my bucket list -- Mardi Gras in New Orleans. My friend, Andrea that I used to work with at Guest Relations in Walt Disney World moved to New Orleans in July so it was a perfect time to go visit her. Another friend of ours from Disney is only a five hour drive away, so he joined us as well. Such a fun reunion! The fun for me began Sunday with three parades. Krewe of Mid-City, Krewe of Thoth, and Krewe of Bacchus. Little did I know that the parades would be the most fun part of Mardi Gras. Floats go by and people throw beads and swag down at you. It's crazy! By the end of Krewe of Thoth I was ridiculously covered in beads, flowers, and boas. It was great!

On Monday (Lundi Gras) we walked around the French Quarter where I bought some things at a voodoo shop and ate crawfish complete with sucking the juice out of the head of it. It was gross and delicious at the same time. We also met up with another Guest Relations friend and had a big Disney reunion complete with delicious hand grenades. (a New Orleans staple drink) It was freezing, so we went home to warm up after that before heading out to see the Krewe of Orpheus parade. After the parade, my friend Kevin and I went to Bourbon Street to see what all the hype was about. We were getting beads flung at us at high velocity and had to run for cover because they were painful. I dragged him into Saints and Sinners to look for Channing Tatum, but sadly he wasn't there. Then we figured out how to get onto a balcony and I threw one of my beads off the balcony. We walked around a little bit more then headed to Cafe du Monde for some late night beignets before going home.

Tuesday morning we didn't wake up in time for the 8am parade, so we only went to the 10am parade which was the Krewe of Rex. At this point, not only was it freezing, but it was also raining. We were such troopers! We didn't get a lot of swag at this parade, but we still got some. After the parade, Kevin went home to Texas and Andrea and I went down to Frenchmen Street to see everyone's costumes. I didn't realize how much this holiday is like an extra Halloween! The rest of the day consisted of us watching Netflix because I was so worn out from the past two days and she was worn out from the past six! Mardi Gras really is a marathon, not a sprint. 

Wednesday I got my ashes and then we took a tour of a plantation about an hour away. This plantation is where the Brer Rabbit stories were written, so being the Disney nerds that we are we obviously knew it was fate that we stumbled upon it. I've said for years that all I want to do is live on a plantation in the south some day. Mainly like in the Notebook though - just a beautiful house in the Carolinas or Georgia without slaves. It was really interesting to finally see a real one. They even showed us the cabins that the owner's slaves lived in which was pretty surreal. We left that plantation and drove straight to the French Quarter where we had a ghost tour. Our tour guides for both tours were excellent which being a former tour guide myself, I know how much that can make or break a tour. Andrea and I think a ghost followed us home because her phone started opening up apps and music, as well as calling people by itself. It was the freakiest thing!

All in all my first trip to NOLA was great (minus the weather), and my first Mardi Gras was a blast. I can't wait to do it all again next year! :) 

Last weekend I officially kicked off my Vacation a Month 2014 Challenge. I went to South Carolina to surprise one of my closest friends that I hadn't seen in over two years. The surprise was a success and the weekend was a blast!

It was nice to have a chill, relaxing weekend with friends...in the south. It felt like no time had gone by since the last time I was hanging out with them either. It was really great. We watched movies, had Sunday Funday, ate Bojangles and Publix Sandwiches, and they even dragged me to crossfit. My body is still sore from Monday's crossfit class. They're two of the sweetest people, so it was really great just spending quality time with them no matter what we were doing. We got sucked into a marathon of The Fosters on abcfamily all day Monday and had a blast.

I even had a Small World moment during the weekend. My bestie walked into the bar we were at on Saturday night. She lives in Connecticut. I live in NYC. We both happened to be in Columbia, South Carolina at the same time, in the same insanely crowded bar, and managed to bump into each other. It was really weird and amazing.

As the weekend came to a close, we said our goodbyes and they dropped me off at the airport early Tuesday morning. I had a flight from Columbia to Charlotte and then a connecting flight from Charlotte to NYC. My connecting flight kept getting delayed until they finally cancelled it (and all flights going to the northeast) at noon. All day I tried to figure out my game plan for how to get to NYC, how to get back to Columbia, or what to do in Charlotte without a place to stay. Finally, I was getting really frustrated, so I just decided to take a bus from Charlotte to Columbia and fly out of Columbia the next morning. As I'm sitting in the airport all day waiting for my 6:00pm bus to Columbia, I decided to explore the airport. The coolest thing about it is that there is a section in the middle of all the terminals that is lined with rocking chairs next to outlets to charge your phones, computer, etc. I got some Bojangles (my staple food when I'm in the south) and sat down on a rocking chair and relaxed while I charged my phone. It was so relaxing and wonderful. At about 5:30pm I got a phone call saying my flight the next morning had been cancelled. At this point, I have such a headache from trying to figure everything out, that I took a breather and talked to a friend of mine that happened to be in Myrtle Beach at the same time. He said since I couldn't fly out on Wednesday, for me to just book a flight out of Myrtle Beach on Thursday morning, rent a car, and drive down to Myrtle Beach for the day. That may have been the best decision I made in a long time. I spent all day Wednesday just hanging out and being given a tour of Myrtle Beach. It was really wonderful. Thursday morning I changed airlines and got a direct flight from Myrtle Beach to NYC. The flight was only an hour! It was fabulous. Unfortunately, I went from the picture below, to a foot of snow. That was not fabulous.

Having those extra two days down there really got me thinking about where I am in life, and the happiness level I'm at. I didn't realize how unhappy I was at my job until I was away from it for six days. It was a really weird feeling being so happy. I wasn't stressed out (except for Tuesday at the airport) and I wasn't dreading each day. I kept looking forward to what was to come, and I'm going to try to take that mentality with me as I look into what's next in my career. Life is too short to be so unhappy, especially when it gets to a point where you forget what being happy feels like. It really was the breakthrough I needed to get into gear and focus on what will make me truly happy.

Everything happens for a reason, and I know that God has a wonderful plan for me. It sounds silly, but I know he planned for my flights to be cancelled so I would be able to have this epiphany, and maybe even so I could be happy if only for two more days. Prayers work, y'all!

I've been thinking about what I want to do with my life a lot lately. It seems like ever since I left Walt Disney World and moved to New York, every job I've had isn't the right one for me. (Except for waitressing. I actually enjoy that.) Sometimes I wonder if I'm meant to work at all. Perhaps I was put here to be a housewife. Maybe instead of looking for a job, I should look for a husband that I can dote on.While I've been meditating on this I've come to realize that life is too short to worry about things that make you sad. Live your life and don't stress about what people think about you.