Our Trip to Houston

For the long Mardi Gras weekend, my husband and I planned a fun little vacation to Houston, TX. I’m from New Orleans, and to me, Mardi Gras is very repetitive, so it was OK to take a year out from it. Plus, with the Saints winning, I didn’t want to go near that madness. (No, I’m not a bitter Manning fan. I’ve embraced “Who Dat?”, OK?)

While I did miss giving random shout-outs to clarinet players in the marching bands (about 10 years playing that instrument, holla!) in parades, I think this trip was well worth it. You see, it snowed (a lot) on Thursday night/Friday morning. So, whenever it snows, a lot of places shut down. No work…ever! So, since we asked off Friday, it kind of became a freebie for taking leave since the offices were closed anyway (SCORE!)!

However, this meant we had to leave as early as we could. The only way out of the city is a pretty high bridge that ices easily, so we had to beat the State Police before they closed it. We did. FREEDOM!

I geeked out during the drive and continued to cross-stitch. (Yep, still working on that..and the baby is now 4 months old…eesh!) Hubs doesn’t like it when I zonk out on a road trip, so I kept myself occupied. 4.5 hours later, we were in Houston!

On our first night, we decided to try Goode Co. Texas BBQ after multiple recommendations from locals. I will say this, the meat is seriously on-point…NOM! However, the sauce? It’s a confusing fusion of italian and BBQ that is just NOT right to me. Tasted like spaghetti sauce with a slight smokey flavor. Meh..that ain’t BBQ peeps…learn from Luther’s (darn you Luther’s for closing after Katrina hit!!).

On the second day, we went to Dave and Busters. We usually LOVE this place. I go nuts over the machines. However, this time, $50 of food and “fun” later, I felt ripped off. It was lame.

We went to visit the hubs’ cousins, who live in Houston and they took us out for our first Houston Tex-Mex experience: Gringo’s. Very fair priced and yummy food! I had a HUGE margarita for $8, and felt pretty tipsy after that. Such a lightweight. The highlight of that restaurant? There is a soft serve machine (ice cream) that you can load up on for free as you are leaving the restaurant!! The low point? When a manager walked up to our table and asked me what I was doing with these 3 attractive men on the night before V-day? Hubs flaunted his ring and was like uh no, she’s mine. Manager looked at me like I was some man-izer wearing an LSU t-shirt and jeans…nice.

On Valentine’s Day, the hubs and I did a little more shopping. We went to his electronic heaven, Fry’s and then to my spice heaven, Penzeys. Sigh…that store smelled GOOD! For lunch, we tried the infamous Red Robin. Oh yeah, those burgers are YUMMY!

Afterwards, we lounged a little while and planned to go across the street for $3 margaritas and more tex-mex. Let’s just say 8:30pm Valentine’s Day evening is not a good time to try a new restaurant…the parking garage was packed so we left! We ended up at Jack in the Box and I, with my sore (read: no Valentine’s day restaurant dinner) attitude, ate curly fries. This is coming from the person who isn’t a fan of V-day..why did I let it get to me? UGH…

Our last day, Lundi Gras/President’s Day, we went to JoAnn’s for the President’s Day sale. Hubs found me a 20% off the whole purchase coupon and I went nuts on these patterns (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) since they were $1 each, afterall (80 cents after coupon). A steal, indeed! After that, we went to IKEA to get me an organizer for all my sewing goodies. The battle I’m having assembling this damn thing is blog-worthy.

We decided to go to the $3 margarita place for a late lunch, and we’re so glad we did! The restaurant had lunch menu prices and was not crowded at all! Plus, we used a free appetizer coupon, since it wasn’t a “holiday” anymore. Squee!

Dinner was uneventful…Mickey D’s. We were just tired..and food was getting pricey in Houston!

We left to go home on Mardi Gras, and let me tell you, the minute we got to Baton Rouge, we realized how much we missed Houston….stupid Baton Rouge traffic!

In case you were wondering about our 4-legged friend, she stayed in New Orleans with my folks, including their 10 year old lab, Dixie. Millie made her feel young again haha! They apparently played and Millie learned a little training too with a good example at her side! Check it out…just too cute! Just ignore my dorky giggling over the fact that they are going nuts over these little treats that my mom has!