Happy Tuesday Fabbies! I know it’s been a while since I’ve last posted. And at this point I know it goes without saying that I have been busy. Besides the usual obligations that come with being a mom and wife, I have continued to be chin deep in Raven Collection. I cannot wait to unveil the full collection of handbags and shoes to you guys once everything is complete. And guess what? Everything is almost complete…But since I like to move in silence so to speak, you guys will see everything for yourselves soon enough! 😉 But nonetheless, I wanted to be sure to share my wonderful trip to New Orleans with you guys on my blog. And I mean, what girl doesn’t like reading and seeing pictures from bachelorette weekends?!? So fun right? Anyway, since my last post, I have traveled to the mighty South! First to my hometown of Jackson, Mississippi to visit my family in late June, and then 2 weekends ago  I traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana to celebrate my best friend Brittanii’s bachelorette weekend. She is getting married in New York City next month, so me, along with her sisters and friends celebrated her last remaining moments as a “single gal”. If you follow me on Instagram, then you have already seen many photos from that weekend. But of course, there are soooooo many more photos AND videos that I can’t wait to share with you guys here on my blog, because I know ya’ll want all the details of where we went, what I ate, what I wore, and everything in between! Also, even though the bachelorette weekend was from Friday until Sunday, I stayed in New Orleans for a few extra days to recover, luxuriate, and enjoy the city solo before I traveled back home; back to mom/wife/designer mode. I will write a separate post just on my solo adventures, that I will post soon, so stay tuned for that as well.:)

For this post, I will include photos from my Snapchat and Insta-story, as well as professional photos that our New Orleans-based photographer, Kevin took of us all weekend as well. His company is Black Hat Filmz, and he was super chill and great to work with. When you get several women together for a Bachelorette Weekend, there’s gonna be lots, and lots of picture-taking. So read on and enjoy!

Food: What I Ate

Okay, so if you’re even vaguely familiar with the city of New Orleans, then you know that the city is known for its rich culture, music, and amazing food! And being from nearby Jackson, Mississippi, I spent many weekends in New Orleans playing in basketball tournaments throughout my childhood and young adulthood. So needless to say I have had my fair share of the renowned New Orleans cuisine. But the last time I’ve visited New Orleans was in 2010, where my sisters and my mom all celebrated my Mom’s birthday. Of course back then, I was not vegan, so traveling there this time around was a completely new experience for me when it came to what the hell I was gonna eat!

Before going to New Orleans, I had already done a casual search of vegan restaurants, so I kinda had an idea of what existed before I got there. I had a red-eye flight, where I left at midnight and flew all night, eventually landing in New Orleans at around 9:00 AM Friday morning. When I landed I was sooo hungry, because the only thing I had eaten on the flights were 2 bananas. I ended up choosing to go to a spot called Good Karma Cafe, located right off of Canal Street. The menu had lots of options. so I decided to go there for my “breakfast”.

I ended up ordering the avocado sandwich, complete with corn tortilla chips and habenero mango salsa. The salsa was majorly flavorful. And Yall. This sandwich was EVERYTHING! First of all, I am a lover of all things having to do with avocados, and this sandwich did not disappoint.

I was so delighted to have started my New Orleans trip off on such a tasty note. And the restaurant itself was your typical vibe of most vegan cafes: Comfortable, relaxed, and cozy. What was even more of a highlight of eating breakfast there, after I finished eating, I then went outside to wait on Brittanii’s sister Ebony to come pick me so we could get our festivities started, and I ran into a lady who made crystal jewelry, among other things:

 

The “Sage Gem”, as she was called, ended up making me a beautiful crystal Citrine ring. (I’m super into crystals lately, as my husband has always raved about crystals and their powerful properties. But I’ll save crystal talk for another day. 😉

So after enjoying some good food, get a custom ring made, I was officially ready to enjoy the city of New Orleans and party with my girls!

Other food highlights from my trip included an Ethiopian restaurant that was literally walking distance from our rented house, called Cafe Abyssinia:

I ended up getting what I usually get from any Ethiopian restaurant, which is a veggie combo platter, and veggie sambusas. The veggie platter is typically huge platter of sides, such as cabbage, greens, lentils, green beans, and more, all served with native Ethiopian bread, called injera. Veggie sambusas are deep-fried samosas, or nugget-like things that are filled with vegetables. One of my favorite things to eat EVER!!

I got the Ethiopian food to-go and brought it back to the bachelorette house to pretty much devour.

Here in Arizona, there is an Ethiopian restaurant that my family and I go to alllllllll the time, called GoJo’s, and I have yet to find another Ethiopian restaurant that seasons their food to perfection like they do. But the Ethiopian spot in New Orleans was cool, and it kept me full! I had plenty of food, so I ate my leftovers the next day too!

For dinner one night, we chose to go to an acclaimed restaurant near Bourbon Street called Oceana Grill, The waitress informed me that they had one vegan item on the menu, so I went with that option, which was their Cajun Vegetarian Stew. It was beyond delicious yall!!!!

I typically don’t eat white rice, but since it was mixed in with veggies, I dug in. What’s crazy is that we went to dinner before we went out, and I was thinking, “OMG I’m gonna be so full walking around Bourbon street tonight!” Luckily that didn’t last long, because dancing all night long tends to help alleviate a full belly haha!

Another spot to mention is where we had brunch that Sunday, which is the cutest little restaurant in the French Quarter called Apolline Restaurant:

I ordered avocado toast, and grilled vegetables. This place had the cutest bar, bottomless mimosas, and a lively bunch of customers this day. It was so much fun!

And of course after brunch, we had a photoshoot! Ha!

The Bachelorette House: The Decor and Goodies!

The House we rented was so incredibly cute! So cute, in fact, I had a photoshoot in the front of the house! It was located in the French Quarter, and actually was a duplex! It was the perfect size for us, as it was a total of 5 girls. It was originally going to be six of us, but our friend Ivory could not come due to a death in her family. (And we missed her dearly!)

We rented out both sides of the Duplex and had a ball! Ebony and I decorated the house with bachelorette goodies before everyone arrived, but not before I danced in the mirror in an empty bedroom in the house:

What I Wore In New Orleans:

Of course I started my trip to New Orleans wearing my travel uniform, a onesie! (Or a sweatsuit. Find me in either one of these if you ever catch me at an airport):

I also like to travel wearing something on my head: a scarf, hat, scully, whatever! I’m obsessed with head pieces for one, and for two, head pieces likes hats and scarves really help pull a look together.

Each day we were in New Orleans, we had lots of things to do, so of course I packed an outfit, plus possibles, plus options, plus extras just in case I changed my mind. Below is the look I wore to dinner (where I had that bomb ass spicy vegetable stew), and then dancing at clubs near and around Bourbon Street:

The next day, Saturday, we had a jam-packed day. After sleeping in, slowly waking up, we totally took pictures the morning after…in bed! Brittanii had us recreate the scene from “Girls Trip”…or at least attempt to:

After having mimosas (and a joint for me) for breakfast, we then set off to go to a pool party for brunch at a dope spot called The Country Club.   It’s a place that has a restaurant and bar inside, and a pool and bar out back. We donned our swimsuits (which, as a sidenote, leading up the Bachelorette Weekend, there was so much drama surrounding the swimsuits and if all of us would get them on time! We ordered them online…kinda last minute for some…and so stress ensued! Well, turns out, most of us didn’t get ours in time in enough before leaving for New Orleans! But that didn’t stop us from living our best lives at the pool either!

We had such a fun time hanging at the pool and taking pictures all over the place.

Later in the day we went to another trendy and unique place called The Carousel Bar, located near the Bourbon Street area inside of The Monteleone Hotel. The bar itself is shaped like a Carousel ride at the fair, and the actual bar itself slowly rotates in a 360 degree circle WHILE you are enjoying your food and drinks! We sat at the bar, where they serve you mixed nuts in little dishes (that I devoured in seconds!) to snack on while you have your drinks. A few of the girls had gumbo from there, and they all loved it. We went there decked out in matching Beyonce-Themed shirts as part of the “Bride Squad”:

After we left there, we headed to a nearby Spice Shop that was pure heaven for me! They had every kind of hot sauce and spicy seasoning imaginable! The place is indeed a tourist attraction, and we had so much fun exploring their wide selection of sauces:

Of course I racked up on Hot Sauces to take back with me. I got 2 bottles of Chipotle hot sauce, some Slap Ya Mama Seasoning, and a bottle of Habeñero hot sauce as well. Fire.

Later that night, for our final night out, we decided to go to Harrah’s Casino, for a late dinner, to gamble a bit, and then to club. I decided to wear a black, long sleeved lace romper with a sweetheart neckline:

 

The Bachelorette House: The Decor and Goodies!

The House we rented was so incredibly cute! So cute, in fact, I had a photoshoot in the front of the house! It was located in the French Quarter, and actually was a duplex! It was the perfect size for us, as it was a total of 5 girls. It was originally going to be six of us, but our friend Ivory could not come due to a death in her family. (And we missed her dearly!)

We rented out both sides of the Duplex and had a ball! Ebony and I decorated the house with bachelorette goodies before everyone arrived, but not before I danced in the mirror in an empty bedroom in the house:

Then Brittanii made it to the house for the first time:

Photos From Entire Weekend:

 

That weekend was BEYOND amazing. As you saw, Brittanii donned her “Bride” attire almost everywhere we went, and it was so neat seeing strangers wish her well and congratulating her on her upcoming nuptials. Of course there were also people yelling “Don’t Do Itttttttttt!” to her as she walked by as well. Ha! We also saw several other Bridal Parties celebrating their bachelorette weekend in New Orleans, so it was cool to kiki it up with them.

In August we will all reunite again for Brittanii’s wedding in New York City, where I am sure it will be just as unforgettable as New Orleans! Brittanii is going to be such a beautiful bride!

We came, we partied, we bonded, we balled.

…And we slayed:

I hope you guys enjoyed this photo album of a post! As I mentioned, I stayed in New Orleans a few extra days to enjoy the city solo and to recover before returning home to Arizona, so I will post about those adventures later this week, so stay tuned!

Have a fabulous week! And Thank You N’awlins!

xoxo

*Bonus*

Brittanii, being the creative extraordinaire that she is, put together the dopest compilation videos of our weekend. I told her I was definitely stealing them and putting them on my blog! Seriously, her creativity is bananas! It’s 3 short videos total! Click play below and enjoy!

Memories of a lifetime!

Photo Credits:

Black Hat Filmz, Brittanii Brown, Antoinette Cole, Ebony Lewis