New Orleans Adventure: Walking tour and Andrew Jackson Statue

Our walking tour took us all through the French Quarter of New Orleans. I've got so many pictures that I want to sketch, and I want to fill up my trip journal - I'm not quite half way through it. I took one shot of this Jackson statue and captured a silhouette effect against the evening sky. I really enjoyed painting it.

Although I would have loved to have finished my journal on the trip, or shortly after I arrived home..... I have to say that I'm really enjoying ... s t r e t c h i n g ...... the adventure out longer as I continue to fill in my journal. Since I can't take frequent trips (limits on both time and $), it is nice to know how much I can enjoy my memories while continuing to work on my travel journal at home. I relive my travel memories at night, and it is back to work in the morning.....

Spring Surprise

"Spring is in the Air"!! I came home recently to find a charming basket of mini-Daffodils on our kitchen table. I was thrilled that my husband had thought to surprise me with this sign of Spring. It was the perfect inspiration for another page in my journal which will be a nice memory page.

Thinking of Spring and Summer

I just finished Laure's Imaginary Trip to the Beach class... and I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to do another Hibiscus tonight! Lots of fun.

Postcard memories from New Orleans

During my trip to New Orleans last fall, one of the many fun things that Laure Ferlita has us do was make a postcard to send to a secret travel buddy. This is the postcard that I made and sent to my secret pal. We were to think of what our secret buddy really enjoyed about NOLA and try to incorporate some of her favorites in our postcard. Cafe Du Monde was one of the special places that we visited and I knew my travel partner would enjoy a memory of our visit there, the coffee, and of course the fresh beignets totally covered in powdered sugar!! It was a fun assignment, and extended the trip for all of us as we anxiously waited for our postcard to arrive in the mail. Great idea!!

New Orleans Adventure: Looking at the Architecture

During our walking tour of the French Quarter in New Orleans, our tour guide pointed out different architectural details. The three buildings side-by-side on the left page all have the same structure and composition. However they are each finished a little differently. The Creole cottages were simple and cute and the Creole Townhouses were a bit more ornate. It was fun to see the variations in styles and learn more about them.

Happy Birthday.....

In case you are wondering ... no, its not "my" birthday.... Today, March 6, 2012 is the 100th birthday of the Oreo cookie! The National Biscuit Company (later to be known as Nabisco) sold its first Oreo cookie on this day 100 years ago in Chelsea, New York City. Since then 491 Billion Oreos have been sold. There are even special varieties sold around the world. That is a LOT of cookies!!

I remember Oreo cookies fondly from my younger years. It was always a treat when mom would bring home a package from the grocery store. However, in recent years I can't even remember when I last bought them now that I'm older and my own boys are grown. I'll confess that I bought a package on my way home from work today to celebrate this big birthday. I hadn't tasted them in a very long time, but as soon as I started to open the package.... I recognized the familiar sweet scent of the cookies and memories of Oreos came to mind. I don't know about you.... but growing up - we had fun twisting our Oreos apart, followed by licking the frosting inside, and finally eat the chocolate cookies. Sometimes we would take them apart and reassemble them as our own "double-stuff" Oreos before the company caught on and decided to sell them as a variation.

With all the Oreo birthday festivities they have released a special package of "Birthday Cake Oreos" that have "sprinkles" inside in the cream filling. Gee... what will they think of next? I'm going to follow the advice of their new slogan, 'Celebrate the kid inside', and I think I'll go celebrate with another Oreo!!! Yum!

P.S. I added confetti to the image 2012-03-13.

New Orleans Adventure: Walking tour

I had so much fun on our walking tour of the French Quarter in New Orleans. On these pages I captured a cute shop down in the French Market area, the Central Grocery store where the Muffuletta was born, and a cute Christmas shop that caught my eye. Unfortunately all of my text didn't scan very well.... maybe I'll have to break down and use a bigger tip for writing on other pages.

P.S. These pages are from my travel journal from NOLA Live with Laure Ferlita.