MARDI GRAS!!!

Happy Mardi Gras everybody, I am currently in LA visiting Carly for the break and figured since I have nothing to do from 8 am to 7 pm I might as well post some of the stuff we have done so far. I got here on Thursday and ended taking up a Shuttle Bus from the airport to the apartment. Yourprobably thinking how is this relevant and let me fill you in, not only was it a 9 person van but it was also filled with all different kind of foreigners, well as I told them driver what address I was going too, 3 of the Russian girls and 2 Chinese people started laughing hysterically, I didnt think anything of it and just kept telling the driver where I needed to go. As I sat back down I kept noticing they were still laughing and staring at me, well the guy next to me filled me in that they were laughing at my accent and for the rest of the ride I felt like I was at a zoo. Back to the weekend. Friday: Carly got off work around 6 and myself, Carly and Brooke all took a walk to Larchmont to go get pizza. (This is the famous walk where Carly saw the "wolf") Luckily no wolves showed up and we had a great Pesto pizza and an Artie Lange cupcake from Crumbs. (Right) The cupcake has a chocolate hard topping, next layer is marsh mellow, then a yellow cake on the bottom. Probably my favorite cupcake at Crumbs. We walked back home and got ready for Saturday. Of course Carly woke up at 7, so naturally that meant I had to get up, well she went to kickboxing and I stayed back and watched Shaun of the Dead. If you guys have never seen this movie it is hysterical, its a comedy/horror movie and one of my favorites. Anyways Carly got back a few hours later and we once again met up with Brooke to go down to Hermosa Beach. Once we got down there we ate at Martha's which is a brunch place right on the water.

I got the cakes and eggs and it was really good. From Marthas we just walked out onto the beach and picked a great spot to begin getting our base tan. The weather was great, 72 without a cloud in the sky!! But also there was a family of dolphins right in front of us who were riding the waves and jumping out of the water, I had never seen a dolphin so close so that was pretty cool.

Here are a few pictures from the day, where the waves are breaking is where the dolphins were playing. Also our friend here on the right stayed by the mouse all day.

After working up a pretty sweet base tan we packed up and did the most natural thing to do after a day at the beach, go eat cake of course!!

We went out to Susie Cakes and did some serious damage. The cake lasted all of 5 minutes and before we knew what to do with ourselves we decided to go to Chin Chin and eat dinner (In case you havent noticed the main theme of the weekend was eating). At the restaurant we had enough food for a small country and I wish I would of

taken a picture of it but I was too busy shoving my face, I did however get a good picture of the view we had from out seats. After a great meal we went home and got ready for Sunday.

We planned on going back to the beach on Sunday but the weather was less then cooperative so we started the day by walking to the store to get panini stuff, after eating a good sandwich we then decided to hike Runyon canyon. I had some of the best pictures I have ever taken from the hike but for some reason I accidentally deleted them, I did however manage to save a few and while not the best, Carly and I are gonna hike it again and I will take a ton more.

This is where we started the hike, you can see the top of the canyon .

Here is one of the views from the top of the canyon, unfortunately I only had my phone to take the picture but you can see where the Hollywood sign is. The other views show the city side of LA, I will make sure to take a few so you can see what I am talking about.

From the hike we met Erin Berlin at BJ's for dinner and ultimately the best thing ever created a Pizookie!!!

That was the week so far, on Friday Carly and I will be going to Universal Studios, I will take plenty of pictures and of course I will take pictures of every place we eat at.

I wish I had more pictures from the week before but the Berlins/Schenckers/Elbergers came down to New Orleans to see me and we had a great time. Here are a few that I remembered to send to myself.

These are the BBQ shrimp at Pascale Manales. There are no words to describe how good these are.

Aftermath of the BBQ Shrimp.

I don't make many recommendations on beer but if you haven't tried the Abita Strawberry Harvest do your self a favor and pick it up at the store. This is also the next beer I will be brewing when I get back to New Orleans.

Tommy John

I keep starting every post with some type of apology of why I haven't posted in forever, but honestly since my last post I have done absolutely nothing with my life, I cried for weeks after the Bears lost, I've attended school/work and continued to rehab my arm. I also am gonna try something new in terms of posting. I usually try to pick what I write as entertaining but since I have had nothing exciting happen to me in a few weeks, I decided to just update from when I had to surgery, to what I am doing now.

It all started almost a year and half ago, I had just made my best start of the season in Peoria and the following day I noticed my elbow was noticeably stiffer than usual, I didn't think to much of it but just went on getting ready for my next start, As my next start rolled around in Dayton, Ohio my elbow seemed to be fine so I just went on throwing as usual, in the 5th inning I threw a ball and immediately grabbed my elbow in pain, instead of taking myself out I threw another inning before the pitching coach decided I need medical attention, I did the standard MRI's, X-rays, etc and was told that there was nothing structurally wrong with my elbow, and it was just some tendinitis that rest would fix. I will stop right there, most of you know what happened after that, and while obviously I was forced out, I don't want to burn any bridges just in case. (I will say this, Karma came back around,)

(Fast Forward to LA) I ended up seeing the Lakers team doctor as soon as I got to LA and after getting several MRI's it was decided that I needed surgery, My UCL was shredded to pieces and apparently had been torn for a long time, my agents then filed a claim in my behalf against my former team, and after 2 months is was decided that they would be held responsible for everything I needed done. During these 2 months, I enrolled back in school, found an apt in New Orleans, set up my surgery with the best orthopedic surgery in the country and set up my rehab specialist. After what seemed like forever, my mom and I set off to Birmingham, AL to see Dr. Andrews. When we arrived the hospital and walked in, it was the most incredible sight to see. We were escorted into the "VIP" lounge, and ended up sitting with Mike Mckenzie who had just received his Saints Super Bowl ring and was having shoulder surgery, after talking to him for a while and looking at his ring we were called into the office. About 10 minutes later Dr. Andrews walked in from surgery and had a look at my elbow. Several things happened here, 1. Usually when you meet someone for the first time, you try not to hit them but after talking for a few minutes he punched me in the stomach and said said lets get you fixed, 2 he wore a lime green suit jacket 3 as we looked at the MRI and he decided what we needed to do, he slapped me in the head and said, looks like we need surgery". So after deciding I would be the first surgery of the day, we were told to be back at 4 30 for pre-op. We then went back to the hotel and got ready for the next day. After sleeping for a few hours we came back to the hospital and led into my room. Here is where the fun started, I had to of course change into the hospital gowns and after putting mine on I realized it was a small, I think you can get a visual of what that means, Next, before I had time to tell the nurse I needed a bigger size, a man walked in and informed me he was shaving my entire body so instead of questioning why I just let it happen (Im kidding, but he did say I will be shaving you then started laughing and said just your knee and elbow) and before I knew it I was in the operating room talking about BBQ, I remember it clearly Dr. Andrews said when you wake up make sure you go to Dream Land BBQ and grab some dinner. After a successful surgery I woke up, then had to prove I could hold down a little food and drink and then I could leave. Of course I still had the small gown on, so while my mom was finishing some stuff up, I had a female nurse helping me get dressed, this really of could not have gone any more awkwardly, I had to sit at the end of the bed and she proceeded to put on my pants on. This wouldnt of been a big deal but since I had on the small gown, you can imagine how that went.

Here is a picture of me just a few hours out of surgery, I had a cast on and could not bend my elbow from that angle.

(I know we have touched on it before but honestly look at that hair, Also my skin, I'm bronzed like a Greek Goddess)

This is from the same time as the previous picture, the new ligament I had put in my elbow was taken from my hamstring and to tell you the truth, this was a thousand times more painful than my elbow ever was.

During the surgery, I had several bone chips taken out of my elbow, not sure why but I was given these as a memento, (if you are squeamish, the below photos may or may not do it for you.

First Time I took off my cast.

After about 6 weeks.

My Knee after taking bandages off

A day after the surgery we left and went back to New Orleans to begin rehab, not really much to say about the beginning process, you learn how to basically re-use your arm and leg. It took me about 4 weeks to be able to do normal things like use a fork, its also really hard to sleep, you have to keep your arm in a mechanical arm which prevents your elbow from bending to far

here is the mechanical arm, you end up wearing it for about 4 months .

After about 3 months I was finally able to begin running and lifting again, there really is only so much you can do but it was better than just sitting there. After about 4 months I started tossing again at 45 feet and gradually worked my way farther back. Currently I am at 120 feet and in a few weeks will be able to get off the mound for the first time. I am not too sure how that will go, but based on the success I have had so far Im hoping it wont be a problem.

I realize this is not like passed posts but in the next month I actually have a ton going on, next week the Schenckers are coming in town so I will be sure to take pictures and will post about that. In 3 weeks I will be in LA, so of course all of the mouse jokes will come out and hopefully I will be able to update you as far as my throwing goes. I will also begin brewing a new beer here in a few weeks so I will keep you up to date on that, and if you guys have anything you want to see I will include that as well. Until next time

MO

BEAR DOWN!

Friends, Family, people from Russia and China who are randomly reading this (true by the way) Come Sunday, several things are going to happen, 1 I will shut off my phone so if you text me or call me don't expect an answer until about 5 30 or so. 2. My drink fast will be broken, I cant imagine not being able to have a few beers during the biggest game of the year. 3. It doesn't matter who wins or loses either way I'm pretty sure I'm going to cry 4. I will be dressed from head to toe in Bears gear And finally the last thing that's going to happen is if the Bears win I will most likely be streaking!

Alright Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let me apologize for the longest absence to date between posts, between Houston, Los Angeles and school starting I haven't had as much time as I would like. Also one more apology, I usually have pictures to go with my posts, but because of several reasons I just made up in my head, the pictures were lost at sea, eaten by my dog, not taken, taken from me at gunpoint etc, I have very few pictures to put up. But besides all of that I will backtrack and bring you back up to speed on my life.

Christmas

I know my last post was right before Christmas but I will pick up from there. Christmas Eve is always a great day for our family. I make my yearly appearance at Church, I usually try wrapping gifts but get sick of it and give up and finally we go to Star Pizza with the Shipman's. We have been doing this for years on end and it was another great night. I made fun of Caroline (youngest daughter) and her Boyfriend Cold, We ate great Pizza and ultimately just had a really good time. We were also suppose to have Marisa's new BF join us but he wasn't able to make it, which was probably for the better because I was ready to give the once over if I needed too. (kidding, we met him the next night and I didn't up stabbing him so I would say it was a successful meeting). The next day was X-mas morning and we opened up all of our gifts and instead of just saying I got everything I wanted, I am actually just gonna list every single thing I got, kidding . About 2, the rest of our family came over for our Lasagna Linner, Lunchner, Dinch (combining lunch and dinner doesn't sound as cool as Brunch) But not get ahead of myself, when my Aunt Linda arrived a little early we knew something was going on, but really thought nothing of it but when Monica arrived they broke the big news that she had gotten ENGAGED earlier in the morning. 2 things happened when I found this out, 1. I could not believe my Aunt Linda had held in the secret (I only say that because the image of her laying in our neighbors yard will never leave my head and how do you keep that big of news to yourself?) but also I was extremely happy for Monica and Justin. So now after eating, drinking and eating some more we all opened up more gifts before it was time for them to leave. But wait, I know last time I said I would tell you who gave me the worst gift, and after several pleas from family not to say it was them the decision is here. I received a giant box from my Aunt Linda and was told to guess what was inside, here were the contents, Dentyne Ice and an Itunes gift card. The Itunes gift card was great, but the only reason she made the list is because she told me not to use the gum against her in the blog! (I'm totally kidding, I appreciated everything I got and unfortunately this year there was no clear cut worst gift.) After X-mas I really have nothing really exciting to write about, Carly and I met Alice and Drew for dinner the same night they got back from Paris, oh on New Years we watched the Kennedy Awards! pretty exciting stuff right? That pretty much sums up the winter break, I did a ton of eating, hung out with my Carly, and spent time with my family, so overall a pretty good break.

Birthday

This year I spent my birthday out in LA, I left on the Thursday before (missed a class, always a good sign when you don't even show up for the first class of the year.) and stayed until Tuesday morning. Originally the plan was to arrive in LA, have Carly pick me up, she go to work the next day then we pack up the car and drive down to Palm Springs for every ones birthday. But it didn't quite work out that way but we still had a great time. Friday was pretty much a day to myself, Carly had to work late so we just hung out when she got home and I just made dinner, but Saturday was MY day. I was awoken at 7 18 am to Carly asking me if I was up and if so Happy Birthday, I then walked out to the kitchen where can you believe I had to pour my own cereal? But after Carly made my coffee and served it to me the day officially began. Even though it was MY day, Carly left me to fend for myself while she went to Pilate's, but an hour later she came home to me exactly in the same spot as when she left. So after getting ready we went out to Jack N Jill's to have lunch and just

walk around. After a great meal we came back to the apt to watch a full day of football, (this ended up benefiting Carly because she actually had to work for most of the day) but after watching the Packers destroy the Falcons we walked to Larchmont Pizza for my bday dinner. (quick side story, one day when we were walking to Larchmont, Carly saw a dog jump off of a ledge and convinced herself it was a wolf, before I could realize what was happening she took off on a sprint screaming wolf!) At Larchmont we had a half pesto half cheese pizza and it was phenomenal. After eating we walked over to Crumbs for a birthday cupcake, and usually when we go there, there is absolutely no chance I will get to pick what kind we get, but because it was my birthday Carly let me decide and let me say this, usually there are like 25, 3o different choices to choose from but for whatever reason there was a total of 3 different options 3! So after just choosing one, Chocolate Sunday, Carly sang me happy bday and we devoured the cupcake (surprisingly was really good). Since we had to be up early for the drive to Palm Springs my Birthday officially came to a close at 10:17 pm (Thanks everyone for the B day wishes by the way) Also one last thing, I am pretty sure Carly never wants to host my Birthday again, I thought I was being reasonable, but apparently reminding someone every 2 minutes it was your birthday gets kind of annoying. The next day we woke and left for Palm Springs at about 8 in the morning, the drive was pretty uneventful, we jammed to the Biebs, Glee, T swift, Spice Girls, for about 2 hours and ended up making it to her grandpas house exactly 1 minute before kickoff for the Bears game. After watching the Bears take care of business, we hung out for a little but longer before going out to celebrate Phil and Pearls birthdays (Schenckers grandpa and grandma) We ate at a phenomenal seafood place for dinner and unfortunately before you knew it we had to get back in the car and drive back (Phil, Pearl if by chance you read this Thank you again for everything, I really did have a great time and thanks so much for the jacket!) As we were leaving we happened to pick up another passenger, Bret, driving back was no different than before, the Biebs sweet voice led us safely back to LA.

Monday we all went down to Santa Monica and hung out before driving Bret back to the airport, unfortunately other than J. Bryant Shulof (one of Bret's customers) there wasn't really much going on. We relaxed all day and just had a nice dinner back at the house.

Tuesday unfortunately brought my time in LA to a close, and before I knew it, I was back in New Orleans getting ready for class.

Also just to give everyone an update, rehab for my elbow is going great, I am currently throwing at 75 ft and hopefully will be back to 90 ft in a few weeks, I also just booked a

trip to Dallas for the Superbowl, and also will be visiting the the President of my fan club; Kim Levine, My next post will most likely be about the weekend with the Levines/Budwins(hopefully)/Morgan festival and also about the Super Bowl. I promise to take more pictures and everyone better be rooting for a BEARS win. BEAR DOWN!!

(If there is a way for me to do that to my hair, I will be doing it)

MO

Fuzzy Bear

I know its taken a while, but I am now mentally in the right state of mind to make another post. I realized that since this blog is suppose to be about how I am striving to become the best brewer in the world, occasionally I should mention how my beer is turning out. One more note before I post, I know I havent been posting on a regular schedule but after long posts my Creativity tends to hibernate for a few weeks! (Just go with me on the format its kind of a how to/reactionary tale)

I started brewing the day I got home from Arizona, I walked into the door and literally

just left my luggage in the middle of the room and started getting out all the equipment I needed to begin, The one main thing you need is the giant pot (left) to hold the wort (all the ingredients you will be combining to make your beer). I then began to boil 2.5 gallons of purified water, which because of my old stove ended up taking 40 minutes, from here this is where the actual process of making the beer begins.

So as the water is boiling you are suppose to add all of your ingredients (in my case I have a few different kind of nuts, chocolate, I added cinnamon and a little maple syrup) into this sock looking bag and then put it into the boiling water for 30 minutes or so. Well not even fifteen minutes into this excursion I had a little miscue with getting everything into this little bag and as you can see quite a bit of it spilled into my sink. I know the picture tells a different story but because I have no shame I just scooped up what I could out of the sink and put it into the bag, as if it never even happened. It may not sound significant but the main advice I have received is to keep everything clean. Im not really sure how sanitary that is considered but I think the soap pictured in the background should cut me some slack.

After cleaning everything up, I threw the bag into the boiling water to let it steep for the next 20 to 30 minutes. During this time I just sat back and relaxed for a few and got mentally prepared for the rest of my journey. (quick side note, the cover you can make out in the picture is actual size, for some reason I thought that could actually cover this gigantic pot and as you can see, not even close!) After the 30 minutes was up I took the bag out and brought the wort back to a boil. As I stated before, my stove was actually made in the 18th century so it takes a little while to get going, Well I thought I could just go in the other room and finish watching the game before I had to worry about it again. Did I have a surprise coming to me!!

This is what it looked like before I walked away. (Notice how its not even half way full)

This is what happened after being left for 3 minutes unsupervised. Im sure some of you are thinking, "not a big deal" but let me fill you in. Not only was this over half of my stove, it was also on the ground, the wall (still not really sure how that happened) and under my microwave. Not only was it in all of these places but it wasn't just a liquid you could soak up, No it was a sticky, boiling mess that when I tried to wipe up, the paper towel just stuck to it and ended up ripping. This was the kind of mess that if it happened at Carly's place she would of probably started scurrying (yes another mouse reference) around the house crying hysterically. (kidding but it would of probably ended up with her trying to nibble on my arm, (there's another one)

Before I go on lets talk about a few things happening in this picture. 1. My beard is looking phenomenal, its saying I'm classy but still a rebel (I would just like to thank my genetics and overall good looks) 2. My hair is eerily similar to Mcdreamy's (Patrick Dempsey) and overall its just doin its thang. 3. If there was such a thing as a neck model, I think its safe to say I would be one 4. I look like an actual giant in the picture, notice the door frame which is like 8 feet tall, Im towering over the refrigerator and it looks like the ceiling and I are the same size. (lets move on) This picture was actually shot as I walked in to the room to discover the mess. From here I had no real choice but to soldier on and worry about the mess at a later time. So after I fought back the tears (kidding, but not really, but kind of) I brought the wort back to a boil, this time watching carefully and then put some of the finishing ingredients into the batch. From this point my first batch was almost done. I allowed it to cool down and then poured it into another 3 gallons of cold water where I would then put some yeast into it put on the airlock lid and wait for the fermentation process to begin. After about a week, I siphoned the beer into a secondary bottle to allow it the beer to clarify and push some of the sediment down to the bottom. After about 2 weeks in the secondary I began to bottle.

I stated before the big rule is to make sure everything is sanitized before you use, so I was able to load about 18 bottles at a time into a bucket filled with hot water and 5 star sanitizer, after letting sit for about 10 to 15 minutes I would begin to grab them out of the bucket rinse them out and place them on the side to dry. I had about 50 bottles on hand so after a few hours of cleaning and drying, I was finally able to begin in bottling my (close) to finished beer.

In this picture you will notice a few things; First off my table was a mess, all of this took place during finals so everything I needed to study was located on or near my table. Next you will notice the tin foil tops, I did this to make sure no dust or anything could make its way into the newly sanitized bottle. This one is for Sars if you look closely (underneath the tin foil holder) you will notice the planner I will be sending to you here shortly. One thing I also just noticed was the container of oatmeal on the ground, don't judge me on that.

This picture was taken right before bottling, as you can see I have the remaining of the bottles drying out and I am about to syphon the beer from my secondary into my bottling bucket.

It's hard to make out what I am boiling but I have about 50 bottle tops in there. Not really sure why I enjoyed doing this but I started trying to toss them into the pan from about 5 feet and if I made it I would back up another few feet etc etc. I made it to 7 feet then gave up.

As I started to actually bottle I had to rig it so my bottling bucket was high enough that it would consistently dispense the beer, now Im not proud of how I did it and honestly there were probably a few easier ways to do it but I ended up putting one of my dining room chairs on my counter and then placed the beer on top of that. I could of sworn I had a picture of it but I think I may have deleted it but I do have the aftermath of bottling 49 beers. I was able to taste one of the beers and I really did enjoy it, I think after I added the priming sugars and letting it sit in the bottles to carbonate it will only get better.

Heres all of the beer finally bottled and waiting to be drank. I will probably wait around 3 weeks to actually trying one but initially like I said it was pretty good. As far as the name goes I talked it over with my brew Collin and we decided that the with all of the ingredients in the beer it just felt right to call it the Fuzzy Bear!!!

Since I stayed in New Orleans for an extra week with nothing to do, I also ended up brewing another beer (I take suggestions for names) which should be ready when I get back. (since this picture was taken it has become a lighter yellow with an orange tint)

Well thats it, I have taken you on a roller coaster ride of emotions, We visited some highs and a few lows but ultimately I think you walk away feeling better about yourself. Im just gonna stop right there, I promise at some point I will begin posting regularly, I also want to say I hope everyone has a Merry Xmas or had a Happy Hanukkah, My next post will be about this break and give an update on how the beers tastes!!!!! I will also tell you my best and worst gift of Xmas so if you're reading this (Marisa,Mom) make sure your gifts don't suck!!!! I also love receiving gifts in the mail from any of my other readers, if your a true friend I expect a gift (Im totally kidding by the way) Have a Happy Holiday

MO

New Orleans

Before I say anything, I want people to know that I struggled with a decision on whether to post about this past weekend or not. But the people want what they want, so to any Parents who read this I apologize beforehand.

To say this New Orleans trip was something I was looking forward to for months would be an understatement, when this trip was planned I knew we would have the best time possible and as planned I can say its the most fun I have had in a long time. Now off to to the post

Before all 10 people got in town, I met up with Kristi and Andrew on Friday morning to take them around town but to also take them to get a New Orleans favorite, a shrimp po-boy, after consuming 2 pounds of shrimp I took them back downtown so I could go and pick up the mouse who was arriving from LA. After picking up Carly, we checked in at the hotel and got ready for what was to come! Still with about 3 hours to kill, Sarah informed us she was having problems at the Dallas airport (which we later found out was due to Alice not wanting her to come, kidding) so instead of dinner we went to the first bar we saw, (which also coincidentally was running buy 1 drink get 3 free) Now to anyone who has never been to the city, I wouldn't even consider this a special, but we acted as if the world was ending and we didn't want to miss a drop. (Several things will happen from this, Andrew and I's bromance will rekindle, but it will also make Carly the hungriest midget I have ever seen!) One thing to know about Carly (and I touched on it a little in the last post) is when she is hungry she turns from a cute cuddly mouse to a 300 pound angry man, so after she intimidated both Andrew and I we walked a block over to one of my favorite places in New Orleans; Deanies

One of the great things about Deanies is you get unlimited servings of these magnificent potatoes, I'm sure some of you are wondering how is this significant and I will tell you, In the 10 years I have dated Carly I have not once seen her eat a potato, but when these hit the table, before I could grab one Carly had inhaled two and was yelling for more (its better if you picture her as the 300 lb man) After ordering a few more beers (Abita X-mas Ale, which is phenomenal) we waited for our food which could not come soon enough.

We ordered a crawfish,shrimp, crab meat pizza which may sound nauseating, but it honestly lasted all of 5 minutes (another thing I couldn't believe Carly ate). For my main course I got the BBQ shrimp which while messy is some of the best food you can get in town. After devouring our food we got the call that all of our partners in crime were on the way to meet us.

Here's the thing, when you have 10 people in a group it sometimes can be a hassle, but not with this group, after giving out hugs and kisses and butt slaps (maybe that was just Andrew and I) the first thing that was said is, Its time to get after it. For a few of our guests this was their first time ever in Nola, so we had to go straight to Pat O's for the inaugural Hurricane. But before we could make it to the bar, Hand Grenades and Huge Ass Beer's were in order.

After taking in a few of the sights we made our way into Pat O's , where finally everyone could have the "World Famous" hurricane! The great things about Hurricanes is, that when you first start drinking them they taste like fruit punch, but as a few people found out, the next day the last thing you want is a hurricane. We sat at Pat O's for a few hours and here is a few pictures of the mayhem

From Pat O's we walked right across the street, to Tropical Isle to get another hand grenade, this is pretty much where the night took a turn from being out late to being out early morning. (At this point of the night having a girlfriend can have its down falls), In the mix of hand grenades, Drew and Mike were gracious enough to buy Mind Erasers for everyone in the group, (Here lies the problem) Carly had decided she could not consume any more liquids so not wanting to be rude, she gave me the shot which now not only did I have my own, but I also had to drink hers, (I've never had a Mind Eraser and surprisingly they were really good), (Thanks D and M!!!) But we weren't done, Next thing I know Tommy, had shots in hand, and before I could even think about the ramifications of what was happening, Sarah had 10 more shots in hand. (Thanks guys!!!!!!!!!!!) At this point it was nearing 3 AM and since almost everyone had worked before coming in we decided to only make one more stop before calling it a night.

I think this picture pretty much gives you a great idea of where we went, (If you guessed

anything other than Cafe Du' Monde, shame one you). Depending on who in the group

you talk too, this was either a great decision, or just further added to naseusim (Pretty sure that's not a word) of the

night. After consuming these beauties, being the responsible adults we are, we loaded up my car (kidding) and began the the treacherous walk home. At 430 AM everyone was back safe and soundly in the Hotel and recuperating for Saturday.

The great thing about sharing a room with Carly is, when she is up I also had to be up. So even though I was asleep, I was woken up to Carly telling me that she was up! Naturally the first thing I could think to do was call Alice, after chatting for a while we decided everyone would meet down in the lobby at 11 56 Am (it was pushed back to around 12 06 pm) After meeting in the lobby, a few of us walked ahead in order to get us a spot at Mothers. Honestly, I don't believe we could of gone to a better restaurant! I ordered the Famous Ferdi Special which is ham, roast beef and debris (all the meat that fell off the roast during the cooking phase), The biggest winner of that meal had to be Tommy, who not only had one of their famous sandwiches, but he also had an egg biscuit which probably could of fed a small pack of kittens. The meal re-energized everyone physically but also got us ready emotionally for an event none of us saw coming! A PARADE!

As we walked out of Mothers, we had the pleasure of being apart of the Fox Christmas Parade! (This picture is special for one reason, it held the important celebrity guest, Bob Breck, yup the one and only Fox news weatherman!) Since we were at the very beginning of the parade, we also reaped the benefits of not having a huge crowd around us which allowed everyone to get as many beads as possible.

This was no ordinary parade though, for some reason a herd of mini horses were escorted along with the floats, and don't worry I was able to get a picture of these cute little guys. (On a side note, in the background those are the roller derby ladies, I'm not really sure what the purpose of them was, but either way this gives you a great idea of what kind of parade was going on.

I don't think much needs to be said about this special guy, but one thing to point out is the size of his feet!, This could be considered the tallest midget ever!!!!! (Andrew's face is priceless, my vote for picture of the weekend)

from here, we followed the parade but learning nothing from the previous night we ended right back on Bourbon street. Where buy 1 get 3 free began all over again. The good thing about being on Bourbon early is you have a chance to go on a balcony and from there it truly is a different experience. (Above) You can judge from the picture that we may of gotten there a little to early. After relaxing and just talking for a few hours, we made our way to Acme Oyster House for dinner.

The Meal was fantastic, I got red beans and rice in a bread bowl, Alice schooled us in how to eat oysters and the overall favorite was the sweet potato fries which after several requests were served in a bowl to appear bigger (Original size was honestly 8 fries on a plate. we went through 4 orders) From here, the Bourbon Street flu set in on more than half the group. So while half went back to the hotel, a few of us braved the elements and set out for one more great night. (While on this subject I should bring up that over the entire weekend I had been battling a sore throat/headache etc, after dinner my voice went from low to barely audible) We immediately set off for the same bar we went earlier, to see if we could reclaim our spot on the balcony, we got there and not only did we reclaim our spot but it was once again 3 for 1's again. We pulled up a few chairs and got ready for the long haul.

After about an hour or so Andrew decided it was time for him to brush up on his negotiating skills, so when the waitress came around asking us to buy shots for 3 dollars a piece, he talked her into 5 shots for 10$ with a promise of buying more. During all of this, all of the beads we had on were slowly being thrown over the balcony (and if you're wondering did anyone flash us? Yes it happened and I probably could not think of a worse candidate to do it) We sat at this bar for almost the entire night and instead of describing everything that happened, here is every picture I have from that spot.

One thing I will mention is, we were lucky enough to see a Santa Parade (sorry Tommy) go through Bourbon.

I mentioned earlier that my voice was barely audible and after a few hours out it officially was gone, But from here we made a stop at the Cats Meow to see some karaoke, after a few minutes we left and went into the oldest bar in America; Lafittes. This place was awesome, it has no electricity in the building so they run an extension cord from a neighboring house so they can run the bar. Also we sat there and listened to some live music from a guy playing some famous piano. Around midnight since no one could hear me anymore I decided to take it back to the house, Alice and Drew accompanied me back and around 12 3o we were sound asleep in our beds.

Sunday morning rolled around and we all started walking to a little breakfast place called Surreys, Carly and I ordered a banana pancake along with several other dishes and it was extremely good . Unfortunately our time was dwindling down before everyone had to get to the airport but the last thing we were able to do was take this group picture

I was sad to see the weekend end, I really did have a great time and could not ask for better friends. Thank you guys for coming and I hope you had just as good a time as well, and like I said everyone should come out for Mardi Gras! Also I would like to say Happy Birthday to Sarah, Alice and Mike hope you guys had a great day!

On a quick side note, as if the weekend wasnt full of surprises, I came home from the airport on Sunday to find out I had missed a final on Saturday. After some sweet talking and a little luck the teacher let me make it up on Tuesday!

I also realize the format is a little iffy, this post took me 3 hours and 19 minutes so please just disregard it!!!!!!