Weekend in New Orleans

So this post is a week overdue, but better late than never, right?? I took a little weekend trip to New Orleans last weekend with my parents. It was sort of last minute and originally started as a little girls trip to go watch my little brother's American Legion baseball team play in their state tournament. Mom and I must have really made Dad jealous, because he opted out of a fishing trip and hopped on board with us! We were so happy to have him join us and it ended up being a really fun trip that saw no baseball games due to a weekend full of rain. I mostly have pictures because we ate 99% of the time we were there! I'm so blessed to have such fun parents that I love spending time with! I was VERY happy to come home to my sweet, sweet husband!

First stop...Ville Platt for a cheeseburger!

Louisiana Sunset

 We made it to NOLA at 10pm. I think I want a beignet and cafe au lait....

 We walked around Bourbon St. and stopped in at Pat O's for a hurricane. So fun!

 My sweet dad and I on a trolley ride

 Mom and I got daquiris that came with free shots. Oh boy!

 We met up with Rudi for a gooood sushi dinner! Can't believe my baby brother will be starting college in a few weeks. :(

 Incredible sushi!

 Jackson Square is my most favorite place in New Orleans. The artwork is amazing!

 These pralines were good, but were no where near as good as the ones Mrs. Sanders makes. Hers are so yummy that we even had them as our wedding favors!

 Now, these tortues....whole different story! The cashew ones were to die for!!

 Car ride home with my sweet baby brother.



Fun Summer Crafties

I've spent a lot of time this summer teaching myself how to sew. I've always been interested in it and when I came across some really cool crafting blogs, I decided that it was time to learn. I bought my very first sewing machine (a Brother-Project Runway edition) back in early May and spent a whole lot of time researching easy beginner projects. I don't have pictures of everything that I've done, but I will share the few that I do have.

For our summer vacation, I made this easy camera insert for a purse. It was pretty simple to figure out and the directions were very easy to understand. It came out better than I expected and I can see myself getting a lot of use out of it in the future. You can find the super easy tutorial here.

The picture is crooked and I don't feel like going through the trouble to fix it. :)

I made a little summer skirt for our neice Karlee and it turned out pretty cute too. Kinda reminds me of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz! (And Lauren, I'm shipping this tomorrow!) :)



Next, I tackled the fabric burp cloth. SO simple and so fun! I've given a few out as gifts already and still have two more sets ready to send (surprise Laura and LuLu!). These are so easy to make if you are just learning how to sew!

I'm in the process of making new window "curtains" for my classroom. I'm pretty basic with colors in my classroom because I just think the primary colors can be so fun when used correctly. This is the fabric that I'm using. Got it from JoAnn's and it's a perfect fit for my room!

To go with the new curtains, I made a new door hanger for my classroom door. I was taught how to make these using burlap instead of the normal screen. Love the idea! And I have TONS of burlap left over from the wedding! Bonus!!

After posting it on my facebook, I had the request to make one for a friend's classroom and this is how her's turned out! So fun!

I'm planning on making a big football for our house front door this weekend. I've got lots of ideas for some more, so if you want one...let me know. I love making them!

Anyway, that's what I've been up to this summer! Can't believe school is less than a month away...

Porter Family Vacation...1st Edition

**WARNING: Ridiculously large amount of pictures!**

For our first summer vacation together as a family, Ryan and I made the decision to road trip to Clearwater, Florida to visit his parents. We had a big, blowout honeymoon and thought that we should try to keep it pretty simple for our summer vacation.

We left our house on Thursday, June 30th and headed for Mobile, Alabama to visit Ryan's college teammate and his fiance. We had a BLAST! We've been down to Mobile to visit Bernard and Jenny several times and we were really looking forward to this trip, too. Conveniently, Mobile was a good "halfway" stopping point to Clearwater.

Thursday night, we went soft shell crabbing off the pier of Bernard's parents house. How fun!! We only caught one crab, but we had a great time! Friday morning, we woke up around 4:30am to head out on the boat to go fishing. We anchored up to a gas rig and fished and fished. We only caught croakies and Jenny caught a sheephead. Such a funny-looking fish! We got tired of catching bait fish, so we moved out to some open water and fished for redfish. Bernard put up a big fight with a redfish, but his line snapped after 15 minutes or so of fighting. Ryan and Bernard each caught a black tip shark! Other than that, we didn't have much luck fishing. We had a lot of fun though and can't wait to go back!

Mobile Pictures

Early morning pelicans

Jenny's Sheephead

Blacktip Shark

So after our fun night/day in Mobile,  Ryan and I packed up again and headed out to Clearwater. We made it to Mr. Ed and Mrs. Michele's house pretty late that night. The next day, we got up and headed outside to spend time in the pool. We layed low that first day and had gumbo for dinner. After we ate, we decided to head to Candy Kitchen in Indian Rocks for some ice cream. What a cool place! There was old fashioned candy, as well as newer brands of candy EVERYWHERE!



We all got ice cream, and as usual, I couldn't do anything normal. I opted for a brownie sundae...I'll let the picture do the talking.

The second day, we headed to Clearwater Beach to soak up some sun. It was CROWDED and if you know me, you know I absolutely can't stand a crowded beach. I endured the banana hammocks and big momma bikinis, though.

On Monday, Ryan and his dad and brother went golfing and his mom and I spent the morning at the Indian Rocks beach. That night, we all headed to a friend of Mr. Ed's condo to grill burgers and hot dogs. We enjoyed an awesome fireworks show over the Clearwater bridge.



On Tuesday, Mrs. Michele and I decided to have a girls day in Dunedin. We stopped first, though, and ate at Ozona Blue Marina. It was a great meal, complete with a raspberry mojito. We trekked on to Dunedin and shopped 'til we dropped! I even brought Ryan back some fudge, but we ate it all right away. :)

Oh, don't worry...I didn't.

On Wednesday, Ryan and I decided to venture out for some breakfast. We found Lighthouse Donuts. Glorious. Absolutely glorious. If you ever go to Indian Rocks, PLEASE go to Lighthouse Donuts. You won't be sorry.

I chose three donuts. Yes, I said three. I got the cinnamon/sugar, chocolate glazed, and a Key Lime filled donut. Ryan picked out a Bavarian Creme, a chocolate cake, and a cinnamon donut. We pigged out and we enjoyed every bite.

                                                           Key Lime Donut...yum yum!

I couldn't help but play in the shells and sand. :)

After Ryan and I endulged in our donuts, we drove to St. John's Pass and did a little shopping. Then we headed out to the Indian Rocks beach where it was totally peaceful. We got to enjoy about 8 dolphins putting on an awesome show in the water and some sweet little birds hunting for food.

When our donuts wore off, we packed up from the beach and headed back to Clearwater to eat at Frenchy's Rockaway. It's a beachside bar and grill with a really fun atmosphere and a really fun Key Lime Colada.

If you make it to Frenchy's, please get one of these. They are yummy! For our meal, I decided on grouper bites that were great and Ryan had fish tacos that he swears were the best he's ever eaten.

That night, our trip took a little bit of a different turn. Ryan had been suffering from some back pain and had even gone down with a major back spasm. We decided that it would be best for us to head to the quick care center just to get everything checked out before we headed home on Friday. I'm so glad we did, because the doctor took two tests that determined that Ryan has kidney stones. EEEK! He's doing better now, but what a scare!

Thursday we decided to enjoy our last day on the beach, but we fought the rain for most of the morning. We were still able to snorkel and swim for a little while, but we ended up spending most of the day in the house. That night, we went to dinner with Ryan's parents to an awesome sushi restaurant. They fly in their fish from Hawaii twice a week and it is soooo fresh!

After dinner, we loaded up in the car and took a drive to St. Pete to enjoy dessert at the Villoy Hotel. It was great! We walked around St. Pete and enjoyed the scenery before heading back to Clearwater.

Friday morning, we left Clearwater and headed towards Destin/Ft. Walton Beach to meet up with my brother, his wife, and my sweet niece. We made it in time to eat dinner at Harbor Docks in Destin. It was soooo wonderful! We laughed and laughed at Lindy and her new sounds and facial expressions. Jen talked me in to getting feather extensions. I gave in to the teeny bopper in me and went along with it.

On Saturday, we got loaded up for the very last leg of the trip and headed home sweet home. I was so happy to see my sweet Bella and my family who had been in the Bahamas all week. We had an awesome first family vacation and look forward to many, many more!