New Orleans and Nottoway Plantation 03.03.
On the Third day of March I finally get remember to sit down and blog. Here’s to hopefulutions y’all. So three months into 2013 and Andy and I have already had a wonderful adventure! We traveled to New Orleans for a mini vacation before heading to White Castle, LA for a fashion shoot with Southern Bride Magazine. Last year Andy and I had the wonderful privilege of being asked to photograph for them and it was SUCH an amazing experience! This year was just as great!
I’ll start with NOLA: We tried to get on the road early Saturday, but were stopped in our tracks by a three year long search for a fridge coming to a halt. More on that later. Anyway, we had to purchase said fridge before leaving town and the store opened at 9am. After checking off a giant mark on our to-do list we happily headed to NOLA!
The drive is nice, kinda boring, but with great company goes by quickly. Upon arriving at our friends’ place in Uptown, we went out for welcome drinks. Drinks became Dinner Lab, which then lead to a quick jaunt down Bourbon, a few crowded bars, an open air market, and a fuzzy “walk” back to “home”.
The next morning came quickly and around noon Bryson and Desi (along with some of their friends) introduced us to their annual tradition of attending the Tet Fest! It was amazing! After that we did a bit of record shopping and touring the city before having dinner at Dante’s Kitchen and a walk down the street for ice cream at Creole’s Creamery.
The next morning we had to hit the road later that day. We had a delicious brunch at Coulis before saying our goodbyes to our generous hosts. Andy and I decided to hit up one more record store before heading to White Castle. On the way we found a cajun country shopping stop off the highway. It was a little “corner of the marsh” (so said the woman in a thick cajun accent at the antique store) with rickety old houses that have been brought there and turned into shops: coffee, wine, antiques, beads/jewelry, and a couple of others that weren’t open that day. It was a fun surprise and I’m so glad we stopped!
We pulled up to Nottoway Plantation around 2:30 in the afternoon and checked into our cozy room before making our way to the meeting spot. Soon after we arrived, the rest of the gang (editors, models, hair/makeup, interns, etc) pulled up and we didn’t waste anytime getting to work. While folks unpacked the wedding gowns, Andy and I went with Lindsay (the graphic designer who does all of the magazine’s layouts) to scout locations. After about two hours, we all reconvened before heading to the delicious dinner!
The following two days were pretty much spent photographing…from 8am until about 6pm (I think that’s when the sun set). The day ended with a scrumptious meal, a little bit of wine, and fabulous conversation. It’s always bittersweet when these shoots come to an end, but by the time Thursday rolled around Andy and I were ready to get home. We woke up around 6am and quickly got on the road – we were trying to stay ahead of a storm that was moving in later that day. Because we were up and at ’em so early, we even had time to stop in Hattiesburg, Mississippi to visit my grandma! It was SO wonderful to surprise her and it made my day to hug her neck! Andy and I had lunch with her before having to get back on the road and drive the other half of the 8 hour drive. The storm caught up to us right as we were exiting for Huntsville, but thankfully it wasn’t too bad – just some heavy rain. It was nice once we got home to hug the kitties and watch a movie while the rain eventually lured us to bed.
Well, one trip down – several others planned for the year! I can’t wait for the adventures! 🙂