With my 23rd Birthday right around the corner I have compiled a list of
25 things I want to do/accomplish before I hit the quarter life mark! This list may very well change or even become more or less specific, but it's a start!
As I was writing this post I stumbled upon this book about a young woman's journey to 25 and the lessons she learned along the way. The book should be arriving soon and I can't wait to read about her journey to 25 and see how it may compare to mine.
I have also created a 25 before 25 page, so you can see my progress with these goals! :)
What are some of your goals for the next few years?
Do you have a list of 25 things you would like to do before you turn 25? 30 before 30?
Mardi Gras in New Orleans was so different and so much more than I had originally expected. Like many people, I thought it was going to be a total drunk fest with girls flashing people for beads and pretty much just one big mess of a party (aka college?). I knew there was more than that to the celebration of Mardi Gras and the culture of New Orleans as a whole, but never to the magnitude that I experienced it. And I loved every minute of it.
We had some complications getting to New Orleans due weather and
apparent plane malfunctions, but finally arrived at our hotel just
before midnight on Friday (2/8> excuse the late posting!). Wasting no time at all, we dropped our bags
off in our room and headed to Bourbon Street. We stayed out until
nearly 7 am drinking daiquiris, eating shrimp po' boys, going to the oldest bar in the US with literally no lights- all candles, riding the bull
at Bourbon Cowboy (the country bar on Bourbon, that I obviously loved)
and hanging out with cute southern gentlemen that we met along the way.
On Saturday we made it outside to the crowds in time to watch the Krewe of Iris roll past with beverages in hand, of course. I was so excited to see the parades, their elaborate decorations and enthusiasm from the crowds. We walked around the French Quarter and down Bourbon Street in between parades and caught the next parade from a different viewing spot. That night the Krewe of Endymion rolled with elaborate floats, throws, costumes and lights. There were tons of people still lining the streets watching the parades and catching all kinds of fun trinkets from the floats. It was getting late by this point, maybe 9 o'clock and we hadn't eaten dinner yet. We had said that we would get something to eat after the parade, but decided we couldn't wait any longer and also didn't want to miss any of the parade. We got small bowls of jambalaya from a street vendor and it was delicious. As we're eating our jambalaya among the masses of people with the parade continuing to roll by, a bag of beads was thrown from the float hitting Audrey right in the hand and knocking her bowl to the ground. Rice flew everywhere and everyone around her was covered in it, not knowing what happened. It was very comical. The man who threw the bag full of beads from the float realized what he did and signaled to Audrey to come closer to the float. There are baracades in the street to block viewers from coming closer, like most parades have, but he signaled her to come up to the front. He then handed her a big necklace of beautiful beads as an apology for knocking her dinner from her hand. I would have taken those beads too! haha
Parades did not start until a little later in the afternoon on Sunday. We woke up and went to a nice traditional New Orleans/ Cajun meal at Palace Cafe on Canal Street. The food was amazing. We ordered a Crabmeat Cheesecake, Duck Spring Rolls, and another appetizer that I can't remember the name of but it had a fried tomato, shrimp and a wonderful spicy sauce on it. They were amazing. Then we had soups- two different types of gumbo and turtle soup. Yes, turtle. I tried that one, and liked it, but probably couldn't have eaten the whole cup. The gumbos were amazing. Different than gumbos I have tasted before with slightly different textures as well. My dad makes a good gumbo, but these were totally different... they looked different, were different thicknesses and seemed to have different ingredients as well. It's cool how many different ways there are to make generally the same thing... For our meals (I know, how could we eat more? I don't know, but we did) we each had another unique option. I had the Crabmeat Keesh and can't remember what other people had, but we tried each other's and there was not one that I didn't like. The food was amazing. After brunch we were almost too stuffed to drink. hahah almost! The parades started and we caught another unbelievable amount of beads.
Prior to our trip we purchased tickets for access to viewing stands outside of our hotel on the parade route. These were great because they ensure us having a great view no matter what time we came to watch the parades.
Monday was another day of late parades, except on this day they started even later. In the morning we went to Cafe Du Monde for Bienets and Coffee. OMG, they were heavenly delicious. We then walked around the cute streets of New Orleans, Jackson Square, and down to the Mississippi River. We stopped at a bar that was recommended to us for a Voodoo Brew. I can not wait to remake this drink. It was delicious. We then walked to Pat O'Brien's, the spot of the original Hurricane and of course had a few too many. This is the famous Paino Bar with Dueling Pianos. This was by far my most favorite bar I have ever been too! I love live music and singing along to songs. These people play the piano together so wonderful and sing, while the entire crowd joins in. They can play pretty much every song there is as well. We first requested Glory Days, by Bruce Springsteen and then Jersey Girl (which they surprisingly did not know). We wanted a Bruce song to highlight our Jersey roots! :) We reluctantly left Pat O's to go back to our viewing spot as the parades were starting to roll. We watched the parades, then gathered massive amounts of beads that we didn't want to keep and headed to a friend's hotel room on Bourbon street to throw beads from the balcony. It was such a cool experience being able to be a part of Bourbon Street like that! :)
Mardi Gras day quickly came as the final parades rolled with a few delays due to weather and other unexpected factors. The final parade of Mardi Gras was over before 5 o'clock. We went back to the hotel, then headed out for some last minute shopping and walking around Downtown New Orleans. We went back to the corner bar for a VooDoo Brew, did more shopping in the French Market, then headed to Pat O'Brien's again for some more piano bar fun! This time the piano players knew Jersey Girl! I seriously couldn't get enough of that place! :) It was the perfect way to end a wonderful vacation with my cousins who I love so dearly.
Some things that I learned about Mardi Gras/New Orleans:
Carnival is the season of Mardi which starts in January and runs until Mardi Gras Day (the day before Ash Wednesday, aka Fat Tuesday).
Krewes are made of members of each carnival association (Krewe of Rex, Krewe of Endymion, Krewe of Bachas) that ride in the parades. Each Krewe has a theme for the year and decorates their elaborate floats and wears costumes and masks. Some people are very secretive about what Krewe they're in. To be in a Krewe and roll in the parade costs lots of money for the members. They all have to buy their own throws. One time when a parade was stopped in front of us, I heard one of the members say that they had nearly $10,000 worth of throws and $6,000 of alcohol on that one float.
Throws are anything that is thrown from the floats.... beads, beads, beads, cups, stuffed things, light up things (think Disney), trinkets, anything really.
King Cake is a circle cake with icing and purple, green, and gold sprinkles on top. Traditionally King Cake has a tiny plastic baby inside and whoever gets the baby in their piece is supposed to buy the next cake. Our hotel gave us a King Cake one night and it was sooooo delicious. We ate the whole thing.
My favorite parades/Krewes were Endymion (Saturday Night), Toth (Sunday Day) and Rex (Tuesday- the final float parade of Mardi Gras) We met people in both Toth and Rex prior to them rolling so being able to call their names and get their attention as they rolled by added to the excitement.
You are allowed to drink everywhere. There are no "open container" rules, so you are literally allowed to get a drink and take it with you on the street. Awesome.
This was my first time to New Orleans and it couldn't have been better. I fell in love with the city, the culture and the tradition of Mardi Gras. It was wonderful and something that I recommend for anyone who loves to experience new and wild things. I literally felt like I was in a different country, but I love realizing that our wonderful country has so much to offer that we sometimes don't realize or take for granted.
I can't wait to continue traveling- experiencing new cultures and traditions that our country and those around the world have to offer. I hope this travel bug that I have in me never goes away!
Like I've mentioned before, listening to new music has become one of my favorite things. I have listened to a lot of new music over the past year and have also developed a new, different, and exciting ear for country music. The radio station I work for is constantly getting in new demos or having artists come in to play their songs acoustically with hopes of getting it played on air. The artists also tell you the story behind their songs and themselves! I love when they wrote the songs
and know the background of it. I think it makes listeners appreciate
the song more when they know where it came from. Some artists are good or even great and some are NOT. I want to share with you some that are, in my opinion, worth listening too!
I figured I would start with the new-comers that have already released an album, but that doesn't mean I like them better. In fact, I actually like the ones you probably haven't heard of better and I'm so excited to introduce you to them!
Florida Georgia Line is a group that came from left field and is taking everyone my surprise. They're brand new, just having signed a record deal in December 2011 and released their first album a year later, that's quick! Their debut single "Cruise" is now certified Gold and has reached #1. Look out- they're climbing the charts fast, but I wonder if they'll be around long?
Hunter Hayes is a musician that blows my mind. Personally there are other new-comers that I like better than him, but the fact that he played every single instrument on his debut album is totally impressive! For the record, there were 31 different instruments on his album and I'll say it again, he played them all!!! He gets extra points in my book for that! I've seen him perform 4 times (as opening acts for other artists) and he's a good performer. I've also met him and he's super nice, but also super short and skinny! Honestly though, how can your heart not met when you hear this song:
Thomas Rhett, the son of Rhett Akins (country music song-writer), is someone that will definitely be around for a long time! He's my favorite new-comer! I first heard him sing when he came to the station on this radio tour last year. He sang his first single Something To Do With My Hands, his second single, Beer With Jesus as well as Whatcha Got In That Cup and I instantly fell in love. I can't wait to watch his career grow because his talent is amazing and he's going to be
big time- he's that wonderful! It also doesn't hurt that he's so damn cute! I've seen him perform twice since originally meeting him in February
2012 :) His CD is schedule to be released soon, hopefully March and trust me, you're going to want to download it, I already can't get enough of his EP!
Charlie Worsham is the newest artist on my radar and my love for him is
growing fast. He is combination of Brad Paisley and Keith Urban. He
can play anything with strings. I love his single Could It Be and his cover of Crazy Train is fantastic. What a musician!
Brett Eldredge is also a noteworthy new-comer! Not only does he seem like a very humble, funny, down-to-earth, not to mention extremely handsome guy, he's got a great voice! He wrote the song Raymond to bring awareness to Alzheimer's, a disease his grandmother suffered from and has spoken about the disease on many occasions. This is such a great story-telling song! I'm totally loving his new single, Don't ya. It has a great beat and is sure to instantly put you in a good mood!
Other note-worthy and not-so-new-comers to put on your radar are Brantley Gilbert and Dustin Lynch. These artists are not as new as the ones I introduced in this post, but they would be considered new by award show standards! I have a post coming up about Brantley Gilbert, so stay tuned. And if Dustin Lynch's music isn't enough to make you a fan, his baby blues are surely enough to do the trick! Have you seen them? Holy Cow, they're gorgeous! To be honest, I wasn't a fan of his first single- Cowboys and Angels, but I'm definitely a fan of those eyes, and pearly whites for that matter... if nothing else, Dustin Lynch is eye candy and I don't hate it!
The Superbowl has always been a guaranteed night of fun, food, laughter and of course football, duh. Growing up, my neighborhood had tons of traditions. Just like my family, the neighborhood liked to throw a party for everything- Christmas, Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving Day Turkey Bowl- and the Superbowl was no exception.
The two weeks leading up to the game a block pool went around filling the boxes with names of potential winners. On the day of the game, the parents went to the same house every year for a party to watch the game- aka dads watched the game, while the moms talked. Kids weren't invited, so most of the kids would come to my house for our own party! We were usually more interested in the commercials and half time show than the actual game, pretty standard.
The kids (and adults) played a game called the "Commercial Game". This was my favorite thing about the Superbowl. We had a board with different categories of commercials on it and during the game you would place a dollar on the category that you thought would be the first commercial played of the break. If your category won, you won the money on the board. Trust me, it's a lot more fun than it may seem. I made a board and brought it to my Superbowl parties in college and everyone loved it.
You could also include other categories like insurance, clothing, fast food, etc.
I love how commercials are as crucial a part of the Superbowl viewing experience as the Halftime Show and the game itself. Each year I look forward to the commercials regardless of who's playing the game. Nerd Alert: I would love to be part of the marketing/advertising team that comes up with some of these spots.
This year without a doubt my favorite commercial was the Budweiser "Brotherhood" commercial. I literally almost cried. I always love the Budweiser commercials because I love horses and Clydesdale are gorgeous, but this year OMG, the emotion in that commercial was amazing. And it showed a true relationship between a man and his horse! I absolutely loved it. Somehow my mom missed the commercial during the game, imagine that, so when I came home and started talking about it, she was dying to see it. My mom and I share the same love for horse and I knew she was going to love it. She cried, full on tears, when she watched it. Twice.
Living in the Philadelphia area and being raised an Eagles fan, there's not usually much excitement late in the post season, and this year- forget about it. There was the exception of Superbowl XXXIX, when the Eagles lost to the Patriots or in the 2008 post-season when they lost to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship game- off the top of my head. But other than that the Superbowl has been more about friends and fun, rather than the actual game of football. Yeah, I said it!
This year the Superbowl brought an interesting camaraderie for all viewers- brothers coaching against each other in the biggest game of their career. Forget Ravens vs 49ers, it was John Harbaugh vs Jim Harbaugh! What are the chances that brothers would both be head coaches in the NFL, let alone make it to the Superbowl, and then to be playing against each other in the same one? Sheesh, talk about pressure. Leading up to the biggest game in the sport, I couldn't help but think that the winning brother would forever have the ultimate bragging rights: "I beat you in the Superbowl"!!!! I'm sure they would be happy for and proud of the other one to have
made it to the Superbowl, but having to compete for the title must have brought so many more
emotions. I would love to be a fly on the wall come Easter dinner, or the next big family gathering for that matter.
I have since watched a number of interviews which talked about the topic of brothers competing for the title. The Harbaughs seem like a very nice family with great values. I love hearing about how men in sports, especially coaches, were raised and how they came to love the sport. I love when coaches add good character to the team and are there for the love of the game and not just for the name or paycheck. That's what makes sports worthwhile.
During an interview I saw of John and Jim's parents, Jack and Jackie, about the game, there was a clip of the brothers exchanging words during warm-ups ... John: "Love you man." Jim: "I love you too." John: "I'm so proud of you!" Jim: "No matter how it comes out, we're brothers, they can't change that!" John: "That's exactly right!" >> How precious? Seriously.
As you could guess, I have no real tie or favoritism towards either team that played in Sunday Night's game, but once Ray Lewis had announced he was retiring at the end of the season I started rooting for the Baltimore Ravens. I wanted to see an icon like him go out the best way possible- a Superbowl Champion! I know that people keep bringing up his past and whatever the truth may be, he also happens to be the best Linebacker in the game right
now and maybe even ever. He's the Lawrence Taylor of this generation. They changed the defense, they changed the game, and they each changed the way the linebacker position is played-
it's always sad to see an icon in sports leave their game. Lots of kids want to
be him, they look up to him and he's a leader. He has won the respect
of his teammates and those throughout the league. He inspires people to
achieve greatness, aside from his personal life or low points, but it's
about how you over come those obstacles that determines character. I'll admit, I don't know the whole story of what's happened with Ray Lewis in the past, but it seems like he's done a good job of changing that image. People know who he is because of the way he played the game- that's what being a sports icon is all about!
Another reason to root for the Ravens: Ray Rice! Ray Rice is a fellow Rutgers Alumni and part of RFamily. He was a huge part in changing the face and reputation of Rutgers Football. He's always been a great player to watch and root for! Like any other team, school or organization, everyone associated with the Block R is family and we root for each other. There are two members of the RFamily on the Baltimore Ravens- Ray Rice and Alex Silvestro, as opposed to only one, Anthony Davis, on the San Fransisco 49ers, so I had to go with the team with more Scarlet Knights! :)
So let's talk football, finally, right? The first half was dominated by the Baltimore Ravens. Clearly. The score was 21-6 at the half. Then Beyonce stole the show. Literally. She was amazing. She has always been amazing, but what a Halftime Show that was. It's pretty safe to say that most people who were watching
Beyonce perform forgot that this was just a Halftime Show, that she
wasn't the entertainment for the rest of the night and shortly after,
well with an unexpected 34 minute delay, a football game would resume with Jacoby Jones breaking an NFL post season record and returning a kick-off 108 yards.
After the New Orleans Superdome through a hissy-fit for a Beyonce encore, the 49ers gave the Ravens a run for their money, outscoring them 23-3 in less than 13 minutes and changing the momentum of the game. In the 4th quarter, the Superbowl Champion Title became reachable for both teams.
Trailing by 5 with under 3 minutes of play, the 49ers made some questionable play calls leaving the ball in their own red-zone and in the hands of the Baltimore Ravens. The 49ers forced Joe Flacco into the end-zone for a safety and with 5 seconds remaining on the clock, the Baltimore Ravens became Superbowl Champions!!!! The final score of the game: Baltimore Ravens 34; San Francisco 49ers 31!
It goes without saying, I love the game of football. Some may not think so, but it's such an emotional sport. The love, pride, together-ness, and family that these teams build is so wonderful. I hope that someday, my everyday work will be directly connected to the game or sports in general.
Call me crazy, but I literally started tearing up during Coach John Harbaugh's post game interview. The respect and love he has for his brother, players, and everyone on the Baltimore Ravens staff is admirable. Below is a portion of the interview, click HERE for the full interview on NFL.com.
Final Note: Kudos to the Oreo Marketing Team for producing this tweet during the Superbowl Blackout!
