What I learned this weekend...

1. I can't stay out as late as I used to without serious consequences.

2. One day and night is more than enough to be away from Sam.

So, this Saturday I headed to New Orleans with some friends to have some good food and good fun. We left early Saturday morning, and we spent a gorgeous spring day on Magazine St. shopping. I cannot explain how gorgeous it was--80 degrees, azaleas in bloom everywhere--picture perfect. I will not explain my calorie intake for the entire weekend. It started with a mimosa and Chik-Fil-A Saturday morning and ended with Wendy's topped off by some Hot Cheetos. Yep, Hot Cheetos. Anyway, we shopped, ate, and generally made gluttons of ourselves.

After shopping, we changed and headed out to dinner. Our dinner experience wasn't the best--mainly because of poor service--but we rallied through and headed to Bourbon Street. We spent the remainder of the night dancing until our feet hurt, but by around 2:00, I was ready to call it quits.

Boy, am I glad we went in when we did. I felt like death warmed over the next morning. Remember, this was also daylight savings time, so it probably wasn't the best night to stay out later than my body is used to, that's for sure. Lesson learned--I am no longer 18.

As far as the Samster goes, I missed him terribly. I swear, I saw 9 billion people who had babies his age on Saturday, and it made me a little sad. Anthony took Sam to see his great-grandmother and some other relatives, so I know that he had more than enough attention. It was just harder than I thought to be away from him. Also, none of my fellow travelers have children, so I had to make sure I wasn't being completely obnoxious by talking about him all the time. I may have failed miserably on that front.

And because the "belly laugh" video was such a huge hit among our family, I present: The Belly Laugh 2. (Excuse the giggling and possible snorting you hear in the background--that's my oh-so-charming laugh.)