From classy to trashy in one streetcar ride

I realize this event actually happened a little while ago, but I was waiting on my friend to send me a picture for this post. Just wait – it’s worth it.

The week of New Years, some of my friends decided we should go out to lunch at really nice restaurant in town called Commander’s Palace. It’s a very fancy restaurant, which is cool and all, but the real reason we picked there for lunch was because they have 25-cent martinis. Yes, that’s right. 25 cents. Even though we knew the food was going to be a little pricy (and AMAZING), 25-cent martinis were just an idea too good to pass up.

So off to lunch we went! We had boyfriend/husband rides there and back, so even though it was only 11:30am we were ready for them to bring on the martinis! When we walked in we were greated as though it was the final scene in Titanic. No joke.

After a long Google image search, this was the best I could do. You get the point.

There were at least 10 people lining the entranceway waiting to greet us and tell us to have a good day. Once we made it up the stairs, there were another 5 people waiting to do the same thing. It was nice and all, but I was waiting for someone to tell us we had just been on a sinking ship.

Anyway, the room we were seated in was absolutely beautiful. It was overlooking a garden and was decorated with pretty twinkling lights. Such a great atmosphere for a nice lunch.

Next came the many, many martinis. They had four martinis to pick from, all of which seemed amazing. I stuck with the cosmo because I figured why mess with a good thing? Between all of us, we tried three of the four (we referred to them as the pink one, the blue one, and the green one - I couldn't tell you what the green and blue ones actually were if I tried).

Next came the food. My goodness was it good. Although, I'm not going to lie - those martinis might have stolen the spotlight. I'm pretty sure by the end of this lunch we all had at least 5 a piece. Why? Because it was only $1.25 a person!

Corn and crab bisque, Open faced pulled pork sandwich, bread pudding, and strawberry shortcake

This lunch was so much fun. It's always great to spend a day with good friends just laughing and catching up. It made me wish I were a woman who could "lunch" - I guess I can on random days off of school like that one was. My friend Stephanie re-discovered her love of cosmos. She evidently had given up on them after an incident 5-6 years ago. I realized that my new years resolution would be to make my friends my family (even though they kind of already are).

My cosmo with the pretty view, Stephanie loving on her cosmo

So here is where the day takes an interesting turn. A few cosmos into lunch we decided we were having so much fun that we didn't want the day to end. Somehow that thought turned into, "Hey, here's an idea. The street car runs just a few blocks away. We should get on it, head down to Bourbon Street, and call your hubby (who thinks he is picking us up at the restaurant) when we're already there! Plus, the street car is only a dollar a person, making it within our 25-cent budget!" Clearly a 5 martinis into the morning kind of decision.

We made it to Bourbon Street and called my hubby. Besides the shock of our classy day turned trashy, he was supportive and just told us to behave. I guess we can call what happened next behaving...maybe. If any of you watched the most recent Real World New Orleans, you probably noticed that the cast hung out at a total of one bar on Bourbon Street: The Beach.

The Real World cast at The Beach on Bourbon

This is a fairly new bar. I'm only saying this because I don't remember it being there...but then again I also can't remember the last time I was on Bourbon Street. Anyway, I was really excited to go there because I remembered there being a killer whale that you could ride like a bull on the show. Lo and behold, there was. And it was only $5 to ride it. Yes, please!

Besides riding the whale, there was a lot of dancing, avoiding creepy old men, laughing, and second lining with a random wedding down the street. You know, normal Bourbon Street events.

Second lining with umbrellas and a band - a New Orleans tradition

Absolutely great day spent with some amazing friends! Hopefully this will be a new after Christmas tradition!