NOLA

A week ago (give or take a few hours), I was sitting in Jackson Square, eating a warm beignet, drinking an au lait, and blinking into a 67 degree sunny day.

Every day Stephen and I  were in New Orleans we enjoyed beignets. Jackson Square was the perfect way to consume beignets and the delicious po'boys. We weren't the only individuals with this idea. If you look behind me in the picture, you can see the piles of powder sugar dusting the ground.

I can best sum up our trip to New Orleans with the following words: eat, walk, sun, and museums.

Without reservation, I can recommend dining at Cochon (get a reservation weeks in advance), Atchafalya (Food Network Star's Chris is executive chef) and Commander's Palace (and unparalleled dining experience).

There are no shortages of museums in New Orleans. There are neat, smaller ones in the French Quarter on everything from the Battle of New Orleans to the lesser known fact that the first American pharmacy was in New Orleans. If you have several hours, take in The National World War II Museum. It is phenomenal and Smithsonian-like in it's scope.

My final recommendation, Buzz Nola and a bike tour. Stephen and I did the 3-hour long Southern Splendor tour and it was wonderful. I would have biked with our wonderful guide every day.

I hope to visit New Orleans again, there's so much food, music, and history to take in. However, I thoroughly enjoyed my 4 days of a nearly tropical (to this Wisconsinite) weather and sublime food and culture with my husband.

Hello, 2015! Watch this at 27 seconds in and you'll get my tone. If I ever make it to New Jersey, I know the first thing that I will say.

I am welcoming 2015 in on the heels of a crazy-hectic-wonderful-exhausting-draining-work overload of a December. Obviously, the holidays were the wonderful part. The work part--the most crazy I have ever had in my career. And now, with a small reprieve and hindsight, I can say they were fulfilling days. Hard, but fulfilling days. I definitely learned a lot about myself and my profession along the way. And even more importantly...

....I did get my Christmas tree up

...I did make puppy chow...TWICE

...and I did spend time with family!

Needless to say, Christmas 2014 will always be memorable.

I am going to try to continue to make this blog a scrapbook of my life. In late 2014, I did not follow through on that too well, but I did create a stop-gap for poor blogging follow-through. I discovered Instagram as a nice way of keeping track of some of my favorite activities so feel free to find @megengscunningham.

Other resolutions include continuing to document my food and fitness choices each day. It helped me to stay healthy in 2014. I am also looking forward to being more deliberate with my time. Stephen and I did this well by choosing new restaurants and activities to do together. In 2015, this will also mean not checking our phones while watching a show together, choosing when to have screen time, etc. And finally, for practicality, every Monday will include 10 minutes of cleaning as much as I can (thanks, Real Simple).

As I hope to be a more active blogger, please let me know if there is something you would like to see more of.. A little structure never hurt anybody. And in the meantime, stay warm and say hello to 2015!