New Orleans and Cozumel, Mexico

Fun times traveling with AB!

New Orleans:
It was fun getting to see old friends (DJ), and walk around the French Quarter. Walked around Royal Street with its art galleries, visited St. Louis Cathedral with its beautiful painted ceiling and reminisced about our times in St. Louis, and ate some delicious beignets at Cafe du Monde with Cafe au Lait to wash it down. Ended the day with some delicious chargrilled oysters and crawfish etouffee at Acme Oysters!

Cafe du Monde, post beignet and cafe au lait

St. Louis Cathedral

Acme chargrilled oysters...mmmmm

The next day we walked around the beautiful Garden District with its enormous houses on St. Charles and surrounding streets.  Saw famous author Ann Rice's home, where the first and last Confederate President lived, where Benjamin Button was filmed, learned about Victorian vs. Italian vs. Gothic architecture.   Then before getting on our cruise, ate some NOLA famous Muffaletta sandwiches at the Cochon Butcher.  Mmmm..nothing like fresh meat!

Where Benjamin Button was filmed; One of the many fancy St. Charles/Garden District houses

Cochon Butcher - watching pig decapitation and
eating delicious Muffuletta sandwiches (fresh pork, olive)!

Home of the one and only confederate president

Cruise was more fun than I expected!  A lot of entertainment, relaxation, and more food than I can imagine.  First night we thought we could only order one appetizer, one entree, and one dessert, and the next morning, was when we realized we could order unlimited amounts of food, so we went crazy with the appetizers.  One time, we accidentally ordered 4 entrees thinking half of them were appetizers.  Thankfully the waiter gave us an astonished look and asked us, "you do realize you ordered 4 entrees?"  That was kind of embarrassing.  Another night, I had asked to replaced the ice cream in one of my desserts with sugar-free ice cream, but the server mistakenly thought I asked for an additional order of ice cream - oh boy....

The dancing shows were really good too - it was so much at such a fast pace.  Really had new appreciation for these dancers after trying to learn the Thriller dance on the cruise. :D  Meanwhile, the adult comedy shows really were crass.  It was still pretty entertaining, but I think overall I liked the family friendly ones more.  One of the more entertaining game shows was probably the adult oriented scavenger hunt.  It was amusing to watch AB skip around holding another guy's hand...hahahaha....  I also really hope the bald guy I dragged into the show isn't too upset he got a whole bunch of kisses on his forehead by male and female strangers (long story).

We also went to an art auction, and half the time, we were guessing among ourselves what the the estimated price of the paintings were.  Learned a little about lithographs and gisees (spelling?), so we weren't too off for most of the paintings, but some we were off by 10x. O_o

Enjoying the view on the ship

Participating in a magic show!

Here's our ship! Arrived in Cozumel!

Here's our ship with pool, water slide, stage, and various other activities.
Favorites: mini golf and table tennis - although I still can't believe I lost to AB.  Sighs.

 Although we only had one day in Cozumel, it was jam packed with a lot of fun.  They had so many promotions of "excursions" we can go on, but thankfully we just went on our own to Chankanaab Park.  It was this beautiful beach with many water activities.  Although we didn't really take the time to relax - I'm bad at relaxing - we got to pet/kiss/hug dolphins and watch a sea lion show.  Even the massive downpour in the afternoon didn't bother us, we just went swimming and explored the underwater reefs and fish.

Chankanaab Park in Cozumel, Mexico

It's real!

Dancing with the dolphin

Beso!

Last day in New Orleans, we just spent the whole day in the National WWII Museum.  Didn't realize how big it was, and we ran out of time - didn't get to see the Pacific part of the museum.  But it was amazing, especially the new part where we heard individual stories about the war heroes. 

New Orleans Walking Tour

For one day on a budget:

http://www.neworleansonline.com/tools/itineraries/budgetitinerary.html

Mansions of St. Charles:

http://www.neworleansonline.com/tools/streets/saintcharles.html

Just one day Frommer's:

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/new-orleans/717276#sthash.HwLMbrAq.dpbs

New orleans day trip

http://www.neworleansonline.com/tools/itineraries/budgetitinerary.html

Ultimate chocolate chip cookie

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/09/04/345530660/the-science-behind-baking-your-ideal-chocolate-chip-cookie?sc=tw

Exerpt from website:

Ooey-gooey: Add 2 cups more flour.

A nice tan: Set the oven higher than 350 degrees Fahrenheit (maybe 360). Caramelization, which gives cookies their nice brown tops, occurs above 356 degrees, says the TEDEd video.

Crispy with a soft center: Use 1/4 teaspoon baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda.

Chewy: Substitute bread flour for all-purpose flour.

Just like store-bought: Trade the butter for shortening. Arias notes that this ups the texture but reduces some flavor; her suggestion is to use half butter and half shortening.

Thick (and less crispy): Freeze the batter for 30 to 60 minutes before baking. This solidifies the butter, which will spread less while baking.

Cakey: Use more baking soda because, according to Nyberg, it "releases carbon dioxide when heated, which makes cookies puff up."

Butterscotch flavored: Use 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar (instead of the same amount of combined granulated sugar and light brown sugar).

Uniformity: If looks count, add one ounce corn syrup and one ounce granulated sugar.

More flavor: Chilling the dough for at least 24 hours before baking deepens all the flavors, Arias found.

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself. #10 Is An Absolute Must.

Good reminder.  Including not to worry about everything "will it matter in one year?"
http://www.lifebuzz.com/just-stop/

Myers Briggs: INTJ

INTJ

Introvert(22%)  iNtuitive(25%)  Thinking(12%)  Judging(33%)
http://www.humanmetrics.com/hr/JTypesResult.aspx?EI=-22&SN=-25&TF=12&JP=33

Wikipedia:

"Hallmarks of the INTJ include independence of thought and a desire for efficiency. They work best when given autonomy and creative freedom. They harbor an innate desire to express themselves by conceptualizing their own intellectual designs. They have a talent for analyzing and formulating complex theories. INTJs are generally well-suited for occupations within academia, research, consulting, management, science, engineering, and law. They are often acutely aware of their own knowledge and abilities—as well as their limitations and what they don't know (a quality that tends to distinguish them from INTPs). INTJs thus develop a strong confidence in their ability and talents, making them natural leaders."


But then, when I took another test the next day, I got ENFJ....what??? I guess my percentages for I and T are pretty low, so I could probably waver either way.

Extroverted 3%, Intuitive 35%, Feeling 8 %, Judging 11%

Apparently I'm assertive 28%, which I totally don't agree with, because I don't feel assertive at all. Hm, maybe I passively aggressively am assertive?

"ENFJs are natural-born leaders, full of passion and charisma. Forming around two percent of the population, they are oftentimes our politicians, our coaches and our teachers, reaching out and inspiring others to achieve and to do good in the world. With a natural confidence that begets influence, ENFJs take a great deal of pride and joy in guiding others to work together to improve themselves and their community."

Overall, I agree with INTJ more, except for maybe the altruism, tolerant, reliable, belief that everyone is good-natured, being indecisive, and secretly vulnerable to criticism (the strengths and weaknesses of ENFJ).  I dont' feel like I'm a natural leader, but it does say they ENFJ doesn't seek to dominate or direct people but attract by charisma.  I don't think I'm particularly charismatic, but maybe I do get along with people easily - although not to the extent of the description of an ENFJ.  The "skilled imitator" strength of an ENFJ is very interesting, but I'm not sure if I fit that description.

http://www.16personalities.com/enfj-personality 

How I Met Your Mother

It's funny this is what I get: Robin Scherbatsky (I can't even spell her name)

34 Clever Things Parents Can Do

http://distractify.com/fun/parenting-hacks-to-make-life-with-kids-easier/

Clever indeed, thanks ML