Just For Fun

 

A big hand-waving hello from sunny Novato, California!

Haaay! I’m back at home in the Bay after my birthday trip to New Orleans, and our regularly scheduled beauty bloggery will resume on Monday.

As you can probably imagine, my tabby employer was overjoyed to have his assistant back. He was so overjoyed, in fact, that he barely lifted a paw in protest when I said that I planned to showcase a couple more of the cat friends I made in NOLA.

As it turns out, working as a shopkeeper cat is one of the most lucrative feline gigs available in the city.

This particular white, orange and gray beauty models for a local art gallery…

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Day two in New Orleans (that was yesterday) started with — yup, you guessed it! — beignets and a cafe au lait. I fueled up at a cute little place called Cafe Beignet in the French Quarter. 

   
      
   

The beignets at the shop were denser and not as sugary as the ones at Cafe du Monde (mmm, so good!), but I’m not one to say no to fried dough…so of course I ate ’em anyway. 

After breakfast, El Hub and I trekked out to the Garden District again to look at more fancy-schmancy houses.  

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One of my favorite things to do on vacation is shop for trinkets and baubles. 

(I am probably not alone in this.)

That way, back at home, whenever I see or wear said bauble (or sometimes they’re doohickeys), I’m reminded of my time on the trip. 

Today I picked up a couple of cute pieces of jewelry from a chic shop called The Finery. It’s located in the Lower Garden District of New Orleans, just off Magazine Street, which is a popular shopping area with cafes and lots of antique and clothing stores.  

Incidentally, it’s about two blocks from author Anne Rice’s former New Orleans home…

    

  
Back to The Finery, they carry jewelry by indie designers, both local and from other parts of the country. The style is sort of modern minimalist, and their pieces are pretty affordable, too. 

I grabbed two things from a local designer named Neko — the Small Arc earrings ($24) and the Arc necklace ($32).

      
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You’ve officially leveled up from “crazy cat lady” to “craziest cat lady” when your souvenirs from New Orleans all involve cats. 🙂

Grabbed these goodies yesterday from the cutest store in the French Quarter called Gem de France. 

  

Half of the store was dedicated to teh kittehs! (El Hub practically had to drag me out.)

 

I plan to affix this small metal sign next to my front door when I get home because 1) Tabs is always on guard, 24/7, and 2) the world (and my neighbors) need to know!

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 Whoop-whoop! I can now officially cross “eat beignets on my birthday” off my bucket list. 

Today’s NOLA fun started at Cafe du Monde this morning with an order of beignets and a frozen cafe au lait.

   

   
 

Oh, and in case you were unaware, hot fried dough covered with powdered sugar is magical!
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Just a quick hello from New Orleans! I made it here in one piece and 1) it’s hot and 2) very humid. I’m not even gonna try to fight my wavy hair because I know who’s going to win that battle. LOL!

My flight out of Oakland was delayed a few hours so I spent a little time wandering around the Oakland Airport. 

Um, I might have freaked out a little when I saw this Essie kiosk!

It’s a vending machine with Essie nail polishes. 

The polishes are $8.50 each, and if you buy three you get the fourth one free. 

Because you never know when you’ll need an emergency top coat or an extra bottle of Flowerista…

(If you’re interested, it’s located at the top of the escalators in Terminal One right after you get through security.)

There’s also a Benefit kiosk, and of course I had to take a pic of their Big Easy tinted moisturizer.

I’m happy to be here and can’t wait to explore the city. 

I’ll talk to you soon. I hope you had a marvelous Monday!
         

This is what I started reading on the plane. So far it’s pretty good

  

       

Time for sleeps now because I want to get an early start tomorrow. Sleep well, gorgeous. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Happy Monday, kitty cat. 🙂 I’m heading to the airport early this afternoon to catch my flight to New Orleans, and I thought, hey, let’s do a little something-something different for this week’s Monday Poll.

Like how about an open thread?

It’s a chit-chat free-for-all in the comments, haaay! Let me know what you’ve been loving lately or what’s been on your mind.

Or just come say hi.

I’ll tell you what’s currently on my mind right now…

These shoes!

I like to treat myself to a pair of shoes on my birthday (I’ve been doing it since my 20s), and I figured that I’d be doing a lot of walking in New Orleans this week, so I picked up this fun pair of Roxy Ventura Cheetah Slip-On Sneakers ($39.99) last Friday at DSW (looks like they’re also available online).

The cheetah print got me, obvs. This particular cat lady is incapable of resisting big cat prints.

I actually tried to resist them, but then I saw the hot pink soles…

Had to have ’em! They’re awfully comfy, too.

I’m looking forward to having action-packed adventures in them this summer.

What are you favorite pair of walking shoes? Inquiring, shoe-loving minds want to know.

Have a wonderful week, my friend! I hope to see you in the comments. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen