Last weekend we went to New Orleans for the American Library Association's annual conference. I was there to work a table on the exhibit floor promoting our titles and Matt and Juliette came along for free books and a mini-vacation! We left Lafayette on a Friday and I got my display set up just in time to go to the hotel room and change and make it back for the exhibit hours that evening from 5:30-7:30 pm. Matt and Juliette came with me to the exhibit floor that evening and Matt was like a kid in a candy store. I have been to a lot of Christian publishing trade shows, but this ALA one was HUGE and it took forever just to walk from one side of the floor to the other. Just to give you an idea, there were 36 rows of booths with at least 20 booths on some rows (if not more)! That first night, Matt took Juliette around the floor and she collected quite a few book posters and children's mini-comic books. She also got her picture taken with the Baker & Taylor cats:
They look like bears to me, but they are supposed to be cats. (Baker & Taylor is a wholesale book distributor, meaning they purchase books from the publishers and resale them to the libraries and bookstores.)
Before we even set out to walk back to the hotel, Juliette announced that we needed to get a taxi and then preceded to try to hail every taxi she saw between Cafe Du Monde and Canal Street! (After we crossed Canal, we gave in and got one...we were tired!)
On Saturday, while I was working, Matt took Juliette to the aquarium. He said it was packed with kids all over the place and it was kinda hard to really enjoy themselves, but I think Juliette liked it. I had given Matt a budget for them to do a little shopping, so Juliette came back from the aquarium with a rubber shark, a stuffed penguin, and an alligator. (She named the penguin Alexandra and ended up carrying it practically everywhere else with her that weekend!) For lunch, they walked over to the RiverWalk Mall and ate in the food court. Juliette had fried alligator. This was her second time to eat it and she loves it! (The first time was just a few weeks ago and she asked what happened to the green!) Here are a few pictures of their trip to the aquarium:
That afternoon, Juliette hung out with me on the exhibit floor while Matt went into the French Quarter to some bookstores he wanted to check out. (He knew if he took her, she would start complaining of having to walk so far!) Juliette passed her time with me by playing games on the IPad, passing out catalogs, and eating candy out of the candy bowl I had on the table. That evening, we decided to get on the streetcar there by the convention center (along the river) and take it to the middle of the French Quarter for dinner, but when we got to the terminal (or whatever you call the things where you wait), there were signs up that it was only running from where we were to Canal St., which was just a few blocks away. Juliette really wanted to ride the streetcar, though, so we went ahead and rode it and then walked to Bubba Gump's for dinner. (The food wasn't that great, but the bread pudding we got was awesome!)
On Sunday, Juliette and Matt went swimming at the hotel and then came to the exhibit floor and brought me lunch (gumbo!). Sunday evening we went to dinner with my good friend Jaime and her husband Sonny and their 15-month old little miracle, Cash. When Jaime was pregnant with Cash, they found out he had something wrong with his heart and that he would need surgery after he was born. Jaime is probably the most Godly friend I have and her faith and positive outlook during those months prior to his birth and even after (through the surgeries and even when he was born with some other complications they weren't expecting--though totally fixable) are such an inspiration to me. Now Baby Cash is all better and is absolutely adorable! (I even saw Matt pick him up and give him a squeeze!) We went back to Jaime's house after dinner and Juliette played with Cash a little. (And, before I forget, Jaime has a photography business as well. She is a great photographer!)
On the drive back to the hotel from their house, Juliette said, "If we want a baby, we have to ask God for one, right?" We told her yes, and then she said. "OK, I'm going to pray for us to have a baby. Everybody close their eyes." And then, she said a sweet little prayer.
Monday morning, Matt and Juliette went to the Children's Museum for a few hours while I was working. Matt said it was so nice because there weren't very many kids there and Juliette was able to play with everything, including checking him out at the grocery store and being his waiter at the little cafe. (I think those little real-life settings like that are so cute in the children's museums!) I had to work the exhibit floor until 2, so Matt and Juliette brought Subway over for lunch and then helped me get everything packed up, so we were able to get out of there just as it was closing. (One of the perks of having a small display table instead of a huge booth is a quick tear-down and everything can be carried out on a handcart!) We stopped by Octavia Books on the way out of town to get a signed copy of a friend's debut novel. (Corey and I are from the same town, and he and my younger brother went to school together from kindergarten until high school!)
Of course, I had to work the rest of the week, so I was happy for the holiday weekend to get here! I think Matt and Juliette enjoyed their weekend...as for me, well, I'm just glad I don't have to work trade shows every weekend!
They look like bears to me, but they are supposed to be cats. (Baker & Taylor is a wholesale book distributor, meaning they purchase books from the publishers and resale them to the libraries and bookstores.)After the exhibit floor closed that night at 7:30, we walked back to the hotel (we weren't staying far from the convention center), I changed into more comfortable clothes, and we headed for what was supposed to be a one mile walk to Acme Oyster House. Except I'm pretty sure it was more than a mile. When we got there, there was a long line out the door and the wait was 1 hour. We didn't have a Plan B, though, and were hot, tired and hungry, so we just took off in the direction of the river for the chain restaurants. We ended up eating at Landry's, which is sad considering we have one just down the road in Breaux Bridge and we've eaten there quite a few times, but the food was good! After eating dinner, we walked the little ways down to Cafe Du Monde for beignets. Juliette preferred just eating the powdered sugar, though!
Nothing like giving your 4-year-old straight sugar at 10 o'clock at night!
Nothing like giving your 4-year-old straight sugar at 10 o'clock at night!Before we even set out to walk back to the hotel, Juliette announced that we needed to get a taxi and then preceded to try to hail every taxi she saw between Cafe Du Monde and Canal Street! (After we crossed Canal, we gave in and got one...we were tired!)
On Saturday, while I was working, Matt took Juliette to the aquarium. He said it was packed with kids all over the place and it was kinda hard to really enjoy themselves, but I think Juliette liked it. I had given Matt a budget for them to do a little shopping, so Juliette came back from the aquarium with a rubber shark, a stuffed penguin, and an alligator. (She named the penguin Alexandra and ended up carrying it practically everywhere else with her that weekend!) For lunch, they walked over to the RiverWalk Mall and ate in the food court. Juliette had fried alligator. This was her second time to eat it and she loves it! (The first time was just a few weeks ago and she asked what happened to the green!) Here are a few pictures of their trip to the aquarium:
That afternoon, Juliette hung out with me on the exhibit floor while Matt went into the French Quarter to some bookstores he wanted to check out. (He knew if he took her, she would start complaining of having to walk so far!) Juliette passed her time with me by playing games on the IPad, passing out catalogs, and eating candy out of the candy bowl I had on the table. That evening, we decided to get on the streetcar there by the convention center (along the river) and take it to the middle of the French Quarter for dinner, but when we got to the terminal (or whatever you call the things where you wait), there were signs up that it was only running from where we were to Canal St., which was just a few blocks away. Juliette really wanted to ride the streetcar, though, so we went ahead and rode it and then walked to Bubba Gump's for dinner. (The food wasn't that great, but the bread pudding we got was awesome!)
On Sunday, Juliette and Matt went swimming at the hotel and then came to the exhibit floor and brought me lunch (gumbo!). Sunday evening we went to dinner with my good friend Jaime and her husband Sonny and their 15-month old little miracle, Cash. When Jaime was pregnant with Cash, they found out he had something wrong with his heart and that he would need surgery after he was born. Jaime is probably the most Godly friend I have and her faith and positive outlook during those months prior to his birth and even after (through the surgeries and even when he was born with some other complications they weren't expecting--though totally fixable) are such an inspiration to me. Now Baby Cash is all better and is absolutely adorable! (I even saw Matt pick him up and give him a squeeze!) We went back to Jaime's house after dinner and Juliette played with Cash a little. (And, before I forget, Jaime has a photography business as well. She is a great photographer!)
On the drive back to the hotel from their house, Juliette said, "If we want a baby, we have to ask God for one, right?" We told her yes, and then she said. "OK, I'm going to pray for us to have a baby. Everybody close their eyes." And then, she said a sweet little prayer.Monday morning, Matt and Juliette went to the Children's Museum for a few hours while I was working. Matt said it was so nice because there weren't very many kids there and Juliette was able to play with everything, including checking him out at the grocery store and being his waiter at the little cafe. (I think those little real-life settings like that are so cute in the children's museums!) I had to work the exhibit floor until 2, so Matt and Juliette brought Subway over for lunch and then helped me get everything packed up, so we were able to get out of there just as it was closing. (One of the perks of having a small display table instead of a huge booth is a quick tear-down and everything can be carried out on a handcart!) We stopped by Octavia Books on the way out of town to get a signed copy of a friend's debut novel. (Corey and I are from the same town, and he and my younger brother went to school together from kindergarten until high school!)
Of course, I had to work the rest of the week, so I was happy for the holiday weekend to get here! I think Matt and Juliette enjoyed their weekend...as for me, well, I'm just glad I don't have to work trade shows every weekend!
