{The Darling store, Perch, where THE VAMP works!!!}

{above two photos from the Perch blog}

I just spent a long weekend in New Orleans, and I have to say, I’m smitten with the city!  I was so excited to meet Valorie, who works at the shop Perch on Magazine Street.  The store is fabulous.  If you are in NOLA it is a must see.  Please excuse my iPhone pictures (my camera died after I dropped it eating a funnel cake @ the Houston Rodeo BBQ cook off – priorities, people)!

Loved this bergere!

I thought this vintage Lenox dish would be so cute on a coffee table with match books.

I may have a thing for Angel Wings…I loved this delicate dish-tray-catch all.

I WANT this little painting – it would be perfect on a gallery wall with black and white photos, sketches, and prints.

{photo from the Perch website}

This turquoise blue Venetian glass chandelier was gorgeous in person.

After a nice, long, lunch with Valorie, she headed back to work and I browsed up and down Magazine Street.  I loved seeing the Leontine shop in person – it was like visiting the Motherland.  Julie Neill’s light fixtures are more beautiful in person (I DIED), and I also managed to get some clothes shopping in too!

A long day of shopping ended with a fun night at the piano bar @ Pat O’ Brien’s!  Of course, I was focused on the copper pianos and their “nail head trim (a.k.a. silver screws)!”

So the no beignet story…well I was really excited to try the famous beignets @ Cafe du Monde.  I needed to leave for the airport around 1:15, so I raced over to the square around ten til 1 and the line to get in is down the block.  One thing I have observed about New Orleans is that you just can’t be in a hurry there…they run at their own pace.  When the “to-go” line wasn’t moving, we ended up getting a not-yet-cleaned-off table (for Houstonians, it was like the Avalon diner on Saturday morning…on crack).  It’s 1:15 at this point and we are a good 15-20 walk from our hotel.  Darn, no wait service yet…1:20…no service and not a nice reaction when a waiter is flagged down (table is still nasty).  Eek.  We had to bail.  Tragic.  I could actually SEE the beignets being pulled out of the fryer.  I was breathing in the powdered sugar.

Alas, I was forced to race back to the hotel because I knew that line at the airport was not going to move at Houston’s pace.  Don’t worry, I got my beingets…at Crescent City Cafe in River Oaks.  Not NOLA, but I got my fix.

One more plug for Perch…they’re giving away a lucite ballroom chair! You know the Material Girls love them some lucite!  I’m entered…are you??