i been losing sleep

So I woke up today convinced that I was getting sick - and it's possible that I'm still getting sick. But I dug out my emergency supply of echinacea, had a gigantic glass of orange juice for breakfast, and took a couple of naps, so I'm hoping that I staved it off. Of course, it all went sideways when I went to Bourbon Street...

But I digress. I spent the morning considering Thorington, which was probably a lost cause and I should have just gone to some workshops instead. But I had a v. tasty breakfast while I did so (oyster benedict, hold the muffin - they said the oysters were dusted in cornmeal, but upon receiving them I think it's likely they had some flour as well, so unfortunately I will probably die). Then I came back to the hotel, grabbed some coffee, went to a workshop on how to approach bloggers for reviews (something I need to get much better at), and spent some quality time having a snack in the bar and meeting another writer whom I hadn't met before. Then I went to Cafe du Monde to work out my plot issues with Thorington over a cafe au lait, but that was probably a mistake since I finally, fully succumbed to the siren's call of beignets and had a whole order of them, which, as you may know, is really not good for me.

But the coffee revived me, and the plot is getting better every time I work on it, so that's good. Then I came back, had a drink with Amber and Allyn, took an eight-minute nap, put on a dress and slathered on some fresh foundation, and met my friend Grace and her sister for the conference pub crawl. We were supposed to go to ten different bars on Bourbon Street, but instead we went straight to the one our friend Tina was hosting at, and we holed ourselves up in the corner of the bar and nursed frozen margaritas (dangerous) while gossiping and catching up.

So that was pretty much perfect, but the fun continued when I crashed their after-pubcrawl dinner at a fish place nearby, where I had yet another awesomely delicious meal. The appetizers were great (particularly the pork belly), and my entree was some sort of scallop/fish thing (they called it a 'scalibut') on top of lobster risotto. It was so rich and so crazy that I couldn't finish it, but it was tasty nonetheless, especially with a glass of wine.

Sadly, though, I must sign off; I'm going to die if I don't get some sleep, and I need to stave off both illness and hangover (a losing combination). Goodnight!