Where I've Lived (2) : New Orleans

New Orleans. It's a great place to live. Even though I was there right after Katrina, it still had heart. The people still had joy and food! And music! If you ever get a chance to go, do it. Go eat all the delicious food and go to a small hole in the wall bar and watch a live show. It's totally worth it.

I not only lived in NOLA for several years, but I also started my 365 Project in NOLA and so I have a lot of photos of everyday life, which is what a 365 project is all about! I am glad that I tried it while I was there, because there are so many fun and interesting things to take photos of! You can see other photos of New Orleans HERE. 

It's almost time for Mardi Gras again! Soon people will be partying in the streets! I know the King Cakes are already being eaten. And the babies are being discovered!

9th Ward : 2009

King Cake Babies

French Quarter Doors

St Bernard Parish

St Louis Cemetery

Mardi Gras Beads (Lower Garden District)

City Park

For my previous Where I've Lived: New Orleans, go HERE. Don't worry; there are other places on the way!

Have you ever been somewhere where they celebrate Carnival / Mardi Gras (or another big event)? Did you like it or would you rather visit a place when it is less crowded?

Where I've Lived

You have already seen my Where I Live series. You may or may not know that I travel a lot for work and so therefore have lived in some interesting places. I lived in New Orleans on and off for about 5 years. It is a great city and I can't wait to go back there someday. (You can see more photos of New Orleans on Photography Blog )

The theme today is BLUE, since I am hoping for the quick return of blue skies for my folks back East!  Fill up your bathtubs, buy batteries and don't forget to get money out of the ATM before the power goes out!

Earhart Ave

City Park

St Bernard Parish

Jackson Square

St Louis Cemetery

Rusty Pipes

Arabi

Where are some of the most interesting places you have lived? Do you live in the path of Irene? Do you have plenty of candles?

Eat It: 10 Places to Eat in New Orleans

If you ever go to New Orleans, I suggest straying away from the beaten (aka BOURBON St) path and going to see some of the better parts of the city. Of course, if it's your first time, you may want to go to Bourbon St, buy a 3 for 1 beer, eat a Po-Boy and some gumbo and see if you can see what all the fuss is about. By all means, do it.

However, when I tell people that one of the main things I miss about New Orleans is the food, I am NOT talking about Bourbon St. In fact, I am not even usually talking about the French Quarter, although there are some good restaurants there as well. I am talking about the REST of New Orleans. Both the every day stuff and the extravagant stuff. 

Here is, in my first ever episode of "Eat It", my list of food you should not miss if you are in...New Orleans, Louisiana.

1. Rio Mar: In the Warehouse District: This place is a seafood heaven. Eat it: five hour roast pork (I know, it's not a fish) and the bacon wrapped tuna. All the dishes are delicious. There are tapa style appetizers which are fun to share and are all great (I recommend especially the grilled octopus and the mussels with chorizo) The owner and head chef Adolfo, has a couple other restaurants (La Boca and A Mano) in the area, both which are also good. **NOTE: If you are a fan of OpenTable, you can book your reservation through them. (Menu HERE) 

2.  Surrey's: On Magazine Street, Lower Garden District: Great breakfast, brunch or lunch place (closes at 3). My advice to you is GET THERE EARLY as they have a line if you get there after about 9:30 or 10. Eat it: yummy crab omelet, great salmon scramble and super good grits! Also, the Costa Rican is good as well. The best part is all of the homemade tables, which are old magazine clippings, beads and other things like that surrounded by resin. You are definitely entertained while you are eating! Drink it: Fresh, homemade juices! (Menu HERE)

3. A Crab or Crayfish (pronounced "Craw-fish") Boil on the Fly (map): Down at the end of Audubon Park is an area near the river called The Fly. First you go to the Big Fisherman and buy yourself some boiled crabs or crayfish. They are already pre-seasoned and boiled and ready to eat. Next, you buy a lot of napkins and beer. Then you find a friend or two or twenty seven and you go down to the fly and you peel and eat until your fingers are sore. If you need a lesson on how to eat a crayfish, I could explain it to you. Or you can go HERE OR you can watch this video (this guy doesn't remove the vein though). Come to find out, there are A LOT of "how to eat a crayfish" tutorials online! Drink it: Budweiser. Or Miller Light. Take your pick.

4. Herbsaint - Warehouse District (St. Charles Ave) - A French inspired restaurant which is a tad pricey but has an excellent menu. Eat it: fried frog legs, pork belly or the duck leg confit. (MENU) Drink it: Sazerac - a NOLA classic!


5. Dick and Jennys - On Tchoupitoulas St (read my post about that weird name HERE). Eat it: duck confit salad, roasted pork tenderoin, Mary's Flourless Chocolate Cake . (MENU)

6. GW Finns - French Quarter - This place has awesome seafood. Eat it: smoked sizzling oysters, New Bedford Sea Scallops and white chocolate and caramel bread pudding. (MENU)

7. Camillia Grill - Carrollton Ave - Eat it: Hamburgers! Supposedly the best in town, and if the line has anything to do with it, they may be right! Drink it: Milkshake.

8. Lebanon's Cafe - Carrollton Ave - Eat it: hummus, lamb chops and vegetarian dolmas! Drink it: BYO--whatever. 

9. Slice Pizzeria - St Charles Ave, Lower Garden District - This place has good pizza and even better, they have a great Portuguese wine, Famega Vinho Verde. Drink it! Eat it: spinach, sun-dried tomato and artichoke OR The Bacon, Basil and Garlic. (MENU)

10. Slim Goodies:  I have written about them before. We used to go here almost every Sunday. It is run by a really down home lady named Kappa who makes you wait out on the sidewalk (and you almost always have to on the weekend!) for your name to be called. Eat it: The Little Goat, the fancy pants or the guatemalan. Drink it: BYO champagne and make your own mimosas! 

NOTE: There are about 400 other places I could recommend, but this is a good sampling of some of my favorite places.  

My idea is to make "Eat It" a regular feature. I know I am always looking for great places to eat in every city! If you have a city that you think I may have been to that you want recommendations for, let me know!  

Have you tried any of these places? What is your favorite place to eat in New Orleans? Do you have an recommendations for me? Where is your favorite place to eat in your city?

Come Back

I took a photo drive around the 9th ward the other day. I know most people think that New Orleans is "back to normal", but it is not. Sometimes it is things such as the fact that many schools are not up and running, nor will they ever be, at least not in the same way they were before. Sometimes you still see trailers, sometimes roads are closed. And...the fate of the 9th ward is still up in the air. Brad Pitt is there with his green architects, building houses that look like they belong in a different city. But that is not what I am talking about.

Some people have renovated, if their house was still standing. Some houses have been torn down and only the slabs remain. And many are still standing, empty and sad. Here is a photo collage of some of them.

Here is one of the Pitt Green Houses.

Do you think New Orleans will come back? Will it be better than before or will it have lost something along the way? Do you think the 9th ward will come back?

December Book Club Read

I am almost done. I should finish tonight. However, I am not quite sure that I like the way he writes. I feel like I should becuase he is "one of the greatest writers of all time". However, although I like what he writes about, I dont like the WAY he writes. Pamplona just isn't as exciting to me when Hemingway is the one telling me about it. We will see if I change my mind in the next 20 pages.

You can find out what else I have read and suggest books for me on goodreads.

Five Star Stay!

The Waldorf Astoria opened a new hotel in New Orleans this month. The Roosevelt Hotel, "Originally one of the South’s first grand hotels” underwent a $145 million restoration, which “has returned The Roosevelt to its place as the premier luxury hotel in New Orleans".

I didn’t really know the history of this hotel, so I decided to do a little research. Apparently, the hotel was built by Louis Grunewald, a German immigrant, and it opened as The Grunewald in 1893. In 1908, 400 rooms were added, and in 1923 it changed to the Roosevelt in honor of former president Theodore Roosevelt. It was the Roosevelt for 40 years before it was acquired by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts in 1965. It remained The Fairmont until 2005, when it was damaged by the storm. And today, the Roosevelt returns. It just re-opened July 1st and as it is (re)new, they are having marvelous summer deals. And, thankfully for me, it is a Hilton partner, which means not only do I get to enjoy a beautiful hotel, but I get points for staying there! Double score. So I decided to go and check it out.

It’s very nice, all done up in gilt and brocade with wide hallways and high ceilings. The staff is nice but not snooty; the rooms are tastefully done and the towels are the softest I have ever used. There are a few kinks that they need to work out as a new hotel – there were still tags on some of the furnishings; the refrigerator still had it’s EnergyStar sticker on it; There is only one trash can and it was not in the bathroom. But the soap leaves you smelling like lemon all day long and the sheets make you want to skip work and sleep all day.

A few more interesting facts: A suite on the 12th floor of The Roosevelt was (corrupt?) Governor Huey P. Long’s residence when he was in Louisiana. When the hotel was The Grunewald, it was home to The Cave, which is considered by some to be the first nightclub in the United States. The Fairmont was known for the Sazerac Bar and the Sazerac Room for the finest dining. So yesterday, we went to find out if it lived up to its fame.

Firstly, Sazerac is a cocktail made from whisky, bitters and absinthe. It is purported to be the first cocktail in the United States (a lot of firsts here today!) We had to have one, since we were in the Sazerac Room. It tasted to me like slightly licorice-tasting whisky. Not too bad though. See below (taken from Wikipedia)

TypeCocktail
ServedStraight up; without ice
Standard garnishLemon peel
Standard drinkware
Old fashioned glass
Commonly used ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Sazerac Rye whiskey
Three dashes Peychaud's Bitters
One sugar cube or simple syrup
1/4 ounce Absinthe
Preparation
One old fashioned glass is packed with ice. In a second old fashioned glass, a sugar cube and 3 dashes of Peychaud's Bitters are muddled. The Rye Whiskey is then added to the sugar/Bitters mixture. The ice is emptied from the first old fashioned glass and the Absinthe is poured into the glass and swirled to coat the sides of the glass. Any excess Absinthe is discarded. The Rye-Sugar-Bitters mixture is then poured into the Absinthe coated glass and the glass is garnished with a lemon peel.
Notes
Originally, the Sazerac was made and served in an egg cup called a coquetier.

Next was dinner – we came for the Foie Gras and it did not disappoint. My second favorite was the surf and turf, which was cooked to perfection and flavored just enough. Dessert was bread pudding, which had fresh fruit and a little bit of vanilla ice cream. All in all, it was a wonderful dinner. The waiter was nice, not in your face, but there when you needed him. There was a live “band” (one man) which was pleasant and not too loud.

So, overall, the Roosevelt has it all – class, charm, history, nice sheets and great dessert to boot! Five stars really does mean five stars!

All Work and No Play...

...makes Jack a dull boy, right? It also makes me a sleep deprived grandmother. Yeah, I have always been kind of a grandma; I am the one who goes to bed early and gets up early, who turns down happy hour to go home and knit (no, I am NOT kidding) or read, who spends one’s free time writing Christmas cards and thank you cards and journals...boring, right? Yup. That’s me.

Anyway, if you thought I was bad before, you should see me now. I recently moved to Baton Rouge, but am still required to come to New Orleans from time to time to attend meetings or do site visits. So, I am frequently driving back and forth from one office to the other (about 70 miles one way). This, along with 10 hours of work a day, does not leave much room for anything else. My routine is becoming very tiring. I get up around 4:30 a.m. and go to bed around 9. I run approximately an hour to an hour and a half a day. I eat fruit and sandwich for lunch while in the car on the way to a meeting. Phew. I don’t see how people do it for such long periods of time.

I used to go to school and work at the same time and it was similar to this. I got up at 5:30 to make it to a 7 o’clock class on time, then went straight from school to work and worked until 10 at night, so didn’t get home until 11 p.m. However, I have definitely gotten out of the habit of doing that! I have gotten spoiled by my free time. I have started to take it for granted. I guess this is a wake up call (fitting – since it seems like I am getting less sleep). Wake up and smell the...

Luckily I only have to stay in Baton Rouge for a few more weeks. I will be so happy when I am back living in New Orleans, where it only takes me 10 minutes to get to the office, where I can walk to the restaurants and bars downtown, where I can pop home for lunch, where I can visit with my friends... I will try not to take all of that for granted the next time around.

Slacker!

How quickly we forget how difficult it is to go back to exercising after a break. So I am supposed to be training for the NYC Half. Ha! I went on vacation, which was luckily an “active” vacation, meaning hiking and biking. However, I did not run the whole time I was there (about 10 days). Then I got home and immediately got sick. So… a couple more weeks pass by.

We now come to last week, my first week trying to get back into the swing of things. I went to the gym on Monday and was going to run (really!) but I forgot my socks (darn it!). I had just read an article about making excuses and how we need to stop doing it, so I put my shoes on (sans socks) and made my way to the treadmill. However, after about a mile I could feel a blister forming, so I walked a little and then lifted weights instead.

Day Two of “the revival” was spent procrastinating running by doing the elliptical and then lifting weights again. On Day Three an attempt to run was made, but was ended when Top Chef started due to a conflict of interest. On Day Four I committed to running a two mile race in City Park, and almost flaked at the last moment. Instead, I dragged my lazy butt to the park and ran two miles in the 850 heat and 80% humidity (at 7:15 pm!)

I almost died.

My lungs hurt; my legs hurt; I could feel my face burning bright red like a beacon in the night. Once finished, I walked with quivering legs to the line for water and drank about one hundred and forty tiny Dixie cups full of water.

Turns out I ran my fastest mile so far – about 8 minutes. However, this is only the beginning of a very long journey which ends in New York City and lasts for 13.1 miles. So, two miles at a time, day by day, I struggle to reach that path. I have a long way to go before I am ready.

Practice Makes Perfect

Tomorrow, Saturday May 12th, at 8:30 a.m. I will be standing in a group of people, getting ready to run. This is a small run; we can't run very far in New Orleans in the summer without falling down from heat stroke or dehydration. It is only 3 miles, which is roughly 5K, which is a good distance for a practice run. Ha - a 15 dollar practice run, where I will get another "free" shirt (I love it - pay 15 dollars and get a free shirt! Or sometimes it is more like - pay 50 dollars and get a free shirt!)

I have started training again. I dont know if I am going to get into the NYC Half or not, but if I do get in, I plan to have at least 12 weeks of training, which is what I had for the Mardi Gras Marathon. This way I am keeping up a steady schedule of running, keeping in shape and training all at the same time. If this week were week 1, I would have a 13 week training schedule.

Luckily this week I only have to run...lemme check my schedule...16 miles! What?!

So. It has begun. Again.

Men At Work Part Deux

A while ago I wrote about the funny nicknames we give the old guys at work. This is an update to that blog... I am still in the same office with a lot of the same people, but we have made up more names. I have also added a few acronyms (we can't help it; it becomes a habit to use them!) that we have learned and/or made up since the last post.

THE PEOPLE:
1. The Loud Talker (LT): When this guy got here, I thought he was sooooo rude. Then I learned that he doesn't hear very well...oops!
2. Grumbles: Yup, he is back! I don't sit by him anymore so I don't get the brunt of it, but he still lives up to his name!
3. Multi Meeting Man (MMM): ALWAYS in meetings. Always calling everyone into meetings.
4. Big Mouth Bass (BMB): Guy who never stops talking. Ever. Even when he is eating. He probably talks in his sleep.
5. Sour Krause: Actually a nice guy with lots of things to say, but he doesn't smile very much.
6. The Manatee: I can't really say much about this guy. Let's just say he doesn't move very fast. And a guy named Seth that we used to work with does a dead on impression of him.


THE ACRONYMS:
VIM: Very Important Meeting (usually called by MMM - above)
BFE: I always thought of this as Butt F Egypt, meaning "a very far ways away", as in "The parking lot is packed! I had to park in BFE today!" However, in this business it means "Base Flood Elevation". Not as fun, right?
SAC: Sav-A-Center, a grocery store (there is also WF: Whole Foods, and TJs: Trader Joes)

more to come later...

Music! Makes the People! Come Together!

Yeah. It is that time of the year again. Jazzfest.

This is a 6 day event (starting this Friday) that we attend in order to see hundreds of bands that we could normally see for free at any time of the year. We also go to eat hundreds of different local foods that are double in price as any normal time of year. Oh - and to spend more money on one beer than we normally would on four.

Having said that, I am still mysteriously drawn to it. There are 8 or 9 different stages and usually the two or three bands I really want to see are all playing at the same time on three different stages that are the farthest amount apart. Again, and I don't know why, but I am mysteriously drawn...

So...I will go. For two days probably. I will pay 50 bucks to run back and forth between stages, eat 18 different kinds of food and drink way too much beer, causing me to fall asleep around 7:30 (music ends at 7). GOOD TIMES!

THE LINEUP:
Friday, 27: Van Morrison, Subdudes, Bonerama, Kermit Ruffins, Astral Project
Saturday, 28: Rod Stewart, Norah Jones, Ludacris, Rebirth, Groove Academy
Sunday, 29: Brad Paisley, Bonnie Raitt, Jill Scott, Jerry Lee Lewis, Theresa Andersson
Friday, 4: ZZ Top, Counting Crows, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Ellis Marsalis, Better Than Ezra
Saturday, 5: Galactic, Cowboy Mouth, John Mayer, John Legend, Allman Brothers, The IguanasSunday, 6: Allen Toussaint, Steely Dan, Papa Grows Funk, Anders Osborne, Joss Stone, The Radiators, New Edition, Taj Mahal

Going Swimmingly

When I got in the pool, I was not sure what I was doing. I have swum before. I can swim. But I had no idea how far or how long I could swim. I didn't even know how far you could go in what amount of time. In an attempt to find out, two weeks ago I started swimming at the gym.

The first time, I swam for 10 minutes. It went something like this. Minute one through minute five was easy. During minutes six to eight I had a little difficulty because my arms were getting tired (damn useless sticks!). I struggled with my tired arms as well as my breathing through minutes nine and ten and finally came to a stop at the end of the pool. I had done 10 laps. Ten long laps. I felt like I had swum miles. In fact, I had only swum about a third of a mile.

I have a long way to go still.

I have always been a swimmer; I grew up by the river; we swam every day in the summer time and even some days in the spring and fall. My cousins and I would race each other from one side of the river to the other, often going back and forth many times. I have swum far; we used to see how far up the river we could swim. However, I have never swum for an extended amount of time. And I have never had to swim while being timed, or when it mattered at all. I recently decided to train for a (so far un-chosen) triathlon and so now am swimming not only for fun but for braggin rights.

Luckily, I am getting better.

I went back to the pool last week (I am only going once a week right now) and swam for 17 minutes. 16 laps. 800 meters. HALF A MILE! Which is what I will need to do (if not more) for a sprint triathlon. So...all is not lost. Now I just have to try and build my endurance. And figure out how to get from the lake to the bike to the road without hurting anyone or myself... I guess I still have a long way to go.

So Much To Say

I feel like I should have a lot to say, but I don't. I have actually been so busy that I cannot think about anything other than my next run, my next trip or what is going on at work tomorrow/next week/this weekend...

First of all, I have been taking advantage of the fact that we are allowed to travel on the weekends by...traveling on the weekends. Every weekend. As fun at it has been, I am getting tired... I have been to Pensacola, San Francisco and Baltimore in the last 3 weekends, and this weekend I am going to Grayton Beach, FL for some Easter weekend fun in the sun with some friends.

Secondly, I am training to run another half marathon. This one takes place in Louisville, KY. I am very excited about it, because we get to run through Churchill Downs as part of the course. Afterwards, there is beer and free tickets to a horse race, which I have never been to before. And at...Churchill Downs! That is pretty cool.

After that, I am planning on doing a triathlon, so am also trying to train for that at the same time. I just started swimming today and it is kicking my ass! I only swam about a third of a mile - it took me 10 mins - it zapped all my arm strength (haha - WHAT arm strength you say?) and it took my breath away...Literally! For the race, I will have to swim at least a half mile, if not more. Whew.

So, the rest of my time is spent working (which is good but I recently switched positions and so have been trying to learn the ropes etc.), eating (I tend to do a lot of that!) and sleeping. Pretty much in that order.

So...that is the reason I have nothing to say.

St. Pat's: What we Have to Look Forward To..

I had a really good video from St. Pat's, but I can't get it to load on here for some reason. Youtube hates me. So... Here are a few pictures of our wild and crazy day. We started off with breakfast at Atchafalaya, then went to the Bulldog on Magazine for some cider, green beer and nasty green jello shots. I think I was ready for bed by 8 p.m. I almost forgot - we also went to the French Quarter and we were starving but everywhere was

PACKED, so we went to Wendy's (yeah the first time in a LONG TIME I have had fast food!) thinking it would be fast. It wasn't. We waited for a long time with a lot of drunk people and finally got up to the front just to be served by a girl who was wearing her visor so low there was no way she could have been able to see us (or anyone) at all. Then we watched a guy get kicked out by the rent-a-cop for calling Wendy's a Dick or some sort of nasty word. What an adventure!

Oh What A Day!

I stepped in dog poop twice today. Twice in one day, what are the odds of that? Both times I was wearing my sneakers and of course the poop was inbedded deeply in the tread. Where I was there was no grass, only cobblestoned streets, which do nothing to aleviate my problem. I scraped and I scraped but nothing. On the other hand, the city that I am in is beautiful. It more than makes up for the fact that I smell like crap (literally!)

I wonder what is next?

And Then It Was Over

So I ran the half marathon. Now what?

For the last twelve weeks I have had a goal, a so called "light at the end of the tunnel". Now I have reached the end, I have seen the light. So what do I do now?

Options:

1. Another half marathon - I saw an awesome looking one in Salt Lake City... or there are dozens more, all over the US and abroad.
2. Sprint Triathlon - shorter than a hard core normal triathlon - usually about a .5-1 mi swim, 3-4 mi run and 12-16 mi bike. This is what I am leaning towards. I even bought a new swimsuit.
or 3. Aids bike ride - from San Francisco to L.A. in a week in June- average of about 100 miles a day. I could do this but to do so you have to raise money...5000 dollars, I think. Hmmm. Not my cup of tea.

I think my June turnaround will be activity based. So...if anyone has any good suggestions of places to go/activities to participate in...Let me know!

...And I'm Spent!

Its over. We are done. We finished in just over two hours, which was my goal. We didnt quite make it as fast as I wanted, but we were only 2 minutes slower. If we hadn't stopped to pee, we would have been fine. Actually, out of some 900+ people, we were about 300. Not too bad; I think on a bell curve that would be a B.

It was a beautiful day, 65 degrees, not a cloud in the sky... We ran the first few miles pretty easily, then Kaylen joined us around mile 5 and ran with us to about mile 10. Those miles flew by; I don't know if it was becuase Kaylen was there or what, but we seemed to reach mile 10 very quickly. It was more difficult to get from 10 to 11 and even more so from 11 to 12. When we reached the 12 mile marker, we tried to speed up a little, but by that time I could not feel my legs and my feet felt like they had been trapped in my shoes for weeks. Mira was having leg trouble; I was having foot trouble. We limped along until the last little bit where Dad joined us and ran with us to the finish. We sprinted the last 100 yards and made it across the finish line at 2:13.

Not bad for someone who could barely run two miles without having a coronary three months ago.

So - what is next, you ask. That has yet to be determined. Possibly another half (it is a good excuse to travel around and see new places) or maybe a sprint triathlon (3-4 mile run, 12-16 mile bike, roughly a half mile swim).

The world is my oyster!

Day 82: The Pressure is On

Countdown until the race is almost over. 2 days left....Yikes!

Today we are going to take one last short run. The weather outside is beautiful; it is about 70 today. We plan to run a few miles just to stay loose and then rest all day tomorrow. Tomorrow night we are having a carb load (pasta) pot-luck where we will stuff ourselves silly in hopes of sustaining energy for the next day, and then....

...we will run. We will run as far and as fast as we can.

The race begins at 7, so will we will be out there at 6, jiggling up and down, stretching, peeing one last time... I don't know what it is (nerves maybe) but right before a race I always have to pee about 45 times. If you wait until 10 mins before the race, there is a line about a mile long. Actually, random fact - we were talking about what serious runners do when they have to pee (or worse!) during a race. Apparently they just go. On themselves. Obviously I AM NOT a serious runner. I don't mind adding 1.4 minutes to my time in order to experience the comfort of peeing in a toilet.

Another thing you often do not hear about is the chafing effect which comes from sweating and then rubbing your legs together for over two hours. This is a serious thing. To avoid it, many people take large handfuls of Vaseline or Boudreaux's Butt Paste and shove it down their pants and between their legs before and during the race. I have yet to witness this, but I cannot wait. Luckily, I do not really sweat, so hopefully I will not be using the Butt Paste.

I am nervous; I am excited; When I complete this, I will have completed my longest run ever AND a half marathon. Next up - sprint triathlon...

WEEK 12 (the last week):

Total Miles Run: 185
Ave per week: 15
Longest Run so Far: 12

Parti Gras!

Parades! Beads! Booze! Boobs! Costumes! Birthday Suits! Kids! Toys! Boys!

Yes there is a little bit of everything here in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. And this year, we were all a part of it. My brother came to visit, along with Lil John (from Costa Mesa), Big Jon (from Beantown) and Rachel (Nashville), who is a permanent "guest" of ours.

What did we do? We saw a lot of parades, each very cool, with great floats, marching bands and lots of loot. Our favorites: Muses, Baccus and Zulu. We drank a lot of booze, but that just can't be helped..it is Mardi Gras! We showed our boobs to everone passing by...Just kidding! Only Doyle did that... We got TONS of beads...what do you do with them all when it is all over? I have enough beads to kill a small horse. Or should I say "FILL" a small horse. We went to the Maringy, the French Quarter, Uptown, Downtown and all around...

Day 73: I am Not Dead Yet!

…And it keeps getting easier. Last Friday, we ran 11 miles. The week before that, we ran 10 miles. After that 13 is just another drop in the bucket.

We began to do this after looking at a map and realizing that from the office to our hotel was roughly 10 miles. We have since switched hotels and now it is 11 miles to our new destination, which is even better. It is a nice run too – from the office, we run along the levee for about 5 miles, then cut over to the park, run along the park for about half a mile, then cut over to the street and run up St. Charles Ave the rest of the way. St. Charles Ave is where the streetcar used to run along before the hurricane and so now there is a nice area right in the middle that is not being used and is a perfect running trail.

Last Friday, everyone was getting ready for the Mardi Gras parades, so it was quite an adventure. People with BBQs, kids, booze, food, chairs, tents and dogs were setting up all over the place. There were cops everywhere; in fact I think the average was about 5 cops for one block. I did not know that there were that many cops in New Orleans! I think they must bus them in from Disneyland or something.

We arrived at the hotel in about 1 hour and 50 minutes, which is consistent with our 10 minute per mile pace. I think we are ready for a full 13 miles!