Moving on…

I have left the New Orleans area and moved on to D.C. Check out my new blog at DC Capital Letters! New Orleans…it was real.

It’s the car trouble that never ends….

…yes it goes on and on, my friends!

After breaking down four times in one week last summer, I thought ‘Hey, maybe I’m done with car trouble for a little.’ Yeah, no.

Right before Mardi Gras, I was taking my car to Target and 10 feet away from my house it suddenly stopped accelerating. I knew something was wrong the day before when it had a similar, hydroplaning effect. Every told me ‘The roads are wet – it’s just hydroplaning!’ Well I wish it had been true.

I had to have the car towed to the shop where they informed they that it was the transmission. Super bad.

They’ve had my car for almost three weeks now. THREE WEEKS. My past experiences with Royal Honda in Metairie have been great – they were nice, efficient and constantly updated me. But this time I have had constant trouble getting in touch with them, having to deal with a really rude  receptionist. I also have gotten very few calls giving me a status update. These people better pray that my car runs smooth for a good, long time. Because if it doesn’t, I have a lot of pent-up, impatient rage just waiting to come out and scream at them.

Mardi Gras wrap-up

If you couldn’t tell from my lack of posts, we pretty much steered clear of the Mardi Gras festivities until right before the big day.

It was kind of nice – our street was like a ghost town, too far away from a parade to provide parking. No loud base from our neighbors, no one taking our parking spots…overall it was quiet but nice.

Joan Jett at aMUSEment, 2012

But the weekend of Mardi Gras, my friend Stacey joined us once again and we hit the town. We started off with Muses and the aMUSEment party on Thursday. Joan Jett was amazing and the best entertainment yet.

On Friday, we headed to Avenue Pub to watch the parades. We watched there last year and it turned out well – this year was even better. We caught so many coveted light-up throws that we could barely carry them all home. The only downside is that we pretty much missed the biggest parade, Morpheus, but the parades were so behind schedule. We left at 11 p.m. and the Morpheus parade had just begun. For those of you who don’t know, it lasts well over an hour and we had been out since 5 p.m. screaming our heads off.

It rained and was gross all day on Saturday, but we headed to Rose Nails for a really nice and relaxing mani/pedi – after trying a few places on Maple Street that charged three times as much. We headed to Bourbon that night with some family.

On Sunday we headed to the French Market and had poboys with an excellent view on a Quarter balcony. Great way to wrap up the weekend.

We thought about going to the parades on Fat Tuesday, but after five straight years of Mardi Gras I was a little sick of parades. Maybe next year.

Love and liquor…

…not necessarily together.

Mardi Gras 2011

Mardi Gras is officially upon us here in the Big Easy. The first parade was last weekend (Krewe du Vieux) and the Muses had their float viewing party on Sunday.

We headed to Avenue Pub on Saturday instead of the parade because it looked like rain, and the last place in New Orleans you want to be when it’s raining is the French Quarter. I glittered some shoes yesterday for a friend riding in Muses and somehow managed to also edit the paper last night.

This weekend we may head to some Metairie parades, which I tend to like because they’re a lot more laid-back than parades in town. There is no pushing or waiting hours in advance for these week-before-MG parades. I usually get to the Clearview Mall about 40 minutes before the parades, waltz right out onto Veterans Memorial and have about 100 feet of roadside to myself. It’s a good warm up for the following weekend.

Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras 2011

Stacey will be coming in town again for the big parades in two weeks – Muses, Orpheus, Bacchus, etc. and for the aMUSEment party where Joan Jett will be performing next Thursday! I cannot wait to see her live; I really think she’s the perfect girl-power performer for the party. But my biggest point of interest in the coming weeks is that WILL FERRELL will be reigning over the Bacchus parade. I have waited a long time to see him – maybe I’ll get my chance next week.

And for once, I’m way ahead of the game for Valentine’s Day next week. I got Wesley something very sentimental and something very practical – they balance each other out I think.

You might be a New Orleanian if…

…you enjoy smashing side mirrors off of parked cars at 8 a.m.

This morning, I left my house and rounded the corner to find two cars – one on either side of the road – parked extremely close to each other. Now, this is a fairly normal occurence in New Orleans. But being someone who lives here, I’m usually not squeamish about trying to get through tight spots.

But this spot was a little too tight for me. I attempted it, and then began to back out in abject failure. That is, until the driver behind me refused to back out and yelled at me to go through the cars or get out of his way.

I pulled to the side and proceeded to watch him and eight other drivers plow their way through the tight space and smash one of the parked car’s side mirror to bits.

Not the actual mirror, but similar damage

The glass was shattered, the mirror was bent backward and these drivers just kept at it like it was no big deal. I was shocked at this horrible driving etiquette – even for New Orleans. [I once saw a car deliberately back into another car in order to make sure they were as close as possible in a parallel parking spot.]

Granted: those cars should not have been parked so close. They were both large SUVs and should have known better. But the car that lost a mirror might have been there first – they could have done nothing wrong. And now they’re going to have hundreds of dollars in damages. Disgusting.

Attn: Uptown dog owners

I like dogs as much as the next girl who doesn’t own one, but I really don’t like some dog owners who feel like their dog’s No. 2 is every else’s problem.

For the last few weeks, we have gotten a special delivery of some dog doo doo on our lawn every other day or so.  And we do not have a dog. Today, I saw the culprit.

A girl was standing in front of our house, talking to a friend and letting her dog do its business as we rounded the corner coming home from a walk. As I rapidly approached her to confront her, she literally turned and speed walked/jogged away.

Seriously?

She clearly does not know me because I proceeded to run around the corner after her and yell in front of multiple onlookers: “NEXT TIME WE WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE YOU PICKING UP YOUR DOG’S POOP!!!” But now at least I know what she looks like. Next time I see her I will personally give her some plastic bags since she apparently doesn’t know where to get them.

It infuriates me – people like that make all the dog owners in my neighborhood who DO pick up their dog’s poop look bad. There are so many dog owners around the neighborhood and almost all of them pick up their dog’s business. This one girl has to ruin it for everyone. Ugh.

Rant complete.

Law school limbo

I’m so tired of this dance. Waiting and waiting…if you know me you probably know I’m extremely impatient. I hate waiting around for things and that is pretty much what we’ve been doing for the past three years. Waiting for our “real” lives to begin. Waiting for law school to be over so we can actually spend time together again. Waiting for us to both be employed so we can keep our heads above the water.

This waiting is the hardest part of law school for me. I know Wesley is enrolled, but this has been just as big a commitment for me, as any law school spouse will tell you. And New Orleans makes it even harder to get through every day.

If it’s not our shitty apartment breaking or the filth covering our cars and shoes, it’s the bi-polar weather and the nearly constant smell of garbage in the air. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some good things here: the history, the food and the festivals. But for me, the city has made an irreversibly bad impression from its complete mismanagement and political corruption to the rude, clique-ish residents/drivers and pock-marked streets/sidewalks. Even things that most people like – for instance, the slow pace of life – I find horribly annoying. I mean, I’ve got places to go and things to do, I don’t need to wait an hour for you to bring me my lunch check! Not everyone here is on vacation!

I cannot wait to start the next phase of our lives – whether it’s in the Nola ‘burbs or a whole new place. The hunt for a job is on, and Wesley has been searching all weekend. In this laid-back environment it’s hard to even get that going – I keep reminding him that we have a lot to get done and only four months left to do it in. Come May, it will be decision time – whether we’re ready or not. I can’t wait – it’s about time something moved fast around here.

[On a side note, we’re gearing up for another Mardi Gras – one of the few things I love about this city. A friend invited me to a craft party yesterday where I made this awesome wreath. I am pretty impressed with myself if I do say so, lol.]

The zoo is in town

Tigers and elephants everywhere! The BCS championship is tonight in the Dome and the city is going crazy.

People are taking off work, businesses are closing early and streets are being cordoned off to make room for all the tourists and locals alike.

We got a preview last night when the Bama fans across the street from us set off some fireworks for a few hours – that was fun.

I’m really torn about who I want to win tonight. I mean, I was raised a Bama fan, so ideally I would like them to win. But their win would also mean hours of loud partying for the Bama fan across the street and if those fireworks were any preview, it would be a loud, long celebration.

On the other hand, if the Tigers take the game there will undoubtedly be scores of fans streaming out of the bars down the street every hour, on the hour. And of course, they will stop on our corner to scream their drunken rants and loudly call their friends/a cab – because apparently our corner is the best place ever to do that.

On the up side, the forecast calls for rain tonight so that would be awesome. Rain = no permanent loud noises outside of our house, only passing noises as fans run to their cars/homes. The rain would also drown out those kids across the street.

So I’m rooting for the rain…and the tide.

Let Carnival begin!

Phunny Phorty Phellows on the St. Charles streetcar on Twelfth Night

Last night was Twelfth Night, a.k.a. Kings Day, a.k.a. the official start of the Mardi Gras season in New Orleans.

Wesley and I headed to the Eiffel Society for the Muses party and watched the Phunny Phorty Phellows ride by on the streetcar. The great thing about watching the PPP with the Muses is that they riders went all-out and actually got off of the car to greet people.

At the party, we  had the good – or bad – food experience of trying sausage wrapped in bacon for the first time. It tasted good, but I could feel my arteries clogging after one bite. We also got to have our first bites of King Cake for the season.

I can’t wait for this year’s Mardi Gras line-up; it includes Will Ferrell (my absolute favorite) as the Grand Marshall for Bacchus and Joan Jett headlining at the aMUSEment party! If I get a glimpse of Will Ferrell it will make up for me being the only person in Nola who has never spotted a celebrity in town.

The parades kick off in February with Krewe du Vieux – a personal favorite for me and Wesley. This year’s theme is “Crimes Against Nature” – last year it was a bunch of penises parading down Bourbon, so I can only imagine what this year’s outfits will be.

The same weekend, Muses will have their bead distribution and float viewing party. I can’t wait to get all of the swag I ordered last year and viewing the floats is one of my favorite parts of being a member.

Back in Uptown…

Today we took our bikes in to the shop on Oak Street – finally – and learned that they will be pretty easy and cheap to fix. The guy there was super nice, hopefully this experience is better than our bike-buying experience at Wally World. We also headed to Patisserie for lunch and had some really excellent sandwiches – I really cannot recommend them enough.

Getting ready for the end of the world

According to ABC News, the “countdown to the apocalypse is on” and I can’t help but wonder if I’m ready.

As an educated, mildly religious and somewhat rational person, I can honestly say I’m not too worried that the world will end on Dec. 21, 2012 as some believe the Mayans have predicted. But on the other hand, I can’t say that I’m not a little irrationally uneasy about it. But there isn’t much we can all do about it except sit around, wait and maybe plan.

So I’ve been thinking about my New Year’s resolutions – something else that I’ve never been able to take very seriously or keep to. I’ve vowed to exercise more, clean more, learn more, etc, etc but nothing has ever stuck.

This year I’m starting off with some bold, difficult tasks for myself. But maybe the looming end-days will give me the motivation that I lacked before? Time will tell.

All I know for sure is that a lot of stress is in store for this coming year – not sure yet if it will be good or bad stress, but stressful it will undoubtedly be. So to be as prepared as possible, I have a range of resolutions from eating healthier, being more active, sticking to my Italian and … drum roll please … taking candy completely out of my diet. Now I’m not so crazy to think I can cut sugar or desserts completely out, but candy specifically will be avoided – things like candy bars, cookies, Hershey kisses, etc. Wish me luck!