Archive for the ‘Mardi Gras’ Category

When The Saints Come Marching In

Feb 10th, 10 / 3 Comments

When I left New Orleans in June of 2005 I was ready to leave. Blow the popsicle stand so-to-speak. I was done and ready for my next great adventure, in the city of Chicago. I was going to have SNOW and lattes and wear pencil skirts and pointy toed shoes and be downright fabulous while I did something big-city-girl like. It wasn’t until I’d moved to Chicago and realized that pointy toed shoes and snow don’t mix very well and sheesh lattes are an expensive habit that I realized, belatedly,  that I’d left my heart in New Orleans. I was much more a seersucker and straw hat kind of girl than I was black suit and bodega woman. Then of course The Storm hit New Orleans and with all that flood water a part of my soul died. I thought about leaving law school and driving down there to sleep in a tent and help, but my parents were able to smack me upside the head remind me that those non-professional tent dwelling volunteers often did more harm than good.

 

So I waited and signed up for the first law school sponsored trip to New Orleans I could. While we drove down under the auspices of offering free help, the legal clinic was over-staffed that week and we were asked if we’d mind doing some more “hands-on” work. The rest of the week found me with a sledge hammer and haz-mat gear cleaning out two houses of putrid, rotting filth and stench. I saw things I don’t ever want to see again. I smelled things that only smell of death and despair. I found elements of people’s lives in mud and leaves and at times all you could was walk outside to find a can of water and weep.

I was devastated. I couldn’t stand driving past one more place with a memory only to see it was gone, shuttered or swollen from the flood water. But I worked as hard as I could for an entire week, sleeping on a cot and taking 2 minute showers with cold water, which for those interested, isn’t nearly enough time to get the stench out of your hair.

 

Katrina 3

 

Katrina 2

 

Katrina 5

 

After I returned to Chicago I began plotting my next trip back. Bachelorette parties, weddings, Mardi Gras and graduations- I’ve been back about 5 times since Katrina ravaged the city, and each time more is open, more has been rebuilt and more laughter is in the air. I hope one day to move back or own a piece of property there so I can enjoy Jazz Fest & po’boys to my hearts content.

 

After the storm however, when people discovered I’d moved to Chicago shortly before the hurricane, people ask, almost incredulously, “Have you been back…since?” And when I say yes, many times in fact, they furrow their brow. “Well…is it..ok? I mean, is there anywhere to go?”

 

These questions would always cause me to launch into a tirade. “YES” I’d practically shout, “Of course there are places to go!!!”  GO! Plan a trip! Convince your company to open an office there. Go down for vacation, convince your next-door-neighbor that Tulane and Loyola and Dillard are not just places of higher education but a place that you can go and truly rebuild a city and your soul. Make an overnight stop on your way to or from a cruise and enjoy one of the best restaurants in the country. Attend Jazz Fest, Mardi Gras, Voodoo Fest. Vote for NOLA as the location of your next trade show or conference!!

 

I’d walk away from each conversation holding onto a glimmer of hope that for each person who advocated on behalf of the Big Easy, perhaps someone would be inspired to visit. Each visit meant another person to spread the word, to fill up hotels, to spend a few dollars and bring vital tourist dollars back to a city that makes its living on showing the rest of the world a slower pace of  life and a damn good time.

 

When the Superbowl ended and the confetti began falling, I could only stare and smile. B wondered why I was so quiet- after all my team had just won the Superbowl- but I just watched in a daze. My pride for Our Boys is matched only by those brothers-in-arms who have the same love for a city that I do, but my hope – my biggest hope – is that with this Superbowl win people will stop asking.

 

Have you been back?

 

Is anything there?

 

Is it safe? I mean, have things been rebuilt?

 

Really? You think so?

 

I hope the Saints showed the world just how ready New Orleans is. As for the rest of the Who Dat Nation…well, we already knew.

Chicago, Mardi Gras, New Orleans

2009 In Review

Dec 29th, 09 / 1 Comment

I’ve been reading a lot on Twitter, CNN, blogs & various other things that I read (not including the soup can labels, mostly because they avoid discussing the events of the past year in the middle of their sodium content) that many people feel 2009 was the worst year ever. Based on some of their stories I think that this is true for them. I’ve been pondering how I feel about 2009 – so before my obligatory NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS, FTW! blog post (come on, you know it is coming) I thought I’d take a look over my 2009. I could never categorize it as the worst year ever, but I’ll fully admit that it was a year of high high’s and low low’s, best described as a topsy turvy whirlwind.

 

January 2009: I ushered in the New Year after just leaving/losing my first real job. I hear it was cold outside in January, but I didn’t do much leaving the house. Instead I wallowed and checked lawcrossing.com obsessively, while moping around the house and refusing to do much of anything. B’s Grandmother passed away after suffering greatly from cancer and we spent a snowy weekend in Michigan in mourning. Utter misery- check!

 

February 2009: In an attempt to do something other than wallow and mope I packed my bags & flew down to New Orleans where I spent time with some of my closest college girlfriends (read: free therapy & laughter) and stayed a week with Katie from Overflowing Brain, which was divine. I ate too much Popeyes, caught some Mardi Gras beads & met some other blog & Twitter friends for the first time. I smiled a lot and came back to Chicago feeling like I had a renewed sense of hope in the job search. Upon my return, B swept me off my feet and proposed one sub-zero night on the lakefront. It wasn’t until we got indoors that I was willing to part with my gloves to put the ring on!

 

March 2009: I spent a few days in newly-engaged bliss (read: hellloooo wedding magazines!) before my Mom called to tell me my nephew was ready to make his grand entrance into the world. I enacted an movie-worthy scene of throwing together a suitcase, dashing to the airport, making it on the last flight home, racing to the hospital and sprinting into the maternity ward moments before Baby Z was born- it was magical and special and my Godson is perfect. I spent some time at home, snuggling with the newest addition in the family and finding my wedding dress with my Mom.

 

April 2009: EMPLOYMENT baby! Need I say more?

 

May 2009: I turned 26 years old (a fact that I’ve really struggled to remember the past few months, telling someone I was 24 and telling someone else I was 28, both times fully believing what I was saying), began settling into the new job and generally felt content with life. I also survived the swine flu, which really deserves a gold medal in my opinion.

 

June 2009: B sailed and sailed some more and I worked on wedding planning. I was so anxious for summer to come & go- my fall wedding was dangling in front of me!

 

July 2009: My little brother beat me to the alter & got married, with me as a bridesmaid & B as the officiant. It was a quaint, homespun wedding with pretty flowers, delicious food and a towering buttercream covered cake that coated me in icing from head to toe in the preparation hours. My parents house was filled with family and friends and it was nothing short of lovely. My favorite memory of the night however was after the wedding- my parents and B and I were sweeping up the main floor of the house when a spectacular summer rain storm blew through- we opened all the doors and smelled the sage brush and clean rain and watched it pour down and lightening strike the mountain tops. I also moved, a feat that never gets the billing it deserves as The Worst Thing Ever. Boxes, boxes, packing packing, hauling, hauling, packing, unpacking, mess, disaster, boxes.

 

 

August 2009: B turned 28 and we flew to Savannah to finalize wedding plans. We laughed at how sticky and hot it was and how clever we were for thwarting the Southern humidity by planning an October wedding. (Karma: see, bitch.) We settled on flowers, selected organ music and marveled at how we were getting married in two months!

 

September 2009: Weddingweddingweddingweddingwedding. And then we finalized and licked and stamped and finalized some more. September was consumed with The Planning.

 

October 2009: October was magical. I married the man of my dreams in a fairy tale wedding – elegant, simple and sophisticated. My best friends and family surrounded and supported me and it truly was the happiest day of my life. After sleeping as much as possible the next day, B and I took off for a fantastic week in Napa Valley where I ate a lot of cheese and drank even more amazing wine. Words don’t do justice to the emotions and happiness that surround the month of October, but let me just impart on you: best. month. ever.

 

November 2009: We successfully hosted our first family holiday! The turkey was moist, the side dishes were delicious & no one went to the hospital with stitches or food-related illness. I found out that Law With Grace was expecting her own little bundle of joy in 2010 and managed to do most of my holiday shopping. FTW!

 

December 2009: B & I threw a Christmas party (what we hope will become an annual tradition), celebrated our first Christmas as married folks & ate too many cookies.

 

I’m excited to see what 2010 will bring- I’ll keep my fingers crossed that it is a smoother year, with less pitching between emotions (see January v. October) but with equal levels of joy, love and happiness.

I love this crazy, tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful, beautiful life

Chicago, Family, Happy Holidays, Mardi Gras, Married Life, New Orleans, Travel, Wedding