Yep, it's true. We have lived in New Orleans for 6 months! We moved to New Orleans for an adventure and it has definitely been one. We've had so many awesome experiences from hiking swamplands and seeing alligators face to face to hearing some of the best live jazz ever. We've been to seafood festivals, burlesque shows, and countless parades. Mostly though, we've eaten our way through the city. We are actually approaching our 100th dining experience in the Greater New Orleans area and we're trying to decide where exactly we want our 100th spot to be. We've also realized that we've spent so much time focusing on FOOD that we haven't seen quite enough live MUSIC. So... we hope to up the music intake over our next 6 months (not that we necessarily plan to decrease our food intake!!)
Not only have we have had a lot of fun, we're also growing as individuals. Our ideas and perceptions are being challenged and we have had no choice but to question and reconsider what we thought we knew about the world. It is amazing how little it is possible to understand when you live in the same culture your entire life.
Today I have decided to post a picture from the trip that started it all- our first trip to New Orleans only a couple months after we met. New Orleans felt so magical and romantic. Each time we returned we felt as though New Orleans literally held on to us trying to keep us as we drove north back to Chattanooga. We worried that moving here may take away some of the magic- and at times, like stuck in traffic on the way home from work it feels like any other city. However, most of the time, we still feel "it", whatever "it" is. We stroll the French Quarter hand in hand, enjoying the gas lanterns that light the cobblestone side streets at night and stop to kiss under iron balconies covered in ivy (and beads from last Mardi Gras). We still frequent Café Du Monde and laugh as we eat beignets, as there is no way to eat those things without getting covered in powdered sugar! We explore. We take tours. We read about the city and go check out historic sites. Most weekends feel like we are on vacation and it's even easy to get that feeling on a weeknight if we just step out our front door and head out into the city.
If you have visited us, you know that our neighborhood is not quite where you might want to spend vacation- it appears a bit sketchy at first. It's kind of funny to us that locals consider our area one of the best places to live in the city. But, it's understandable after being here for a few months. It is true that there is a high number of people living in poverty here and work ethic (and other ethics too) is not so high... but those parts of the city remind us to be grateful for what we have and the high standards that our parents' instilled in us. (It also helps that the lacking work ethic has lowered the standards for most employers so we appear to be super-employees AND my job in particular offers a great deal of flexibility!)
Lately we've been talking over what have been some of our favorites since we moved here- like our favorite restaurants so far or our favorite date nights. So for the fun of it... here goes:
Top 5 Restaurants (so far): Café Giovani, Katie's, Company Burger, Dickie Brennans Steakhouse, & New Orleans Chop House.
Top 5 Outdoor Experiences: City Park, Walks at Audubon Park, Swamp hikes @ Barataria Nature Preserve, Grand Isle Beach/State Park, & Avery Island.
Top 5 Date Nights: Hunger Games Movie costumed as the Capital People, Psycho Symphony costumed as a 1920's couple, 2013 Burlesque Festival costumed in Burlesque and formal attire, Anniversary dinner at Bourbon House, & Christmas on Fulton Street with Dinner at La Boca.
Top Local Band: Tuba Skinny
Top 5 Things We are Looking Forward to for 2014: Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, French Quarter Festival, Dinner at Desi Vegas, and making it to a Saints game in the Superdome.
Here in New Orleans it is Christmas until January 6. Then within literally a couple of seconds, it becomes Carnival Season! January 6, or Twelfth Night, kicks off the Mardi Gras celebrations. There are some parties and a couple parades as well as the eating of King Cakes. For many in New Orleans, King Cakes are only eaten between Twelfth Night and Fat Tuesday (although you can get them in most bakeries all year). Last night we headed out to the French Quarter to get a last look at all the Christmas lights and decorations. During our stroll, we finally made it to the Roosevelt Hotel- a famous holiday stop in New Orleans. The lobby is transformed into a Winter Wonderland. It really was beautiful.
We just love a "hoodie" kind of day. In New Orleans, that's about as cold as it gets! It's also a great time of year to enjoy the French Quarter because there aren't very many people out during the day. Matt and I put on our Santa hats for a quick stroll. We even found free street parking less than a block from Bourbon Street.
Every year City Park in New Orleans hosts Celebration in the Oaks. For a few dollars you can walk through 13 acres of Winter Wonderland. Gigantic oak trees are covered with lights, lighted ornaments hang from the trees, all sorts of lighted characters line the walkways, and of course Santa is there. This week, Matt and I grabbed coffee and hot chocolate and hit the trail. It was beautiful!
I spent the last few days with my dear friend, Liz. In only 2 and a half days we managed to see Princeton, New York City, and Philly! I pretty much ate my way through New York...and Philly too really! It all tasted quite delicious!
Of course, I also made sure to see Time Square, Rockefeller Center, some of Central Park, The Empire State Building, Bryant Park, and walk the Theater District. In Philly, we had Cheesesteaks at Pat's King of Steaks. What an awesome weekend!
Have you ever heard of Christmas in July? Well, that is sort of what Christmas in New Orleans is like. With temperatures between 75 and 85 degrees each day, it is hard to get into the Christmas spirit. For me, hot chocolate, sweaters and scarves, and cuddling under fleece blankets watching Christmas movies are all part of the experience. On the other hand, New Orleans is beautiful during Christmas time. There are giant wreaths and strands of lights everywhere. There are lots of parks with holiday festivities and there are Christmas music shows in the theaters. We will no doubt be checking out all of these Christmas attractions and hopefully they will usher in a warm fuzzy Christmas feeling! Last night we went walking at City Park. I thought I'd share a photo of a Christmas light scene that was there. It's pretty common to see pictures of alligators pulling Santa's sleigh here!
It is finally time...time for the premier of Catching Fire, the second Hunger Games movie! Last year Matt and I dressed as Katniss and Peeta, along with our friends Liz and Dexter (Katniss #2 and Haymitch). This year, we decided to dress as Effie Trinket and Caesar Flickerman. The books were so good- the kind of book you can't put down, where the characters come to life and you totally forget they are fictional. I can remember driving to work in the mornings wondering how Peeta and Katniss were doing and trying to figure out how I could squeeze in a few pages before I had to start working. Movies are just too short to capture all the details, side stories, historical information about each character, and symbology, but the movies have been really good so far. I can't wait until the next one (it's release date is November 21, 2014!). Here are pictures from the premiere last night... we went to dinner first at 5 Fifty 5 on Canal. I don't think anyone had a clue who we were supposed to be and presumably thought we were just weird. You can get away with "weird" in New Orleans though, so it was okay. One lady approached us as though she was star struck and asked us if we were "music people". Funny.
Well, November is half over. I'm not sure how it has happened. It feels nothing like November in New Orleans. Today it was 75 degrees with some serious humidity. It's been a while since the last post... so what have we been doing??? Well, we've been a little lazy the last 2 weekends. Last weekend we drove over the 24-mile bridge to the Northshore and visited a couple state parks. Here's one of my favorite pictures from the drive (the water is Lake Pontchartrain).
This week was a busy one for both of us. I was in an intensive grant writing training all week and Matt's school was conducting interval testing. We're both ready for some holiday time off!
Today (Saturday) we spent most of the day in the French Quarter. We wandered the streets, went to the Christmas festivities at the French Market (although it seems a bit early for that), and did a little shopping. We ended the night at Theo's, our favorite pizza joint. Here are some photos from the FQ today.
It'll be December in only 2 weeks. Most years I'm ready to put up the tree and start wrapping presents the weekend after Halloween. This year, I'm just feeling it yet. We've had 2 cold days, and by cold, I mean 55 degrees. Of course, the New Orleans locals were wearing coats and scarves those days. Funny!
We went for a cemetery walk Saturday evening. It seemed like a good way to wrap up all of our Halloween festivities with some nice reflection and thoughtfulness. The cemeteries in New Orleans are actually beautiful. The statues, sculptures, and artwork carvings on the graves are amazing. Historically, some of them date back a couple hundred years. Here are some of the photos...
We love a good Renaissance Festival! Fish and chips, chicken on a stick, costumes from kings and queens to fairies and elves. This weekend was "pirate weekend" so of course we dressed up! It was so much fun. The best part is always The Wench Show and their best advertisement ever: Clean Family Fun, Wet Dirty Women! I love it :)
Too bad I can't wear a witch hat to work every day!
It wasn't quite the same as the Tennessee Fairs we're used to but we did get cotton candy out of the deal!
We finally found the perfect spot for the hammock. I foresee many lazy afternoons reading (or napping) out here!!
Some people drive around looking at Christmas lights... we drive around looking at Halloween decorations! Look at this awesome house on St. Charles Avenue!
Saturday night we dressed up in our 1920's costumes and headed to the Mahalia Jackson Theater on the edge of the French Quarter for a showing of the original Pyscho. The really cool part is that the Louisiana Orchestra was playing all the music for the movie!
Below are pictures of us in costume :)
This weekend was a breath of fresh air... it has been a busy week! Ghost tours, anniversary celebrations, dinner with friends, walks in the French Quarter, and of course some work thrown in here and there... We decided to take it easy all day Saturday with a stroll through the swamplands. These pictures are from the Barataria Nature Preserve. We saw lots of cool creatures: 2 alligators, several turtles, a few monster crickets, a snake, giant spiders, and "whatever" was under the boardwalk!
Doesn't tree look like it's reaching out to pull you into the swamp??!
This is one of the giant crickets... one of many scary creatures in the swamp!
Can you believe that it's been 2 years since we were on the mountain in Cloudland Canyon saying our I do's? What an amazing 2 years it has been! In those 2 years we've traveled to Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Barbados, The Virgin Islands, The Bahamas, The Blue Ridge Parkway, Charleston & The Isle of Palms, Dollywood & The Smoky Mountains, the German Village of Helen, GA, we road tripped the entire coast of Florida, visited Washington DC, and took many a weekend trip to New Orleans. Of course, we're celebrating Anniversary #2 LIVING in New Orleans! In the past 2 years we've also had many adventures other than travels! We took flight lessons together, hosted a Mad Hatter Tea Party and a Luau, got new jobs, sold a house, ate dinner in a cave, hiked in the swamps, attended our first burlesque show, camped on a beach, and that's just a drop in the hat!
According to traditionalists, the second anniversary theme is "cotton". Mom and Dad brought us a beautiful cotton plant to say congratulations!
We enjoyed an Anniversary dinner at Dickie Brennan's Bourbon House. I had steak and corn & crab soup while Matt had BBQ shrimp. For dessert... Bananas Foster Torte. It was quite good!
We know the next year will hold yet another set of adventures and travels. New Orleans is a town full of new experiences and we are loving all the opportunities for trying different things and learning about different cultures, lifestyles, and people here. We have a long list of things we want to do like taking Lindy Hop Lessons, kayaking the swamplands, eating some King Cake during Mardi Gras, dining at the famous Commanders Palace, and even taking another cruise!
So I kind of got a bit distracted with all sorts of happenings to keep up with what all we've done for our 31 days of Halloween. We've watched a bunch of scary movies, played dress up in so many costumes, made some yummy fall treats, and enjoyed some outdoor time. This past weekend mom and dad came to visit! We spent some time in the French Quarter, went to the Halloween Festival at the French Market, and even took a road trip! Here are some of the photos :)
The last few days have continued to be about costumes! We've been on the search for our many costume pieces and over the past few days we've managed to score pirate boots, vampire teeth, a pirate hat, an Effie Trinket dress, the pieces of my soon-to-be handmade voodoo staff, and today I got a hair wrap that I hope to wear with my voodoo queen garb. This weekend will be our first costume occasion and I can hardly wait! It's "Boo Carre" at the French Market. Stay tuned for pictures!
After the NAMI Walk, and a nap, we headed to City Park for the annual Louisiana Seafood Festival. It's a FREE festival that is all about seafood! There was plenty of live music and the weather was great for an outdoor festival. Matt had Catfish, Creole Corn, and Cajun Rice. I had Corn & Crab Soup in a Bread Bowl with Watermelon Lemonade! Perfect :)
