Mardi Gras Mortuary

While my brother and future sis-in-law were here, we stumbled across a field of abandoned Mardi Gras 

float accouterments from festivals of yore.

Bodhicitta

"Our imagination about what may or may not happen at some other moment may go wild at times out of desire or fear...but these intoxications and the anguish they bring can be counterbalanced and held in perspective by a wisdom that slowly growing within us...our mindless perceptions, all mere fabrications of the mind...pale in comparison to the moment that is." Jon Kabat-Zinn

A proper day trip to Savannah

My 2nd and 3rd Favorite Buildings in New Orleans

My second favorite building is on a wonderful street in New Orleans named Carondelet. Carondelet is one of many, many of the fantastic New Orleans street names (Ursulines, Cadiz, Desire, Dauphine, Elysian Fields, etc.). The bummer about Carondelet is that people here pronounce the final syllable '-let,' instead of '-lay.' That's severely troublesome, and I am so anti-extreme-bastardization-of-correct-pronunciations.

But, I digress.

 My first spotting of my second favorite building was around Halloween, and I thought this place would make the perfect spooky, haunted mansion. I'm sure there are a lot of cobwebs in it (especially since I believe it to be inhabitable at the moment). I love its Southern Gothic-ness; in fact, it looks like a house that would exist in the novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, at least to me.

 The second floor balcony is my favorite. I love how the plants continue to thrive, even though I think they're doing that without any human tending. I want to sit up there and drink a sweaty glass of sweet tea this summer.

My third favorite building is relatively close my second favorite. It is another vacant building. There are lots of vacant buildings here in NOLA, if you didn't know. This one has multiplication tables painted on it. That's all that needs to be said, really; it's enough to make it my third favorite. 

Mardi Gras

I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves. Mardi Gras weekend in New Orleans is basically five nights of mirthful marathon parading, both kid-friendly and R-rated. I, an introvert who covets her quiet, alone time, is now beholden to this wonderful city for an abundance of Mardi Gras tales and memories and really wouldn't change that for a billion strings of platinum and diamond beads.

In order of appearance. First, Krewe de Babylon:

Krewe of Muses:

 Hermes:

 Krewe d'Tat:

 Krewe of Mid-City:

Zulu:

The beach, the President, and the charming city...

...and all the important stuff in between.

Spontaneous trips are sometimes the only way. On this one, we visited beautiful places and experienced a significant moment in history. We fit it all into an tiny amount of time with lots and lots AND LOTS of driving. But I have to say, the best part of this exhausting, busy, wonderful, impromptu visit was spending time with our important people dotted along the route. Love you all. Thanks for making this so worth it and treating us so well.

Hilton Head, South Carolina:

We were approximately 2400 rows back. The crowd was jovial and welcoming, and I felt patriotic:

In the middle of President Obama's inaugural address, this little one shouted, "Oh yes, but who's going to save the animals?!" We all laughed, because it was so cute, but I really do hear you, friend!

We spent a tiny amount of time in Savannah, Georgia. I fell in love with it there and can't wait to get back. There are a million pictures to be taken.