Girly Moment

Pardon me, but I am going to take a second to be girly! For Lent I gave up biting my fingernails. It is a nasty habit that I have practiced for as long as I can remember. If I am bored, watching a movie, or nervous about something my nails pay the price. But for over three weeks now I have held strong and resisted the urge to gnaw on them. To my surprise I can actually grow a decent set of nails! Perhaps a manicure is in my future :)

Crawfish Boil

For Brie's 25th Birthday we had a crawfish boil at our house! I have never been to a boil before, and quickly found out that it is an all day occasion! Evan is the "expert" so we took our ques from him. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun! I documented most of the day and put all of my pictures on Facebook, but here are a few highlights:

Our sign to all who passed by our house.

80 lbs of live crawfish waiting for the pot! Live little fellas! The fixins: potatoes, lemons, corn, onions, garlic, and pineapple. Look at all of that goodness waiting to be picked over!

Brie, Daniel, Rebecca & AV diggin in.

AV & Eddie enjoying the mud bugs.

Leftover scraps.

Spring!!!

Hallelujah it is finally officially Spring! I know I am a few days late with this information, but none-the-less I am excited!

Super Sunday

On Sunday AV and I hopped on our bikes (well, I borrowed Brie's...need to buy one for myself) and cruised down to Central City to check out the Mardi Gras Indians that were out for what is known as "Super Sunday". From the research I have done on-line, the condensed version is that Mardi Gras was traditionally a white celebration so African-Americans created their own groups. These "tribes" of Indians get together and parade on the Sunday after St. Joseph's Day (which is a Catholic Italian holiday). They wear elaborate costumes and play drums and tambourines while chanting.

I took a ton of pictures as we watched them parade by! Enjoy!

Piece of Cake

Saturday I helped Ed deliver cakes all day. He had more orders than usual so I went along to lighten his load some. Jen is the brilliant designer and creator of the cakes...she is pretty awesome!

This little guy was made of fondant and was perhaps 3" tall. He was a topper for a special customer.

I had to sit in the back of the van and hold the macaroon tree that sat on top of the cake to ensure it didn't topple over.

The groom's cake that went with the huge macaroon tree cake.

Simple and elegant.

This beauty had to go to Baton Rouge! Luckily it was sturdy so I did not have to sit in the back with it the whole ride!

The groom's cake that went to Baton Rouge. The hay bale and cowboy hat were two separate cakes.

I really liked this one :)

30th Birthday cake.

Work Fun

Recent work-related things:

--Now that Mardi Gras is behind us, work has calmed down tremendously. The new Easter products have been launched, but it is still a little early for people to really be interested. None-the-less, it is always exciting to see the new items and packaging.

--The other day a co-worker and I went across the street to check out the newly opened Restaurant Depot. It is like a Sam's Club for kitchens! They had every type of styrofoam, plastic, or other material container a food establishment could ever need or want! Along with dry goods and large containers of spices, mustard, cooking oil, etc. they had a section with produce, dairy, frozen foods, and fresh meat. We saw whole goats and lambs available! It was awesome!

--I drove the gelato truck to the shop across town for a repair. Think UPS/FedEx truck. That is the size of this honker I was driving! It wasn't so bad until I hit a narrow street, then I prayed for every passing car's mirrors! Luckily none were clipped. Whew!!

Stroll Down Joseph

Last Saturday the weather was gorgeous and I was in need of lunch. Whole Foods is a mere six blocks away so I went strolling. Along the way I took some pictures of the scenery. Joseph is a very pretty street.

Most corners have the street names on the sidewalk.

I really these trees that look like they have been skinned of their bark.

Too much white going on here.

Lovely flower bed.

Doughnut Discovery

During Mardi Gras a lot of walking occurs. Parking spaces are hard to come by, and honestly, most folks are not in any condition to be driving any way. Therefore, people do a lot of footwork to get to parades and other social events.

While strolling to an evening parade, Nick, Ben, Lawrence, and I stumbled across a new shop on Magazine Street that sells Italian Ice and the cutest, tastiest little doughnuts ever! They have an awesome machine that you can watch make the shape, then they float along frying on one side until a scoop flips them over onto the next level of oil that fries them on the other side, then once they are ready they are flipped into a tray where the person operating everything sugars them. The end result is a light, softly sugared piece of heaven.

Simply delicious.

Anders Osborne

When Cori was here we went to Tipitina's one night to check out Anders Osborne. Brie loves this guy and we have attempted to see him before but missed out. That night we were able to stand upstairs so we had a nice aerial view of the show. Mr. Osborne is a native of Sweden but has called New Orleans home for over twenty years. His music can be described as a rock-blues kind of sound.

My Loot

Here are some pictures of my Mardi Gras treasures!

Cups, doubloons, cards, a koozie, football, lacey bra, and other trinkets.

Some of the cooler beads I got.

Close up of beads strung along a broom handle.

For a reference I threw my shoes into the pile.

And just because I like black and white :)

Other Mardi Gras Stuff

Many folks decorate for Mardi Gras with beads. Often fences are covered with the colorful strands. Heck, they are cheap and easy to come by!

This poor little tree was COVERED in beads! They end up tangled in limbs and power lines along the parade routes.

A shopping cart full of discarded containers.

A tiny portion of the aftermath of a parade. Miles of streets are covered like this until cleaning crews come through with shovels, brooms, and street sweepers.

Costumes

Costumes were very popular on Mardi Gras day. There were wacky fun ensembles, political statements, and more Halloween-ish styles. Overall most people either had on obvious get-ups or were at least wearing green, purple and gold.

Oil-spill crawfish girl

Green, purple, gold tutu guy

Big King head fellow

Bird with bird nest lady (gal with her back to the camera was a "Black Swan")

Crazy-super-hero-man with a "F.U.B.P." sling

Piece of cake that went with a group of people dressed as candles for their friend's birthday

Brie & Me

So Brie and I like to take pictures of ourselves a lot. We are girls with camera phones, what do you expect? Here are some from the passed few days.

Our fabulous eye make-up on Fat Tuesday! Brie works some eye shadow magic! (This was early in the morning, hence I look half asleep.)

Rocking the sunglasses.

Night parade.

Lots of beads.

Day parade.