Home Is Where You Don't Sleep In

Last week I went home for a few days to visit and soak in some REAL fall weather (sorta...it was warmer than I expected when I got there). Since Dad, Bryan, and others were replacing the roof on the house, there was no need for an alarm clock...nor was there any chance of sleeping in! While the men folk worked I hung out with my buddy Lucky (when he wasn't ignoring me--I think he is mad at me for not visiting more often.)

 

 

I took Grandmaw on a drive through Goshen Pass to see the leaves--though they were not as pretty as I had hoped they would be-- and we stopped by the hunting cabin to check on things. I miss going there during hunting season to eat deer meat, hang out with family that I don't see often, and sit in front of the stone fireplace to get warmed up.

 

 

I visited with my Maw-maw and Paw-paw too. We baked some Amish bread/cake for dad and chatted about life over a piece of Coconut Cream Pie (the best in the world in my opinion!) The weather was gorgeous both days I was in Lexington: unseasonably warm, but very nice!

 

 

My last 3 days in Virginia were spent in Richmond and Williamsburg for "Girl's Weekend" with mom, Judy and Nita. We wandered through a craft show, giggled, spent an entire day at the outlet mall, giggled, ate a lot of chocolate, giggled, continually adjusted the temperature in the car, giggled, and then when we had spent all of our money and were dead tired we giggled some more! LOL!

 

By Sunday the weather was looking iffy due to Sandy coming up the east coast, but my flight out of Richmond was unaffected and I zipped back down to NOLA that night. Though it seemed like I rushed from one thing to the next, I am glad that I got to see a lot of family while in town!

"Purple" Green Beans

Hollygrove Market had "purple" beans for sale the other day and I could not turn down a chance to give them a shot. My little stack cost a whopping 31 cents! They were a deep purple color, but for all other intents and purposes looked like a regular green bean.

 

I snipped off the scraggly ends

 

 

 The insides were a green color and shortly after being plopped into the boiling water the skins were turning green as well

 

 

 Not going to lie--I was kind of disappointed that my "purple" beans pretty much looked like green beans after being cooked. They tasted like a regular green bean too. Interesting

 

Festivals & Other Adventures with Cori

While Cori was in town we didn't just hang out in Abita Springs. We did NOLA things too! There were two festivals that weekend so we hit them both up on different days.

 

The Louisiana Seafood Festival took place near the river and included an art market, lots of yummy seafood dishes, and music. We watched Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes perform (love them!). ~*~ While on the Northshore we meandered through Covington scoping out the houses and shops. This tree obviously did not get the memo about the road being built.

 

 

Me, Brie, and Cori heading to Bayou Beer Garden for a "last day" at work get-together for my co-worker. ~*~ The view of the New Orleans skyline way in the distance from the Causeway bridge (24 miles long and oh so straight!)

 

 

The Blues & BBQ Festival was the other main event happening in town. I discovered my love for grits this weekend. BBQ pulled pork over cheese grits = heaven!!

 

 

We wined (not literally...it was more of a beer/liquor group) and dined, explored and documented, chatted and laughed and overall had a mighty fun visit!

Abita Brewery Tour

While in Abita Springs visiting the Abita Mystery House, we also stopped by the Abita Brewery to take a tour and do a little tasting.

 

A lovely creation of Louisiana made from Abita Beer bottle caps.

 

 

Containers of different types of malt. ~*~ The multiple taps we could self-serve from. (I am not a bartender that's for sure...there was a lot of foam in my cup)

 

 

Inside the facility where the beer is created was hot and muggy. The tour itself was short and sweet. Folks in Louisiana just want to drink the rest is kind of blah blah blah!

 

 

 Outside we wanted to document our trip. Goofy and fun :)

 

 

While it was not what I thought it was going to be, it was nice to get to try a few beers that I would not normally taste. I am not a big beer drinker period, but the Abita Golden was do-able.

 

I also learned that Abita is sold in the 48 contiguous states, that they are a very "green" company, and that they make 20 different brews (if you include their Root Beer!) Woo hoo!

Abita Mystery House

I would like to preface this by saying that I had NO IDEA what we were in for when Brie, Cori, and I drove to Abita Springs, Louisiana and stopped at the Abita Mystery House. It was weird and fun and eclectic and creepy and unusual and worth the $3.00 admittance! Brie described it as 5 generations worth of junk nailed to the walls. That is pretty accurate. We all took soooo many pictures because there were soooo many crazy things to see! Enjoy some of my favorites:

 

The entrance is an old gas station with an upfront sign on the door letting visitors know who is not welcome!

 

 

The front door is covered in painted bottle caps. There really isn't much that isn't covered in something (paint, bottle caps, computer parts, signs, pictures, etc.) ~*~ Brie was uninterested in receiving her "free possum poo" when she bought a trinket.

 

 

 I was sorta creeped out by the alligator/woman thing in the gift shop area but felt that we needed our picture taken together. ~*~ This sign is 100% truth!

 

 

There was an entire wall of random scenes created with junk that had buttons you pressed that made something inside happen (i.e. a light came on, a swing moved, a figurine twirled, etc.). ~*~ I LITERALLY cried from laughing so hard at these glasses! They made each of us look so weird!

 



 

 A lovely collection of antique barbed wire. ~*~ There were many signs with bits of wisdom painted on them. This was one of many. I also liked Leroy...

 

 

Bufford the Bassigator was HUGE! ~*~ There were many walkways made of shingles. Cori kept saying "oh the water table!"

 

 

The House of Shards. It was covered in a cool mosaic of random pottery.

 



 

 Near the House of Shards was the Hot Sauce House. It was about the size of a fancy tree house and when you peered inside there were hundreds of different bottles of hot sauce!! They lined every wall, even the ceiling and were on a staircase-like shelf in the center.  

 

 

This was clever. A "32 Foot Alligator". Yeah, it had 32 feet attached to it!

 

 

Every square inch of this place was covered in SOMETHING. I learned that if you have 3 of something it is a collection and a museum has 3 or more collections. ~*~ There were lots of paint can lids attached to buildings. 

 

 

We each received our fortune printed on a little square from a robotic lady in a machine. Mine read as follows:

YOUR LUCKY NUMBERS

3  14  22  31  44  59

Sister Claire Veaux says:

Today when you bathe, make sure you wash every thing with soap. A toy robot will give you pleasure but never play with a real robot. Find an interesting rock today and keep it for a few weeks. This rock may save your life. Your lucky color - bruised banana brown!

Needless to say we had an interesting time exploring this place! While wandering through, Brie and I would often mention how it seemed like the perfect set up for the beginning of a horror movie. Luckily everyone made it out alive and well!



Smith Girls in NOLA

On Sunday my third cousin, Martha, came to town (she is here for a work thing). She has never visited the Big Easy, so I did my best to be a good tour guide. Since she is staying in the FQ I decided to drive out to the lake, through City Park, around Uptown, and down Magazine St. that way she got to see areas that are not as touristy. We did po-boys are Parkway (duh) and stopped at Sucre for some sweets after walking through one of the many cemeteries that dot the city. I think I did a good job given the short amount of time we had! It's always fun when someone comes to town :) 

On a different note: the Saints FINALLY won their first game of the season Sunday night!! I think that it was a combination of Sean Payton's presence in the Dome (Drew Brees asked special permission for Payton to be there because he was set to beat Johnny Unitas' record for the most touchdown passes in consecutive games--(reminder: Payton has been suspended for the entire season due to "Bounty Gate" and is not allowed to associate with anyone in the NFL)--which he did do! Yay!) and my blinged out finger nails!!

A Watched Pot Never Boils

So we have this to deal with...

NEW ORLEANS, LA--Sewerage and Water Board and the state Department of Health and Hospital officials are warning the residents of the East Bank of Orleans Parish not to drink, make ice from, brush teeth, bathe or shower, prepare or rinse food with tap water unless it has been properly disinfected until further notice. A momentary loss of 25-cycle power at about 8:30 a.m. at the main water plant brought water pressure to low levels throughout the eastbank of the city.  Out of an abundance of caution, residents are advised that the quality of the water may be unsafe due to bacteriological contamination.  Therefore, the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans in conjunction with DHH has issued a BOIL WATER ADVISORY effective Monday, October 8, 2012 for the entire east bank of the City of New Orleans.  Residents may expect the boil advisory to continue until water quality testing has proven the safety of the water.  This does not affect Algiers. State officials are cautioning users of the water system to disinfect their water before consuming it or using it for food preparation by the following means: Boil water for one full minute in a clean container.  The one-minute starts after the water has been brought to a rolling boil.  If there is a flat taste, it can be eliminated by shaking the water in a bottle or pouring it from one container to another. This boil water advisory will remain in effect until further notice.

If it's not one thing it's another.

A Day in Baton Rouge

Brie & I went on a little adventure to Baton Rouge on Saturday. We took in the farmer's and art market--both of us bought a necklace from a cute booth. Brie played tour guide and showed me around town (she lived there for a year) before heading to Bistro Byronz for a yummy lunch. Apparently they are known for their chips and cheese (like cheese fries but with chips) yum!

After lunch we went to Circe 1857 an "Art, Antiques, and Architectural Salvage" place. It was full of fun treasures! Definitely a crafter's paradise!

It was a great day exploring a town that I have not spent much time in :)