It's all down hill to Mardi Gras now

My last post was 1/7 so it's been less than a month since I posted last. Woot! Let's see, what has happened in the last month...

I survived the polar vortex that shut New Orleans, and pretty much the whole state of Louisiana, down. We didn't get any pretty snow just sleet. It was freaking arctic here. I grew up in Florida and have lived here the past 20 years so I'm not accustomed to below freezing temperatures 3 days in a row. A freeze over night is not a big deal because I sleep through it. We were hunkered down like in a hurricane. During all of this I had the crud. I've been sick for 2 weeks now and finally think I'm getting over it.

And even though I was sick as a dog there was no way I'd miss the Pussyfooter's Blush Ball. It's our annual fundraiser which didn't happen last year due to an early Mardi Gras and the Superbowl. I laced up in my new corset, got glammed up and managed to go until about 12:30am. Strangely there are very few pictures of me that I've seen but here are the ones George Long Photography took. We sold out and exceed our fundraising goal, ending up giving METRO $34,000!

That me on the left pointing.

I've also been gearing up for Mardi Gras which is one month away. Looking at this month's calendar, it's full of Pussyfooter dance practices, Krewe of SPANK den days -- where we work on our float, throws and costumes -- and Krewe of Muses events like throw pick-up and float viewing and of course, parades. I'm not riding or Pussyfooting in the Muses this year. It falls on my birthday, so instead I'm going to enjoy the spectacle at my friends' parade party. Of course, I have to stay mum about the themes and throws for Muses and Krewe du Vieux/SPANK but will post after the parades are over. I will Pussyfoot in three parade: Carrollton, Nyx and Orpheus. I can't wait!

Other than that, pet sitting has been slow. I remember that happening this time last year. I'm trying to build up the dog walking side of the biz since that's steadier income. Doing a little design and also doing PR for the Freret Street Festival that will be April 5th. Been shopping for a new set of wheels. Visiting dealerships and test drives is fodder for a whole separate post. Skeeball started back up and we won our first match last week. Yay!

You don't have to be crazy to live here but it helps.

I survived my trip, but just barely. Day two I went on a rafting trip. The river was running high, fast and very cold due to all the snow melt. We hit a rapid the wrong way and everyone got thrown from the raft except the guide. Two manged to swim to shore, me and another guy got pulled back into the raft. Never been so cold in my life. Scared the shit out of me and I got some lovely bruises. One guy twisted his ankle really bad. But we all were OK and we only lost 3 baseball caps and one paddle.

That white stuff is snow, my friends. Up to our knees in some places.

It's always interesting to travel-you realize just how dysfunctional yet unique New Orleans really is. The first week of my trip was small spent in small, charming mountain towns in the southern half of Colorado. One day were were so high up in the mountains that the snow still hadn't melted. The second week I was in Denver for a conference. Denver is huge and flat. Who knew? It's very clean and there's a good mix of older buildings and new ones. I thought "this is what it's like to live in a town with a robust tax base." I like the funk of New Orleans though, and Denver seems like it tries too hard. My friend and I visited Pearl Street, billed as "unique shops, excellent dining and community minded businesses nestled in a delightful, pedestrian and pet friendly setting." All three blocks of it. Whatever. It pales compared to Magazine Street which is 6 miles long full of shops, restaurants, bars and galleries.

Cute, mountain town of Silverton.

I did have an interesting experience. I have friends in Denver and they picked me up from my downtown hotel and took me to their house for dinner. I was there for about 5 minutes when the power went out. It was a very hot day so we all assumed it was a brownout. But it stayed out. Thankfully they lived within walking distance of some restaurants so we headed out. This was no brownout, traffic lights were also out. My friend pulled up the news on her Blackberry - an electrical substation had exploded and thousands of people were out of power! We were lucky there was an area near by that had power and we were able to have dinner. They took me back to my hotel around 9pm and it was creepy. It was dark, no lights, no traffic lights - very reminiscent of parts of New Orleans after Katrina - plus smoke. Thankfully downtown had power so my hotel wasn't affected.

Getting back to crazy; I come home to extreme heat and humidity, the start of hurricane season and the on-going oil "spill" in the gulf. I won't lie, it was a relief to be away from all the bad news for a while. As well as away from the humidity. But we do find ways to distract ourselves and make it worth it to live here: incredible food, amazing music, copious amount of booze available 24/7, the laissez faire attitude, Mardi Gras, festivals and other crazy things. For example, I just found out today I got accepted into the Pussyfooters, one of the female dance troupes. There are others; Camel Toes Steppers, Bearded Oysters and The Muffalottas. I also play on a Skee Ball team every Thursday. Excuse me, it's a skee ball and drinking league. The guy who formed the league just made this great video. I'm a member of two Mardi Gras krewes, so I get to dress up in costumes and parade through the street with a drink in my hand, throwing stuff at people-it's really a hoot. If you are thinking "grow up" then you don't have the right attitude to live here. Yes, people do have jobs, pay bills, own homes and raise families. We just like to have fun while being all grown up and responsible.