More happy articles about New Orleans!

New Orleans in state of grace over Saints by USA Today.

Also a study that ranked Louisiana the happiest state. Who would have thunk it?

Forgive me if I didn't jump for joy when I read in today's T-P:

Al Copeland reopens one restaurant on St. Charles and plans to reopen the other later this year

Isn't that special? He's reopening the tacky Cheesycake Bistro on St. Charles Ave. The tourist will be thrilled. It will be nice when they do something with the Copelands on the corner of St. Charles and Napoleon. It amazes me how such prime real estate can stay shuttered for so long. Same goes for the corner of St. Charles and Lousiana; I miss the convenience of the lame Exxon that used to be there. I'm not a big fan of any of Copeland's restaurants; it has nothing to do with the food as it does the garish decor. And I love his not-so-subtle rip-offs of chain restaurants around the country; the bad decor, the over-sized menus (both physical size and the number of items), the lame themes. I'm proud we aren't overrun with chains here. If your food stinks, you aren't going to last, no matter how fantastic your "theme" is.

I'm a person to watch!

The women's networking group I help start, Women & Wine on Wednesdays, got noticed by New Orleans Magazine and I, along with the other three founders, were named People to Watch 2007. I never thought any sort of good recognition would ever come from my drinking! If I may be vain for a moment, it's a terrible picture of us. Though I like the Srgt. Pepper's-esque photo they photoshopped us all into.

G and I leave this afternoon for a long weekend in Milwaukee. I'm looking forward to many things... exploring the city of beer, visiting the art museum, (The last time I was there was 1990 before the new expansion designed by Santiago Calatrava and it was a pretty impressive museum then.) drinking beer, eating brats, reconnecting with family, drinking more beer, visiting breweries (G's a home brewer so he's happy about this too), checking out the "beer barons" mansions, eating cheese and washing it down with more beer.

It will also be nice to escape the suffocating heat and humidity (NOLA's high 94 degrees, low of 76 and 72% humidity vs. Milwaukee high of 76 and low of 59 55% humidity. brrrr!) and the depressing newspaper headlines:

"Vitter had five calls with D.C. Madam"
"Police, DA battle over dropped murder case"
"N.O. water hasn’t had fluoride since storm"
"Parent faces accusations in school money theft"
"A federal grand jury looking into a bribery scandal at the Orleans Parish School Board continues"

And that's just the front page. *sigh* No wonder this city is in such a mess. Too many people looking to make gobs of money, illegally, or can't keep their you-know-what in their pants.
William Jefferson is probably relieved all this other news is keeping his name out of the head lines, though his brother is connected to the bribery scandal. Political dynasties, some good, but most not.

So to leave on an up note, I quote Homer Simpson: mmmmm..... beeeeeeer....