Mardi Gras Recap

I wish I would have done this the night I got home...or better yet while I was in NO because I hope I'm not forgetting anything.

First thing is first...damn. I'm not as young as I used to be.

The past two Mardi Gras were filled with all-out drunk fests, serial make-out sessions, spills and spews.

1st Mardi Gras:
Kisses-->Straight guy in gay club, gay guy in gay club, straight guy outside of gay club. They love me!! They really do!!
Drunk-->Wednesday night thru Tuesday literally 'til I stepped on the plane.
Falls-->I'll be honest....probably at least one, but I really don't remember.
Pukes-->One...um, I think?

2nd Mardi Gras:
Kisses-->Engaged guy (I did stop when I found out), Hot Marine. (No gays this time)
Drunk-->Pretty much every night, but by Mardis Gras night, I had about had it.
Falls-->Two. Oooh One huge one. Bricks, beer, and phone calls. Bad mix. 2nd, not my faulty. Some beefy, meat head military dude slam sat on me and the chair literally looked like Bambi on ice...it was a lawn chair.
Pukes-->One. All night during Sex and the City Finale. Thanks Derwin for your toilet.

3rd Mardi Gras:
Kisses-->Tons...from Emily's dog Annabelle (that really is her dog!)
Drunk-->Couple of times. One real good night.
Falls-->Witness to one...Emily bit it on the brick...moss, brick, wine and heels. Bad mix.
Pukes-->One. I ran thru the small apartment and booted like 4 times.

DAMN....AM I OLD??

Not really. Maybe this is what Mardi Gras was supposed to be for me this year. An even, controlled drunk, no kisses and adult behavior? Maybe so. Or maybe I'm not so much a visitor anymore, but have developed a Mardi Gras...or NOLA family.
I really had a great time. Though it wasn't the knock-down drunk fests I've had before, it was great. I got to visit with Emily. Every time I see Em, I always think, "Damn. Why don't we live next door?" And, her really awesome friends who have so warmly welcomed me to their celebrations, cracked jokes at me...just like I have been there the whole time. Thanks NOLA fam. You've been great.

Saw some really awesome parades. I really love that part of the celebration. It's absolutely amazing the amount of work that the entire city puts into the parades, streets etc. We even woke up on Mardi Gras with a random nine-person band walking down Dauphine. Wild.
I saw woman who really looked like Nurse Betty (I seriously did a double take checking to see if it was Miss Briget Jones herself,) a guy in a suit covered in Coke bottles-a "coking jacket" perhaps??? and a lawyer in a tutu with holding his 3 1/2 year old daughter's hand...who was also wearing a tutu. The only place in the world where a little girl can look at her dad in a tutu and think he's pretty cool. We also grabbed a great Bloody Mary from Pat O'Brien's and got grandstand tickets for a the Iris and Tucks daytime parades. It was pretty cool to see all the hooplah they do with the Kings/Queens etc. I got some really great throws. So much I had to check the bag of beads on the flight. I finally caught a coconut a the Zulu parade. I screamed, "I'm bringing it back to Pittsburgh!! For the Steelers!!" I must have found a Steeler heart in the guy who handed it to me. Though, sorry Hines. That baby is mine.

Did run thru Bourbon one night. I wasn't quite drunk at that point and damn is that place gross. It smells worse than any other fraternity bathroom I've ever been. Rule: Get really fucking drunk before you venture down there. We spent a lot of time on Frenchman which is a pretty cool area. We ended up there on Mardi Gras drinking wine and people watching. I think next year we'll get a couple of lawn chairs, box of wine and sit and watch. Fascinating. If there weren't so many people around, we would have resembled hookers the way we stood. I thought, "A park bench would be nice." And, then I wondered if hookers ever think that. Maybe I'm a lazy hooker?
I also met three people who were visiting within the group of us that didn't drink. (Now I'll sound like a good school teacher...) Not that you have to drink to have fun, but fuck. It must have been pretty annoying to be around us drunk folk. Plus, isn't that part of Mardi Gras?? Oh well...more for me!
Had some great meals, too. One of the best kielbasas from a vendor (yes, Robin...I also love street meat!) Fantastic sushi from a place called Wasabi. And a kick ass shrimp Po-boy from the Gumbo Shop. The crawfish ettouffe was excellent as well. On Tuesday, had my beignet, cafe au lait at Café du Monde and headed to the airport. My vacation was over.

Purchases-->A really cool mask-this is the one I bought- from the Artist's Market. Their is a link to the one I bought last year, too..but they seem to have listed another mask under it. I'll have to email them and let them know. I bought a few other cute things too from there. House stuff.

All in all it was a great trip. It's such a neat city in the sense that it reminds me of a southern NYC. There are all kinds of people, tons of things to do, but it's warm and really laid back.

Once I get my pictures back, I will try to set up a link to view them.