NOLA in the April Rains

New Orleans is a place I love to visit. It's got great food, great music, great people! Mostly I've visited for the Jazz Festival off and on over the years and wandered the neighborhoods on rainy days so I've come to know a little of NOLA.

This year, instead of Jazz Fest, I went for the French Quarter Fest. It's what I went for, but not what I did in the end. The weather for the 10 days I was there was almost always some form of rain. I don't mind singing and dancing in the rain, but it would go from a light sprinkle to a deluge in less than 30 seconds (I was that was an exaggeration). One can only spend so many days in wet clothes before wishing to be someplace warm and dry.

Since I got to NOLA before the festival actually started I was already tired of getting caught in the rain and so spent my days indoors either listening to good music, dancing to good music, and/or eating good food.

Can't say that's an entirely bad trip :)  Although, I definitely missed hanging out at the festival in shorts and a tank top, drinking beer and dancing the day away trying not to forget to wear sunscreen!

Still, I got to visit the epic Rock n'Bowl for a few dances and drinks!

I got to dance in a Katrina destroyed church. It had good food and drinks too with all the zydeco dancing!!

And there's always the Ritz Carlton Davenport Lounge where you can listen to live jazz 4 nights a week with no cover and tasty drinks and snack to boot!

Those are fresh house made chips and salted nuts. YUM

I got to go for nice walk in the park right in the middle of the city. I love cities like New Orleans and Austin where there is so much green space in the city limits that you can get away and be in nature and forget where you are.

And then, let's not forget the food because NOLA has some crazy awesome delicious mouthwatering food!!!

The classic Cafe du Monde breakfast of coffee and beignets!

The Wandering Poet Sake (the title the flash is obscuring), is quite tasty!

And Chickie-Wah-Wah's has THE BEST brussel sprouts (I hate brussel sprouts) and THE BEST bread pudding!!!  The mac and cheese and pulled pork is also super outstanding :-)  I'm getting hungry just looking at the picture!

And who can go to NOLA and not eat the charbroiled oysters? These are at Katie's. They were good, but I have had better.

The start of a good meal at Cafe Degas. The goat cheese salad is out of this world!!

One of my favorite breakfast spots at Blue Line Sandwich Co with the owner, Brad, who is so nice and the great tasting food and hand squeezed blood orange mimosas!!!

Grilled veggie plate at Ralph's On The Park. So delicious yum yum :-p

All in all I'd say it was a swell trip. I always enjoy my time in NOLA. The short bits it wasn't raining and the sun came out I took a few shots that I think you'll like. Enjoy and the next post will have more fun tales and happy times from Austin and Dallas TX!!

Perched on the balcony.

Squirrel on the wall!!

Pretty road sign.

Shady sidewalk.

I am a Dancing Fool!!! Are You???

Over the last weekend I danced and danced and danced some more. And I wish I could keep dancing! That's my brain talking; not my feet :)

Dancing started Thursday evening with a full house and reunions with friends. Then Friday it was off to the races. Catching up with quick words amidst swings and gypsies and then on to the next, trying to dance with all your old friends and make new ones, guzzling water and quick changing shirts during short breaks, was how it all started. Then Saturday hit....full on, with no mercy!

Dancing all morning, dancing all afternoon, a marathon dance, and dancing all evening....did I mention dancing?? :)

Here are a couple photos to show the fun and craziness that is contra!



Wheeeeeee!!!!!!  Girls gotta love a good swing :)



What a sweet moment captured here. I love leading in contra and this swing was a truly lovely time :)



A manic smile, but it betrays how much fun I was having. Helps that I had a stellar swing partner!

So sad that this Dancing Fool Seattle weekend is over. I miss all my friends, new and old, all the swings, left and right, all the meals, hurried or lingered, and most of all, the energy and environment and engaging atmosphere that is the contra dance weekend Dancing Fool.

Thanks to Meg who put it all together and the bands and callers who worked so hard and to all the dancers who nearly destroyed their bodies out there on the dance floor.

Until next Fool!!!!!



Dance Dance Dance

Ouch!

This is good training for the contra dance weekend in two weeks, but today, whew, was tough. An Insanity workout in the morning, an hour dance lesson early afternoon, shopping for three hours, and then nearly three more hours of dancing. Oh, I had fun! And I'm doing have of that again tomorrow, but in the evening instead of three hours dancing it will be three hours rehearsal. No, I'm not trying to slowly kill myself. Life does that all on it's own. I'm just enjoying as much of it I can everyday!

Oh, I should tell you something super duper cool!

I walked into the dance studio today and started talking with one of the owners and found out that she and her husband/co owner will be dancing with the Arkansas Symphony at their next concert. And I'm playing in that concert! WOW, what a small small world it is. Now we're both excited to see the other perform onstage. This studio, the Arthur Murray studio http://www.lrdance.com/ is a fabulous place. Everyone is really excited about dance and about their job. I've already made fast friends and hope to keep them because these are some fantastic and talented people!



Now that I'm back home for the night and barely able to walk, it's time for a long epsom salt bath and bedtime!!!! zzzzzzzzz

Hormones: a difficult day

Hormones....I have some issues with them.

Yesterday was the third day in a row of contra dancing and boy was I out of energy. After dancing Thursday night and Friday night (and forgetting to eat much on Friday) I had nothing left for Saturday.

For a girl, known for her wild antics and enthusiastic dancing, I was saddened by having to sit out dances and reserve energy on most dances I did dance. It stole the smile from my face, the blood from my body, the energy from my legs, and the love from my heart. Several times friends came along and spoke words of concern since I was not acting my usual self, but even the process of saying, "I just had surgery" was all consuming to the point of tears.

Hormones...damn you.

In all reality I shouldn't be mad because technically, I'm not even supposed to be working out and exercising yet. It's been two weeks since the surgery, but rumor has it I'm supposed to wait a month. Now obviously, there are different levels to exercising and I'm sure the docs don't intend for you to not do anything, but I'm pretty sure intense multi day contra dancing marathons is on the list of donts.

Ah well, I'm here among friends, with live music, happy dancers, and good energy all around. I should not complain. I should be thankful to be here and thankful I can dance any dances at all.

Pep talk...pep talk.

Ok, so today is one more four hour dance session. I do not expect to dance all the dances and I will be exuberant in the dances I choose. Wish you all could be here. But by all means, since you can't, get out there and contra dance where you are! And think of me for just a moment while you're out there on the dance floor!! I'll be thinking of you :)

A short stay in Seattle

After leaving the NCL Gem, I flew to Atlanta, then to OKC and then to Seattle where I've been the last few days. I'm not usually here this time of year and after being here now, I'm ok with that prospect. It's the rainy season (yes, I realize that's year round in Seattle, but it's actually get wet rain during this season) and it's cold. I highly dislike cold. Right now I'm sitting in an enclosed room with two computers running and the thermostat set at 68 and wearing booties and a sweater dress and a long sleeve shirt underneath and I'm still absolutely freezing. I've been drinking hot tea but I think my red blood cell count is so low at this point that my body simply cannot sustain its own heat to my desirable temperature.

Irregardless of my internal and seeming external temperature, I am enjoying my stay in Seattle. I've been dancing and practicing my violin, researching and catching up on emails, eating and over sleeping, and failing to get together with all my friends like I should. I will soon change that though because starting on Monday it will become a friend frenzy. I'll run myself ragged again going from one destination to another, meeting for lunch, meeting for dinner and meeting for drinks. Don't get me wrong, it will be lots of fun and after I leave, so exhausted I fall asleep before the plane takes off, I'll wish I had more time to spend here and I'll do what I do every time I leave Seattle/Vancouver BC, and that is to promise myself that next time I'll plan more days to spend here so I don't feel rushed. It never happens though so I should take the hint and quit telling myself it will.

The other day I had a nice chance to walk (in the rain) for a few miles. In a brief interlude between the clouds the leaves were sparkling with color and the sun was shimmering off the rain beads. It was simply breathtaking. I only took one picture, but I was probably walking down the street in a daze because I couldn't decide where to look and which picture would represent the view best. In this scenario I usually just don't take a picture at all. But I did take one...see below.

Still more dancing and dining to come. Still more rehearsing and researching to do. Still more friends and folly to engage. And as always, I'll do my best to keep you updated :)

Funny Face

It's been a long time since I watched an Audrey Hepburn film and I'd never seen Funny Face and it just seemed to be the one for tonight so I put it in and oh was it wonderful! I mean s'wonderful :D  I'm a huge fan of the old time of song and dance movies and so I already knew I'd probably like it. And who doesn't like a good Fred Astaire dance routine or Audrey Hepburn  modeling shoot? It also helped that the movie included a favorite song of mine, S'Wonderful. I wanted to dance around the living room and the grin on my face was so big I could hardly contain myself when the movie finished. I'm watching it again tomorrow!

Watching the movie did make me realize how much I really miss dancing. I have gotten involved in the contra dance community here, but nothing further so I that is on my to do list. It would be a dream to find a good dancing partner here that I could waltz and swing my way with through orange county.

Today was nice since I got to see my Uncle and his wife. It's not very often I get to so it was a treat to spend lunch with them. Then I started watching the football game but fell asleep....I was up at 7, so give me a break! And for dinner it was Elephant Bar where I gave the waiter my card, hoping to make a new friend closer to my age in the area. Now I'm about to fall asleep writing this entry.

Tomorrow is all about reorganizing the bedroom, starting my fasting diet with Almased, and calling and emailing potential jobs!

It's a good thing I don't need to see the keyboard to type because my eyes are unable to focus anymore. Goodnight everyone.