A New Orleans Christmas

T-48 hours until Christmas.  I don't know about you, but I'm working on cramming as much Christmas into 2 days as possible.  Back-to-back Christmas movies with Christmas music in the background and eggnog until I barf.  I'm even wearing my Christmas socks.  This is serious business.

So I thought I would wrap up the season with some New Orleans cheer!  Here are a few highlights from December.

Kirb met some new, fancy friends after the Santa Paws costume contest and second line.  Yes.  Kirby participated in a second line. 

Thanksgiving Recap

With the crazy few weeks we've had, I never got a chance to talk about Thanksgiving.  It's a bit late, but here's a recap.

We flew up to Minneapolis to spend a couple of days with the family in Red Wing.  

Thanksgiving Day itself started like this...

Gingerbread Hizzouse

The worst part about making a gingerbread house is that I want to barf afterward.  Because I eat half the candy and icing as I make it. Obviously.  This year was no different.

The last time I made a gingerbread house, I made the house from scratch.  Gingerbread isn't that difficult to make, but it takes so much time to do all the mixing, baking, shaping, and cutting, I'm pretty much over it by the time it's ready for decorating.  Patience is not a virtue of mine.

Enter gingerbread house kit a la Walmart.  Don't judge me.  I did make some alterations.

Holiday Project: Anthropologie-Inspired Felt Leaf Wreath

It's my first holiday project of the year, folks!  I wish I could've started all these projects sooner... I'm trying to cram them all into these last couple of weeks!  With the move mid-November and leaving town for Thanksgiving though, here we are.

Actually, over Thanksgiving in Minneapolis was where I spotted my inspiration for this wreath.  While perusing my faaaavorite store, Anthropologie (I live off of gift cards from the fam- you know who you are!), I immediately took a liking to this felt leaf wreath.

Anthropologie

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (AKA: Let's Decorate the Crap Outta this Place)

Did you appreciate that shockingly long title?

In true Arvin fashion, we're obsessively diving into the holiday season.  Recent evening activities have included watching Christmas movies, baking cookies, watching Christmas movies, gingerbread house-decorating, and oh... watching Christmas movies.  Over the years, we've managed to collect all the holiday classics (and some not-so-classic), and we've already watched them all at least once this season.  So obviously the house is lit, playing holiday tunes, smelling like cinnamon and pine, and decked out in Santa and reindeer gear... and has been for a couple of weeks.  Let's go on a tour, shall we?  Never mind that I still haven't shared images of a lot of the house (notice that the first official tour post was missing a couple of bedrooms, bathrooms, and a back yard?)- we'll get to that once the Christmas festivities have passed.  There's just too much fun stuff to share in the meantime!

This is actually the first year I've bought nearly no new decorations- one to be exact.  I have more than enough purchases and DIY projects from the past couple of years to trim the whole house!  I'm making a vow to limit my Christmas decor purchases and only allow myself to add more homemade items from this point on.  The handmade projects are the most fun, anyway.  There are a couple Christmas crafts on the docket currently... coming soon!  For now, here's the casa feeling extra festive!

Fresh garland is from the neighborhood plant shop, Harold's.  The funny little elf is from our Thanksgiving visit to Red Wing, Minnesota (post in the making, by the way).  Also, mounting that mirror is on our to-do list.  It's been there for 3 weeks.  Hmm.  Someday.

Parlor Bar Mini-Project

I talked about putting together a mini bar in our rental for the entire 6 months we lived there.  Aaaand never did.  So when I had the same idea for our house, I jumped on it right away to avoid another who-knows-how-long of procrastinating (it was actually already completed when I posted the first pictures of the house last week- you may have caught a glimpse of it).  While our new kitchen is much bigger than our last, since the cabinets aren't as tall we end up with only slightly more cabinet space overall.  I knew another area to store bar-ware would be really helpful.

It took me about .3 seconds to scout out the best locale.  I picked up two small shelves for around $25 total at Lowe's, then grabbed some wine glass holders for less than $5 each.  The screws that came with the wine glass holders worked fine for attaching them to the shelves.  Once the shelves were up, I grabbed some more gear to complete the look... including the tray I made over a couple of months ago and a Goodwill lamp I spruced up back in Indy.

New Orleans, New Home, New Tour

With the recent move to our new home and neighborhood, I have so much to share!  Unfortunately, getting the internet connected has been the wildest experience ever.  A certain nation-wide company that shall not be named (3 letters- starts with A, ends with T) has a hard time showing up to appointments.  A really hard time.

So I'm sharing this overdue post from my happy place at Who Dat Cafe down the street.  I'm not one to pass up coffee, early Christmas decor, and wireless internet.

Anywho, we made the harder-than-we-expected move from our apartment 2 weekends ago.  Despite offers from fabulous friends to assist, we attempted the whole move on our own.  Meaning my inconspicuous muscles got their chance to shine.  Bed, couch, dressers.  Psh.  We got this.  Some great points about moving yourself are A. money saved on movers, B. you eliminate the possibility of making your friends hate you (Umm who likes to move?  Absolutely no one.), and C... No, that's it.  Just A and B.  So with a little help from a 10-foot UHaul, we went from empty house to what you see below.

I should mention, we actually closed on the house on a Tuesday, but the awesome couple we bought the house from let us move in the weekend before.  It never hurts to be friends with the seller :)

And here it is, in all it's chaotic glory.

Owning a Piece of New Orleans

Let's get this out there right off the top: We bought a house in New Orleans!  Yep, it's officially our 3rd home purchase in 5 years thanks to the big move we just made from Indiana.  You can call us serial-home-buyers.  We don't mind.  This home-buying experience was waaaaaay different than our first two, though.  Since I won't be sharing any pictures of the casa yet, I'm including an occasional and completely unrelated picture every so often.  Just keepin' things interesting.  :)

Exhibit A.  Merpug.

Since we got married, Will and I have had two experiences with the home buying process in Indiana.  Home-buying in New Orleans is an entirely different animal.  New Orleans is a very old city with very old architecture (part of what we adore so much), a fairly desirable climate (umm, let's not talk about July through September), and tons of culture and excitement that draws people to vacation and even move here.  After Katrina caused the population to plummet, only some of the loyal til-death-do-us-part NOLA lovers were able to return.  Since then, the city has been building (and building and building) itself back up to be wonderful again (and some argue, even more wonderful than pre-Katrina).  Well, it's looking more fabulous than ever, and still growing- population included.  With the continuing rapid influx of new residents, plus a great number of individuals buying vacation homes, the housing market is booming.  Not even booming.  Exploding like I always fear the lid of a pressure cooker will fly off into the air and knock my teeth out and break my nose.  It.  Is.  Nuts.

The prices are rising, many of the houses are selling within 24-hours of entering the market, and any decent house at a decent price in a good neighborhood can surely expect a bidding war.  One house we saw a couple of months ago had 8 offers in less than 24 hours of being listed.  Crazytown.

So when we started our housing search, we didn't have much confidence.  Not only did we dread the fight of "winning" a house against other bidders, but we doubted the possibility that we would find something that was just right for us.  Homes are very different down here than what we're used to in Indiana, and with the prices as high as they are, we had to get realistic.

Jackson Square

For starters, we've learned with the purchase of our first two homes that location is most important to us.  We had our hearts set on a few specific neighborhoods, which limited us in more ways than just location.  Most people in these neighborhoods pretty much count on not having a yard (or any outdoor space for that matter).  Land isn't cheap in the middle of New Orleans.  Same goes for parking.  A very small number of people have garages here- I think there may be 2 on our entire block of about 15 houses.  And actually, it's not common to have a parking space at all.  Street parking is what it's about, folks.

On top of all that, we had to get familiar with the type of architecture down here.  The most common types of homes are shotguns and creole cottages.  These are basically defined by layout, and are often in the form of "doubles"... essentially a "duplex" for Mid-westerners.  Our rental is a shotgun double.  We've been lucky enough not to have neighbors in the other half, because the sound-proofing in these homes isn't the finest.

What this really boils down to is that we had high standards considering what's available.  Because we really enjoyed our rental, we were willing to wait until the "perfect" place came up.  If that even existed.

Here were our standards:

1. In one of 4 neighborhoods we favor: the Marigny, Bywater, Uptown, or Irish Channel... with preference on the Marigny/Bywater area, where our rental is located.
2. Outdoor space.  We can't live without it.  Especially with the dogs, we just love to be able to sit outside.
3. Between 1000 and 1800 square feet.  I think this was one of the standards for our rental, as well.  Less than 1000 = me feeling like I'm trapped in a cage with 4 animals and another human.  Greater than 1800 = me having no free-time to do anything else besides just clean the thing.  Or us just living in a dirty house (much more likely).
4. Tall ceilings.  This probably sounds sort of snobbish, but I've gotten used to having them.  I love a house that feels big, open, and airy, but doesn't have the square footage to clean.  Resolution: tall ceilings. 
5. Hardwood floors (or the ability to add them if the house is priced well).  Carpet is the bane of my existence.  I feel grimy when I walk on it.  It may be dandy for you folks that don't have grubby pig-like canines rubbing their fat bodies on it, but it doesn't work for our family.
6. A single-family home.  We knew this would be really difficult.  We even looked at and considered doubles and condos, but we were crossing our fingers that the right place would come along within our price-range.

It's a pretty tall order for these historic neighborhoods.  We saw a lot of places that were good, but not great.  There was even one we saw before it went on the market, that we thought may be "the one".  When we found out it still required new wiring, additional duct work, and some fairly major structural repairs (and it was at the top of our budget), we were happy to walk away from that situation- albeit a little more dispirited.

Mona Lisa Pizza

Then it happened.  We found "the one".  In typical New Orleans fashion, our lending agent mentioned that she was thinking about selling her house in a few months and invited us in to check it out.  We saw it.  We fell in love, and hated her for showing it to us, because we were sure it would be out of our price range.  We met her for coffee, negotiated a fantastic price through email, and now we're buying her house.

Needless to say, we're ecstatic!  I have tons of pictures and moving-chaos to share soon!  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate moving?  You would never guess with our history.  Anywho, stick around for more details... I'll keep you posted :)

Fancy Baby: A Bow Tie Onesie

With many of our friends expanding their families these days, we were bound to get into baby-related crafting!  I posted here about visiting our friends and their new addition last month in Indy.  I wanted to make a small "welcome" gift for the little guy, and a bow tie onesie seemed right up his alley :)  I knew it should detach, for washability, and I also knew I wanted Purdue colors... baby Momma and I both graduated from there.

31 Days: Day 31

The on-and-off sprinkles didn't stop the Halloween-ers.  Frenchmen Street looks best decked in food trucks and costumes.

Also, if you hadn't noticed, we've reached Day 31 of our month-long photo-a-day project.  It's been fun capturing the every day stuff, and now I'm looking forward to devoting more time to regular blogging.  Hope you all enjoyed the month's posts!  Check back for more projects (and some rather big news) soon!

31 Days: Day 30

There are lots more details to share in the next couple of weeks.  For now I'll just say, the Arvins are moving on from our little rental double in the Marigny very soon!  This was the perfect place to discover what it was like to reside in New Orleans for the first time.  We made so many friends, spent time with our awesome neighbors, and enjoyed the proximity to Frenchmen Street more than a few times.  It's just a small chapter in our NOLA experience!

31 Days: Day 29

The house is decorated, the candy dish is full, and Hocus Pocus is in the DVD player.  The only thing needed to complete the Halloween season is a couple of pugs in costume.  Don't they look fancy?  You may recognize these costumes from previous years (if you've been reading or following me on Facebook that long).  We're going vintage this year.  Plus mermaids are pretty big here, so Jackie's feeling extra beautiful.

31 Days: Day 28

Does it get any more Halloween-ish than Hocus Pocus?  I think not. 

31 Days: Day 27

Three full evenings of prepping for a Skills Fair at work, then a 13 hour day spent working the Skills Fair = lots of late posts and a  glass  bottle of wine.

Also, our back patio has been looking much more welcoming these days.  And it's feeling more welcoming, as the high temperatures have been 72-78 degrees the past couple of weeks.  Have I drilled in the fact that I love the weather right now?  I do.  We've added an outdoor rug to the mix as well, but I was too tired to peel myself up for another picture.  Laziness it is, folks.

31 Days: Day 26

Did anyone guess who we were for Halloween?!  If you follow me on Instagram, you already know.  Introducing, the Cheshire Cat and Mad Hatter!

Here's where we got the gear:

• Party City: wigs, plastic top hat, tights, makeup, and eyelashes
• Hancock Fabric: pink and purple fur (40% off, mind you), scrap upholstery fabric and scrap chiffon for the hat, and scrap lace for Will's ruffled sleeves
• Goodwill: pink jogging skirt, black velour blazer, vest, dress pants, and floral scarf

I used pink felt, the pink fur I bought, and an old headband to hot glue some ears together.  I didn't get a shot of the head-to-toe costume (or the back), but I also used the fur and some hand-stitching to make a pink and purple striped tail, and added some pink trim to my boots.

For Will's hat, I hot-glued the upholstery fabric to a basic plastic-y top hat, then added the chiffon as a ribbon.  

Voila!

The get-ups turned out even better than expected, especially Will's!  His face looks a bit whiter with the flash than it was in person, but you get the gist.  With all the pictures people asked for while we were on Frenchmen Street, it's likely he's floating around all over Facebook and Instagram now.

31 Days: Day 25

Just another apartment in the city.  I'm forever in love with the old architecture.

31 Days: Day 24

We've been anticipating the opening of the Saenger Theater for quite a while.  It was built in 1927, then destroyed during Katrina in 2005.  The city has been working to restore it for years, and the doors finally opened in September.  Not only were we excited to see the interior, but we were lucky enough to score pre-sale tickets from some friends to the Book of Mormon as well (which we'd been dying to see).  After appetizers and drinks at French 75, we enjoyed time with friends and the fantastic show, then a nightcap at Batch Bar.  Here's a shot of the beautifully restored theater entrance.  

31 Days: Day 23

It's about the best feeling in the world to have the windows wide open at the end of October.  I live for 70-75 degree weather.  Truly.  The pets feel the same way.  Here's Olive, plotting her escape to the wilderness of New Orleans.  One passing of a mule-drawn carriage and she'd shoot safely back into the house.

31 Days: Day 22

As I've said before, Halloween is huge here.  For that reason (and because I'll take any opportunity to dress up) we've been working on our costumes the last few days.  I always prefer to make my costume rather than buy a set that's already put together, but sometimes finding all the pieces can be a challenge.  We got pretty lucky this year.  A quick stop at Goodwill in Mid City gave us most of Will's attire, and pieces of mine.  All we needed was a trip to Party City and JoAnn Fabrics to finish it off.  This is part of the stash.  Can you guess what we're going as?!

31 Days: Day 21

After nearly every weekend here, it's hard to get back to reality on Monday.  We tried so many great new restaurants/bars when the 'rents were in town, but we'll always have our "usuals" to come back to.  R Bar is one of those places.  It's a block from our rental and the dogs are welcome, so it just feels like an extension of our front yard.  It's one of those places I'd feel totally comfortable walking to after work in dress pants and a blazer, or on a random day in my pjs.  Those of you that follow me on Instagram have probably seen pictures of the pugs getting cozy at the bar.

P.S.  Have you noticed my recent obsession with nighttime photos?  I just love the way it all looks in the dark!

31 Days: Day 20

The last day of my parents' visit, after breakfast at Who Dat Cafe (yea, we love it), we took a cemetery tour at Cemetery #1 near the Quarter.  We hadn't done any of the touristy deals like this since moving here, but thought we'd give it a shot since my parents were in town.  I can't say it was the most useful two hours of my life (mostly because our tour guide thought of himself as more of a comedian than a guide), but we learned some interesting tidbits and explored an area we hadn't before.  Plus the weather was ah-mazing.

On our walk back, we happened upon the Treme Fest second line just as it was about to start, then afterward met friends at the Rum House uptown.  Following lunch, we did a little couch-sitting for Sunday football... then did more face-stuffing at Mona Lisa that night.  We don't hold back.

31 Days: Day 19

Day 2 of my parents' stay was eventful and relaxing at the same time.  We started with brunch at Buffa's in the Marigny, then we walked around the Bywater for a good bit, exploring thrift shops and boutiques.  Dinner was at Louisiana Pizza Kitchen, followed by a stroll along the river and visit to Jackson Square.  Obviously, we couldn't pass Cafe du Monde without chicory and beignets.

Notice we're all wearing jeans?  And my mom's wearing a jacket?  That's right, fall has introduced itself to New Orleans!

31 Days: Day 18

My parents came in town this weekend for the first time (although my mom came in August with my grandmother also).  My dad had only been here 48 hours in the heat of July many years ago, so he was pleasantly surprised by the city and all it has to offer.

We spent their first evening in town trying new restaurants and visiting friends.  After dinner and oysters, we met our friends at a housewarming party, my parents got to spend some time at their rooftop pool (with drinks, not swimming), and we wrapped up the night at R Bar near our house.  My Dad and our friend, Rob, got in a round of pool.  I was (somehow) steady-handed enough to catch a slow shutter-speed shot of the action.

31 Days: Day 17

Now that New Orleans is giving us sub-80-degree weather, I can't stop spending time outside.  I've decided the heat of June through September is totally worth it.

We spent this evening with a drink and simple sandwich on the porch, watching the kids across the street attempt to master some skateboard tricks.  Entertainment at its finest.  My go-to sandwich these days: cucumber, tomato, and avocado mashed with feta cheese.  Yum.  And the Riesling is courtesy of our pals, Rob & Angie, leftover from the biweekly friends' dinner the night before.  Not a bad Thursday.

31 Days: Day 16

We took a break from our biweekly dinners for a while when things got super busy, but now they're back in full force!  This night involved Greek lasagna (recipe here), pan-roasted Brussels Sprouts, and pumpkin ice cream for dessert... plus great friends and wine as usual!  It's nice to get back into the swing of things again.

31 Days: Day 15

I mentioned yesterday that I love New Orleans at night, and I talked about how different everything feels.  Remember the picture from day 5?  Bourbon Street at it's finest.  Check it out at 5 AM on a weekday.  Peace.

31 Days: Day 14

On my way to the gym in the morning (this is going to make it sound like I actually go to the gym every morning) I always love how different everything looks.  The quarter is so quiet and peaceful, it's tempting to meander around with a cup of coffee in the dark, rather than sweat my butt off.  I'm especially fond of the Halloween decor.  I mentioned before that tons of other houses in the Quarter and Marigny were decked out before ours.  Halloween is serious business around here.

31 Days: Day 13

We wrapped up our weekend with a visit to Seafood Fest in City Park.  There were drinks and endless food vendors with every seafood dish imaginable.  I could have spent all day (and 3000 calories) hopping from booth to booth.  Between the 4 of us there were black bean tacos, shrimp and artichoke pasta salad, Kung Fu Tuna, and Nutella crepes devoured.  

Being Sunday though (Saints day for New Orleanians), the game was displayed under the shade of one of the Oaks.  No New Orleans festival is silly enough not to offer some football watching on Sunday.  

31 Days: Day 12

Breakfast is our favorite meal of the day here.  The food is awesome, but I loooove me some New Orleans breakfast.  Grits are my soulmate.  I could eat them for every meal for the rest of my life.  I'd had them several times before we moved here, but I now realize I never had real grits.  Instant grits are crap.  "No self-respectin' southerner eats instant grits" (any My Cousin Vinny fans out there?).

Apart from the grits, the corn cakes at Who Dat Cafe are second on my list of food-infatuations.  They have a Huevos Rancheros special that involves jalapeño corn cakes, black bean salsa, eggs, and sour cream, and it pretty much makes my life complete.  Naturally, we had to share the love with our friends during their visit.  And the weather is perfect right now for breakfast outside in the shade.

31 Days: Day 11

With our best pals in town, we pretty much haven't stopped going.  We're having such a great time showing them around, trying new restaurants/bars, and just catching up, I haven't taken my camera out once.  Therefore, my photo of the day is this fabulous grainy, dark iPhone shot.

It's still great enough to share though, because this happens to be Pirate Pizza.  Like, the whole thing is right here in this picture.  If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen me mention them a couple of weeks ago at a Bywater art fair.  These guys have their whole mobile "restaurant", if you will, built onto a bike.  They occasionally show up at events in New Orleans to serve their awesome pizzas.  We never really know where they'll be when, but when we see them, it's kind of like Christmas morning in the form of a bicycling pizza oven.

31 Days: Day 10

My succulent obsession is going strong.  I've been stalking Harold's Plants in the Bywater ever since my neighbor filled me in about their low prices.  We've had a couple casualties in the past month or so though... apparently I'm better at keeping pugs alive than plants.

A little less brown, please...

When we moved here a few months ago, I mentioned the idea of changing the color of these two rattan chairs.  After eyeballing this set-up for a while though, I realized I was more aggravated by the color of the tile-top table in the middle than by the chairs.

31 Days: Day 9

We added the finishing touches to the front porch for Halloween.  I have the sudden urge to watch Hocus Pocus.

31 Days: Day 8

Continuing my obsession with beautiful fall weather, we enjoyed tapas and drinks on the back patio this evening.  I've been dying to use this space, but it literally felt like an oven in the August and September heat.  You may notice the lime green citronella candle.  Melted.  To the table.  That's what a day of early-September New Orleans heat will do to you.

Tonight we had crostini with olive relish and a side of dirty martini.  Yep.  It's martini season again, everyone.  Hallelujah.

31 Days: Day 7

We officially have a below-80-degree day in the books, folks.  I'm sure it's the way everyone up north was a few weeks ago when you all felt the first tinges of fall.  It made me feel like skipping work and lying in the sun with a cup of coffee all day.  I didn't.  But I wanted to.

Instead, I busted out the Halloween decor.  All the apartments and cottages in the quarter had their holiday decor up 2 weeks ago, so I'm a little behind.  Halloween is a big deal here, apparently.  Sort of second in line to Mardi Gras as far as decor and costumes go.  I'm looking forward to not being the only person over the age of 12 in costume this year.  And you know Jackie's pumped to dress like a mermaid again.

Here's our simple set-up, pugs and all.

Returning for Babies

Warning... this post may induce Baby Fever!

We realized when we moved that missing big events would be the most difficult part of leaving Indianapolis.  When I say "big events" I mean weddings, friends' baby/bridal showers, and the arrival of new babies, mostly.  Our long-time pals, Matt & Josie, welcomed their first baby boy into the world a couple of weeks ago, and we couldn't take it any longer.  We had to get back to Indiana to love on the new addition (and his parents!).  Seeing our friends with a new, larger family (pup included) was the best, and Baby Lucas could not have been any sweeter.  Hello sleepy, soft, fresh-smelling bundle of love :)  Will was actually a little perplexed at the pleasantness of new baby smell.

Fortunately, the weekend we were able to make the trek just so happened to be right after our great friends (and past neighbors), Shawn & Brandi, celebrated their little girl's first birthday!  It was a relief to catch up with them (after the minor scene Brandi & I created at Dufour upon meeting up for the first time in months) and see how much Ava has changed since June.  She also happens to be the happiest little creature to walk crawl the earth, so she was full of laughs, and love, and just overall cuteness the whole time.

So for the Bowers fam, Severns fam, and anyone else needing a good solid baby session, here are a few of my favorites (naturally, I blew up my camera trying to capture everything over the weekend).

31 Days: Day 6

I half-expected the stifling heat of New Orleans to go on forever, but it's finally beginning to break.  The pugs and I took advantage of the 80-degree weather and spent a great deal of time on the front porch.  There was good travel-reading, a continuous soft breeze, and the smell of basil from the yard.  Kirb evidently caught wind of it as well.  I had to stop him from peeing on it once or twice (marvelous creatures, pugs).  As I've mentioned before, my basil grows like a weed here.  I'm getting 2 cups of pesto every other week.  And devouring all of it.  

Allowing myself the time to relax and read some great pieces, I was able to enjoy this article in the New York Times Style Magazine ("T") about New Orleans (first brought to my attention by my grandmother's voicemail this morning).  It's a great discussion about the culture and life here.  Sara Ruffin Costello is able to find the words to describe the uniqueness of this city in a way I'm usually unable to.  And she references the Bywater a lot- one of our favorite neighborhoods!  I highly suggest reading it for anyone who lives here, wants to visit, or is just bored enough to do so. 

31 Days: Day 5

We technically didn't get home until after midnight last night... as a result of a fun evening out and an equally time-consuming experience with a boot on our car.  Add this to the list of reasons why we prefer to travel on foot or bicycle.  So this post is coming a bit late.

We normally avoid this street like the plague, but we attended a dinner function for Will's work at a lovely French restaurant that has an unfortunate position on Bourbon Street.  Galatoire's has been operating at it's current location since 1905, so it's hard to blame them for the chaos that has surrounded it over the years.  I'm still dreaming of the banana bread pudding I enjoyed there last night, by the way.  Ah...

Anyway, this is a shot right outside the doors of the restaurant on Bourbon.  This street, unfortunately, is the sole destination for some tourists and what many people picture when they think of New Orleans.  It's the furthest from anything this city is actually about, made up primarily of drunk tourists with obnoxious souvenir alcohol vessels and loud top 40 music.  Nevertheless, it's an easy place to go occasionally and pretend you're 18 again on spring break.  It's also a fabulous place for people-watching.  If I can bear the experience some evening, I think I could create an enlightening and highly entertaining portfolio of photos on this street.  I may have to have a bottle of wine first.

31 Days: Day 4

We found someone who was still enjoying the effects of the afternoon showers.

31 Days: Day 3

The longer I live here, the less I notice all the charming details of this city.  Shutters and chipped paint.  Love.

31 Days: Day 2

Every evening on my way home, I pick up Will from work, drop our stuff at home, and take the pug-beasts for a w-a-l-k.  Tonight was no different.  They're behaving because they know dinner will be served when we return home.

31 Days: Day 1

Meeting our friends' sweet 18-day-old baby boy for the first time.

31 Days of Photos

My inconsistency with Acrylics and Icing lately is making me feel guilty.  Not guilty like it's a chore, but guilty because for the past couple of years, it's been a great creative outlet for me.  I sort of feel like I'm neglecting part of myself.  Dramatic, no?  It's probably how Kirb feels about "sheep" after only playing with "pig" for a week.  Maybe not.

Sooooo, what better time than now to take advantage of the 31 Days Challenge the Nester recently posted about?!  The goal is to blog daily for 31 days.  About something.  Anything, really.

I still plan to incorporate the usual stuff, but in addition, I'll be taking a photo daily to share.  Old pals may remember when I did the photo-a-day challenge in 2010 (I posted about it on Facebook back then).  I took a picture each day for the entire year as a New Year's Resolution.  It was pretty difficult at times, but I'm feeling like I can handle just one month of it.

So if you get tired of all the pictures over here, feel free to check out this month :)  Otherwise, I'll see you tomorrow!

Hello, visitors!

Since moving to New Orleans, we've made some awesome new friends that have made the transition here an easy one, but we miss our long-time pals and family from back home at the same time.  While we worried that moving here would make seeing everyone back in Indiana more difficult, we also hoped New Orleans and it's fabulousness would encourage people to pay us a visit.  I'm excited to say that since I offered up our spare bedroom HERE, we've already recruited several more visitors!  Aaand the offer still stands for all you friends and fam that are looking for a southern escape as the weather gets cooler :)

Anyway, we were lucky to have our first visitors come in August!  My mom and grandmother made the drive from Southern Indiana to check out the new digs.  And it just happened to be my birthday that weekend.  Happy birthday to me!  We didn't have time to do much of the touristy stuff we think visitors would enjoy- cemetery tours, beignets at Cafe du Monde, swamp tours, etc, etc.  (most of which I like to do, too!), but we were able to show them around a bit.

There was French Market shopping involved.  It resulted in my grandmother haggling down the price of a necklace she liked, then buying me a giant red Buddha for the mantle.  Success!

Pug Life

The blog posts have changed a bit since our move, and I know what you're thinking.  "Recipes, NOLA goings-on, and the occasional DIY project are great.  But I want more pugs!"  For those of you longing to see some great pug wrinkles (don't lie, you know who you are), here are some shots of the glorious bayou pugs.  Looking their finest, as usual.  Scroll down for a video of the pugs utilizing their brawling skills.

Sideboard gets Sassy

I talked here about our old sideboard that made the trip from Indianapolis to New Orleans with us.  A little traditional flare is great, but she was stuck in the past.  She wasn't really unattractive to start with... she'd just had the same metaphorical hair cut for far too long, and needed a wild new do.  Of course it took several weeks of letting the can of paint sit next to her before I finally got a chance to start the makeover... but she's finally looking like a new woman!

You remember the sideboard in her boring old "before" state:

London. Way back when.

My whirlwind-style days continue... I did finally get around to planting a few herbs and vegetable plants outside recently.  If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen the results of my crazy basil jungle.  I'm rolling in pesto, folks.  And I like it.

Anywho, way back in the day I made several posts (here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) about Istanbul.  And whataya know, I never did mention our 24 hr speed-tour of London on the way home.  Our must-travel-to list is miles long, and for whatever reason we always seemed to pass up London as a destination.  So when we were presented with the opportunity to spend just 1 day in the city en route to the good ol' USA, we grabbed it.  We couldn't bring ourselves to waste any time (or money) getting a hotel room, so this of course, meant that we would be sleeping in the airport.  Not my finest night of sleep.  At all.  But we did get to see some of the city and experience a couple off-the-beaten-path pubs during the whirlwind.  Here are a few highlights...

Marigny-Round

We officially closed on the Woodruff house the week before last.  Bittersweet, but it feels like we're right where we're supposed to be.  So it seemed high time to show you around our new hood.  We're now residing in a tiny little historic neighborhood full of character with big community feel.  As I've mentioned before, our favorite perk is its proximity to the live local music on Frenchman, as well as to the Quarter (only 3 blocks from our house).  All of New Orleans is teeming with charm and festivities, but much of the action happens here.

I mentioned The Spotted Cat in this post.  It's our favorite music club.  Never a bad band to be heard.

You never know what you'll see around here.  This is in the French Market in the Quarter.

We pretty much bike everywhere.  It's by far the easiest way to get around.

The film industry loves New Orleans.  Apparently there's a tax break that draws them here.  This summer, American Horror Story and Black & White were filmed here, and apparently prepping is beginning for movies like 22 Jump Street, Selfless, and Focus.  Kevin Costner, Will Smith, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, and Jonah Hill are among the actors working on these films.

No ladies, I haven't had any Channing Tatum spottings yet, but we did run across Adam Richman from Man vs. Food.

He was visiting on Bastille Day, checking out the waiter and waitress races with the rest of us.

We frequent the Esplanade Mini Mart (3 blocks from our house) when we're in need of something small.  Like wine :)

I'll never get tired of the New Orleans architecture.

La Peniche is on the same block as our house.  They have great breakfast after a long night on Frenchmen.  And we never know when they'll be open.  Sometimes, randomly, they're open all night.  Until 6 AM.  Just in case we wake up at 4 AM in the mood for grits.

And if we don't have enough room for everyone, there are several options for overnights in the hood :)

I have lots more pictures to post eventually.  In the meantime, care to come visit us?!