out and about

This weekend Thatcher had two new experiences in New Orleans!

I took the day off on Friday and finally visited The Parenting Center. A lot of the moms in our Sunday school class meet up there every Wednesday morning, but we have never been able to make it due to work. It's basically a center for families to bring their young children and play, but they also have a lot of resources on things like discipline, expanding your family, nursing, etc. They always have various activities going on like music and crafts, depending on the day and time. On Fridays during the summer, they have water play from 10:00 - 3:00, and Thatcher had a total blast! He jumped right in and was running around like a wild man. After we played outside for about an hour, we headed inside where he also had a lot of fun. I can't wait to take him back!

On Saturday morning we met friends at the Cool Zoo, which is basically a miniature water park inside the Audubon Zoo.

photo courtesy here

At first Thatcher was totally terrified, as some of the water is quite strong and it's pretty loud. For a while I was thinking it was a waste of money and not quite appropriate for toddlers, but after a lot of coaxing and prodding, he finally realized that some of the sprinklers weren't so bad after all. He played for about 30-45 minutes and then we dried off and went to see some of the animals. I'll probably wait until next summer to try the Cool Zoo again, but it's a really neat concept for slightly older kids. I just don't see the point in paying money when Thatcher is happy playing in a sprinkler at home for free!

Q&A: On living in NOLA and elsewhere

First, let me say that I have loved getting all of y'alls questions - they really get my creative juices flowing. Some of the topics are so obvious that I have no idea why I didn't think to talk about them before! So, feel free to keep the questions coming.

A few people asked about what it's like to live in New Orleans and why we've lived elsewhere. So, here goes.

Ally, one of my favorite bloggers, asked: How many days are there parades? And how does any business get done in New Orleans during Mardi Gras season? I won't give a full history of Mardi Gras, but the Mardi Gras season typically begins in January after Twelfth Night on Epiphany and continues until Fat Tuesday. Fat Tuesday always falls 41 days prior to Easter Sunday and is the day before Ash Wednesday. This means that the Mardi Gras season changes every year. Fun fact: Thatcher's 21st birthday is on Fat Tuesday! You can essentially think of Mardi Gras as the city's last hurrah before we all give up drinking and gorging ourselves on king cake - ha! Fat Tuesday is the only night where bars close in New Orleans - at midnight, you can see cops riding on horseback through the French Quarter to clear everyone out.

The parades start about 2-3 weeks before Fat Tuesday, with the biggest and best parades happening the weekend immediately before Fat Tuesday. Now, there are technically parades all over the state, but in New Orleans there are about 20-30 parades in total. Keep in mind that the parades are just one aspect of Mardi Gras - the season is also filled with debutante parties, balls, king cakes and crawfish boils. It really is a season that is deeply engrained in our culture, much like you would celebrate any other major holiday. In fact, most people decorate their houses as seriously as they do at Christmas time.

In the days leading up to Mardi Gras, nothing does get done! The city essentially shuts down for a few days, and you don't dare try to drive anywhere (and most likely you WILL get stuck while they let floats or tractors pass if you do venture out). You start to live by the parade schedules and routes, but it's just part of living here. Sadly, I work for an organization based elsewhere, so I would have had to take today off to head out to the parades. The husband is extremely busy at work (more on our careers in another post!), but I hope that one day we'll be able to take Thatcher out on Mardi Gras day!

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Andie, another NOLA girl, asked: Other than New Orleans, where would you like to live? After having Thatcher, I can honestly say nowhere. We moved around a ton after college, and I honestly loved every second of that and made some wonderful lifelong friends (many of whom read this blog to stay in touch!) That said, I love, love, love being so close to my parents and brother. My family is extremely small, so it's really important to me to be near them, and while there are some aspects of life in New Orleans that drive me insane (pot holes, crime, and the cost of living), to me it is home. The husband is way more eager to live elsewhere. He gets more easily frustrated with the "dysfunction" here and is open to moving. I won't rule it out as a possibility, but I am very content here (who doesn't love seeing their parents practically every day?) If I had to pick, I would likely choose somewhere in the Southeast, and I lean towards smaller cities. I think I'd like places like Nashville and Charlotte, for example. I don't love traffic, concrete and huge crowds (basically, I'd never live in New York). We strongly considered Denver at one point, and I love the idea of San Francisco...but in reality, I am happiest in a small city in the south. We loved Tampa and never planned to leave. Which brings me to...

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Maria and Emily asked: "why Tampa?" Basically, by chance. I majored in finance, so I interviewed for a ton of jobs in New York during my senior year in college but knew that I'd be miserable. I don't agree with concrete jungles and loud noises. When an opportunity came along in Tampa, I figured, "why not?" It was a small city in the south and surrounded by water. Plus, it was an hour flight from New Orleans. It ended up being one of the best decisions I made. Sure, it was scary to move to a brand new city where I knew no one right after college, but it was a transformative and positive experience. I was pushed out of my comfort zone and forced to make new friends. The husband actually started in DC after college but soon realized that he couldn't live without me and moved to Tampa (this was about a year after I moved there).

I moved to Tampa intending to live there for 2-3 years, and we ended up loving it. We had an amazing group of friends (some of whom just visited us for New Year's), we immersed ourselves in the culture (thankfully they have a mini version of Mardi Gras called Gasparilla) and we were really quite happy. Unfortunately, in late 2006 we found out the the founder of the hedge fund where the husband was working intended to retire, so the husband had to find a new position. I was miserable in mine (more on that in my career post), and I was busy planning our wedding, so I told him the country was his oyster. He interviewed for a position in Arizona, and I agreed to move without ever stepping foot in Phoenix (true story). That's a post for another day, but we ultimately moved back to New Orleans for him to attend business school. We still miss Tampa. A lot. Unlike the stereotypes, Florida is not just for retired people and vacation!

 

Stay tuned for more on what we do for a living, how I balance work with having a baby, our thoughts on leaving Thatcher with baby-sitters and some of my favorites!

A perfect Louisiana Saturday

The skies are a deep blue, it's about 60 degrees outside, and there's very little humidity. Essentially, the perfect crisp day. We have jambalaya on the stove, and friends are coming over this afternoon for mimosas, bloody marys and of course to cheer on the Saints. I really don't think life gets better. Well, eating crawfish during Mardi Gras with a cold beer is a very close second.

The husband's jambalaya
--stalk of celery
--parsley
--green onion
--onion
--2 green bell peppers
--chicken breasts
--sausage
--chicken broth
--Contadina tomato paste
--Uncle Ben's rice
--Tony's
--bay leaves
--minced garlic

1. Chop all vegetables very finely. At the same time, boil the chicken. When the chicken is done, cut/chop/shred into bite sized pieces. We usually saute the sausage on the stove (in a separate pan) at the same time. Basically, multi-task: cut veggies while chicken boils and sausage sautes.
2. Saute the onion, bell pepper and celery in a generous amount of olive oil and minced garlic. When those vegetables are soft, add the green onion and parsley. Let it cook down.
3. Add the chicken and sausage to the vegetables. Also add the tomato paste and combine. We usually throw in Tony's, garlic powder, onion powder, bay leaves and hot sauce. If you want, you can also add cayenne.
4. After all of that is combined, add 2.5 cups of Uncle Ben's and chicken broth. Let it all cook - we honestly don't measure the chicken broth, so use your best judgment. Too much and obviously the rice will get soggy, so start with less and go from there.

His jambalaya is not an exact science, but it is so freaking good. It actually tastes better the next day, too.

These pictures are from last weekend, but we're wearing the exact same clothes. I am superstitious like that. This shirt got us to the Superbowl, but last year I couldn't wear it since I was approximately 8 months pregnant during the playoffs and we all know how that turned out. Who dat!!!

Now we're off to the new house inspection. If the inspection goes well and the Saints win, it will absolutely be a perfect day! If you asked me to choose one - well, I am not sure I would know what to pick!