Ramble on

Are you ready to Ramble? hmmm?

Ok Ramblers, Its time to see each other again, as god intended, in costumes with lots of glitter, eyelashes and fancy wigs.

I hear that we are meeting at Will's house this year and begin our ramble with the Panorama Brass Band. BTW..I don't know if y'all have heard the PBB in the parades this year, but they sound even more fabulouser than ever! [sqeeeeel!]

Here's the details.

823 Spain St.
New Orleans, LA 70117

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Cocktail Breakfast 9am
March begins at 10am

Route
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2464819

Stops at:
R Bar
Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop
Jackson Square
Harry's Corner
Molly's at the Market
Spotted Cat

If you are attending this event because I have invited you, please make sure you hand me $25 each member of your group before line up. It takes brilliant thinking, diligent organizing, and hard cash to create this spectacular event every year.

There are things I love about my town today

The first of these things I love is the almond croissant from Haydel's Bakery that I ate for breakfast this morning. Yes, indeed! I got out of bed and drove to Jefferson Parish and got one. There is really no need to ever eat the crappy marzipan filled stale excuses for croissants that are all over town. I loves Haydels.

Next, I love my house. I love it because its old and gorgeous and functional. Its cute without being flashy. The floors feel great on my feet. The tub is huge, the shower is great. My living room is somehow warm in the winter and cool in the summer. My bed is cozy. My dogs are sweet. I can hear the cars from the overpass and the underpass moving at different speeds.

Sean and I went for a really great bike ride today after completing our requisite lazy hours for the weekend. We rode to Audubon Park, then the fly, where we watched the barges go by in the sunset. Riding down camp street it occurred to me that there were a million amazing smells. None of them bad or overpowering. They were all getting along quite well. I smelled sweet olive, bbq, charcoal, campfire, and clean house.

I love a sunset in New Orleans from any view and especially on Saturday.

The juice box crowd knows how to spend a sunday afternoon

These folks have been paaaartying down with the PJB at Sound Cafe. This is a beautiful day, with great music in a great venue. I love New Orleans.

A guilty pleasure

This one was sent to me with the subject line "When Pumpkins Drink"

The most fun I've had since 3/16/2007

The whole thing was gorgeous. It was fantastic to connect with everyone. Lauren is a delight and so were all the New Yorkers. It was great to meet some of Wess and Lauren's people.

Well, the picture above was taken from the kitchen window of Amelie. Unfortunately, my camera had no flash, but there is still quite a bit of happiness, and movement in the image. Wess and Lauren can be found atop chairs dancing the Hora in the center of the pic.

Really pople, MREs?

I love that everyone loves New Orleans, but really, the MREs and the 8 oz bottles of water need to go to BR, Feliciana Parishes, Lafourche, etc. We don't need them b/c I took myself to the Whole Foods and bought some overpriced groceries, mineral water, and then had a dinner party. This is not what WE need right now. It is what some folks need, but not us.

There is a very significant way that Katrina offered an opportunity for people to feel better about themselves and their lives by volunteering their time to repair a problem that was actually way bigger than the damage to people's homes. In many big ways, this volunteering has been helpful, appreciated, and has had a noticeable impact on the recovery effort in New Orleans. It has also allowed New Orleans to remain stuck in a victim role.

It drives me crazy to see college kids walking around my neighborhood picking up trash. That trash is there because somebody, or a lot of people who are responsible for that trash are too lazy to do it themselves. Christians get to put an entry on their application to heaven called
New Orleans Relief Worker. If you really want to help us, bridge the gap between public need, and public policy, solve housing inequity, sit in a classroom and assist a public school teacher, but do not come pick up trash and hand out MREs and tiny water bottles.

Screw the cone of probability... seriously

This storm actually sucks. It looks like it is coming here, but nobody seems to think it will. I have not decided to evacuate. If things go anything like last time, we will be much better off staying. More on that later.

Words from the safehouse

I had a dream last night that featured the dark bands of a hurricane that suddenly took the form of an Octopus reaching down from the sky and swatting at everything on the ground. I hid in the closet as the octopus tore the house apart and sucked all the light from the sky. Fortunately when I woke there was only a fast moving grey sky. Sean is outside playing the trumpet as each note gets sucked up by the wind, and hopefully taken back home to New Orleans by this circular breeze.

I have a few things to say about this experience so far. Most notably Sean and I now identify as evacuators. We leave under any reasonable threat and pack a month’s worth of stuff. We will continue to do this even if we do not believe that the worst will happen.
We realize that this is what it means to live in New Orleans. We are completely aware that at anytime our home, stuff, town, and life as we know it could disappear and we would need to start over. We know that New Orleans will flood again. We left this time with our eyes full of tears and our hearts in our throats drunk with gratitude for 3 more years in New Orleans. We do not have a plan B to living in New Orleans. We do not want a plan B (at least not yet).

It is 11:44 on Monday the industrial canal is about spill, I have know idea what this storm will actually do but I suspect that it won’t do what we all thought. Good.

I know that many people have been watching the news, and it has been very scary. Please don’t let them keep you scared for us. I am not trying do downplay the seriousness of this storm, but CNN, MSNBC, TWC, etc… make tons of money by keeping people terrified and watching TV. They will never be able to tell you exactly what’s happening or going to happen. So given that we are evacuators now, just know we are ok and don’t believe the hype.

Our camp in Clinton LA is great. We are comfortable our dogs are happy; we are with good people watching movies; all is well.

XOXO Jacqui

Listen up people, We are ok, we are thinking we are expecting the least and preparing for the worst. I remain unconvinced that this storm will become the cataclysmic event that occurred in 2005. These are the plans.

We will either evacuate to St. Francisville or Kansas City depending on the size and course of the storm. It simply does not make sense for us to go East or West, so North it is. If we are required to stay out of town for a while, I can work from anywhere and Sean will pick up gigs in KC. If we are out for more than a week, we will go to Wisconsin to stay with Dad and Jenny.

What about all our Floridians? hmmm? Have you purchased your plywood, flashlights and batteries yet? lots of water?

Take care, love to all,
Jacqui

Coming up for air

In the last 2 days, it has been brought to my attention about 4 times, that my blog has been woefully neglected. If this keeps up, people might get the impression that Sean and I are sitting around eating ice cream and watching episodes of lost, and that wouldn’t be…well it would sort of be true….BUT, that’s not all we’re doing!

Sean for instance has almost completed our upstairs bathroom. HIP HIP HOORAY! Here’s to not having to negotiate my stairs in the middle of the night. I am going to wait until we install the hex tiles in the shower, before I go and post a picture, but it is gorgeous. He has been playing some music, but enjoying the slow season this summer.

I have been keeping busy at the agency, which has been both challenging and fun. Most people don’t know what I do, so I will tell you that since December I have been enjoying my new position at Peter A Mayer Advertising as an Interactive Producer. I launched the first site that I produced from start to finish last month. TA’DA It was very satisfying to launch that site. It takes quite a while to get these things up, so you know, I’m glad.

Kendal and Dwayne (our across the street neighbors) are making tremendous progress on their house. I think they may actually be living in it by Jan. this year. That is nothing to sneeze at, they have been working on that house for as long as I have known Sean. I so look forward to living near them. Kendal and I can walk to work together; we can spend Sundays bb-q-ing in yard. I sort of imagine that having the Johnsons across the street will be like having a slumber party every weekend. We can tuck each other in at night and wake up and have coffee on the porch. They need a shady pool.

We also have some sort of new neighbors around the corner, Elizabeth and Gary. They have been there for about 2 years, but it’s taken a while to get to know them. They have come all the way from Brooklyn to Central City New Orleans. Sean and I call them our fairy god neighbors. Not only did the have the grace to install a pool and share it with the neighborhood, but they also have brought Kundalini yoga classes, and some amazing Indian recipes, including panir cheese. They have also been instrumental in crafting the Central City social situation. More on that later.

Sean and I have been attending their yoga classes daily. That is one of the more incredible developments on Clio street. Elizabeth just informed us tonight that there is going to be a Kunalini yoga teacher training in New Orleans next year. Sean and I are both very excitedly considering going through the training. We have seen such drastic improvements in our lives, it seems that we should take the opportunity to take it to the next level.

Well people, I have to say, I am a little sad that we did not make it to NYC this year. Sean and I were both very excited, but in the end, it just didn’t make sense. Thanks to all who offered up places to stay, I’m sorry we were unable to accept. We will start planning for next year.

Speaking of New Yorkers, I am sooooo completely stoked about Wess and Lauren’s wedding. I hope to see lots of friendly faces. I am going to get a mazillion hugs. It is going to be very cool. Thanks for coming to New Orleans to get married guys.

Until next time, let love rule!

Xoxo
j&s

Holy Cow! We are all really cute

Happy AshWednesday all. We made it through another Mardi Gras.

The 2008 annual ramble of the St. Anthony Ramblers was the predictable best of season event. It was very sweet this year with all of the fluffy chickens to cuddle with. Panorama was stellar, my wig was very shinny and pleasing, I got to see everyone that I forgot to call this year; really, it couldn't have been better.

P.S. I forgot some REALLY important credits:

All of the musicians including Esquizito and the Panorama Jazz Band played this event for love not money. Also Brother Charlie Dale of Grace Baptist Church performed the ceremony as a gift to us. It was a beautiful and well thought ceremony that was just right as a result of their collective talents.

Also Joanne Hilton pulled some last minute strings to distribute balloons at the site, so that everyone knew where to be. This turned out to be a beautiful touch. It added amazing movement and excitement to the event... and it looks great in the pictures.

It was sooooo FUN!! (Click Here for Photos)

Click on the title, and it should bring you to the web album. All photos are compliments of Diane Tripplett. I love them!

I have been dying to find the time to update this blog. It has been 3 weeks since the wedding and Sean and I have landed safely back into our normal life, but have not forgotten a moment of this spectacular event. I can say with 100% confidence that it was the best wedding ever. If being a wife is as fun as being a bride, I am in for a good time!

When Sean and I decided to get married, it took 6 months to come up with a plan. It took another 6 months to figure out that our plan was lame, and yet another 2 to decide what to do instead. That left us roughly 4 months to execute the plan, which involved renovating a house. It didn't seem possible, but we did it. This has made us very proud and still humbled by the amount of support and labor given to us by our friends and family. This was truly a group effort. I hope everyone is as pleased as we are.

For the last several months, my mind had been crafting a very clever, sweet and articulate speech that I planned to deliver at the wedding. The speech explained our gratitude and illustrated the process and reasoning that lead to our decision to host an event like this.

When the time came to deliver my thoughts, they no longer seemed relevant or useful. What I mean is, our purpose was so obvious and universally felt, that my words could not have enhanced anything.

Having said that, I am now at my computer holding the virtual mike, and I would like to tell spill my heart to you all.

The decision to marry Sean was an easy one. He is an amazing man and my life has been unbelievably improved since he entered it, and I believe the same is true for him.

The decision regarding how to get married was not so easy. It was a struggle to find something that represented us well. We entertained the idea of running off to get married alone and throwing a party afterwards. A few people had opinions about it and shared them with us. I believe that Esquizito's sentiments rang to the tune of "it's tacky and I will have no part of it" (he was slightly more eloquent, but we got the message). Ben Schenck reminded us that committing ourselves in front of others is kind of the point, and to sneak off may cheat us of the meaning behind the event. Merica thought the idea was a snoozer, but agreed to support our decision. My mother probably would have had nightmares if I had told her. My father continued to remind Sean and I, that whatever we decided to do would be just right.

Thanks guys.

As we planned the event, it became so obvious to us, that we couldn't get married without our people any more that we could live without our people. The fact is that we needed all of you to participate in our marriage in order to make it work. The decision to involve our friends, family and community felt like a decision to not build our castle out of sand.

Thanks again.

I also would have mentioned that my husband has laid his hands on every grain of wood in our house to make it beautiful. I am very proud of his work.

And then, I would have given an Oscar length speech about all the cool ways that everyone helped. If that had worked out, I never would have cut the cake!

Credits:
Speaking of Cake, Chef Kaysey Hasslock of Liaison Catering supplied the bulk of dinner, hours d overs, and the delicious and beautiful carrot cake. She also supplied the delicious and beautiful staff, Brittney, Chef Matt and Sam. Katie Malloy-Peck baked the chocolate bourbon grooms cake and her husband Bryan Peck (of Elizabeth's fame) concocted the cochon du lait. Chef Jerry Mixon from Cafe Amelie supplied us with the roasted duck app, and Melanie Kuffel sent the champagne. Beth at Swirl (mid city wine boutique) picked out just the right wine, and Dena was a godsend and keg mistress. James CrawfishMan Fulton was the boil king and site boss for the last month. His totally killer wife, Isa, lent him to us for many hours and we are grateful.

Several people contributed their free time and sweat to the rapid beautification project (AKA, Mission: get this shit DONE! ) which included gutting walls, rebuilding them, hanging and floating drywall, painting, sanding, finishing floors, gardening, digging up dirt, uncovering bricks, hanging lights, artwork and curtains, cleaning the darkest corners of our house and cleaning up a most unsavory trash pile in front of our house. Thank you Mom, Dad, Jenny, Bruce, Brian, Shelly, Katie, Red, Sidney, Debbie, Rebeca, Marley, Salvadore, Dena, Janice, Kathleen, Ken, Wayne, Shyanne, India, Daniel, and Greg.

Katie Triplett made it all simple. She helped me keep it all together. Diane and Tim Triplett, thanks for the food, and thanks for the fabulous photos. Olivia, thanks for the hair darling!

Wedding Information

Hi Friends! Perhaps it is needless to say, but we have been a little too busy to update this blog in the last few months, but I have some info for you. This post should cover everything you could ever want to know about this event …and then some.

Just about everyone who reads this knows that we are about to get married in ooohhh, 8 weeks! Holy cow. The invitations will be out shortly, but I have some extra info that may be useful for all of you, particularly the out-of-towners. I didn’t want to stuff envelopes with a dissertation on New Orleans and wedding details.

First things first!

Date: Friday, March 16, 2007

Ceremony: 6:00 PM Coliseum Square Park- between Camp and Coliseum streets

Reception: 1729 Clio street, New Orleans LA, 70113

There will be a second line following the ceremony that will bring us to the reception. Anyone who has not yet had the opportunity to participate in a second line is in for a treat. I have created a map that outlines the route in yellow. The second line will be about 10 or so blocks and will be lead by the Panorama Jazz Band. It will bring us to our house for the reception.

For those who wish to miss out on all the fun and drive to the reception, you will be able to park in the parking lot at Fleet tires on Carondolet Street between Clio and Caliope. To do so, head up Camp Street take a left on Erato, cross St. Charles, take a right on Carondolet get into the left lane, dogleg over into the parking lot on Clio Street. We will have a hired policeman on detail between the house and the tire shop. There is also plenty of parking under the interstate, behind the house. Central City is by no means scenic, and unfortunately it is not particularly safe either. It is however, our home and because of that, it is just right for this occasion. Please be advised that your safety is important to us, so heads up.

The Wedding will be casual. Second liners be advised, sensible shoes are appropriate. Also, Coliseum square park will likely have plenty of dogs on such a beautiful day, so if dogs make you antsy, hold a hand, there will be plenty available. The menu will be yummy, and without giving away all of the surprises, carnivores, herbivores and omnivores will leave with full bellies. On that note, we will have crawfish, so don’t be so fancy you can’t feast.

St. Patty’s Day / St. Joseph’s Day weekend

I chose to have the wedding on this particular weekend, because it is so fun! Here is a link with the event listings from last year, which are always the same, so you can get an idea of what goes on: http://nola.live.advance.net/stpatricks/?content/events.html

Basically these are the events:

• Friday: the best wedding ever
• Sat: Cabbage tossing crazy Irish Channel Parade on Magazine

Green beers and Madness at Parasols (First and Constance)

• Sunday: St. Josephs Day and the Irish Italian parade in Metairie on Vets Hwy. (that one is a little more family friendly)

Most everyone knows about St. Patrick, the missionary that saved all of Ireland, and is probably single-handedly responsible for the expression “Irish-Catholic”. St. Joseph, however, gets a bit trickier. He is either the less glamorous virgin father of Jesus who is noted for his chastity, or the Saint that saved Sicily from famine by bringing rain to the Island’s dying crops. Both have the same feast day and different reputations. Come to think of it, I think they are the same Joe… look it up. The feast of St. Joseph looks to me like a combination of Thanksgiving, and a symbol of solidarity and humility among the working class (that is not a scholarly fact, it is the opinion of a non-historian). Anyhoo, his feast day is on the 19^th of March, and this is a really big deal in the New Orleans-Italian communities. People spend hundreds of hours baking and preparing for St. Joseph’ s Day alters. You can find them in churches, homes, community centers…check the local paper that weekend and find one. My friend Elsa will be at the wedding and she knows where the good ones are, so ask her.

Lodging is as abundant as crepe myrtle trees in this city, so it should be easy to find a place to stay. We are in central city, which abuts the lower garden district. Both are about 1.5 miles outside of the French Quarter. The streetcar is currently trafficking people from lee circle to the FQ. Sean’s aunt and uncle Joanne and Dennis own a very cute, reasonably priced inn near the ceremonial park. It is called The Saint Charles Guest House (504) 523-6556. If you want to stay there, give them a call and tell em we sent ya. Don’t reserve online, make the call.

Staying in the quarter might be fun too, so I have some thoughts this, and remember nothing is really far away. For this reason I recommend using cabs to get around. You are not likely to get ripped off, arrested or lost… and it’s cheap (United Cab 504.522.9771).

Downtown Recommendations:

French Quarter

W hotel (CBD or FQ) – both nice stylish, swanky, corporate, clean, about $80ish a night http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/index.html

Dauphine Orleans ­– big rooms / suites available, a friend stayed here once and it was very comfy and easy lounge in. It is pricey, but it can also accommodate a few people if that is how you roll. About $100ish a night. http://www.dauphineorleans.com/index.html

Marigny

Royal Inn (above the R~Bar – “The city’s only bed and beverage” is in the Faubourg Marigny by all the cool jazz clubs, hippies, cafes, soul food, and wierdos. I love it!

http://www.royalstreetinn.com/

Also, for those of you who are like us, and are not financially endowed enough to get a swanky hotel, don’t let that stop you from coming. I have had people offer up sofas and floors and guestrooms for this event, so If you need assistance call me.

Whew! That was long. We can’t wait to see everyone.

P.S.
My mom says that she got a really good rate at the Ponchartrain Hotel in the lower garden district.

And

We are registered at Bed Bath and Beyond

And

The map I made didn't show up really well, so I will email the file as a pdf to adyone who asks

Oh! By the way, this happened. (YIPPPEEE!!!)

oops! There was a story about this in the Piccaune in the metro section christmas day.
I hope they don't try that bs again.

Christmastime on Clio Street

This year Sean and I decided to lie back and float in the proverbial current of events that flow around the holiday season. For us this came to mean, don’t freak out, over-spend, over-drink or over-plan. It sounds easy right? For those who have never tried this, I highly recommend it. It is way more fun than I can explain.

This year, Christmas was better than I could have hoped for. Mom came to visit and we had a great meal and visit with the Hiltons. Everything seemed especially calm and sweet: the cooking, the shopping, and of-course the excessive movie watching and cookie eating.

The holiday season always brings people that have escaped the paths of our normal life for one reason or another. Because of this, it seems, Mom was treated to the genuine Clio Street experience complete with warm neighbor reunions, homeless men looking for food, impromptu house parties, sudden brawls, and spontaneous drumming lessons and cookie baking with the kids next door. She really took all of this on very calmly. Even though Sean and I (usually) love the roller coaster of events that is endless on our block, we know it is not always amusing to everyone. Here’s to you mom…what a sport!

It was a huge treat to share the Hilton family Christmas with her! It is the opposite of our family’s typical holiday gathering in so many ways, but I never feel out of place or homesick when I am there. This Christmas I was reminded of how lucky I am both to come from such a loving family, and to become a part of Sean’s family. My blessings are abundant.

Algiers River Fest

 

Farewell to Patrick

Alas, the wind has changed directions and now the time has come for Patrick "Cutie Pants" Harrison, New Orleans accordionist (by way of Minneapolis) to return to the well mannered, safe, hurricane free, ice cube of a town that he came from.

As a Panorama groupie, I can say it has been a joy to have him in the band and in my town. I know the band will miss him terribly. He brought dignity, grace, charm and great hair to gypsy jazz accordion.

I think that he and New Orleans were fond of each other, so I am sure he will return. I hope we see him soon!

....and now, the leader of....

The Panorama Jazz Band!