Only in New Orleans!

I managed a trip to New Orleans this past weekend. I flew in Saturday and hit the ground running. It snowed in Atlanta and created a nightmare at the airport. Delayed, but I made it to the Crescent City in one piece. Miss Linda was waiting outside the doors. I jumped in and we headed downtown. Krewe of Tucks was coming through. We parked and made our way to the streets, alive and popping. The city is on a high from Super Bowl and the song, "stand up and get crunk" is being pumped through out the streets. We did our share of "throw me somethin' Mister" and got back to the car to head home. A quick shower before we slipped into evening gowns for the big Endyminion Extravaganza! We walked inside the SuperDome to find it rocking. Here's how to watch the parade. The table was in a fabulous spot, we dropped off the food, opened the liquor and started the night. The performers kept us all dancing. When the parade rolled through we climbed up on chairs to get the full craziness of the night. We added beads to our outfits and filled bags and bags with our endless prized possessions we caught. Lynard Skynard finally started up around 1:00 a.m. Knowing our next morning included riding in a parade, we slipped out with our new found bounty of beads. How did we manage to carry all those bags? Hmmm, Ricky found a flat bed dolly which we borrowed... yes, it was that much stuff!

With about 5 hours of sleep we started our Sunday outing. Off to the bead store. Then to the float. Set up the float with endless beads. Find the costumes. Rally the kids. Dress the kids. Feed the kids. Finally, the ride began at 5:30. Hours through the streets of Metairie. Throw, throw, throw... dance, dance, dance,... the route ended, the wheels stopped around 10:30 p.m. We quickly unloaded, got the kids off to the curb, and I sat down for the first time. My body demanded more. I layed out and felt muscles (I did not know I had) throb. Oh, sweet, fun, pain. Life is so good!

By the time Linda and I got the last patient back to the hospital, we realized we hadn't eaten and were both starving. Restaurant after restaurant had lines of hungry parade goers and out of towners. Finally, we found an Ihop and with our lovely costumes on, we went inside for that yummy late night breakfast. It was midnight, pouring rain outside, and we were loving life with some amazing BLT's.

Monday morning came way too quickly. I kept little man while Linda and Mark went to work. By noon the Gretna Krazy Kids were lining up for their parade. Ready... Firetruck, EMT's, police cars blocking the streets... set, floats and beads, go... ride and throw!

I found a ride out to Metairie to meet up with daddy for a late lunch. I love having this private, one on one time with him. He looks great and as sharp as ever! Loving me, my daddy.

He dropped me at the New Orleans airport for 4:00 p.m. My gosh, had I already run the clock out?

AVATAR at IMAX 3D

As I am scrambling to gather personal information on 44 of my new besties; daughter #1 calls and says she's coming in for a visit. Nice surprise! The princess ran late, I took off to round up Paul, and we gathered at home for a big breakfast together. Waffles, eggs, grits, bacon, coffee, juice... yummy stuff. And boy did we stuff it in. The loving siblings ran off to shop (now that's brotherly love at it's best), while I cleaned up and sorted through the Guatemala files.

Sarah and Paul decided it was time for me to see Avatar. We took off for a 7:00 show and after sitting in mass amounts of Atlanta traffic... it was sold out! There was the regular 3D, but it was declared 'not good enough'. I must be loosing my mind, I bought 3 tickets for the 10:30 p.m. show. Now, 3 hours to kill. We chose to eat our way down the street. We found a Sushi place and I had dinner, while they munched on a couple of rolls (they had just finished dinner with Bill). After that we went a couple doors down to Cold Stone. Sarah and Paul managed dessert happily. A store, a second store... finally back to the movie.

AMAZING! Avatar has a fabulous message! Life is about relationships, with people and with mother earth. The greedy, power minded likes of America has decided (in it's usual way) that they are right and at what ever the cost, they will take what they want. The greed for money and power, drive the heartless humans to justify anything they must do to these impossible alien beings who do not think the way they should (i.e. like humans). A few humans do eventually reach out, understand, and rally to the death to defend the aliens. The blue men not only rely on themselves, they have a connection to the animals, the wildlife, and the spirit of all those before them. It's a must see. You may want to bring a tissue, as it can find it's way inside of you.