Laissez les bons temps rouler

So I'm not going to go into a long, drawn out thing here, but I just want to say this: I love New Orleans. I've visited many times, got engaged there, and even applied to law school at Tulane and Loyola (even though Louisiana has a completely different system of law, and I would have been pretty screwed when I tried to take the Texas Bar). Yeah, I love the party atmosphere (ask Karla May about the trash can incident), but what I love even more is the history and the cultural pride associated with the city and the Gulf Coast in general.

I was supposed to go to the Big Easy about a month after Katrina hit for a much-anticipated weekend with all the crazy women in my family, and it was really hard to cancel the whole trip, not knowing when we could go back again and what it would be like if we did. I can't imagine what those people who live or have lived there must have felt like. I still think about them and pray for them, and, on this first anniversary, I hung this in my kitchen:

It's a piece of slate roof from a Garden District home (c. 1850s) that was destroyed by the storm. It came from these gals, who are from the area, and I think it's a beautiful tribute to what was and, hopefully, will be again. I also think it compliments this quite well:

It's a Glitter Girl piece, inspired by Mardi Gras. I got it the weekend T-Bone and I got engaged at The Old Absinthe House. Damn, what I wouldn't give for a cold beer and a noisy strike at The Rock 'n Bowl right now.