St. Louis and a shoe shine

So the other day, I took the streetcar and made my way over to the French Quarter just to wander a bit. I made a few images...enjoy : )

 I liked this one because the guy is praying but the next one is a bit sharper.

These next few images were taken in front of the Hotel Monteleone.  I loved to progression of the interaction and I really like presenting images as a series.  You can tell that even though they are from completely different walks of life, they are enjoying each other's company.  In the last image, the man receiving the shoe shine on the right sees his wife across the street and smiles at her. And, yes...he is using shaving creme to shine his shoes.  An interesting slice of life I thought....

And on the home front.....

My new favorite lil dining nook...

 ...but I still can't decide where to hang my first piece of original Nola art. I got this a year ago from an artist in Jackson Square named Lance "Varg" Vargas.  You can find him on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/leveeland 

I finally found some coasters!! I got the water meter ones from a shop on Royal called Forever New Orleans.  You HAVE to check it out...so much cute stuff!  I wanted it all!  And how funny are the "Gulf Coaster" ones?? Got those from another shop on Royal that sold tons of adorable kitchen stuff, mostly Nola themed.  And part of the purchase went to the Gulf Oil Spill Fund.  Cute coasters for a good cause...can't beat that. 

And a Madison update...took her to the vet today because of a nasty cough she has.  She has feline asthma! Poor baby had to get a shot and have her temperature taken....you know, up the.....welllll we won't go there.  But she did so good and hopefully this shot will help her out! 

finally....helloooooooo, New Orleans!

Ok, so as cliche as this sounds, I'm sitting at a Starbucks right now, drinking a deliciously cold iced latte and updating all you lovely folks on my most recent news: I'm finally moved in!  I mean, it only took three separate days starting with the small stuff (including my gazillon pounds of clothes) and finally the war of moving my furniture into my upstairs apartment.  But I had help from my amazing mom and the always helpful (albeit, prankster) Fred, my stepdad.  For the last three days, I have been unpacking, hanging up clothes, moving furniture, shopping at Wal-Mart (I think today's visit was the third so far) and hanging pictures.

However, Saturday was a nice break from all that.  My very best friends Lisa and Amanda along with their friend Alex made an impromptu visit.  At first, Lisa had every intention of helping my unpack; but nevertheless, we decided to go the the Quarter and spend the day shopping, site seeing and (of course) drinking.  I couldn't believe they had never been to Pat O'Brian's! It's definitely in my top 5 of New Orleans hangouts.  The Piano Bar alone is worth seeing.  I treated them all to the famous (or rather infamous) Hurricane and delighted in watching their faces as they tasted the potent cocktail.  It was all around a perfect break from my mess of an apartment.  Alas, I completly forgot to bring my camera and I'm still kicking myself for it.

I did, though, manage to capture some images of my new home in progress.  I am so in love with the area.  Of course I'm not going to give the exact location (creeper) but I will say that I was lucky enough  to swoop up a decently priced place in the Garden District.  Later today I am planning on exploring the area a little more, camera at the ready this time.   

 My room...before (chaos) and after (ahhhhh...) And you know you love that mannequin : )

Madison hid the first day for about 10 hours.  Now she thinks she's a model. 

My lovely lil blue bathroom

I bought that barrel at the flea market for ten bucks. Now it's an awesome table. Thanks Fred for the help!

Living room coming together

My kinda adorable vintage stove

I went for a little walk at the end of the day.  This church is a few blocks from me. I can hear the bells in the morning. This was built in either 1905 or 1903 can't remember right now but it was beautiful. 

What's next....a plague of locusts?!

Rain. Flash floods. Wind. Fire. Oh, yes....I said fire.  I'm pretty sure Mother Nature or God or whoever you believe in is conspiring against me. Either that or I'm just really good at picking the worst weekends to move your whole life to a new city.  This'll be funny in a year or so...hopefully.

 Tropical Depression 13, huh? Ironic much? 

Drove through that smoke yesterday.  Imagine Burnt hair, peanuts and rubber mixed together. SO bad.