Reason #1 I miss south Florida...

Two of the best friends a gal could have - the devilish Ms. Melissa, and Brooke (who sewed her Wonder Woman costume herself!) - posed in their Halloween costumes sans moi in Ft. Lauderdale today.

Sigh.

Before I transferred from the Ft. Lauderdale office to the office here in the metro area, I would see these two ladies each morning at work. Melissa and I met because of our mutual love of college football - see below - and Brooke and I actually have known each other for 14 years (that's right, she remembers my boy haircut from 9th grade - but I remember her perm!).

People like Melissa, Brooke, Trish, Sherry and Becca are pretty much the only thing I miss about south Florida. Hopefully I can lure them into visiting soon for a GNO (girls' night out)...in the meantime, though, I want to remind them that despite moving to New Orleans, I miss them intensely.



Trish and me, April 2006

Sherry, Becca and me - May 2006

Melissa and me - August 2006 (you know I have to love this chick if I'm willing to admit on a public forum that I posed in front of a sign promoting UM)


Rebecca, Becca, Melissa and me - September 2006

Elviliciousness, or bidding adieu to October.

October has just been an incredibly difficult and stressful month - but given tonight's upcoming festivities and a general sense of perkiness, I'm much more cheerful than I was, say, even a week ago.

So here's a cheerful little ditty from a terribly underrated band, Texas. Whoo-hoo! It's autumn, it's 78 degrees, I'm wearing ridiculously cute shoes (little maroon ballerina-styled kitten heels), and I ate $28 worth of sushi at lunch today with my coworkers (good thing I wore the fat jeans today, eh?). Better yet, I get to go home to the sweetest guys in the world tonight.

::inhaling the smells of fall around me::

::promptly sneezing because my allergies are terrible::

BTW, the female lead singer of Texas does a pretty mean Elvis impersonation, doesn't she?

Happy Halloween!

So last night I picked D. up from work and we braved the mobs at Walmart in an effort to finalize our Halloween costumes. I was seeking out a trashy babydoll dress, and D. was looking for at LEAST a 3XL shirt to demonstrate his K-feddery. He succeeded, scoring a 3XL Miller High Life t-shirt, and a woman's chain necklace. Oh, and naturally we bought a baby doll. We opted not to buy two, and we'll simply cite that we've forgotten where we left Sean Preston. At one point, I considered going for the Britney-custody-hearing look - you know, the semi-demure dress paired with her typically oversized sunglasses and purse, and the requisite cowboy boots?

Towards that end, I tried on a remarkably cute facsimile of a von Furstenberg wrap dress, slinky and skimming. Sadly, it was a little too classy, as was noted by the fitting room attendant.

Me: D., do you think this might look...well...too normal? Would Britney wear a dress like this?

D.: Hmmm. I think it's too long. And it doesn't show enough cleavage.

Fitting room attendant, who has by this point figured out what we're up to: That's too classy. Maybe if you hemmed it up like eight inches?

Me: ::wincing:: It's amazing that a woman with that much money manages to make herself look so hideous on such a regular basis. You'd think she would hire a stylist to keep her from wearing such unflattering, ill-fitting clothing. And oh God, those BOOTS!

D., cutting off my tirade: You couldn't find any fugly babydoll dresses?

Me: Sadly, no. OK, I think we're going to have to rethink which trashtastic Britney 2007 look to go for.

Minutes later, we found a white eyelet camisole on the clearance rack. It's actually very cute, and when spring rolls around again, I'll probably pair it with some dark rinse jeans and some flat metallic sandals. But as we've seen since Kevin Federline sucked the hot out of Britney, she is very capable of taking cute clothes and making them trashtastic.

And such is my plan this Halloween. I bought a pink and red racerback bra, the white eyelet cami, some hideous red metallic lipstick and some hoop earrings to compliment my previously obtained Britney wig, cowboy boots, old miniskirt, and head scarf. The results were...startlingly accurate, as when I showed Michelle the pics this morning, she blanched and blurted out, "But Cait, that's...SCARY!"

Other comments received thus far:

Abby - "I just hope you are wearing the proper undergarments with your costume... what would your momma say."

(Note: I'm going in costume, not in character. I have no plans of flashing the world.)

Sherry - "YIKES."

Jon - "Holy crap!!!!!"

Jan - "That’s scary!!!! You really look like Britney."

Krystal - "OMG, that’s UNCANNY!!!!!!!!!! You guys are hysterical!!!"

(She saw D.'s costume as well.)

Emily - "This is awesome. I legitimately thought it was Britney at first – no joke! It wasn’t until I scrolled down and saw the dog that it clicked. Nice work!"

Rebecca - "Very skankalicious!"

Now here's where I draw the line - I know that tons of women use Halloween as an excuse to dress as sexily as possible. I get that it's the one socially appropriate time of year to release inhibitions and skank out...but for me, there's not really any fun in that. It's far more fun to be creative than to pick up a slutty costume from Trashy Lingerie, ala Paris Hilton's PVC Alice in Wonderland Meets Porn Star get-up from this past weekend's tabloids. Now that I've built up so much suspense...here are a couple of teaser pics from our dress rehearsal last night - tonight we'll add a little more to the mix before heading out to the libertine's fantasy world of Frenchman St.

All that said, Brooke's Wonder Woman costume - made by hand - is phenomenal. If she gives me the okay, I post a pic of it tomorrow. :)

The Trifecta!

In honor of LSU-Bama week, here's a fark of Nick Saban trying to explain his loss to FSU in the context of the general 2007 meltdown of Britney Spears.

Like I said, it's a trifecta.

Sadly, it's only kinda funny. And that's stretching it a bit.

A sudden case of schadenfreude...

I'm not sure it's appropriate for me to find such humor in the fact that a 25 year-old mother of two has to be told to childproof her pool area by court order, but there you have it.

No one other than Britney Spears could make make Kevin Federline look almost angelic. It's just spectacular.

http://www.tmz.com/2007/10/30/brit-to-kids-ill-see-you-occasionally/

(And it has ramifications for our Halloween costumes, y'all.)

FREE AT LAST!

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, you racist, incompetent (albeit nattily-dressed) hypocrite.

http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/10/sources_talks_underway_for_jor.html

I'm fairly sure Jake, our dog, could have prosecuted the capital crimes cases that plague this city far better than Eddie Jordan. Heck, Jordan's trademark hat would have probably been more effective.

I'm also pretty sure that I'm doing the happy dance - which Michelle and Kevin know as the "Cait-does-the-inpretative-cabbage-patch-whilst-wearing-a-goofy-expression" dance.

I've been gone for a while, I know. October's been pretty hectic - work, the car, etc. have all taken their toll, but this past week, D.'s brother Younger D. and his wife, Rachel, visited from Missouri. They took in a Saints game, a ghost tour, and walks around the French Quarter and uptown. They saw military police roaming the 9th Ward, saw my car flood, and sampled beignets, Abita and crawfish. They checked out Napoleon House, Port of Call and Parasol's, and enjoyed the whimsical atmosphere of Dick and Jenny's. In the midst of this, Rachel turned 26. So happy birthday, Rachel - I hope you enjoyed your week here in the Crescent City. I'm only sorry I ended up working so much while you were here!

I should be posting quite a bit more - things are stabilizing at work, and given a good nap, I'll have a lot more energy. In the meantime, here are some pics taken by Younger D. and Rachel:

Don't D. and I look great when caught off guard? D. is looking mildly irritated because of work, and I'm making an ass of myself sheerly to try to amuse him. Woot!

Beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe Du Monde, nestled in the base of Jackson Square.

My favorite pic, apart from the classic of D. looking rumpled and warm in his bathrobe on the front porch, is this one, of St. Louise Cemetary No 1., where Marie Laveau is buried.

I suppose I like this one best because I adore this time of year - Halloween is great here in New Orleans. It's a time to enjoy the crisp weather and pumpkin ale at the Bulldog, and it's great for snuggling up to D. on the couch while watching "Hellraiser" and "Leprechaun 41231274: His Descendants are Still Battling the Little Dork in an Alternate Reality." Awwww, yeah.

(Plus, there's a built-in excuse to eat candy corn!)

Tomorrow night, D. and I will don our K-Fed and Britney costumes and roll down to the Quarter and the Marigny for some quasi-tame debauchery.

Geaux Saints, geaux Hornets (the home opener is tomorrow night), and happy Halloween!

P.S. We saw Tom Morello at the Moonwalk on Thursday.

Hooray, Bobby Jindal! Boooo, creepy street flooding.

So yay, we have a new governor. He's young, dynamic and likely only slightly corrupt.

Really, my only beef with the man is that he seems like a zealot...y'know, Mel Gibson-Catholic. By that I mean he has the zealousness of the recently converted, in an almost pre-Vatican II way.

Apart from that, I'm thrilled that he was elected. (Although, I would have been okay with Georges as well...) It's pretty great that in my recently brief lifetime, Louisiana has managed to go from nearly electing a Klansman (cough, David Duke) to electing the youngest and first Indian-American governor in American history.

Here's to hoping he can give Louisiana a shot in the arm.

Oh, and the Saints notched their first home win against the Dirty Birds - and we were there!

On the flip-side of cool is the special little flood we experienced in the metro area yesterday. My car was soaked on the inside yesterday morning, so I took D.'s car to work. Around 1, I received a frantic call from my neighbor, Alita, alerting me that Dryades was flooded, and that the water was over my bumper.

Greeeeeeaaaaaaaaat.

I hopped into D.'s car (which, mercifully, he had raised just prior to his move from SoFla) and headed back towards New Orleans. Airline Highway was flooded into Kenner, so I jumped on I-10...which was also flooding.

Around this time, the city shut down all non-essential functions, and desperate Orleanians moved their cars to the neutral ground in the city. The water on Prytania (uptown/Garden District) was so high, it was lapping at living rooms and offices. St. Charles had about 8" standing at one point as well.

Yeesh.

Buuuut...the deluge did usher in very cool weather. Maybe autumn is finally (really) here?

Kicking off Friday on a happy note!

That's right, folks - here we have my beloved R.E.M. in their first TV appearance - Letterman in 1983, performing "Radio Free Europe" off of the much-acclaimed "Murmur" record.

And yes, that IS Michael Stipe with hair.

Happy Birthday, Michelle, and oooh, Hugh Jackman!

Yesterday was Michelle's 24th birthday, which was celebrated through careful application of red velvet cake, chocolate, pretty boxes, hibachi and much alcohol.

Happy Birthday, Michelle - I'm pretty sure that my 24th birthday was spent painting a friend's bathroom in Atlanta. That's because I'm reckless, and live on the edge. ;)

In completely unrelated news, Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber are slated to film parts of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" here in the Crescent City. I'm not sure about the timeline, but hey, I'm thrilled to have two tall, hot men roaming our city. (What can I say? I'm a fan of hot, tall men...like D.)

I'm also thrilled to have located a great hair stylist here in NOLA - her name is Christine Boudreaux, and she's a stylist at Paris Parker on Prytania. For $37, she'll give you a scalp massage and a shampoo/deep conditioning with Aveda products, and do an amazing cut and style. She straightened my hair without any semblance of a flat iron, and I love her for it. I'll definitely be going back in 8 weeks.

Oh, and I'm very smug about the fact that D. and I both predicted that Rutgaaaaaahs would defeat USF. USF is good, but they're not quite number 1 material yet - I predict in about 2 years, they'll be a solid team to beat year in and year out.

A pox upon my hometown?

When my dad retired from his 24 years of service in the Air Force, we returned to my mother's native south - first to her hometown of Eufaula, AL, and later to Pensacola, FL, where I spent most of my formative years.

This morning, on my way into work, I chatted with Mom as I usually do whilst commuting from uptown to St. Rose. She was telling me that Pensacola was experiencing a veritable deluge of rain and hail. Shortly after I got to work, several tornadoes touched down in various parts of Pensacola. There was a great deal of damage to my adopted hometown. There are gas leaks, and tremendous power outages. Lines are down, transformers are out, dozens of cars are overturned, stores are reporting roof collapse, and houses near Cervantes have crumbled. Schools and highways are flooded - and it still hasn't stopped raining. This reminds me, actually, of the first six months after Hurricane Ivan mowed through Pensacola - storm after storm took a collective toll on the already beleaguered city. Mother Nature has an ironic way of kicking a place when it's already down.

Someone posted this video on YouTube and the Pensacola News Journal website - it's amazing and incredibly eerie.




P.S. Mom is okay.

You know what's awesome?

• New Orleans in the autumn. It's so nice to turn off the air conditioner and still snuggle under crisp sheets and a soft duvet. Mmm.
• The nuoc cham sauce at August Moon. That place is deceptive in appearance, because the food was fantastic - and it's only a 5 minute walk from La Maison.
• Anything on the menu at Restaurante Katrina in Kenner. (Wince-worthy name, amazing food.)
• Having curtains in the guest room finally. Annnd a bed.
• A quick curry on a Saturday night. Double-mmm.
• Working on our Brit-Brit and D-Glad costumes for Halloween, which entails tracking down a baby sling and some Ecko bling for D. to wear. No one will ever look at Britney Spears and Kevin Federline the same after the 31st.
• Walking parity take root in Division I football. Wow...just wow.
• Finding a great haircut in New Orleans - whoo-hoo!
• And most importantly, GEAUX SAINTS! The Saints logged their first win against the Seahawks on Sunday night out in Seattle. Eric Johnson, Pierre Thomas and even Reggie Bush looked inspired at various points during the game, and Brees seemed to be the recipient of better blocking, and therefore, much better passing lanes.

Snapshot...

There's no real need for commentary here, as the picture really captures Jefferson Parish in one fell swoop.

Alas, it could not capture the subsequent encounter with the roid-freak, or the amazing prices on alcohol at Dorignac's.

Why didn't anyone tell me about Dorignac's until recently?!? It's awesome.

As far as home safety, our landlord and our neighbors came over last night and we're working on a few things. I feel a little better, despite the fact that my car looks all kiiiiiinds of ghetto fabulous.

People sure can suck.

And that's not very nice of them, now is it?

I haven't blogged much in the past few days due to a few issues of drama.

1) An unwelcomed person from my high school days tried to return to my life for a brief stay of pissiness and generally bad behavior.

2) D. and I were in a car accident in Metairie on Saturday evening, in which the following conversation took place:

Me: Omigosh, D., stop! The car behind you (in the grocery store parking lot) is going to hit you.

::crunch::

Roid-freak passenger in giant SUV that hit us: YOU HIT US, YOU A-HOLE!

Random witness: No, he didn't. He was stopped.

Panicked driver of giant SUV: Omigoodness, this is my second accident today.

Roid-freak: YOU HIT US!

D.: Should we call the police?

Roid-freak: What, we can't handle this? You HIT US!

Me: Sir, I'm pretty sure my boyfriend isn't trying to be contentious. Perhaps we should just let him speak with the driver of your car and let them sort this out?

Roid-freak, who is now turning red: Contentious? More like pretentious. Look at you with all of your big words.

Me, genuinely confused and thinking this guy is on something: What is WRONG with you?

Roid-freak, continuing to yell, despite both drivers calming exchanging insurance information: I don't know how you people handle things in FLORIDA (citing D.'s plates), but here we don't try to extort people.

All 3 of the others involved: Eh?

This guy was a jerk. Plain and simple, he was irrational and trying to create drama where there ought to have been none.

Regardless, it was a crappy night, even with careful application of tequila and homemade salsa verde. D.'s night was ruined.

(However, we did make 4 meals out of the pork loin we bought at the grocery store, so there is that.)

And then there was 3) Crackhead breaking into my car on Monday night.

I felt awful Monday night - our boss had spread his cold around the office, so I took some Nyquil before bed. During the night, Jake flipped out, but I just couldn't wake up fully to investigate.

I found out on Tuesday morning, as I left the house to go to work, exactly why Jake was barking. The convertible top to my car was knifed to shreds (which was awesome, considering that it had rained overnight), and the center console was ripped apart in an effort to steal my car stereo.

Now, there's a certain point of humor here - little did said crackhead know that in the process of stealing what must have looked like a fancy-schmancy detachable plate stereo, he stole damaged goods.

The CD player on my stereo hasn't worked in roughly a year, and I generally use the stereo only to catch local traffic on my morning commute. The rest of the time, I use my iPod (which of course wasn't in my car).

D. and I spent a good hour using sail repair tape and gorilla tape to reconstruct my top for the time being, until I can order a new top (it's a special order, unfortunately).

But wow, people sure can suck.

Here's a question...

Should I go as blonde or brunette Weavetastic Britney for Halloween?

Assorted Pics from FSU-Bama

I promise, this is my last post on that auspicious event. But here, ladies and gents, is your wordy little blogger decked out in full homer regalia:

Here I am with D. (who later blogged about his Jax experience) and Chris in the tailgaters' lot outside of Jacksonville Municipal Stadium on Saturday afternoon. And no, I have no idea why Dave looks so startled.

Ah yes. This is what I'm talking about, folks. Kindly ignore the braids - I had been awake since 5:00 AM and my hair was wonky from the hard water at my mom's house. After 2.5 hours of sleep, I was fairly impatient with said hair.

Rebecca was our gracious hostess for the event - she and her wonderful fiance, Chris, both have ties to NOLA. Chris is a NOLA native and a De La Salle alum, and Rebecca graduated from Tulane Law School. Chris proposed to Rebecca this spring next to the Mississippi - in fact, I almost dropped the phone when she called with the news, I was so excited. :)

There are myriad pictures of Rebecca and Becca (she made the trip from Miami) and me running around south Florida and New Orleans. It's best to just let that statement be. Suffice it to say, it was a hot, hot evening in Jax, as evidenced by that oh-so-telling glow we all have.

Behold the mighty Marching Chiefs of Florida State University - four-hundredish strong!

And just because I just got these pics last night, here's D. and me at the famous and unparalleled McGuire's in Pensacola in late September, as taken by our friends Thornton and Michal:

McGuire's has a rather infamous tradition - patrons will write on dollar bills and then staple them to the wall. (Note the background.) From their website:

McGuire's Irish Pub first opened in 1977 as a small neighborhood pub in a shopping center. McGuire cooked and tended bar and Molly waited tables and greeted customers. When Molly made her first tip -one dollar- she tacked it to the back bar for good luck. Friends of the pub added to the collection and it soon became tradition. Today you will see over $550,000 one dollar bills hanging from the ceiling throughout the Pub, all of which have been signed by Irishmen of all nationalities.

What did our dollar bill say? "Baaaatch," of course.

Well, this is just fabulous.

Per NOLA.com:

According to the National Weather Service, a broad area of low pressure in the eastern Gulf of Mexico is expected to move west and northwest across the central and northwest gulf through Thursday night.

This low has the potential to evolve into a subtropical or tropical system in the central or northwest gulf.

Moderate to strong northeast winds of 15 to 25 mph over the near shore coastal waters are expected to turn east Wednesday into Wednesday night and southeast on Thursday.

Easterly winds will push tidal water into the tidal lakes and
along coastal Mississippi and coastal Louisiana. Astronomical high
tides are expected generally each morning through Friday and
depending on the strength and position of this system, tidal
flooding is possible outside of hurricane levee protection areas
late Wednesday through early Friday.

A coastal flood watch may be issued for this time. There is still a great deal of uncertainty on the development, strength and position of this system.

I just CAN'T wait.

Sigh.

The Legacy of Bobby Bowden

I'm not going to sugarcoat it - Ivan Maisel's touching article on Bobby Bowden's relationship with the University of Alabama sent chills down my spine.

What a remarkable man, and what a tremendous legacy he has given college football. Coaches like Bowden, Bryant, Paterno, Edwards, Stagg, Warner and Snyder have shaped the heart of the sport.

Once Paterno and Bowden are gone, there will be a huge void in the game. College football will continue down the path of becoming minor league NFL farm teams. And I truly hate that - I do. I love the passion and fire that drives players each Saturday. I love that any given Saturday, ANYTHING can happen - as evidenced by this past weekend. So take a gander at Maisel's article.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/feature/featureVideo?page=bowden/bama

On a completely funny note, I never, ever thought that Mike Bianchi was capable of writing anything kind about Coach Bowden or the 'Noles. Either his hatred of Nick Saban is unfathomably deep, or he carries a grudging respect for Bowden.

Regardless, I'm sure it was physically painful for him to write this:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/college/seminoles/orl-bianchi2607sep26,0,5897383.column

Oh, Britney...part IV

I mean, really. It took THIS long for her actions to come back to haunt her.

http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=277813&GT1=7702

Bobby Bowden + Intestinal Pyrotechnics = Quite the Roadtrip

The boyfriend came home late on Friday night - we left just after midnight for Pensacola, arriving at Mom's around 3:00 AM. We left for Jacksonville at 6:15 AM, having left the collie behind to romp around the parental backyard.

Jacksonville was great - I've never seen such camaraderie. There was a fairly even split of fans - the tailgating lots were full of garnet & gold, and crimson & houndstooth. The strains of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Marching Chiefs filled the air, and the beer was plentiful. Fans shucked oysters, set up satellite TV to watch the early games, and generally interacted pleasantly with rival fans.

None of us knew what to expect, really, but I fully expected FSU to blow the game. Cynical, I know, but FSU's offensive inconsistencies worried me. And true to form, the first half was pitiful and scoreless. At least our defense was scarily strong. :)

85,412 fans filled the stadium to watch the 'Noles take down the Crimson Tide, sparked by Xavier Lee's off-the-bench performance. (It was even better to see the boyfriend in his garnet shirt, avidly doing the Chop.)

Just beautiful. Add in K-State's upset of Texas, and Auburn's upset of Florida, and it was a solid night. (Alas, Air Force lost to Navy.)

The only thing better was getting to see friends - Chris & Rebecca, Fudge, The Hulk, Dakine Phoenix, Becca and Robbie. I've missed all of them SO much. I honestly can't remember smiling as much in the past 9 months as I did on Saturday. Here's a great article about the game from the Miami Herald:

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/255597.html

Sunday started out gorgeously - a lazy brunch and intense discussion over the polls. We hit the road, stopped in Tallahassee, and introduced Dave to the joys of the Gut Box.

Yes, the Gut Box.

If you've never been to Guthrie's, you've been missing out on a culinary experience unrivaled by Raisin' Cane, Zaxby's, etc.

We saw my brother for a bit, and then made it over to Pensacola for dinner with Mom. Around 9:00 PM, we finally loaded the Monster in the car for the trip home. Now here's where the weekend takes a nasty turn.

Traffic slowed to a crawl around Gulfport. It ultimately took more than 5 hours to get from Pensacola to NOLA, because of construction, and I was battling a major migraine.

Somewhere around the Bay St. Louis exit, Jake flipped out and had diarrhea alllllllll over the backseat. Seriously, it was like a splatter pattern.

Because of construction, we were trapped in the car for 20 miles with smelly dog crap.

Ew.

We eventually got to Slidell. Feeling like crap myself, I spent thirty minutes cleaning the boyfriend's car with a combination of dishwasher detergent, handi-wipes, and gas station paper towels. We then used a bottle of water and some Joy to wash the collie's butt.

Awesome.

An hour later, we got home, and I showered off the dried dog crap that remained on me from our little adventure. I found that I couldn't sleep because my head was hurting so badly. Finally, around 4, the Excedrin gave me enough sweet relief that I could kind of doze off. Fast-forward to 7:00 AM - I woke up and smelled something hideous.

Sure enough, the back hallway, near the back door, was covered in blood and dog crap (and not for the last time today).

Maybe God is an Alabama fan, and is demonstrating his wrath? I'm not sure, but I do know that I've had 3 hours of half-sleep, a migraine, and a collie with digestive pyrotechnics.

You really have to love Mondays.

(And no, FSU didn't end up ranked. But K-State did!)