My first full day in the City of Jazz!

New Orleans Day One:

  

This city is so magical and I simply cannot get enough of it. Today Tamara, Mark, Jordan Delaney and I all went to the Freret Street Market which goes on during the first Saturday of every month. Since it is the holiday season, the Market went on the first two Saturdays of December. I was fortunate to be here to see it. This is a real local market, it is not in any tourist books nor is it really targeted for tourists.  It is all about the locals when it comes to the Freret Market, the "Frestive Market" as it is called during the holiday season. This market features four lives bands because it goes from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Most of the bands have some Jazz or Blues influence to them with a bit of rock mixed in. 

At the market, you can buy Aibeta the local beer brewed right in New Orleans for $2.00 a cup. Not only is the beer inexpensive but it is pretty tasty and you get to keep the decorative plastic cup. The Market also features local artists whom bring their art to sell. Local restaurants also come and bring vast amounts of different local food favorites to each Market. Today I ate bbq shrimp and grits mixed in this creole sauce. It was so delicious, I am drooling just thinking about it. 

 

People walk around the city with a cup of beer in one hand all day long. I find this lifestyle fascinating considering I live in a place in which I have to buy a membership to any place that serves alcohol. Drinking is just a way of life here.  

Tonight we went to The Gumbo Restaurant which is a Creole Restaurant. Creole came from the French, Native American and African Americans whom all came to New Orleans back in the day. It is a sauce that tends to be rich in flavor. It can be sweet, thick and spicy all at the same time. 

After the restaurant we went to Preservation Hall a Jazz Club for all ages that has been around since the early 1900s. The Hall has live music every night including its own "Preservation Jazz Band, whom we saw tonight. This band had so much sole and were so good it was hard to leave. 

Tamara, Mark and myself continued to walk down Bourdin Street where we saw a whole slew of Santas. Some were Pirate Santas, while others were Naughty Santa, and Big Foot Santa. It was quite entertaining to see about a hundred Santas all walking down the street together getting drunk. I also went to observe the different bar scenes which was cool to see. 

Lastly, I got my BEADS! I waved to a lot of people, flirted with the men and smiled to get some. I feel as if I truly experienced the bead side of New Orleans. Tomorrow is some more sight-seeing and new adventures then it is off to work! 

I am dead tired, good night world!

My flight adventures to New Orleans

Flying to New Orleans today proved to be a lot more fun then I thought. It actually was one of the best flights that I've ever had. After feeling a bit stressed about trying to find a person to take me to the airport, my friend Eddy came through.

On my first flight from Salt Lake to Vegas I sat by an older couple whom were full of energy and ready to party Vegas style on the plane. The husband had just flown in from Hungry and then was on another flight to Vegas with his wife for a weekend getaway. He was hunting Boar whilst in Hungry. They are Utahans like myself. Wow, I guess I can actually say that being that I have a Utah Driver's License. They live 15 minutes outside of Park City. Anyway...I closed my eyes at the start of the flight and woke up just in time for the flight attendant to ask me what I wanted to drink. I replied "orange juice please," the husband then opened his mouth saying "we are all having screw drivers, I am buying you want one too?" My inital reaction was it's 9:45 in the morning are you crazy? But then I thought "hey its 9:45 in the morning, why not have a screw driver?" So he ordered me a screw driver and we all sat drinking our vodka and orange juice talking about hunting boars in Hungry and Pearls. It was quite a party indeed. They went on to have two more screw drivers and I decided one was plently at that time of day.

My next flight from Vegas to New Orleans was also a pretty good time. One of the flight attendant's was re-writing Christmas Carols to the theme of Southwest Airlines. She must of sang six different songs with the theme of Christmas, Southwest, New Orleans and the passengers on the flight. At first it was a bit too much, but by the third song I was into it just like everyone else. The people a few rows down from me started a rhythm section and had the whole entire flight clapping their hands to the beat. It was a bit humerous to see. No screw drivers on this flight, strictly ginger ale.

After three hours and twenty minutes later we landed in New Orleans. I waited for Tamara Sell, my old high school teacher to pick me up. Tamara and Mark (her husband) moved down to New Orleans to help out after Katrina hit. Mark is the leader of Project Homecoming a volunteer organization that helps to re-build people's homes that were lost during Katrina. His staff has currently built 13 new homes. Tamara teaches at the school that both Delaney and Jordan, her two girls go to school at.

Tamara and Mark have an Ameri-core employee living with them in the basement. His name is Andy and he is from Philly. He has been living and working with Mark and the Project Homecoming for a year and a half now. Andy loves living and helping out down here. He is 23 like myself and a pretty fun guy. I am going to hit the town with him and his friends later tonight!

Well, that is all I have to say at this moment. I will update you all in the next few days as well as load some photos. I have to get to building a ginger bread house now with Delaney!

GOODNIGHT from New Orleans!

Five easy steps towards a healthier planet

I was given a great book called the 1,001 Ways to Save the Earth and it is absolutely an amazing book. 

So I am going to share five of the simplest things anyone could do everyday! 

1. Less speed, more food...driving 50 mph is 25% more fuel-efficient than driving at 70 mph. 

2. Donate your weekend shave...save on water, foam, by giving up your daily shaving ritual at the weekend. A little bit of facial hair is sexy on a man anyways.  

3. Baking soda is wonderful!  Forget about the fancy cleaning products: for one they are expensive and secondly they tend to kill some of the natural germs that are needed to help us keep up on our natural defenses.  Baking Soda is inexpensive and it makes a great all-purpose cleaner, scouring powder, polish and fungicide. Whatever is left you can do some baking with!

4. Extremely Cool: Keep a pitcher or bottle of tap water in the fridge. This will help to limit the amount of water wasted waiting for it to come out of the faucet. 

5. Be a smart cook...cooking meals from scratch is a healthier, and more energy-efficient option then buying processed foods, or takeouts.  You can save even more energy by not slaving to the cookbook. If you turn off the oven 10 minutes before the time stated in the recipe, the residual heat would continue to cook the meal. 

So there are five easy steps that we all can do to help reduce our CO2 composition and make our planet even healthier. It's easy steps like this that will really save our planet. Together we all can make a difference.