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02/21/12
I read Tori Amos's autobiography Piece by Piece a few years ago, and in it she wrote that if she had to do it over again she would never get married and go on tour at the same time again, because it was so hard to plan. And in the same vein, I'm not sure I'd plan to get married right after Mardi Gras again.
One one hand, it's been awesome. What better time to have a bachelorette party then during Carnival?
But on the other hand, wedding planning takes a lot of time and attention. Like, serious-attention-to-minute-details kind of thing. And thinking about centerpieces during the constant demand of Mardi Gras is a little bit of a downer. It's really to the point where I'm like, "I can't go to these parades - I have to work...
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02/07/12
As I'm writing this I'm still recovering from Krewe du Vieux. It seemed like my whole neighborhood was abuzz all weekend with celebratory energy ... except on Sunday. I think the whole of Bywater and the Marigny was hungover on Sunday, its denizens having partied all day on Saturday for the parade kickoff that was Krewe du Vieux - float after float of political satire. Also, every single float seemed to relate to the theme that everyone is getting screwed by someone, because nearly every float depicted screwing. Even the Superdome (sorry, Mercedes-Benz Superdome) was getting screwed. But my favorite was Humpty Dumpty screwing Mother Goose on a float entitled "Nursery Crimes." I'd post a pic of it, but I think this blog is supposed to be at least PG-13.
Here...
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01/24/12
When I was in Ohio over the holidays, my cousin asked me about Mardi Gras because he was thinking about visiting. Like most people up north and maybe everywhere that's not Louisiana, he thought that Mardi Gras was just about one day, with one major parade. I was like, au contraire!
I told him that, no, Carnival Season lasts for six weeks or so, with the real serious partying going on for at least two of those weeks. Mardi Gras Day is actually the sprint to the finish when we're all, okay we can do this! One more day of binge drinking and then we can relax until Easter. Thank god, my liver hurts.
And like my cousin, when I first moved down here a few years ago, I thought the same thing he did. I thought it was just a day, Fat Tuesday. I thought there were maybe a few...
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01/10/12
Wedding stuff is all around me right now, I can't seem to escape it - or turn away from it, for that matter. I'm in the middle of planning my wedding (or rather, making the plans come to fruition). Also, there are like 20 other people in my office who are also engaged and planning weddings. We've just published our winter edition of New Orleans Bride Magazine. And everyone is running around like mad, trying to get everything ready for the Bridal Showcase we've got going on tomorrow at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside.
Yep. Wedding overload.
And I just watched a "celebrity wedding" special on E! to top off an all-around overdose of weddingness. It was quite awesome to organize my wedding guest list as I was listening to "wedding experts"...
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12/27/11
I'm not going to go on a walk down the memory lane of 2011. Katie Couric did a very good job of that on her TV special. End-of-year lists usually make me kind of sad, like you're saying goodbye to your constant companion of a year and you'll never see them again. But this year I'm like, "See ya later, asshole!"
With the winter solstice and the return of the light, I'm looking forward to new and exciting things in the year ahead.
And I'm pretty sure that 2012 is going to be a good one - nay, a great one. If only because it'll be 2012, the big cosmic year that will finally answer the big question of "will the world end or won't it?" If it does, John Cusack will save us anyway, so we really don't have anything to worry...
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12/20/11
My daughter loves horses, and I like placing poorly considered boxed exactas, so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone by taking her to the racetrack on Saturday. I am always seeking new and fun family activities as an alternative to watching chocolate milk negate recent strides in carpet cleanup following an expensive visit from Oxy-Clean.
It was a beautiful, sunny day, if a bit brisk, and the grandstand was crowded. There seemed to be an unusual emphasis on pretzels and funnel cake by the paddock, however. We happened to bump into some friends standing by the finish that had also brought their children along.
“Nice to see we both had the same idea,” she said. “We came today because we saw it was ‘Kids Day’, too.”
“It...
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12/13/11
So I'm writing this blog about Christmas songs, but I've just finished watching the season finale of Boardwalk Empire and I can't believe how mad I am right now at a show. Like, I can't think about anything else. I'm really, really mad. And I can't believe how attached I seem to be to a Michael Pitt character. But I digress.
Christmas songs.
Christmas music was always one of the biggest things about the season for me. When I was little (and through high school) I was always in choirs and band (I was and still am a music nerd), so we'd start rehearsing for the Christmas shows in October. And I would always be sad when the day after Christmas would come and the music would away. It's been years since my "second soprano" days but I...
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12/06/11
By and large, my 2-year-old daughter Milly is pretty fearless. If a dog barks at her, she firmly declares, “No, doggie. No!” At the zoo, she hauled off and slapped a Komodo dragon sculpture after she determined it was being fresh with her. However, this Saturday we discovered one thing that does scare her: Mr. Bingle.
We were at the Children’s Museum for their Festival of Trees Celebration Brunch. Mr. Bingle, aka a man in a Bingle suit, was making the rounds, hugging and posing with kids for photos. We asked Milly if she wanted her picture taken with him. She regarded the 7-foot snowman with the ice-cream-cone hat and holly wings. As if on cue, the huge white head swiveled toward her. Their eyes met, hers wide and his sewn on, as he turned and began to lumber...
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11/29/11
I write to you from Ohio on my wonderfully relaxing Thanksgiving break. My fiancé and I have spent the weekend eating amazing home cooking and watching football. Things worked out for him (LSU), but not so well for me (Ohio State). We'll soon be traveling back to New Orleans among lots of other people coming and going for the holidays.
And this is just the beginning. Christmas and New Years are right around the corner, so this means loads of traveling for me since my family is out of town. Here are some of the things I've learned about flying that I always try to remember and which make traveling a much more pleasant experience.
* Carry on only. I will not pay extra to check bags, unless I'm going away for several weeks. If it's only a long weekend...
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11/22/11
The elephant in the room is the turkey.
We all seem to dance around the subject. We go to great lengths to tart it up, stuffing it with ducks, chickens and various dressings. We brine it, we deep fry it, we purchase boutique and heritage versions of it. We surround it with a panoply of sides far more enticing than the golden, broad-breasted lie right smack there in the middle of the table. The sad, uninteresting truth is that turkey is boring.
My friend Teddy and I want to change all that.
Less than 48 hours removed from Turkey day proper, most of America’s minds will still be dulled as their bodies devote precious alimentary resources to digesting those persistent, cottony wads of flavorless protein from the Bird-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named. But Teddy and I will...
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Annie Drummond is a graphic designer and artist from Columbus, Ohio. She has a degree from the Columbus College of Art & Design. Two years ago she made the move from the Midwest to New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood and fell deeply in love as she discovered the rhythms and traditions of her new city. Annie is a production designer for Renaissance Publishing and a Jedi Master. In addition to The Lighter Side, she writes about food, art and design (and other stuff) at www.AnniedelaDolce.com.
