Exploring Emotional Dressing

Already Pretty had a great post yesterday about the emotional wardrobe.  I found it thought provoking  because I do have days where I dress by emotions, both for better, for worse and for needing a boost.  After going back to work after my most recent miscarriage, I just wanted to feel safe.  I didn't realize until Thursday I wore black every single day that week.  I started with my huge, comfy, black sweater dress and went from there.  Colour gradually returned to my daily dress, but it was all black all the time for a week or so.




Typical work wear,  B5147 top, rest is RTW



Clothing that I made makes me feel good.  Assuming I'm not worried about the hem line being too short or some mistake or another that I know about, I feel pretty awesome in my own clothing.  If I need to feel super confident, then I reach for my clothing.  For work, most likely a dress.  I've had a few unsolicitations on this dress, although the facing at the neck can drive me batty if I'm in a fussy mood.  The one picture there is actually at my clients office.  A Toronto Raptor and a couple of dancers came, Primo isn't my client, but let me tell you, I wasn't sure where to look or put my hand for the picture with Andrea Bargnani.  I know I'm short, but wow, he's freaking tall. 



For a presentation at my employers office where jeans are permitted all week, I think I have a new go-to outfit.  Dark jeans, a corduroy jacket and my satin Sorbetto.  My boots make me feel tall, the jeans generally make me feel slim, the jacket makes me professional and Sorbetto is the self sewn punch.  I need a lift tomorrow at the university Christmas party.  I'm not freaking out like I thought I would, but a little self made to brag about would be good (AND there will be pictures taken).

But there are other emotional aspects to dressing.  I feel a real attachment to my maternal grandmother, I can still hear her laughing in my head when I want to.  It always seemed to me she could do no wrong without being an actual perfectionist.  Her shoulders were narrower than mine are (or you better believe I'd have her lamb coat) so clothing just generally wasn't going to pass down.  Too much of my Dad's genes.  Jewellery, however, doesn't care.  Nor purses for that matter.

Nana's necklace, Mom's shawl, at my brother Scot's wedding (Casa Loma)



Thursday night my team had their Christmas party and I ran a cruise ship themed murder mystery.  I cast myself as the show girl and entertainer of the ship.  My directions were to wear what I'd wear on stage, the more sequins and glitter the better, a boa perhaps.  I bought this red dress two years ago and I've only worn it once.  I really like this dress, it's a heavy knit with a lining, the rouching is kind to my belly and hips, it's comfortable to wear.  But what makes me happy?  My Nana's jewellery.  I wore her earrings, her necklace and a cuff.  I love them all, it's like having her with me and don't have the opportunity to wear them all that often.  It's too fancy for most occasions, although I do wear the earrings for weddings.

Even "dead" I felt pretty in Nana's jewellery.



Sad that the death pose shows the gathering in the dress best.  How I wish I could say I made that dress.  Oh and the feather in my hair?  I cut part of a dollar store mardi gras mask (been in a box for 3 years at least), put a piece of cardstock in the middle of a bobby pin and glue gunned the pin/paper onto the feathers.  I must say, it stayed put really well.  Didn't really match my dress but I still got a few votes for "best dressed".

Another family item is that "boa".  It's actually a scarf I wear with my winter coat.  Mr. Lina's aunt knit it.  It's eyelash yarn, black and silver.  His aunt died from cancer a few years ago, it's lovely having some of her work around me too.  I didn't have many opportunities to get to know her, she and her family lived in Kelowna, BC.  Distance and family rifts made it hard to get to know that side of the family.  Fortunately a few fences were being mended just about the time I met Mr. Lina's family.  She died far too young, her husband maybe two years later.  Face to face, I only met her twice, but both occasions were fortunately a few days so it was quality time with lots of happy memories. 

Speaking of happy memories.  This is the twin set I was wearing when I met Mr. Lina.

Now this picture is going back to Christmas 2005, we'd been married a year and a half.  I'm pretty sure this is New Years Eve at a friends house.  That is clearly not my first glass of wine, although I think I'm looking at someone off camera which isn't helping.  Anyhoo, this is another shirt that gives me a lift.  Mr. Lina is a fan of this particular outfit.  I usually feel pretty sexy in this shirt because I remember the power it had across an auditorium floor.  I've stolen the pattern from it, but I made it from silly shiny fabric that was a PITA to sew, we don't go too many places where a liquid silver tank top would be appropriate...





It's suddenly very warm...

I have decided to take today off of work for a mental health day.  They call them personal days at work because they don't care if it's you, your kid, or your car that is sick, don't lie just take the day.  It's a good policy in my mind.

One of the reasons that I think today is a good day is that stress has moved into my sleep.  When my stress levels get high, I have very vivid dreams that lead to sleep walking short distances and talking in my sleep.  A reoccurring dream the past few years has been that for some reason (this part changes), people will be coming into my bedroom (generally it is actually Mr. Lina coming to bed after me).  This poses a problem because we sleep naked more often than not and I don't want them to see me naked.  So I walk over to my cupboard to find pj's.  I usually wake up at about this point, sometimes the compulsion to wear pj's is too much to ignore even if I'm awake enough to realize what's going on so I just put something on.  Only once have I woken up surprised to see I was wearing pj's. 

Last night I had another variation on this dream.  People were going to be coming to me or looking to find me, not sure which or why, and again I was naked.  In my dream, Mr. Lina was a girl, but I remember thinking that "she" was asleep so as long as I was quiet, she wouldn't see me naked.  I went to the bathroom, peed, put on my house coat and went back to bed.  However my house coat is a fair bit warmer and more cumbersome than most pj's.  I was too hot, I couldn't roll over.  It never crossed my mind that I was being silly to just take the damn thing off, I just kept trying to adjust the blankets to make it work.  Sigh.  More dreams came out of the restless sleeping, but they are slipping away from my memory.  Overall, not a good quality sleep.

So, plans for today are fluid but may include:
-finishing the partially cut Sorbetto
-working on the tea towels (although I started one set, I think I can do better, other fabric is washed but not cut/hemmed)
-laundry - kind of a must, it's like an overflowing volcano of clothing in there
-groceries - again, much needed, out of many things including milk, bread has blue spots, and ingredients for dinner tonight
-nap
-tears - but the let it all out good kind, not the "I hope no one stops by my cubicle right now" kind
-de-cluttering - I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with crap in our bedroom and my sewing room, I'm not good at this so most likely to not happen unless I want to get angry (which again, isn't such a bad thing for a mental health day)
-reading blogs - success!  I've already read a few, and you all made me smile.

We will return to regular programming... soonish.

So things are not so happy in Seraphinalina-land (say that 3 times fast).  In perspective, of course everything is fine.  We're healthy, I have a freak hive at the moment but that's par for the course.  My period seems to be MIA and not for good reasons but I've also been bad at taking my medications so that could be to blame.  Finances are good, still employed, have food, have roof... yep, should be happy. 

I mentioned my brother (Clone) and SIL invited themselves over for dinner on Friday.  I have yet to be in their apartment.  I like to feed people, so I'm okay with that, but it did set of the spidey senses, and they were right.  My SIL is pregnant.  While I want to be happy for them, 4 days of off and on crying is telling me I'm not.  I don't want to say too much because they might at some point find out about this blog, but let's just say it's hard.  Really hard. 

Okay, I need an outlet too, I can always hide a post later, right?  So the problem has a few layers.
1.  They are planning on moving to the Northwest Territories in January (roughly 4,500 km away depending on your route, that's about 2,800 miles, no more Friday night dinners).
2.  They are moving because neither have full time employment.  Somehow this will be easier in a city with an estimated population of 3,648 than the largest city in Canada.  I will give them points that cost of living will be lower.
3.  He's 6 years younger than me and she's another crazy age gap to him.  I try not to think about her specific birth year because it reminds me I'm getting old in a biological sense (not that I'm upset about aging, I like my whites). 
4.  Family events have always been baby free.  I never had to psyche myself up for them like I do for any event with friends (except Mother's Day).  Now there is no safe holiday.  None. 
5.  I don't want to feel like crap every time I see her.  She's a lovely, wonderful person who would feel terrible if she really knew how much this is going to hurt. 

We did go to see our therapist last Monday (prior to the news).  It's even more clear to me that I'm the one that is struggling and I'll be going for alternating Mondays for a while.  Mr. Lina just doesn't know what to say or how to listen because it's the same thing over and over.  And it is, but it's not.  I was crushed with our first chemical pregnancy.  Yes, I wanted to be pregnant and I wanted kids, but I had no skills with grief to deal with that loss.  Now I feel like I have the skill set to deal with grief, but this is just ongoing sadness, I can't just fix it.  I had a good day at work today.  I didn't even read blogs, crazy.  And then I got into the car to drive home and promptly started crying as soon as I was on the highway.  WTF?  I felt fine all day.

My therapist asked if I had taken time off work, maybe I should consider a mental health day.  I still have 3 sick days for the year.  It's in the back of my head since she mentioned it.  We'll see how tomorrow goes, maybe she's got a good point.  Stay home, sew up more Sorbettos and cry.  Yeah, that sounds pretty tempting right about now.

Saturday is Christmas with my friends.  I'm not sure I can do it.  All of them have kids except the friend who got married in October.  One is pregnant.  Last year Mr. Lina didn't go with me, he couldn't face 3 pregnant women.  I had a friend pick me up, I knew I'd cry the whole way both directions or balk if I went on my own.  They were my best friends through university and after but I feel the weight in my chest just thinking about going.  So this year I rsvp'd for just me and when I mentioned it he feels compelled to go.  I'm not sure what's worse.  I mean, I want him there particularly while I feel so sad in general, but I don't like thinking of making him go.  I hate how this makes my world smaller. 

I did cut out a third Sorbetto, well, the front piece.  Didn't quite get to the back when people arrived for D&D on Sunday.  Has anyone tried it in a knit?  This is fabric out of my mom's discard pile.  It's a weird somewhat sheer knit.  I'm not overly fond of the fabric and I have to do something about the sheer factor.  I figure it's good to test out the fit in a knit.  If I don't like it I haven't lost much but my time and thread.

New Orleans Part 3 - Sencha day

I figured my last NOLA post was getting a little long but there was still one more day - and my only self stitched day.  Seriously, clearly I wasn't thinking of that angle when I packed.  We didn't take pictures and I've already told those stories, this was the last tourist day.

Sunday was about catching the last couple of sights we missed - and mostly of the French Quarter walking around variety.  We had a lovely breakfast at the Rib Room with the same waiter as on the Natchez.  Bill is fantastic, gave us a tour of the private dining rooms below. 



Bill!  At the Rib Room - seriously ask for Bill.



We also got to go up to the roof of the hotel.  What a view...

Then it was off to walk our breakfast off.  Mr. Lina had read about cornstalk fence in our little guide book.

Imagine having to take that yellow can of paint around to paint the corn?  Close up it's pretty clear there are many layers of paint to that fence.  It's certainly original.

Bill gave us directions to find Francis Ford Coppala's house, so we HAD to walk by to see.  Mr. Lina is a movie fanatic, so he was pretty jazzed to see it even if nothing was going on.  Apparently he rents it out when he's not using it, aimed more for housing cast & crew.  It's a bit out of our budget.  ;)

60 day minimum to rent from FFC.

Our meandering took us to Jean Lafite's for a drink and Armstrong Park on our way to Treme.  We loved the HBO series, although we still have to watch season 2.  For me, it really grounded what I was seeing, thinking of where Davis or Antoine lived or played...  When we got to Treme, there was a parade.  Good timing.

Treme has a mix of houses that are well cared for and fixed up and some that still have a lot of damage I can only assume is from Katrina.

Then to the Mint.  The mint also hosts a display on jazz and Preservation Hall in particular.  It's a bit odd to share a building, but well worth a visit.  Actually, I could have listened to the guy at the desk for a whole lot longer.  He lived through Katrina and while we didn't ask about it, he was happy to tell his perspective.  He had been in the navy, didn't know how to swim, but seeing the world, he knew they were poor.  Prior to Katrina, he said NOLA was a place you could be poor and not know it.  After...  The illusion was gone.  He has 3 fears, high water (he can't swim), snakes, and dead bodies.  He saw all three with Katrina and spent 6 days in the Superdome because he didn't have the resources to leave.  Sadly, other people arrived at that point and so he went back to doing his job and we went off to listen to music and read about Preservation Hall.

Exhibit for Preservation Hall

Happiest tuba player ever when we were at Preservation Hall.

For our last dinner, we went back to the Crescent City Brew House to have crazy huge oysters.  I wore my black polka dot Lekala 5432 out for dinner and got an unsolicitation.  It was quite lovely and we took pictures of the oysters, but not of each other.  We really should ask staff to take pictures of us while on vacation.

Now that I look at the pictures, you only have one of me wearing Sencha and you don't really see much.  It was a warm day, but I was wearing a sweater most of the time. 

Sadly, one of my covered buttons came uncovered.  It's not pretty having a silver button in between all the pretty purple ones.  I remember thinking after doing them I should have put a little glue down just to be sure they stay put.  Lesson learned for next time.

I need to get Mr. Lina to do a little photo shoot for me so I can post my new Sorbetto's.  I have been wearing them a lot, for being more summery, I'm actually making them work into my winter wardrobe.  I'm tempted to make a third, but looking through my fabric stash, nothing really says Sorbetto.  Ah well.  Not a lot of time to sew in the next couple of days anyhow.  My brother and SIL are coming for dinner Friday, Kev Corbett (recent winner of Nova Scotia Musician of the Year and veteran of my basement) is playing in Oakville tonight so I'd like to support him.  Saturday we're off to the Christmas Tree Hunt...  Maybe Sunday I'll sew.  Nope, D&D.  Sigh.  One day I will get back in that room.

Busy, busy, busy

As noted in the Thursday post, things have been busy chez Seraphinalina. 

House concert went really well, highest attendance since our first show (a free show because we foot the bill).  Coco Love Alcorn is just a wonderfully warm person, her husband is charming, but Ellie stole the show for Mr. Lina and I.  Ellie was still a baby when she arrived, but she left a toddler.  It was clear that she was a good cruiser and she didn't really need your fingers to walk, but she just wasn't walking on her own.  At some point after the show, she was cruising around the living room furniture and just walked from the love seat to the coffee table.  I was sitting across on the sofa and her dad was beside her in a chair and I could see his eyes widen, but it seemed that Ellie didn't know what she did.  So she did it again going back to the love seat.  Coco saw that time and she just about freaked to see it.  We all started clapping for her and then it clicked that no one helped her.  After that, she looked so proud as she literally did laps between the dining room/kitchen/hallway.  It was really special to be a part of such a milestone.

Have you ever heard of a Stag & Doe?  Buck & Doe?  Wedding Social (Manitoba)?  I've heard in Thunder Bay they call it a shag, which makes me giggle and I'm not even from the UK. It seems every region has their own name for this kind of event and it's a bit more rural than urban.  It's essentially a fund raiser for a wedding, cash bar, door prize, a couple of games.  In rural areas, it works better because the social becomes the 2nd bar in town for the night and people who don't necessarily know the couple will come because it's something to do.  Friday night we got sucked into helping out at one.   This will sound odd, but we're pretty good friends with Mr. Lina's ex girlfriend, not like best friends forever, but enough that Mr. Lina ended up being the DJ and I ended up running a mini-putt game.  Another late night.

I was feeling pretty grumpy leading up to the Stag & Doe.  I didn't know what I wanted to wear, I was tired, I was sad.  Ellie was like a little light in the house and it was gone.  I had come home from work early because I was really sad.  I was a trooper once we got there, but it did clarify for me that the vacation to New Orleans was like hitting a pause button on all the crappy feelings I have. 

I'm going to be a bit new age-y here, if it's going to make you laugh, well, I'm a bit of a skeptic too, but curiousity gets me.  I want to remember some of this in a year from now, so it's as good a place as any to record it and my thoughts.

Saturday I helped my mom at a art/craft/wellness show.  It was an odd mix having alternative health care on the upper level and art/craft on the lower level.  Someone was doing tarot readings and I thought that was worth checking out.  There were a ton of tarot readers in New Orleans, but being so touristy, it just felt too... tourist trap to me.  I have a pocket deck of tarot cards and I really don't know why I bought them, curiousity I suppose.  I think what works about tarot is that it's your own interpretation of what you see.  If all it does is make you think, that's not such a bad thing. 

She asked if I had a specific question, I was a bit torn.  I don't want to hear I won't have children, I could ask about work...  I just couldn't find the words so I said no.  She said let's draw 4 cards to check your energy and what's going on.

She had another deck of pictures, not tarot, three cards went above these.  So out of this, the hermit shows that I need help, a counsellor, guidance.  The 10 of cups (the rainbow) is part of wish and the card above was also about wish fulfillment, she asked what it is that I want because she thought this was a strong indication I'd get it.  I said that picture is what I want, children.  The two middle cards are rods, the 8 of rods indicates travel.  She felt a pull to the west coast, I have no clue what that means, I said I have family in Manitoba, but she stuck to her feelings, Manitoba wasn't far enough west.  The 9 of rods is suppose to be about courage, but what struck me was the look on the guys face.  It's like Mr. Lina looking back at me saying, yeah... I dunno that I'm up for this.  I have more confidence in his parenting than he does.

She also commented (prior to me saying much about children) that the above card  in the centre had to do with medical issues.  Did I know why medical issues would be associated with children?  Sigh.  Yes, I do.  Now some of this would be led by my comments, but her feelings were that there will be two boys, close in age and more likely by adoption than birth.  One will have a strong attachment to animals, need to have animals and care for them.  The other will like collecting rocks, he will feel an attachment to the ground, feel comforted by the vibrations that the rocks have.  I suppose we'll just have to wait and see about that.

So I went home, told Mr. Lina about it and apparently he liked to collect rocks as a kid.  Every beach they went to, he liked picking up rocks, had a rocker to sort them.  I didn't know that myself.

Sunday we went to a house party, a nice change from hosting.  We were actually in Reader's Digest a year or so ago for an article about house concerts.  We just happened to be the closest Home Routes venue to the author.  This led to the connection between us.  6 a year are too much for them to commit to, so they occasionally take Home Routes people on their Monday off or book artists.  All the way from California, I got to hear Kevin Quinn from Boho Chapeau.  Good show, very personable and has a song about losing his dad that made us all cry.  It's not on an album yet, but there is a live recording of Kevin performing.

Crazy day coming up

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers.  It's business as usual here.

An Amazon package arrived last night.  This is not surprising in my house, Mr. Lina is a frequent customer.  But he needed to tell me that my Christmas present was in there.  Why, I don't know, I would have ignored it assuming there was some Cthulhu or board game something or other.  You know what I think it is (given that it's the only thing I asked for - with reminders when it did release)? 

Tee hee.  The box (still unopened by Mr. Lina) is sitting in the living room right now laughing at me.  Bah.  As excited as I am about getting this for Christmas, I think I'd rather not know it was in the house at this moment.

Today is going to be a crazy day.  I will get back to Part 2 of New Orleans (there is much more food to come) and I have TWO completed Sorbettos to post about (wearing one at the moment), but, it's crazy day and this post is just to let off some steam while I wait for data to run. 

I'm going to try a little good news/bad news...
Bad news...  couldn't sleep last night, too much to do today, too much on my mind.  Went to bed at 12 (about a half hour later than usual) but it was 1 before I fell asleep and Mr. Lina and I were both awake at 4am. 
Good news... when I did finally decide to not hit snooze again, I actually felt awake.  Sometimes it takes a while before I really feel alert.

Bad news...  ham was still frozen this morning.  It was suppose to go in the slow cooker.
Good news... gave me time to make chicory coffee (new addiction since NOLA) and put my lunch together while it was defrosting in the microwave.

Bad news... car needed gas, late start to the day was even later.
Good news...  Took the toll highway to try and speed up my trip to work, so it was at least more enjoyable than the first half of my drive usually is.

Bad news...  accident closer to my workplace, so any time gained was subsequently lost.
Good news... no real upside, I was just late.  But I did get to work early enough to get one of the last 3 parking spots in my usual lot.

Bad news... forgot my pass at home, must be in my other coat.
Good news... it's warm enough today to wear my light blue leather coat that doesn't sit well done up.  They say it's going to be 9C today.  Pretty impressive for November.

Bad news...  I don't enjoy dealing with the person I am doing project work for today.
Good news...  I'm going to be learning about restaurants for the project, so it should be vaguely interesting, a change from consumer packaged goods anyhow.  And the sooner it's done the sooner I'm heading home because...

Good news...  Coco Love Alcorn is coming to my house tonight along with her husband and her 14 month old daughter.  There's going to be a baby (well, toddler) in my house tonight.  Mr. Lina is very excited about that.  There is no bad news that goes along with that (well, until the toddler leaves).

The trumpet playing baby!  Multi talented, she plays the keytar on the back cover

So even with crappy stuff blocking my way today, it's going to be a freakishly good day because I say so.  Coco is awesome, there will be toddlers in the house, we have over 20 people saying they are coming tonight so I'm not stressing about attendance and it's one of our guests birthdays so there will be a surprise cake.  :)

New Orleans, part deux

Mr. Lina packed a lot into the short time we were there. The day after we booked the hotel, the Stephen King fan club whatever sent him an email saying he would be in NOLA when we were there.  So he bought tickets.  So one day we took the street car out to Octavia Books to pick up our tickets.  This gave us a reason to take the street car, visit the garden district, a cemetary and then push on to Audubon Park.



Mr. Lina at Anne Rice's old house.



Wild turkey at Audubon Park





A few houses were still decorated for Halloween



Mr. Lina at Audubon Park

I liked the street car.  For $3 you could ride all day and step out of the French Quarter.  The St Charles line runs through the middle with two lanes of traffic on either side.  Some people are not so smart, forgetting that there is actually traffic and there is possibly another street car coming.  It's also very well used, the cars were packed most of the times we were taking it.  Fortunately not so when this happened:



Street car vs Mercedes



No one was hurt, the fire truck just happened to be driving a few cars behind the Mercedes and we were about 2 blocks from where we were going to get off anyhow.  May I say in a street car vs. mercedes situation, the street car will always win.

The Lafayette cemetary was sad.  Beautiful, but oh so heart wrenching.  We weren't on a tour so I was just reading the plaques and wandering.  So many children died so very young.  There may have been some leaky moments before we left.  I don't think I'd seek out a cemetary like that again unless I wanted the emotional tidal wave that goes with it.

Saturday we split our time in three parts, French Quarter, then the WWII museum and finally the Stephen King reading.  First stop was Muffaletta's for breakfast from Central Grocery.  I can't eat the olive spread, so I really can't comment on the true Muffaletta but the bread, meat and cheese were tasty and Mr. Lina really liked his full version.  Good thing we went at 10:45 for that, by the time we walked back from eating on the boardwalk, it was lined up down the street.

Next stop was the Museum of Pharmacology.  Small but pretty cool museum, I thought it was about the right price at $4.  It looked at medical practices in general and specifically in NOLA.  There was a section about prohibition and alcohol and how labelling laws impacted a lot of "tonics" which were alcohol based.



Allergy testing equipment.

 

Whole section on alcohol as medicine.

The WWII museum was pretty cool.  We could have spent more time there but we were running out of day.  It's interesting to see a different perspective on the war.  Omaha beach was not something I remember spending a lot of time talking about, and in kind, I only saw the word Canada twice.  This picture amused me.  To hide the actual plans to enter France, they had fake planes, tanks and vehicles in England to make it look like they would attack the closest point to England at Calis.  This is 4 soldiers moving an inflatable tank.

We cut things pretty close getting back to the hotel to change and off to Stephen King.  There was a restaurant near the reading we figured we would have dinner there.  As we got off the street car, the line for the show was literally out the building and around 2 side streets.  Food was more important than the line so we went to Pascal's Manale and both had their signature dish, BBQ shrimp.  No idea why they call it that, those shrimp never saw a BBQ, but my goodness was it tasty.  I should have caught more of the table in that picture for scale, the shrimp were HUGE!



That is not a dessert bowl.




Served with a bib for good reason.



View from the balcony of Stephen King.

Stephen King is really great to listen to.  We saw him in Toronto when the book about a town in a dome came out.  It was an interview with David Cronenberg so a different style than the NOLA reading.  He talked for a bit, covered a few FAQ's, read from the book then took questions from the audience.  Time went by in a blink. 
 We were pretty tired and not into a visit to Bourbon street that night.  So we took the ferry across to Algiers again with the good camera to take night time pictures that didn't suck.  It's such a pretty city from a distance.  There are a few more things to wrap up but this post is long enough.  I'll end with the skyline for now.





New Orleans Part 1

What a trip.  Mr. Lina has now moved pictures to an accessible place (his work laptop not being conducive to picture sharing but very good for backing up the pictures while we were away) so I can post about the trip.  I should have planned my packing around things I made, but alas, it's mostly RTW.

Mr. Lina has wanted to visit New Orleans for ages.  He did all the planning and researching for this, he had a full page of paper full of places to go, food to eat, hours they were open, notes about them (ie.  cemeteries less likely to be mugged), I was quite impressed.  It made it very easy to figure out what we were going to do for the day and string it together based on geography.  Quite a few places are closed on Mondays, limited or no hours on Sundays so some places could wait for Sunday and some couldn't. 

First stop was food.  We needed a late lunch after the flight and went to Mother's.  Mr. Lina had the Debris Po'Boy on the reco of our airport shuttle driver, I ordered fried fish (edit:  fried shrimp, I really did read this multiple times, I did not order fish) with rice & beans and turnip greens, but I got fried fish.  Whatever, no hives and it tasted fantastic.




Mother's pepper infused vinegar

 

 That evening we went to Bourbon Street.  Found it a bit like Niagara Falls, lots of neon, kinda tacky, total tourist trap, kinda feels like there is a con going on but you're okay with that because you chose to go.  3 for 1 drinks prior to 8pm are pretty common, I was hammered before 7:30. 

Busking to Atomic Dog

Bourbon St & Lucky Dog

Those boys there are busking  just at Bourbon & Canal St and you can hear them a block away, brass travels.  The amusing part was that they were playing Parliament, Atomic Dog.  Bet most people wouldn't recognize that, but Mr. Lina pegged it.

After 3 for 1 pours and a rum & coke that looked like iced tea, we did a little walking around and ended up at Cafe du Monde for cafe au lait and beignet.  There were maybe 15 tables being used, pretty quiet.  Next morning, it looked like this.





Busy, but we didn't have to wait for a table, people were leaving at about the same rate they were arriving.  I was so glad we got our beignets on Wed/Thurs because Saturday morning it was a mad house with the line up around the outside of the building.



Have cafe, will travel.  We walked around the boardwalk, this is me in front of the steamboat Natchez.  We had dinner there that night.  Nice Dixieland jazz, good food, exceptionally accommodating to my allergies, they made catfish up just for me because I couldn't eat the buffet version. 

Then to the aquarium.  I was looking forward to this.  I love sharks, they freak me out but I'm just fascinated.



SHARKS!



He's coming to get me!





Aquarium tunnel, no sharks, just fish & rays.



Budgie making a break for it in my purse



Off we go for more sights..  We took the ferry across to Algiers and stopped in for lunch.  The guide book said the Dry Dock had great po'boys, but I can't say I was overly impressed, good, but the beer was better.  And this sign. 







It's getting to be my bedtime and before I'm charged for whining, I think I'll leave it at that.

Versatile Sorbetto

Prior to my vacation, I was honoured with the Versatile Blogger award from Lazy Subcultural Girl

The rules are as follows:
1.  Compose a short dedication to the person who gave you the award.
2. Write a list for your readers, detailing things about yourself that your readers don’t know.
3. Pass the love forward to five bloggers that you feel deserve to receive it too.

LazySubculturalGirl caught me with her tag line of "because black eyeliner is too high maintenance".  I know that feeling as it's a bit hit and miss if I bother with lipstick going to work these days.  The clothing she makes is always awesome, with edgy fabric choices that hide the mom of three beneath.  I love the Sci-Fi Sundays and they have certainly come in handy in relating to my husbands media choices.  Every post is amusing, interesting and inspiring. 

Oh.. things you don't know about me..  Well I was just telling a few stories from my childhood, and the A-Z, I'm pretty open here.  But I can probably dig up a few.

1.  Like LazySubculturalGirl, I have allergies.  The usual seasons/pollens/animals, but celery, carrots and mustard are my food allergies and sweet potatoes are on my suspect list.  I don't really want to work on confirming sweet potatoes, I just avoid them for now. 

2.  I worked for an outdoor advertising company out of university making maps.  I know a lot of small towns in Canada, Wetaskiwin Alberta anyone?  (which I pronounced wet-a-ski-win to a sales rep rather than we-tas-ke-win, they laughed).

3.  I played the clarinet from grade 7 through high school.  I was also in two choirs.

4.  I don't swear often, when I do it's a sign that maybe I don't need that next glass of wine...

And time to pass the love... 

1.  3 Hours Past the Edge of the World  Steph does some amazing work, she writes a lot of educational posts and is so willing to share her knowledge. 

2.  Living in Red I am so in love with her rounded front door, how could I not?  She sews and knits and talks about her family and home. 

3.  Stellar Parenting  Is a parenting blog, raising two boys that she adopted as older children.  I love every update, both the amazing steps her children have made to attach and heal and the crazy posts that remind me adoption isn't a piece of cake.  So absolutely inspiring.

4.  Falling Through Your Clothes  I love her style, she really knows how to dress her figure and takes risks with capes and beautiful fabric I would probably be afraid to cut into. 

5.  Petty Grievances  Ever have a morning when you need a bit of a giggle?  Highly recommend checking Petty Grievances out.  Be it the Wearable Wednesday posts that take a look at runway fashions or her own sewing, I'm always amused.

Honourable mentions to Tanit-Isis and K-Line, but I thought it was maybe against the rules to tag the same people you were tagged with.

Now I titled this Versatile Sorbetto didn't I?  That's 'cause I'm sewing.  Well, not at the moment.  I decided to double check the width of tape I'd need and the bias tape tutorial in case there were any tips I forgot and thought I really should take a minute to recognize the award I'm pretty pleased with.  So, one Sorbetto done, second is cut out...  time to get on with the bias tape production. 

Feet eating slippers

Mr. Lina - I know you don't generally read this, but in the off chance you are reading this particular post, look away now.  You can read this post on December 26th.

I'm not kidding.  Nothing to see here... 

Nothing at all.

No zombies of any kind.

I know I'm looking over your left shoulder, there is ah.. something on the wall there.

Okay, I think we're in the clear.

So a friend of ours sent me a link for zombie slippers, perfect for Mr. Lina.

He adores zombies, this really is perfect.  At $20, I thought this was a good gift, a nice mix of practical and novelty and I won't be upset if he doesn't wear them.  I started to click through and got a shipping estimation that was more than the slippers themselves.  Now I don't mind a bit of shipping, I know shipping to Canada is going to be a little steep and these aren't tiny little earrings, but a $20 purchase shouldn't come to $43 with the cheapest shipipng option.  It's not worth that to me, I might be annoyed if he didn't wear them.  If I tried, I could probably find something similar locally. 
Then I thought maybe someone has something similar on Etsy, I have bought him zombie cufflinks on Etsy before.  And there are many zombie things, but they are either pretty zombie kittens or hand painted $110 shoes.  Neither are really what I want.

But hey, I sew.  If I was looking on Etsy to see if someone else made them, can't I?  Sunni just made cute little slippers for her new home. 

So...  anyone ever made slippers?  My mom has sold really simple oval slides a few years ago.  I don't need them to be as complicated as the plush ones, but I really like the concept of your foot going into the mouth of the zombie so I'd need something with a back and more coverage (less feminine) than ballet slippers. 

Something to ponder...