Mardi Gras and a Gazillion photos

I just like this picture of Bri, Colin, and I walking through the Lower Ninth Ward. Bri's buddy Colin flew in from NY for Mardi Gras and my friend Amanda from Duluth flew down for the Gras.
Aftermath...
I thought Amanda caught a pretty sweet picture of this-in the French Quarter.



Amanda tried her grits 4 different ways....turns out salt and pepper is the best!
Mardi Gras Indian jammin....

If you saw Benjamin Button-the scene was filmed in the park 2 blocks from our house...
How did 3 superheroes get in our kitchen??
Yes, Colin did walk around like this. Come'on it's the Gras.

What's leftover of King CAke--a tradional bread/cake that you eat all for the month of Mardi Gras-kinda tastes like Cinnamin rolls.
Amanda's spicy shrimp remoulade


I was amazingly pumped elvis stopped to give me a scarf on the parade route.
Muses..the all woman's crew parade.
breakfast in the backyard.
Zulu-all African American parade.



Chinese breakfast we cooked.
Yes, Colin did put on ALL of our beads....and it took a long time to get them off and sort them again.
"GANGSTA's but what I call the Blues Brothers.


My friend is in the pink

Everyone brings their own ladders to stand on to catch beads.
I was a Super Gardner and Bri was just Super.

Chinese on bikes?
CAn you find the Minnesotan in the picture?

LIFE IN N'awlins...

Here's Bri training high school students purusing their GED and training...Bri has made walking maps for them to go through the neighborhood and survey housing conditions as part of a job training program, so they will have skills to use in the workforce.

We went camping here in Mississippi--I never knew riverbeds were so sandy!


Mardi Gras parades have started for the past few weekends. We went to see the Carnival Krewe parade....parades will then start this Thursday and go through, with several a day until Fat Tuesday.

Traditionally, parades all had men krewes. They all have to wear masks so you can't see their faces... (you still have to be mega loaded and pay to be on floats and have connections to throw beads). After the parades, there are balls for those on the floats to go to.
Barkus was today---a parade of dogs dressed up ....the theme was Batman.



Awkward picture of us....but at least you can see our beads!
Yummy artichoke for dinner....it's prepared here with bread crumbs, cheese, garlic..yum!
Bri and I hit up an awesome Spanish restaurant to celebrate an early Valentine's Day. We had paella and sangria which was soooooooooo good...