Mardi Gras

Copious ammounts of urine and vomit. Fights. Semi-naked girls and alcoholism in the air. This is the image I was dreading/aniticipating(I'm not gonna say which) before experiencing my first mardi gras. The reality was much different.

We live right off St. Charles, so that means we were basically surrounded by parades for a week straight. All attempts to navigate through the city required a map, a schedule of parades, and we still got stuck in horrible traffic. It appears the best mardi gras strategy for living in Uptown is to buy groceries early and just ride the wave. Consider that week a break from the world. So, what was it like being so close to the parade routes? Pretty mellow.

Our experience at the parades was similar to going to a County Fair. The majority of the people around us were with their families and the atmosphere was friendly. At night it became more wild, but the alcohol consumption still was similar to being at a concert. Now, we didn't go to Bourbon St. Maybe down there all hell broke loose. But I don't really understand how Bourbon St. became associated with mardi gras in the first place; none of the parades go in that direction.

We also celebrated Lauren's 30th birthday. One of her good friends from Seattle, Brooke, was in town. We did the usual dinner and presents but the agreed upon highlight was witnessing a girl-fight in the mall that required police intervention. And, to save the the best for the last, I want to introduce the newest member of our family........

My new chameleon Claudia. This most excellent specimen of nature's creativity has rotating eyes, changes colors, and can shoot her tongue out to catch her food. They say man was made in God's image, but don't you think if you were God you would be able to change colors? Welcome Claudia!