Thanksgiving is the day for gratitude.
I get to be with my awesome family for five days! I’m sure you’ll hear more about it next Friday in the weekly gratitude list / recap of allll the amazing things I have to be grateful for, so we’re just gonna move along to …
Unexpected New Orleans
“OMG, I love your face glitter!” I said to a man, wearing face glitter highlighting his cheekbones that really did look divine, at the bubbles fest we accidentally stumbled upon while biking to the ninth ward to chill at a wine bar (Bacchanal) we’d all been recommended to visit. He replied without hesitation, “Oh girl it’s from this stall down at the French Market, you can get the guy to do your glitter and if you like it, you can buy it there. It’s really high quality, really great glitter.”
I never really cared for New Orleans before, but in that moment, I could love the city. Followed by getting lost in neighborhoods we shouldn’t have been in with the giggly girl who has me saved in her phone as Newport Best Friend though this was our second meeting, Saturday in New Orleans couldn’t have been better, and restored my faith in a city that had previously just felt like too much to me: too much booze, too much food, too many people. But this time, with my Eagles crew (in which I become a faux Philly fan) running amok around the city, too much became just enough, complete with Icing, dancing, pole-climbing, and an absurd amount of laughter.
The shenanigans were capped by a full Sunday send with tacos and tailgating and making it in to the Saints-Eagles game just sacrificing a fanny pack to the football gods, a house divided, some tears in a bar, a new mother-in-law for one of our birds, and the greatest sense of belonging to the strangeriest group of people.
I am beyond grateful for this trip, for this group of adopted friends, for the ability to travel and go on adventures like this, and, reluctantly, for freakin’ New Orleans herself.