NOLA on my mind

On Wednesday I returned from a week long "vacation for my soul" in NOLA -  intentionally missing the crowds of Mardi Gras, while still getting the happy-go-lucky vibe of the Carnivale season.  Rather than write a long summery, I figured I'd just let my instagram photos sum up the week.

the skyline so bright

I adore everything in this hotel

my fave: a French 75 in the Sazerac Bar

newly renovated Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone

best roast beef po-boys in NOLA, hands down

baby's got a new pair of pink shoes.

Valentine's Day at the Saturn Bar in the Bywater

I miss this everyday Uptown street vista

do you know what it means to miss whole foods?

Goodness I miss this store... if you've ever visited the uptown New Orleans location and their teeeny tiny parking lot, you get it.



"I've been on edge since they took Kombucha off the shelf."  Gosh I miss Kombucha...

pardon the dust + how to make a street car roll

I've been away, I know.  It's hard to really have an excuse for being post-less for so long other than I've really been trying to chase the "I really miss my hubs" blues by keeping busy.  I've been volunteering at the local military base in their marketing office.  In short, it's been amazing.  I work with a wonderful group of inspiring people who challenge me every day and really encourage me to flex my creative muscles in the world of graphics and design.  Govt cutbacks have made it so that no actual paying position is available for what I do, but I am forever hopeful and I'm expanding my portfolio while I'm at it.  I'm just hoping that the snowy German winters and Bruno's lack of 4x4 capabilities don't force me to hibernate from Dec - March.  I do appreciate you all staying tuned and still reading... this blog has been great to come to when I just need an outlet.

So in an effort to make up for m y lack of blog - presence, I'd figure that I'd share a tutorial on a project that I've had in my mind for about a year and I have FINALLY produced.  I saw a post on Abbey Goes Design Scouting  ages ago and while in NOLA I desperately wanted to make my own street car roll for the St. Charles Avenue streetcar line.  Well, it never happened, mainly because we didn't have any place to put it even if I did make it.  But the idea stuck in my mind because, well, aren't they just fantastic?

I will have a house that looks like this someday -- in my dreams
image via living livelier

Fast forward to Germany and my humongous home full of blank walls.  Needing something to cover a wall in our dining room, I decided it was time for the streetcar roll to finally be made.  So I whipped up a 36" x 60" image on inDesign, exported it as a .pdf and then  went over to rasterbator and uploaded the image.  It broke my image into a number of different pieces of 8.5 x 11 sized pieces of paper

16 pieces of paper (and 2 black ink cartridges) later I had my full image, but what to arrange it on so I could hang it?  Enter number of USPS boxes I had hoarded in my office.

boxes, meet box cutter:

now to assemble my images on the makeshift backing to create a large poster

a roll of double sided tape later and voila! NOLA "street car" roll complete!

I kind of went crazy with this "create a huge poster w/ 8.5x11 sized pieces of paper" method in a number of other places in the house, which I'll share sometime in the future.  Since I have no idea what our next place will be like size-wise, I am refusing to spend a ton of money on decorating, but I hate bare walls. So this is my solution.  So far so good!

Do you have any other simple decorating tips that have helped you outfit your house without busting the bank? 

Adventures in Life Changes

To say things have been hectic lately would be a definite understatement.  As I write this I realize that the sheer amount of things that have changed over the past 3 weeks is amazing and I'll be the first to admit that it all hasn't really hit me yet. 

Example: I am, for the first time in my life, homeless. 

Ok yes, that sounds extreme, as in-between Alabama and Virginia I will always have a home either at my parent's or my in-law's houses.  But honestly, a location that is "ours" and full of our "stuff" does not currently exist.  As we walked away May 11th from our very empty, beautiful home on the corner of State & Laurel in New Orleans an overwhelming sense of sadness and anxiety overcame me.

the tiled road markers that graced our little corner of new orleans

Just some more of the many changes occuring over the past few weeks:

• Everything that we own has been packed up (it took two whole days to wrap and pack up everything in a 950 sq ft house... me thinks we may need to do some uncluttering once we unpack) and it all is sitting in a shipping container on a slow boat to Europe either now or in the near future.  Mr. Bama and I each have 2 suitcases of clothes & shoes to choose from until July.   My daily clothing options definitely demand creativity.

I've gone from a huge closet to this.  Not an easy task.

• You're looking at Alabama's newest resident. Due to tax reasons, we both have to be residents of the same state, so alas, new license.  It was actually the most pleasant DMV experience, but it resulted in the worst license picture I've ever had.   Less than a 30 min wait at the DMV + very pleasant employees = unattractive license picture.  Oh well.

• As of tomorrow, when we fly to our new home, we will be without a vehicle.  It's amazing how you can go from 2 cars to no cars in less than a month.  Also we are leaving our bundle of fur behind for the foreseeable future, until we can figure out where we will be calling home for the next three years.  It pains me to leave him behind, but it's not fair to him to be moved oversees unless it is to a place that is established and won't change drastically over the next few years.  He's already a little shell shocked from coming home to an empty New Orleans house, I can only imagine how drastic a change it will be to him to put up with an 8 hour flight overseas, in cargo, and then be moved from hotel to apartment to house.
  

  

  you have no idea how much I'm going to miss this face

• iPhone's do not work in Germany.  This makes me very sad

• Did I also mention that Mr. Bama is leaving in July for work.  For an entire year?  So I'm going from cozy home in a city I adore with an amazing husband and a fabulous (albeit awkward) dog  to no home (hopefully temporary), an absent husband and no dog all in the course of a month.  No complaints, it is just truly crazy how change can come so quickly.

So many changes in such a small amount of time.  In all seriousness, the one constant is that my companion and best friend will be by my sida the whole time, thus making the adventure that much more exciting.  Who knew a year & 1/2 ago when we started our lives together, that it would take us on this whirlwind of a journey.  The exciting (and slightly harrowing) thing:  It's only just begun!

Drive-by Clothing Eye Candy

I have a really quick post today -- Been busing wrapping up a bunch of stuff and prepping for our house hold goods to get moved on the 25(so.not.ready.).  But I still have time for pretty clothes!

pretty clothes like the spring 2011 Trashy Diva prints

Olivine:

the 1940's dress.
source

  Slap and Tickle (hehe)

The Doll Dress.
source

I tried both of the prints in their respective styles over the past few weeks and the Olivine is amazing.  I WANTED the Slap and Tickle to work soooo badly, but it just looked blah with my skin tone.  I'm waiting until after the move to pick up my dress, just because moving is proving to be SO expensive (an understatement)

So heres hoping i get a leg up on the moving to do list and that you have a great Monday!

My "Naked" Obsession

Confession -- I love junk food.  Well, not technically junk food, but delivery.  I try to eat organic and clean most of the time and I adore cooking.  But, then theres the undeniable fact that at times I can be mind numbingly lazy.  Major meal-creating hurdle.  It's made worse that whenever someone suggests to get food delivered, my guard shrinks and I'm all in, no holds barred.  I ignore the grease, the MSG, the fattiness and I become a normal, non-health conscious American.  Then, after the damage is done and my Chicken chow mein has been devoured, I feel this sense of fullness (physical) and shame in the fact that I strive so hard to eat well, and then with one moment of weakness and a phone call, it all goes down the drain.  I'd always wondered why someone couldn't muster up the idea of creating healthy, tastey, guilt-free and affordable delivery.  It felt like it was a wish that would never come true

Until about 2 months ago, when Naked Pizza came into my life.

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I'd received some fliers from this New Orleans-based company in the past and didn't think much about them - they were in a shady part of town (yes, I'm an Uptown NOLA snob...so what) and it just didn't seem appealing.  That was until right before the Superbowl I got another flier from them toting their SuperBiotic Pizza.  While the toppings on the pizza weren't appealing to me (I'm a cheese pizza kinda girl), the fact that it toted its presence of probiotics was intriguing.  While I know probiotics are a buzzword of sorts now, it still tickled my interest that pizza company would make a point to advertise that fact.  So I sat down and did some research on the company -- and I was surprisingly thrilled by what I read.  Fun facts:

• New Orleans owned and operated.  They currently have 13 franchised locations all over the country (and in Dubai!!) and are expanding with 19 more locations by year's end.  An additional 8 locations have been awarded, meaning they will be opening within the next few years.  Check to see if you live near one here!
• started by an anthropologist, the idea of the pizza is to get to the root of human digestion.  Apparently grain has been absent from our diet for a huge chunk of humanity, so its a shock to our bodies when we eat highly processed, single grain breads high in sugar.  The amount of insulin released to deal with and flush out basic dough (and most highly processed bread) is unnatural and unhealthy.  Naked Pizza uses dough, called their "Ancestral Blend" that has 10 grains, plus prebiotic agave fiber and probiotics.  They don't use sugar to season their dough, just agave (yup, same stuff used to make tequila.).  The simple ingredients and heft of the bread Naked Pizza uses makes it tougher for our bodies to digest, which is actually a good thing.  

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• All of the ingredients used as toppings are all-natural.  Now theres a huge debate about using organic vs all-natural in the company, but thats for another blog post.  The basics are that their tomato sauce has no added sugar or citric acid. Their cheese is 100% natural, rGBH-free, real Wisconsin mozzarella. Their vegetables are all-natural, no additives and their meats are real pork, chicken and beef—free of growth hormones and antibiotics.  Nice and simple.
• How can they expand with the speed they're moving without a national presence?  Well, it helps to have the backing of Mark Cuban (of Dallas Mav's fame) and the Kraft Group (No relation to the cheese).  
• They are the nicest company to order pizza from - the guys on the phone seem insanely happy to be working for their company and the delivery guys are incredibly sweet.  Plus, I've never had a pizza be delivered in over 20 mins.  Lightening fast, I tell yah.
• $5.99 for a 12" cheese pizza!? yes - Yummy and affordable!
• Their social media is amazing.  I love following them on twitter (the deals rock and the links to great health conscious articles are awesome).  They joke about how they're a social media company that happens to sell pizza.  Hey, anything to get the word out about eating cleaner and having a healthier lifestyle is cool in my book.

So it's official -- my new food crush is a pizza company with a cute smiley face as their logo.  Love at first guilt-free bite.


check out more about this game-changing company here: http://www.nakedpizza.biz/

Merry Mardi Gras (Part 1)

Yesterday was my official Mardi Gras start -- sure it technically started on 12th night, but for me it takes our local  Thoth parade to really get things going.  Here's some snapshots of the weekend

and more to come Wednesday (after mardi gras detox).  Happy Lundi Gras!

Roller Coaster Weather

The past week the weather in NOLA can be summed up with this:

(source)

Clear skies, blooming flowers, perfect high 60, low 70 degrees temps - the windows open with a breeze.  It even inspired me to heavy duty clean the house (involved dusting fans and climbing on a ladder.. big time stuff).  However, I woke up this morning to this:

(source)

It wouldn't be such a big deal,  but the rain has thrown a curveball in the parade schedules.  Today was supposed to be a day full of parades, yet they've all been moved to Sunday - another day filled with Parades. Our neighborhood parade, Krewe of Thoth, rolls tomorrow and we've got plans to cook out and have people over to watch, so heres to the rain taking a break til after our last New Orleans Mardi Gras!

This is My Home: Our Journey of Places

I must admit, my absolute favorite part of living in New Orleans is our house.  Yes, it's small, yes it was subjected to awful renovations in the 90s and some shoddy repair work, but my goodness it is perfect for our little family right now.  When we moved here (Mr. Bama in May 09, me in Oct '09) we lived in such an awful place.  It was listed as "lower Garden District luxury living."  However, after living there a few months we knew we had to get the heck out of there - at least from a construction/design standpoint.  I surely will never forget the kitchen that was thissmall, the lack of any garbage deposit anywhere within a 1/2 mile of our unit (I would have been laughed out of grad school if I had presented a project that had this place's layout... awful), our teeeennny tiny balcony, unique wiring (our cable was hooked up - to an outlet in our closet) and our, um, "interesting" neighbors.  So when our awesome 3 month lease was almost up, I began the search for a truly New Orleans home.  We knew that being given the opportunity to live in this amazing city was a gift, so living in a place that gave us a unique experience was essential.  Also, my Historic Preservation and old home loving soul was just screaming out to live in a pre-WWII house while living in this city (interesting side note: this is the first time in my life I've lived in a building that wasn't new construction or a product of the 1960s.  To say I've been quality, old home deprived is an understatement).  Before I knew it,  November had crept up and I was banging my head against the wall for a few weeks, only finding affordable places on Craigslist that were:

1. located in highly questionable areas (VERY important note in New Orleans.)
2. last renovated / cleaned in 1960.  Retro yes, but not in a good way, and they weren't much better than the apt where we were living.

It wasn't until we were driving home from yet another less-than-thrilling apartment showing when we passed a late 1900's, early 1910's converted double shotgun house with a "for rent" sign out front.  I made Mr. Bama pull over and I jumped out of the car and started calling the number on the sign.  The landlady picked up, walked right over from her house and gave us a viewing right then and there.  I was in love and Mr. Bama was really happy with the Uptown location.  Few days later, we had put down a deposit and were starting the move.

Now, a year and 2 months later, I am still in love with our home.  We were allowed, by our amazing landlady, to paint the house to fit our preferences, and the place went from pretty old house, to the pretty old Bama house.

Now, It definitely has its fair share of quirkiness, especially when it comes to the bathrooms:

walk-through-sized guilliontine windows.  I worked at prying this bad
boy open for 2 months after we moved in.  Lesson - never
EVER paint windows shut.

our creativity-demanding guest bathroom door, with windows, of course.

our master bathroom partition is on a mission to bring square
glass blocks back into fashion, circa early 90s style

But it also has its fair share of awesomeness

the hardware on the pocket doors.  It's craftmansship and detail like
this that you never find in the "throw them up in a month"
houses of today.  Cool note: The little latch in the middle
 is actually a key that can be used to lock the pocket doors and
 then taken out and stored.  really unique.

exposed rafters in the kitchen - perfect for defying the laws of gravity
and taking one's life into their hands every time they enter the kitchen

But it also has its fair share of awesomeness:

Transom windows (that are workable).  We has a serious airflow
problem when we moved in - after prying all of these open,
no more problem!  Such a simple concept,
yet one thats so incredibly overlooked

And probably one of the things I love the most is what I see when I wake up every morning.  The bottom portion of our big bay windows is covered with plantation shutters -- we dont have to have shades, but we still have privacy.  This is the view from our bedroom window:

doesnt seem like much, but I love being greeted by the pretty blue sky every morning without having to exert any effort.  Its truly the simple things!

Project: This is My Home

Some exciting news has come down the pipe here in the Bama household.  Ok - exciting AND nerve wracking wrapped into one lovely little package.

I'm not sure if i mentioned it in the past, but Mr. Bama's job requires him to move every 2-3 years.  Promotion or jobs don't change this fact, so until he decides to completely leave his profession, we'll be picking up and moving to another part of the country every few years.  Unfortunately this means that our time in New Orleans is up come April -- a fact that crushes me to the core.  New Orleans was a dream assignment that so many people in Mr. Bama's profession NEVER have an opportunity to experience.  However, we were given the opportunity to call this  amazing city home for a little, and during that time we got to see the inner-working of a city that really suffers from being misunderstood.  So many people think it is a drunken fest (yes, if you're in the FQ), a city where crime is rampant (yes, in some parts), a city that is gluttonous or a city where you party 24-7 (once again, true in the FQ).  But it is so much more than that and has stolen my heart.

So I'm beginning a project that I welcome any of my fellow bloggers and followers to partake in on their own way - whether their blogs, their facebook albums, their twitter accounts, etc.  Its called Project: This is My Home.  Over the next few months I'm going to be photo/video documenting my home, my neighborhood, my city .. the things I see everyday that Ive never quite taken much note of but know that I will miss when I leave New Orleans.  And I plan on doing this at every place I live -- because in my life my home will be a collection of where I live and where I have lived - the people I have met, the sights I've experienced, the little things that I've never noticed until I stopped and looked around.

source

So what makes where you live YOUR home?

PS - I'll be releasing where we're moving soon once it's more solidified.  Its about 95% sure, but theres always the 5% chance that something will change, so I've decided to keep it underwrap until we're positive!

A Happy White Christmas and a NOLA New Year

A few pictoral tidbits from our recent travels to VA for Christmas and then back to NOLA to ring in 2011!

One of the highlights was being able to experience a VERY rare white Christmas in eastern VA.  when all was said and done, we had 14.2 inches !

Starting to snow Christmas night.

what we woke up to the next morning. - GORGEOUS!

Bear's first time experiencing the snow.  To say
he loved it would be an understatement

resting after an awesome time in the snow.

the rents house under 12+ inches

One of the small trees in the yard next to our house that
was lit up for christmas and is carrying the
beautiful burden of 12+ inches of snow

The unprecedented snowfall delayed our return to New Orleans, but after driving 18 hours straight through (no one said we werent crazy) we made it and were ready to ring in the new year.  My little sis even endured the crazy drive to spend the holiday with us.

Mr. Bama and I in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel

with the little sis.  Can you tell she's in a sorority?
 (love you sis!)

View of Jackson Square (St. Louis Cathedral is to the
left of this pic) while everyone waits for the gigantic
fleur de lis to drop above Jax brewery

Hubs and little sis!

Little sis is thrilled to ring in 2011

Home for the Holidays

Shame Shame on me.  Wow,  I really must admit that I've been a terrible blogger over the last month.  I would attribute my absence to being a full time and then some worker - I'm now at TD 5 days a week manning one of their divisions (whoop!) in addition to being in full blown designing mode (there's been a lot of  "hey can you get this design rushed to me?" around here lately - ah Holidays) and still running the house.  No time to get in trouble I guess.

So heres whats been going on since I last was around:

- One of my friends from Arch school and her boyfriend came to visit us in NOLA, which was wonderful since the last time we saw them was our wedding.  We did the French Quarter Circuit, complete with breakfast at Brennan's and drinks and the Carousel Bar & the Sazerac.  It was fun playing tourist in our city for a weekend and a blast hanging out with great friends

Aggie Arch Grads in a pretty Vieux Carre Alley

- We went to Alabama for Thanksgiving.  I amazingly didn't take any pictures during our week-long stay, but Mr. Bama's camera happy Aunt did -- If she snapped any of us, I have a feeling it would feature me stuffing my face with turkey while Mr. Bama downs a brewski or a sazerac (I distinctly remember bringing a new bottle of Sazerac Rye Whiskey down with us and it being absent from our goods on the way back).  Turkey Day just isn't the same w/out good family, great friends, carbo & tryptophan loading as well as a continuous source of  libations.

- The day after we got back from Bama, I came down with a NASTY head cold.  To douse the fire in my throat my life for a full week consisted of OJ, Theraflu (AM and PM), a whole bag of Ricola throat drops and a whole box of Throat Coat Traditional Medicinals Tea. Thankfully I had an amazing Mr. Bama to be my nurse, so we nixed the sickness before it became anything serious.  PS - how cute are the Trader Joe's tissue boxes below?  Almost makes me wish we had a TJ here, but not soo quick.

(source)

- In some excitement, TD has had some A-MA-ZING new silk dresses come in recently. They are part of the designer/ store owner, Candice Gwinn's, new "Candice Gwinn - New Orleans Collection" label.   Truly drool worthy, and here are just my fave of the new collection:

Rosalind Dress in Dragonfly/Black

Joan Studs Dress in Black. 
Badass and Flirty all in one dress

Sadie Dress in Dragonfly
Art Deco Beading!? Oh love.

You can see the entire Trashy Diva Silk Holiday Collection here.  Also, a new store blog has been started, so make sure to follow the updates of so many of the new company developments at http://trashydivaclothing.wordpress.com/.  Who knows, maybe you'll see yours truly making an appearance?

- Decorations abound in the Bama household.  After last year where we were moving during the holidays and had no time to get a tree, nonetheless actually decorate, we went all out this year! We went and found a great pre-lit, artificial tree - with all of the Bear hair in the house, the last thing I need to do is add pine needles to the mix.

Mr. Bama putting the "star" (really its a snowflake) on the tree

all glittery and pretty

Somes is rightfully very pleased with himself

TaDA!

Bear approves of the new tree.  That is, until he
tries to eat it or he pulls it over onto himself

So now its crunch time, between getting Christmas cards out for myself and clients and surviving the madness that surrounds getting everyone's gifts and then shipping them.  So let the races begin and be sure to take some time to step back and observe the magic of the season.