November Wrap Up

November was a fabulous month! I was able to visit New Orleans and Seattle to see some of my very best friends. My energy has been renewed and I'm excited for the holidays. December will bring Sarah, Jed, Chris and Derek back to Salt Lake and I am really looking forward to seeing everyone in the same place. Things I love about December: making caramel popcorn, writing Christmas cards, finding the perfect present, drinking hot cider on Christmas Eve, walking in the snow, lots of family time and Christmas music on repeat. 

Top 5 days in November: 4, 13, 15, 27, 29

Top 5 Things that Must Go:

1. Negativity 

2. Dead computer batteries

3. Leftover Halloween candy 

4. Max Hall

5. Port O Call

Top 5 Things That Make Me Smile:

1. Amy 

2. Pecan pie

3. Seattle mist

4. Ciroc on the rocks

5. Reading the words "President-Elect Obama"

Top 5 Songs

1. Move On Up: Curtis Mayfield

I hadn't heard this song in forever and then Amy played it for me on the jukebox at Henry's. I love me some Curtis Mayfield! This song will make you dance, guaranteed.

2. Green Light: John Legend

I've been a huge John Legend fan since his first album came out a few years ago. Once again, Amy played this for me in New Orleans and I was hooked. Plus it doesn't hurt that he's HOT.

3. Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It): Beyonce

How can you not dance to this song?? 

4. Beast of Burden: Rolling Stones

One of my favorite songs ever!

5. Papa Was a Rolling Stone: The Temptations

I heard this song in a bar in Seattle and I was once again reminded of the genius of The Temptations.  

Giving Thanks

Gratitude (grat-i-tood)
–noun
the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful

Today is Thanksgiving! It's always been one of my favorite holidays. And not just for the obvious reasons like massive amounts of food, days off from work, pie or square dancing. Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season: a time for generosity, introspection and resolutions. 

What are you thankful for? Take the time to think about that. Let people know you are thankful for them and truly appreciate them. No matter how, where or with whom you celebrate it, value the holiday and what it represents. Everyone has something and someone to be grateful for. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Top 5 Things for Which I Am Grateful

1. Family-My family is not just a bunch of people to whom I am biologically linked. I consider many people in my family to also be my best friends. Cousins are more like brothers, sisters are non-judgmental confidants and my mom is indispensable. 

2. My country-Our nation just elected a young, smart, hope inspiring man that is going to change this world for the better and that makes me happy. 

3. Health-Ok, so I had my tonsils out and I was sick more times this year than I care to count. However, I'm actually pretty healthy considering the way I treat my body. I need to work on that.

4. Friends-Past, present and future. I have some of the best friends in the entire world! Sometimes I get lonely because so many of my friends live far away. Luckily, they are only a phone call away. 

5. My Job-I get to go to work and do something I love everyday: helping people, giving back, working towards the greater good. Yes, some days are difficult. I deal with people in crisis on a daily basis and that can be emotionally taxing. But ultimately it's extremely rewarding and I learn so about what is really important in life. 

Weekend Update

It's been awhile since I've done a weekend update; I feel so behind on life sometimes. This weekend was pretty fun, but not out of control. I had a cold and I was in a bad mood so I didn't really do much all week. But I was ready to go out on Friday night, just to see people. We started at one on my favorite restaurants, Mi La Cai, for some Vietnamese food. It was delicious, as always. I was a little taken aback when the girl Jeff brought with him asked me what eggplant was. I tried not to act like she was stupid, but I'm not sure I was very convincing. I admit I sort of judged her at first. But as the night went on I found her to be quite interesting, baring the whole eggplant thing. 

After dinner we decided to go bowling at Bonwood Lanes. This place is rough. I think at least half of the convicts from the Utah State Prison hang out there after being released. It was good people watching, for sure. Bill was in charge of entering our names for the games. I'll give you one guess for the name he picked for me. Thanks for that, Bill. It's #2 for those of you who aren't familiar with Peppa or her hands.  

Les, Sonny, Bill, Mabe

Sonny, Bill, Jeff

Jeff was hopeful, but not lucky

Mabe and Lesley

Jeff's huge ride; every time I get out I risk death from falling ten feet

Jeff and Bill became very close

Saturday was the Utah/BYU game. The Utes have been playing well and a perfect season was hanging in the balance. Turned out to be a pretty good game. I really, really hate BYU and I was glad to see Max Hall throw 5 interceptions. Looks like the Utes were living right. So much for BYU's pathetic Quest for Perfection. When the Utah score got to be 40 my mom decided to bust out this Olde English 40 she had stashed in the fridge. Paige and Damien had given it to her as a joke, I was surprised she drank it. Here she is polishing it off. Final score: 48-24. Go Utes!


After the game Monty and I met some people at Port O Call. I f-ing hate that place. I hadn't been there in awhile and I decided to give it another chance. Bad idea. It is full of the creepiest guys and the bartenders are a-holes. I didn't even take any pictures, that's how bad it was. 

Sunday was pretty low key. I started out the day by visiting my sister, Mercedes, at Odyssey House with my dad and Scarlett. Mercedes is doing well and she graduates from drug court in January. She's making progress with her treatment and will probably be at Odyssey House until early Spring. Here's my niece, Scarlett!

Song of the day on repeat: So Here We Are, Bloc Party

Miss Jess'ca, can I please buy you a bee-uh?

I have been trying to write this blog for 3 days and it has proved difficult. I've been a strange mood since I got back from New Orleans. If you think I was being weird with you this week at some point, I probably was. Sorry about that. My emotions are all over the place. One minute I'm feeling happy, the next I'm angry and pushing people away.

Not really sure what triggered all of this. Could be the pile of old letters I accidentally stumbled upon, could be the binge drinking in NOLA, could be the string of bad decisions I've made recently, could be the winter darkness, could be all of the starving people in Haiti, could be the fact that I haven't spoken to one of my best friends for 2 months, could be the insomnia, could be the Jeff Buckley song on repeat. Who knows. Luckily, I seem to be climbing out of this emotional hole I have dug for myself so hopefully tomorrow will be better. Jeddy, ever the sage, said earlier this week, "Happy endings are stories that haven't finished yet." I'm not sure if that's supposed to be optimistic or just plain sad, but it's something to think about.

I'm really here to write about my adventures in New Orleans, not complain about my sad life. All week, my readers (all 6 of them) have been asking me when my next blog will be published so here you go.

I arrived in NOLA on Thursday afternoon, just in time for rush hour traffic. Amy pulled up to the curb in the Subaru and promptly popped in a little Snoop Dogg for old time's sake. Amy and I do two things well: eat and drink. First stop after the airport was dinner at 13. There was some confusion since Amy told me it was called 7, but it really is 13. Anyway, we had some delicious tater tots and a couple of beers while we discussed Curtis Mayfield, the way one checks a state off his/her list, the awesome jukebox, how I should not make eye contact with people and how the service sucked. As we walked out the door, the drunk gentleman who was sitting next to us said, "Now that they're gone, let's eat the good stuff left on their plates."


I guess I should mention that Amy dropped her BlackBerry into the toilet the night before I arrived. Apparently a cockroach scared the bejesus out of her and down the shitter the Burry went. In order to dry it out she stuck it in a bag of rice for two days...it kind of worked.


We drove home so I could change my clothes and wash the airplane smell off me. Then we were off to try a blueberry mojito, which was delicious, but the bartender was an a-hole.




Next on to Amy's neighborhood bar, Henry's. Amy has been telling me all about the characters she hangs out with at Henry's and I felt like I already knew most of them. Everyone welcomed me with open arms and free drinks!

Steve, the moody owner

Darren, the hot bartender

Joe, the Fire Marshall

Amy and Joe happen to live across the street from Henry's so we decided to take the party to the porch. Mike and Mike II joined us.

The next morning we woke up bleary eyed and hungry. Fortunately, Amy had made reservations at the New Orleans culinary institution, Commander's Palace. Unfortunately, the reservations were at 12:30 and we were starving at 9:30 am. We kept ourselves occupied until 12 with Facebook, random e-mails, crackers and the Food Network.

Commander's Palace is fancy, but they have tacky decor. We were greeted by about 20 people on our way to the table and they had Miss Amy's info on file. She's an important New Orleans institution as well. Lunch is fun at the Palace because martinis are 25 cents all afternoon long! Let's just say we got our money's worth...best buzz I ever got off $1. The food was amazing too. I had turtle soup with extra sherry (yes, real turtle and it was quite tasty), shrimp, grits, bread pudding and chicory coffee. The bread pudding had this whiskey cream sauce that looked a lot like a certain bodily fluid. I ate it anyway.

We returned home full of food and feeling good for 3:30 on a Saturday afternoon. Amy turned on some music and took off her pants.

Where do you go in New Orleans when you're ready to dance? Why Henry's, of course. I was fortunate to meet even more local characters and get free beer. I should tell you that I had a hard time deciphering the New Orleans accent. I couldn't understand half of what anyone was saying to me. I did understand one word: beer. But in NOLA the boys say it like "bee-uh" and it's very cute.

Michael, the Silver Fox


Mike, Chuck, Random Guy


Timmy, the bartender who lives behind the bar; the building, not the actual bar


Anonymous Ashley


Lars from DC


Stacy from NC. She's not fond of Mormons or Prop 8, but she liked me and I liked her back.

I gave Amy some love

Amy and I were so tired from drinking in the afternoon we were in bed by midnight. Which is probably a good thing because Saturday turned out to be quite the experience.

Running a Marathon: NOLA style

Saturday started out in a leisurely manner. We were well rested and as usual, hungry. I'm a big fan of eating breakfast food and drinking alcohol simultaneously so we headed to Bywater BBQ for brunch. While I was sipping on one of the best bloody marys I'd ever had, I thought I saw Mike Ross from Henry's. And wouldn't you know it really was him and his out-of-town posse? We joined them for some more bloody marys, a few rounds of categories and a small Prop 8 protest. Turns out they were just starting on a historical pub crawl...27 bars, 7 miles. Amy and I weren't really sold on it, but we decided to make a few stops for fun. We ended up sticking around for about 14 hours and I'm sorry to tell you it wasn't very historical, but it was historic.

First up: Markey's Bar

On the road...people were already starting to crawl

The Friendly Bar. We had to be buzzed into this bar, ironically, not so friendly

Props to Stacy for taking pictures of the signs...I forgot

This place had the dirtiest bathroom in New Orleans and no toilet paper

I peed here

Hand Grenades in the French Quarter

This place was TINY

Pat O'Brien's for a Hurricane

At this point Amy and I were hungry again, so we hopped in a cab and made our way to Dick and Jenny's. This place is pretty famous and I have no idea how we got right in on a Saturday night. We sat down at the bar to eat some frog legs. Amy ordered us margaritas; I couldn't handle the tequila so she had mine. I vaguely remember eating some flounder and grits.

Next thing I knew, we were back at Henry's. Joe was there!

So was Mike Ross and part of his posse

This is Peppa at the end of the night, not looking so hot. No idea what my hair is doing.

We made it back across the street to Amy's house at some point. How I kept track of my phone, camera and purse all night I'll never know. When I woke up the next morning, I found I had erased all of my texts and phone calls. So I apologize if you received anything inappropriate, but I hope it made you smile, at least.

This is how Amy and I recover from a 14 hour pub crawl through the streets of New Orleans: we buy a whole damn Popeye's store and watch a little Entourage. I never get to eat Popeye's at home and I enjoyed it, throughly. I ate about 2 bites of all of the sides and all of the chicken skin, because really, that's the best part.

Sadly, my trip to New Orleans came to an end and I can't believe how quickly the weekend went by! My flights back home were hideously long and I didn't arrive at my house until 1:30 am. But I must say it was worth all the trouble to spend some much needed quality time with Amy!