Judecorp.

Haven't had a lot of time to update on the rest of our trip, which has really been beaucoup fun.

Some of the things we've done are: a "Haunted History" tour that we both really liked a lot, a quick casino trip to play some nickel slots in which Jen netted us $50, another trip to Cafe Du Monde for some more delicious beignets, and a teeny bit of souvenir shopping where I bought a ringer tee that says "I [heart] nerds".

Some of the places we've eaten are: Muriel's for a three-course prix fixe wonder, Red Fish for some yummy seafood, Petunia's for brunch this morning, Cafe Beignet for greasy breakfast yesterday, a stop at Haagen Dazs for ice cream, and a stop at a "to go" stand to get Jen a Hurricane.

We took a little walk on the mostly-closed Riverwalk which was really nice, and rode the streetcar again after a quick chat with hopemcg. We spent a little time sitting in the Place d'Armes as well and, of course, did a lot of walking. We took a little walk down Bourbon Street on Saturday night after a late dinner and it was pretty yucky - some drunk dude decided he would be "funny" and put his arms around us and laugh. I hate that crap. I also hate drunken yelling and idiot fratboy types. Not to mention the lingering smell of piss, sick, and garbage that we were inundated with early Sunday morning when we were trying to catch an early breakfast. Ew.

I'm much more enamoured of New Orleans after Day One. Outside of the looted sports stores near our hotel, all of the touristy stuff is mostly unchanged and open for business. It has actually been incredibly nice to have smaller numbers of people. I like crowds just fine, but I don't think I could handle the craziness of Mardi Gras.

( Fertility stuff: )

Got to spend the day with Cindy (ladyoracle) and Mike (goddamnelf). We walked around the French Market, got some lunch, and then headed to the zoo. We spent a good 4 hours there in the beautiful sunshine, getting a little color and enjoying the weather. It's always fun to see the local zoo exhibits - the whole Louisiana Swamp section was particularly interesting to me since I don't know anything about Louisiana!

After the zoo, we headed to Marigny to catch dinner at this great Thai place full of queers (yay!). Mike wanted to have a goodbye drink on the way out, so we stopped at the Crescent City Brew House where they had some beer/wine and I treated myself to a Coke full of cherry syrup (mmmm, sugar and caffiene - my first caffiene in months - BOING). We split a piece of cheesecake and called it an early night.

I got some sun today! That should be fun to bring back to work.

First impressions of New Orleans:

( Long! )

Hello from our sketch hotel in New Orleans with free wireless. Hey, it's a trade-off - sketchness or internet?

I think most of the people that are staying here with us are displaced folks who are living here. There was a letter at the front desk saying that they could only guarantee room service once a week. I'm not a paranoid person, really, but I think I'm going to hide the laptop somewhere. ;)

Good times!

The last day of work before vacation is always the worst. I have ZERO desire to be there and mucho desire to do productive things to get ready for the trip. Like sit on the porch and read LJ. It's supposed to be another amazing day here in the neighborhood, which is good for my spirits but also good for me wanting to skip visits and go to the beach. It is supposed to be 70° in Boston tomorrow - it had better be gorgeous in New Orleans or I will feel sorely cheated.

A couple of decent jobs have opened up here in town and part of me wants to apply for them just for the heck of it, and part of me knows it's a bad idea. Not only do we hope to move this summer and don't want to stay here at all, but switching jobs = switching insurance = possibly losing my infetility coverage. Not acceptable. So I suppose I'm married to my job for now. I'm sure it's better to stick to the Master Plan so I can get my 28 free CEUs and my bonus check and my extra 2 weeks vacation.

Being a responsible grown-up is super hard work!

We just booked a reasonably-priced trip to New Orleans for the end of the month. WHEE! Now I just need to get the time off from work.

I know we should be saving our tax return money for the babymaking endeavors, but hell, sometimes you just need to spend some money. Neither one of us has ever been to New Orleans, and with them trying to boost tourism after the hurricanes, the time is right! Yay! (Now we just need to figure out how to get to the airport around 5am. I always forget that the stupid T isn't running.)

Also, it's above freezing for the first time in, like, forever. How exciting!!