Happy almost Fat Tuesday!! I’m a firm believer that one thing that needs to be on EVERYONE’S bucket list is a trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras at least once. Yes it can be a drunken hot mess with all the drinking in public and flashing skin that rarely sees sunlight in order to get pelted with beads…but as long as you prepare yourself for that, you’ll be fine!  In all honesty, Mardi Gras in New Orleans is completely what you make it.  As the child of a Mother from Louisiana, getting down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras was a bit of a pilgrimage for me.  This holiday was truly celebrated when I was growing up. We had a giant Mardi Gras wreath on our door, decorations all over our house, and my mother wore purple, green and gold (yes, all three colors) every Fat Tuesday.  When I finally felt that I was ready to make the trip down to Mardi Gras mecca, I did it full force but was fortunate to have two very different experiences.

So part one begins like this.  I arrived to New Orleans last year the Saturday before Fat Tuesday and stayed with a close friend of mine who is a medical student at Tulane until Monday.  We had so much fun because, contrary to popular belief, I’m not a huge party girl, especially when tourists are involved.  She stayed near Magazine street which is basically the Bourbon Street for locals. By that I mean awesome bars and jazz clubs, amazing food, cute shops and NO TOURISTS. I was in heaven. We were even near St. Charles Avenue so we could walk over and see parades and get hit in the face with bags of beads (this actually happened) if we cared to do so.  The best part was, I felt like I was getting the full Mardi Gras experience the way a true local would without fearing that some too drunk tourist would puke on me.

Anyway, I wanted to share some of my pictures of parades, crawfish boils, po-boys and Mardi Gras masks! In my next post, I’ll cover what happened Monday through Wednesday when my Mother joined me and went FULL ON TOURIST. It was…intense. Happy Lundi Gras y’all!

*Disclaimer…all these photos were taken with my Blackberry so they are kinda rough. The next pics will be better. Promise!*

Parade on St. Charles Avenue, waiting for beads

Mmmm shrimp po-boys for breakfast

Playing “slap the bag”…at 10am. Yep, that’s wine in a bag.

Patience. (read the sign)

CRAWFISH BOIL!!

mmmmmmmmm

Throwing down at the crawfish boil!

You know what they say, pinch the tail and suck the head! lol