New Orleans Metblogs » rayna

Sparkling City.

rayna — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:37:05 +0000

Could we be America’s most sparkling city? Yellow tail, the champion wine brand for Casella Wines out of Australia wants to find out. They commissioned a survey of 900 adults over the age of 21 to be conducted by Greenfield Online. They survey asked respondents to rate a cities “sparkling” attributes on a scale from 1 - 10. The majority of survey respondents said that what makes a city sparkle is “breathtaking scenery” (61%), “great night life” (53%) and unique food (48%). Guess what makes a city sparkle is relative to the person but whatever.
Anyway, New Orleans was chosen by 59 percent of Americans. Putting our fare city in the running for America’s Most Sparkling City. Also in the running are Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Martha’s Vineyard (um what? Is that a city I thought it was a vineyard), South Beach-Miami, New York, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Monica. How do we pick the top city out of these ten, you ask. Well now we all get to vote, between now and the 15th of June all of America can vote (once each day) for the city they find to be the “most sparkling.”
You might be thinking to yourself, what do I get if my city is in fact chosen as America’s Most Sparkling City. Well I will tell you. A Party! Now there is one thing that I have learned about New Orleans in my time here and that is NOLA loves a party usually we are more into the crawfish boil/ Abita beer party but a party’s a party. If New Orleans gets crowned as the Most Sparkling City in America Yellow Tail is going to throw a party in the city on July 3rd the details of which I, unfortunately do not know but I am sure it will be “sparkling”.

To vote for your favorite city just follow this link.

Danneel Park

rayna — Sun, 04 May 2008 19:26:40 +0000

The other day the baby and I went way up St. Charles to Danneel Park. We had passed by the park a few times before on our way to other locations but this time we made a special trip just to go to the park. Danneel Park is at the corner of St. Charles and Octavia Streets. There are three different “Jungle Jims” in the park as well as a fire engine and a slide that I had heard used to be part of a jump into a sand pit? Behind all the play sets along Octavia the park opens up into a grassy field for running and playing. For those geocachers in the audience there is a cache in the park as well. Some of the park is fenced in and some is not so you have to be careful since the street is very close. It seems once they start walking it only takes a second for them to reach the edge of the road.

It was great having a play set just for really little ones, the baby could climb up there all by himself all he needed was a spotter and that is of course one of a Parent’s many hats. We also spent a good bit of time “driving” the fire truck, see driving the fire engine While we were at the park four or five families came and went, it is definitely a park that gets used but even so it is clean and the equipment is in good repair.

On the way out of the park I stopped to read the wood sign and stone marker near the front fence. The sign stated the usual park rules and list of officials that sit in plush chairs in big offices and signed the papers to help keep this spot a park under NORD (New Orleans Recreation Department). The stone marker is carved with two names and a date, Hermann Danneel, his wife Maria Louisa Grace and 1906. This I could not let lie I needed the story so when I arrived home I did a little searching and this is what I found.
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Meetup Groups

rayna — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:02:21 +0000

Parents Unite! It sounds like I am rallying for a protest or something, I am not. When we moved here, Just after Katrina there were little to no services/groups for parents let alone anything really for kids. Hell there weren’t even schools yet, so anyway I was a little discouraged and after the baby came I was lonely. It happens to the best of us but NOLA is a big city I knew people were moving back (and still are) and I knew there had to be something out there. After much searching I have found a few playgroups that have been so helpful and fun for me. They have given me and the baby an opportunity to get out and meet new people. I have learned that the alone feeling is not just a depressed NOLA thing it is sort of a feeling you get after having a baby no matter what. There are new people joining our playgroup all the time. So if you are out there and you are a parent who is looking to get out and meet other parents and let the kids socialize and have fun then you should check out these area groups. I know there are a lot of other groups out there; you could even start your own group with friends or neighbors you just have to set the dates, get out of the house and actually do something. There are meet up groups for the three big areas of the city. The New Orleans group is geared more toward city dwellers most of the events are centered in the city, The Metairie group is a bigger group and that holds most of its events in the Metairie area, the Westbank group is centered on that bank and does most of it’s events in that area. There are more parent/child meetups close by too as well as other meet ups on the website for all kinds of other interests as well, check it out and get out and socialize.

Worst Tourist Trap

rayna — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:07:55 +0000

I opened my homepage today and saw that Bourbon Street made MSN’s World’s Worst Tourist Traps to be honest I question whether or not it is one of the worst in the whole WORLD but hey who am I to question after all I have not been everywhere in the world maybe it is one of the worst. Feel free to check it out for yourself right here

Restaurants with kids - VooDooBBQ

rayna — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:20:57 +0000

Since adding the baby to our little family we have been searching the city for a new type of restaurant. We used to be looking for a bar with food somewhere with drinks and a good menu or damn good drinks and an ok menu either way we were not concerned so much with the atmosphere. As long as we did not feel as though we might leave the place with blood spatters on our clothes (though that can make for one hell of a story) we were pretty much good to go. Now however things have changed just a bit. The places we frequent for food and drink must be kid friendly. They don’t have to be kid oriented like Chuck E. Cheese but they need to at the least allow children through the doors. They get double points if they actually have high chairs in stock.

Finding these places in a city known for its drunken debauchery can be a little challenging. Ok maybe debauchery is a little far but New Orleans certainly hasn’t been known for its kid friendly aspects. That being said I also find a lack of high chairs in restaurants. We live in the Marigny and sure there are actually quite a few restaurants that we can even walk to that will allow the baby inside but if they don’t have a high chair then it is a logistical challenge to enjoy a meal there. Anyone with kids will tell you it is a bit of a challenge to enjoy a meal in a restaurant with the little one(s) in tow under the best of circumstances so making in harder on me by frequenting non highchair venues is not top on my list of things to do.

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All Gone

rayna — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:34:17 +0000

The house next door to ours was burnt out way before we bought our house. It was ruled an arson as I understand and word on the street is the owner had something to do with that but I can’t say for sure. Anyway before we left on vacation a little while ago the house looked like this: before and when we returned it looked like this:After
FEMA were the ones who tore it down even though the damage done to the house had absolutely nothing to do with the hurricane. Should FEMA be doing stuff like this? Who knows. Now the owner of the property is trying to get a permit to put a modular Katrina cottage on the lot. The neighbors are fighting it simply because we all work really hard to keep up our houses and uphold the historical integrity of the area. I know I spend too much time inside with the baby not paying attention to rules and politics and such but I would rather have an empty lot than a modular home next door.

From my Window

rayna — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 03:51:50 +0000

The pavement is wet outside from the hard rain we had this morning. The sun is shining through the clouds now. Reflecting off the metal that makes up my gold mini cooper parked on the side of the road causing it to glisten. A bird with dark wings, white spots on his breast and a red feathered head flies down and lands on the electrical cords running from my house to the tall brown pole across the street. The little birds stays for only a minute then hops once, twice and flits off over the roof and out of sight. The few leaves left on the trees out front shake occasionally as a slight breeze moves through the barren branches. Every few minutes a car glides down the street in front of my house pulling to a stop at the sign near the end of the road. Two men walk by in the opposite direction of the cars on this one way street both in jeans bought to look baggy but fit at the waist. One had shaved all the troubles form his head but added a hoodie just in case he becomes self-conscious of his lack of hair and decides the Unibomber look is a better choice. The other fills out his look with a plane T-shirt and a small black pony tail. They walk on taking no notice of me watching them from my window. Another car goes by followed closely by a bicycle whose rider looks as though she is wearing a prized piece of the Derelict collection a la Zoolander. The sun is drying up the sidewalk even as I sit here. A ray of sunlight is being sent straight through my window by the new roof on the Saints Peter and Paul Church which is just a block away. I think it is time to move away from the window, take a rest on the couch and wait for the baby to wake from his afternoon nap.

Business License in NOLA

rayna — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 04:47:49 +0000

This is a bit of a rant about my attempts to become a business owner in New Orleans. Please excuse the grammer and such it is a bit of a run on. I am placing it under the cut to keep down on the clutter.
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Check Point Charlies Sunday

rayna — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 04:01:35 +0000

Ok so Saturday the thing to do of course Krewe De Vieux but tomorrow what is there to do? Friends of mine from Orlando, Florida are coming to town. I have known the lead singer/guitar player for years and am looking forward to them playing somewhere close by. They are playing at Check Point Charlies Sunday night at 10pm which should be a good show. We are getting a babysitter so we will be there, hope to see some of you.

Krewe De Vieux

rayna — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 02:48:24 +0000

So tonight the thing to do was Krewe De Vieux. I just realized that although I am using the past tense some of you may still be experiencing Krewe De Vieux so to all of you I say congrats for getting to stay out and party. The route went just two blocks from my house so we put the baby in the backpack carrier and walked down to watch the parade go by. The baby loved it and so did my husband and myself. It feels good to be raising a child that will have these kinds of traditions. This is my favorite parade it is the parade that the locals call the local parade. I love that everything is pulled by man or beast and I love that it is raunchy. Also, I have a belief that Vieux has the best bands out of all the Mardi Gras parades. It seemed short to me this year but maybe that was just me and not actually true. I hope everyone had fun/ is still having fun out there and I am looking forward to all the other parades we will get to go to this season.