catching up...

it's been a busy past couple weeks. some of what i've been up to:

the art museum...

jazz fest. i got to see santana and the neville brothers...

& hanging out at the fly...

visitors!

last week, some amazing friends of mine from GFU came down to NOLA for a visit. we had a ton of fun adventures, and i loved being able to spend time with them. but i think our most eventful adventure was when my passenger side rear tire exploded on the longest bridge over water in the world! we had to drive 3 miles, with a police escort, of course, to the nearest pull off. luckily, there was a motorist assistance truck right behind the cop. thank goodness for people who know how to change tires, and do it for free! we even made a friend--Officer Kelly. Think the cops from superbad, and you'll basically understand him. like i said, it was the most eventful adventure of them all. :)what my poor, poor tire looked like

our new friend, officer kelly

we definitely qualified for this...

...because it was DEFINITELY an emergency

thanks girls, for visiting! i LOVED having you here, and can't wait for you to come back someday. don't stop believin'!

Birthday Adventures

so, this is a little late, but i just wanted to throw out a thank you to everyone who made my 20th birthday so special. it was an amazing day!

at the botanical garden...

a delicious fruit bouquet from my mama & poppa

surprise!

my cousin aaron came for a surprise visit this week. i took him to some of my favorite places. aaron, it was a fun few days and i'm glad you came! what a wonderful birthday present!

zoo day

Thursday, I got to take the Carlson boys to the zoo. I'd never been to it before, and let me tell you, it is awesome! My favorite area was the Louisiana Swamp.

Among other native animals, they host an albino alligator.

The swamp also hosts a "swamp monster", as well as some little black bears.

After a long day of walking around the zoo, we got to go on the carousel.

The boys and I visited a few more animals before we headed back home.

retreat

Over Easter weekend, the gang piled up in the big white van and headed to Mississippi for a community retreat. We stayed in a cabin at a state park.

It was nice to have some play time, and some time to just relax and be with each other.

During our time there, we found a turtle in the middle of the road. We pulled a rescue mission and saved him from potential liberation. Elvis (which is what we named him) was later released near the lake.

Easter morning the kids got to do an Easter egg hunt and we all got some time to reflect on the resurrection of the King.

cha cha cha changes...

so...a lot of you know about my original plans for life in New Orleans. Well, those have changed quite a bit in the last few weeks. Subbing was great, but turned out to be quite inconsistent, as well as a long commute. So I started looking for jobs closer to home...in the neighborhood even. Last week, I got hired at Starbucks. I know...how crazy to move all the way to New Orleans from Seattle and wind up working at Starbucks. But hey, it's a really great place. Great environment, great people, great coffee. What more could you ask from a job?

I'm also taking a short break from school. I'd planed on starting back up in March...which proved to be extremely stressful. Now I'm planning on going back in the fall, which opens up time to officially intern with Communitas-New Orleans. It's a lot of changes, but I'm actually loving it...finding things that really jazz me. Ah life. :)