Happy Lombardi Gras!

A day that will go down in New Orleans History...

Mitch Landrieu was elected mayor!!!!



Oh, right...and the Saints won the Superbowl.....
Could the city be more fantastic right now?
I mean seriously!
It is so stellar to be a New Orleanian.

What a glorious, wonderful weekend.

Friday night I went and saw Footloose starring my lovely and talented friends: PJ, Angela, Abbey, Scott, Caroline, Dylan, Price, Kevin, Katie and Dwayne.
Frannie directed and choreo'd, and Nat True did the music.
It looked like so much fun to be in that show, despite the ridiculousness of the script.
Just pure fun. Which is always an enjoyable thing to watch.

Saturday was the first day of parades that I watched.
Just one little day time parade, but I got to watch it with Izzy and Dom and Cliff and Sam, and Lynnie who came all the way in town with baby Sam for his first Mardi Gras, and to watch the Superbowl!

Then I went to the Carousel Bar with my brother and family--worst decision of the weekend.
Too many people, and everyone just kind of abandoned me in the hotel.
Nice.

Finally, got home and just couldn't get to sleep.
Way too excited about the big game.
So I decided that watching ESPN till about 4 in the morning was the best thing to do with my time.
The best thing about all the Superbowl coverage was that all the documentaries that were being played were all narrated by JEFF GOLDBLUM.
I took that to be the ultimate good sign.

Woke up bright an early Sunday to head over to Commander's for Jazz brunch with the fam.
The whole place was decked to the nines in Saints gear.
Everyone dining was in black and gold and there was a three piece band walking around the Garden Room playing music.
Amazing.
The food was delicious.
I had a Honey Glazed Fruit Salad to start, Pecan Crusted Redfish with a corn bisque type of sauce, topped with crab meat, and Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.
And a bloody mary, and a few of these Whiskey Smash drinks (whiskey, mint and lemon juice.)
Yummy in my tummy.
My mom took one sip of it, grimaced and said, "I don't know how you can drink that, it tastes like straight booze."
Yup.
That's why I like it.

Towards the end of the meal, I was just sitting their soaking everything in, and my dad was like, "What's wrong with you, you're so quiet."
"I'm just thinking how very sad it must be to be from somewhere else. Thank christ I'll never know what that feels like."
And it is true.
On days like that, I can't imagine being from anywhere else.

Kristin happened to be working that day, so once I was done gorging myself, I joined her downstairs to wait for Alex to pick us up and head to the Quarter.
We got down there fairly easily and found a stellar parking spot on N. Rampart.
We happily walked through the madness over to Le Petit.

Such a grand set-up at the theatre.
They had the little theatre set up like the movies with the big screen pulled down, and the projector going.
We had a table of food set up house right and the keg and booze in the courtyard.

Everyone got there, bedazzled in their finest Black and Gold attire.
We got our drinks, took our seats and the madness began.

Off to a rough start we all decided that we had to switch seats.
So we all moved around trying to get the good mojo going.

At one point I was standing outside with AJ and Cliff and the Saints started driving down field...so I would let the boys go back inside.

To which Cliff says, "Natalie...sometimes it's really hard to be your friend."
And then AJ chimes in with, "Yeah...being friends with you is like cheering for a losing team...its really painful at first, but in the end, it's worth it."
"Meanest thing you've ever said to me, thanks AJ!"
**Big hug** "You know I love you."


Halftime.
We turn up the dance party music, drink and eat some more.
Get back into out newly found "good" seats.

OH MY GOD ONSIDES KICK.
I lost my mind.
We all went crazy.

The best part of this crowd was that we were all yelling and screaming as if we were inside the stadium.
Booing the other team....cheering loudly in support.
Every time we would cheer, and the Colts would not get a first down Lucas would just yell "WE DID THAT! THAT WAS US!"
Amazing.

The game just got better from there.
We were up.
Then the Colts scored.
Down by one.
Keith just starts clapping and saying, "We have a ball game ladies and gentlemen, WE HAVE A BALLGAME!"

Yeargain is sitting next to me the whole time.
A person more nervous than I when watching.
I love it.
He just keeps mumbling to himself "We haven't intercepted it once. We need to intercept it."
I respond, "We're due...don't worry, it's coming. We due for a Pick 6."





OH MY GOD TRACY PORTER INTERCEPTION FOR TOUCHDOWN!
OH MY GOD
OH MY GOD
OH MY GOD

Everyone goes out of control.
I'm just screaming at the top of my lungs.
I start crying.
We are all nuts.
Because at that beautiful moment we all realized.
We were gonna win the fuck SUPERBOWL!

We all start hugging, we throw open the side doors of the theatre and start yelling on the streets.
Then we all slowly start realizing that there are 2 minutes left in the game.
This is Peyton Manning.
Some shit could potentially go down.

Liam starts walking around with a bottle of vodka making us all take, "Get it together" shots.

We calm down, slightly.
We watch as Peyton drives down the field.
We watch as we hold them on third down.
We watch as they DON'T MAKE A TOUCHDOWN!

SAINTS WIN!
SAINTS WIN THE SUPERBOWL!
OH MY GOD THE SAINTS WIN THE SUPERBOWL!!!!

We all rush out into the streets.
The fireworks start going off(of course Kristin, AJ and I start singing WISHES!!)....people everywhere are pouring outside.
Yelling, cheering, high fiving, crying.
Beads are being thrown, champagne being sprayed everywhere.
Hugging and smooching abounds.
It's like you've been in love with someone your entire life, and finally, Sunday, they say "I love you" back.
THE BEST FEELING!

The rest of the night is a blur of black and gold.
Bourbon was amazing.
The drive home with Alex and Kristin....long and tedious.
But so worth it.

I curled up on my sofa and just watched ESPN till the wee hours of the morning.
Watching the post game interviews with Drew and Sean and all the other tremendous players.
I cried a lot.
Especially, since every other word out of their mouths was about how much this meant to the city because of Katrina...blah blah blah.
But, it does make me very happy to hear all the players saying how proud they are to play for the Saints, and how happy it makes them to play for the city.
It is all so awesome.

Monday.
Woke up.
Tried to talk.
My vocal chord scoffed at me.

My first two classes of school were canceled.
I had to go in at 3 for Acting class and Advanced Voice for the Actor.
Hurray for not being able to talk!
Both classes were, thankfully, cut very short.
Had to stay for Iguana rehearsal which was long, but awesome, because James Yeargain is now in the show.
And that just adds infinite amount of happiness and relief into my life.
I had so much fun blocking the first 20 pages...
So much loving up on James.
Going to be so awkward and fantastic.

And that's about it.
I'm at work, anxiously waiting to go to the celebratory parade in the CBD.

I'm going to make a sign that says MARRY ME, MARQUES.

I'll keep you posted on his response.