Kiss My Gumbo

“Had the strangest dream that we were on a limo bus with tattooed, hairless cats and they were serving crappy vodka! Then I woke up with a killer headache……hmmm” ~My friend Jennifer on her Facebook wall this past Sunday~

I am so fortunate that: I met Ann Tuennerman (Mrs. Cocktail) when we had back to back radio shows (I’m off air now – sniff sniff), that Ann and I have become friends (and she is so awesome to my kids), that that my husband’s family reunion moved weekends, & that my anniversary falls around Tales of the Cocktail (TOTC). This was only my second time at the actual Tales of The Cocktail festival, but I’m happy to say I have attended many other events put on by Tales throughout the year. Every event touched by TOTC is put on with love, class and magic – seriously! With Ann at the helm, leading her crew of trusty “Cocktail Angels” and co-pilot husband Paul (Mr. Cocktail), everything is done first class all the way!!!

It is unfortunate we could not attend the entire week of events and the spirited dining event (dang life, work & kids) – maybe next year. Seriously, guests come from all over the United States – take that back – the world to attend this festival/educational spirit-based week. There are free sampling events all week long too – something for everybody! We met so many people: a group of women who meet once a year to do a “girl’s week,” couples from all over, alcohol distributors, bartenders and brand ambassadors, and journalists. I booked the Hotel Montleone early this year, to assure my spot. That is home base of Tales, so there was no doubt I wanted to be where the action was. Besides that, the Carousel Bar is my favorite bar in New Orleans (waving to Marv & Michael). My favorite part of Tales – is the people! LOVE the eclectic and energetic crowd!!! So here is a little summary….

Friday: After checking into our room, we were off for some revolutions at the Carousel Bar (wonder how many I completed – but I do know is it about 14:47 seconds to complete). We headed to an early dinner at K-Paul’s (not on the TOTC schedule – but yum) and then off to the USBG Milagro Tequila Margarita competition for 7:30 at the NOLA Board of Trade. 15 bartenders competed for the best Margarita while using the same tequila, Milagro. The venue was extravagant inside and out – simply beautiful with cascading cobalt blue curtains around the columns, outdoor seating in the courtyard was sprinkled with perfect lighting. Indoors did not disappoint either – just beautiful (there was even a movie playing on the ceiling). The alcohol… well….the welcome Margarita were very good. The theme was “spice” and many of the competitors went for super spicy. UGH! S not for me. The decent Margaritas and the the winners of people’s choice and the competition were not spicy. SOh ya – part of the fun is to try them all and score your favorite for the people’s choice. The music was great, the company was great, fun to meet people and see people I know and a good time was had by all. Sorry Milagro – just not loving the tequila.

Saturday: We woke up to enjoy complimentary Bloody Mary’s at the Carousel Bar. This was followed by a complimentary Kahlua coffee bar. Hubby and I played in the French Quarter, shopping and eating and I did some super silly Twitter hunt at the Hotel (ended up winning a free night’s stay). We then rode the carousel some more and we were off to The Sugar Mill for the World Cocktail Excursion with a group of friends. What a fantabulous event! The venue was divided into several countries & cities that you visited via curtain partitions. They each had furniture, their own style and furniture and unique drinks to try. We spent a lot of time in Mexico and then Holland with our fave drinks (at least Jen & I liked those the best – while the others in or group were more into the Bourbon and Whiskey types – blech) by Effen Vodka (so fun to say!) We also adored the bartender Trevor. (below is Jennifer and I with Trevor)

Ya – on to the mystery bus! So our party of 7 was pretty much well…we drank a little and only had light snacks there…and we were all feeling good. And there it was…outside the event, a bus offering us a ride back to the hotel. Sure – we all hopped on. There they were, 2 hairless kitties and we were being served drinks from Double Cross Vodka. And the kitties had brands of the alcohol logo on them. We drove around New Orleans, drank drinks served to us on the bis and somehow with a wink and a nod from the guy managing the party on the bus, ended up in front of our hotel with a bottle of vodka taking a picture with the awesome doorman! The night was then filled with Lucky Dogs, Old Absinthe House and the Sazerac Bar and some Carousel in there too. We had soooo much fun. How I woke up feeling fine the next day is still a mystery to me.
(below, Greg & Jacki with a hairless cat on the mystery bus. I have picture evidence so I know it happened)

Sunday: Hubby and I attended the breakfast put on by Mr. & Mrs. cocktail and it was fantab. Then, yours truly had to catch a flight to San Antonio. I ended up sitting next to a couple from Austin who are opening a bar and said they learned so much at Tales.

See you at Tales next year! Hubby and I will gladly celebrate another anniversary that way. See you at the Carousel Bar!

My posts about Tales from 2009 here

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Last night, I dragged a bunch of kids and met Sir JJ and Henry Cook at the National World War II Museum to watch the “Stage Door Idol.” They held a major audition and are down to 48 contestants. Last night they had 12 of those contestants compete for the finals and our favorite Museum employee, Emily Brauninger was competing. We all got a voting sheet when we entered. The whole event was very well done with a fabulous MC, a great piano and 3 judges. The 4th vote came from audience tally sheets. Now I told the kids they could vote for whoever they wanted, but they knew we were there to support Emily. They all thought she was the best and she ended up tying with one other awesome performer. While we were watching, we all dined on John Besh’s American Sector cuisine. I had my usual crab pies while the kids had their kid lunch boxes of kiddo food and banana’s foster milkshakes. Sir JJ and Henry dined on shrimp in a bowl and a cup. I encourage you to attend one of the future performances. Also, the museum also has their Sunday Swing Dancing series this summer. Congrats to our Emily who had some tough competition as professionals were in the mix & even a 91 year old WWII Vet singing “God Bless America.” She wowed the audience with her perfect era appearance singing “Sunny Side of the Street.”

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This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Greta

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This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Cindy

Wednesday Hero does not support this, or any other, candidate running for political office. It is only honoring his service.

Cpt. Steven Edward Pearce(Ret.)

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All I will say is this video says a lot….and is thought provoking!

Oil Spill Timeline from RightChange on Vimeo.

h/t Ryan

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Hi I’m Greta (you chime in with hi Greta now). I am a 42 year old, very athletic, live life with gusto, have more energy than the Energizer Bunny, healthy woman. Well…I feel fabulous… better than when I was 18 and people even tell me I look healthy (never turn down a compliment). But, the “Princess of Positive,” yours truly, is actually one giant walking allergy behind the healthy exterior! If I go 24 hours with Allegra…hives. Right now, I’ve got my asthma under control, but trust me, I have full stock in pharmaceuticals for those bad days. After having 3 sips of white wine for the very last time (sniff sniff) last night (I immediately felt ill and could tell that I was going to have a severe allergic reaction). I thought I would write a little blog post about my allergies. Who knows…. it might give hope and a positive outlook for those with or parents of children with severe allergies. Allergies (peanut & more) are certainly a bigger deal today then they were when I was kid.

You see, my health is nothing I ever really discuss. I don’t really talk about my list of allergies with people, I just live life to the fullest and deal with them. Well here goes….

ages 6 – 17 What can I say, but I was for the most part a miniature version of who I am now – busy & energetic. However, I was probably around 6 years old when going to an allergist because of rashes, hayfever etc… became part of my life. I took allergy shots early on and that pretty much went on and off until around age 26! My kooky allergist loved me because I got him in some journal for having extreme dust, mite, pollen, tree and grass allergies. So I took the shots, went through tons of pharmaceuticals, went to other allergists for second and third opinions and went through more “scratch tests” than I care to remember (itched for a week afterward). I got sick a lot as a kid and winters in MA were never easy for me. I remember having to stay in for recess because of bronchitis, pneumonia or some funky sickness. But my allergies never stopped me from being a wild and crazy kid. I’m just fortunate they let me graduate my senior year as I was sick more than the allowed days!

18-25 My wonderful college years. Let’s just say I had more fun than humanly possible and somehow squeaked out a couple of degrees. But my college was speckled with lots of illness…especially during exam times. I sometimes even ended up in the hospital and I lived on prednisone (I looked like a chipmunk most the time) and would visit the ER often with allergic reactions or sickness. I started going down the list of antibiotics and crossing them off. I developed allergies to: penicillins, cephalosporins, sulfa, tetracyclines,,,ya that pretty much sucked. So I decided no more antibiotics unless I was dead or close to it and someone would have to convince me I needed it to live. Clearly, I was given too many antibiotics early on). One doctor wanted me to be admitted for desensitization of antibiotics, but I refused. Figured new ones would be created before I needed them again (I was right). When I was 24, my parents insisted I go to a week of outpatient testing at National Jewish Hospital in Denver (I managed to do some skiing too) . After they identified everything that was a trigger and changed my medicines around, I swear I was a new woman! Got a new lease on a healthy life! Really never got sick much since that. Asthma and allergies were now under control with the newest and best combination of medicine (I took a bunch). I used to come in between periods of teaching PE and suck on a nebulizer.

My late 20s: Bring on the food allergies to everything I love! My 2 favorite things – raw oysters and red wine! UGH! Go ahead and break this Boston girl’s heart by adding in clams and scallops too! Now that a shellfish allergy is in full blow – iodine is also an issue. Then the worst allergy possible happened (I never thought anything could be worse than losing my red wine) I became allergic to LATEX!!! My son was in the hospital on and off for his first 3 years and I got itchy a lot. Then one day I had his catheter laying across my leg and BINGO – it was all swollen where the latex was. This made the hospitalizations a bit tricky as latex-free stuff was not readily available and cost-effective. Latex allergies were pretty new. We moved around and I was thrilled when one children’s hospital became latex-free because spina bifida children also had latex allergies. Every cleaning person would insist on coming in the room with latex gloves on and somehow touch me. I would break out instantly – insane. A party with balloons was now a huge ordeal. Then there was the fact that I was a PE teacher and Athletic trainer: athletic tape, rehab equipment, playground balls (you have no idea how much stuff has latex in it)! Now you understand why I am perfectly content working behind a computer.

My 30s I seem to get a grip on most things and just learned what to avoid. I had kids now and no time for sickness and actually became much healthier. Of course, there was a large learning curve to the latex allergy: some garden hoses, that rubber stopper in the sink, some of those gripper kitchen tools, the hammer handle, the rubber mats in my car, golf club grips…. and more. So I learned to avoid and that was the name of the game!

The last month: Dang sunscreen landed me with a week of hives and prednisone. No more PABA for this camper. And of course, the culprit that lead me to this post…white wine!!!

You see folks…I’m just fine! I no longer see an allergist or a pulmonologist, watch what I eat & touch, take my medicine, exercise, eat right, drink enough coffee in the mornings, enough alcohol on the weekends and life is good! Just don’t expect me to look all cheerful when you decorate the party with balloons…I’ll be the one hanging on the patio! Ya, I need a new medic alert bracelet and I need to reload benadryl in my purse and check the expiration of my epi-pen (I am such a slacker)…but I forget most days that I have any allergies at all! PLEASE…all I ask is do not make me allergic to bananas (it is a common crossover latex allergy).

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This Weeks Post Was Suggested & Written By Mary Ann

Corporal Rodolfo P. Hernandez
Company G, 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team

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No humor with this one folks.

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Rehabbing with the Troops: Wounded Warrior Arena is one of the coolest new innovative programs I have seen in a while. Wounded warriors take a 10 week rehabilitation challenge with professional athletes via technology. Our own boys, the New Orleans Saints are working with this project and I did not want it to go unnoticed. Please give this project the support you can any way possible, even if just joining the Facebook page!

Facebook
Website (where each warrior’s bio, Twitter & FB account can be found)
Press release
Twitter

Best of luck to all those heroes involved! A little birdy told me some will be in town for a Saints game too!

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