Hoong-San's 30th Surprise Birthday

Yay! Another fun weekend back home in NJ/NYC.

On our way, we picked up some good ol' Italian food, meat ravioli and spaghetti bolognese, from our favorite Italian diner and then watched some tv in an otherwise empty house. Mom and Dad had gone on vacation and wouldn't be back until Sunday afternoon.

I had to get up super early on Saturday since I was finally going to officially change my last name to Tull. So the first step was changing the driver's license. The lines at the DMV are usually dreadful, so I aimed to get to the place by 7:15am, it being open at 8am. Well, getting there even earlier than I planned at around 7am, I ended up being the third person in line. Not too bad. And the only reason the other two people were there was that they thought it opened at 7am. (So, I overestimated the situation a bit.) I finally got my new license, with a screwed up signature since I forgot I had to sign it and hadn't practiced signing my new name.

I couldn't really function all that well, having woken up super early, so naturally, I fell asleep again.

Elmer had sent everyone very well-designed invitations, detailing the delicious 9-course menu and time we all had to be at the restaurant (called Megu located in Tribeca), which was 7:30pm. Brian and I drove into the city around 4pm and found parking in pretty much the best spot you could find, right in front of the restaurant. At Elmer's request, we had to bring in flower arrangements he set aside for us at home, so parking there made transporting them quite easy.

To pass time, Brian and I walk around Tribeca, Soho and the village. It was forecasted to rain, and luckily it was sunny and didn't end up raining at all. Lots of people out and about, enjoying the weather. I was determined to find a vintage Star Wars shirt to wear on Thursday for the release, but unfortunately just stumbled upon ones that weren't to my liking. Up by NYU, we hurried back down to Tribeca just after 7pm and arrived back at the restaurant around 7:30pm to find Teddy waiting for us.

Okay, so I was wearing my usual black jeans, all-stars, and a t-shirt, relying on Elmer's dress code approval of wear whatever you want. Outside the restaurant, there's a red carpet AND a velvet rope with a tall man dressed all in black standing out front. Hmm...I did bring nice shoes and a different top just in case, but I decided to side with comfort and stick with my all-stars, considering I may be doing a little bit of running around, and just change my top. The tall man didn't seemed bothered with my attire as I entered so, awesome, no need to change.

Amelia was next to show up, followed by David, Joanne and Gene (Congratulations! I never did say it that night.) It was 7:50pm at this point.

Elmer left me a message about 5 minutes earlier saying that they are on their way. Well, that's seven down with five more left to arrive. We all went to the private VIP Juraku Lounge Elmer had reserved and waited restlessly for the others to show up. By 8:10pm, Sunny, Darice, Emily, Sam and Kathy had arrived. Thank goodness Elmer and Hoong-San were running late. They didn't get there until around 8:30pm.

Here's Hoong-San's reaction on video:





Our dinner menu included:

- fresh edamame on branches (from which David, Elmer, Brian and I each removed and kept our own green ice cube...quite reminiscent of our wedding)

- Japanese Yuzu caesar salad
- spicy Zaru Tofu stew (one of my favorite dishes of the night...soooo good)
- Tatsuta-fried Chicken in a Jubako box (yum...KFC...)
- Bincho-tan charcoal grill skewers (all I have to say is tender Kobe beef...)
- silver cod Hosho Yaki in Yuan Miso with Shimeji mushrooms (memories of Nobu...but with yummy strange-looking mushrooms)
- Kalbi of Kobe beef grilled on a river stone (fun and interactive, cooked to your liking, with your very own lard, or as we would prefer, Lard Lite, for non-stick purposes)


- sushi (fresh wasabi grounded on shark skin, usually provided by the waiter, but having fascinated several of us, was a task we took upon ourselves...the waiter left us long before we noticed, abandoning the root and skin)


- Montagne de Fraises (with the added bonus of sparklers, provided a la myself)


The food was deee-licious, accompanied with a fruity drink called "Harmony" that David and Amelia both had as well. After dinner, we took a tour of the restaurant and admired the decor, including a great mirror illusion near the bathrooms and a kimono room.




Then we headed to a familiar place...BINY for karaoke...


Other friends of Hoong-San and Elmer joined us there as many impressed us with their vocal stylings. The hardcore ones turned out to be Jinny, Hoong-San and Gene. And out of nowhere near the end of the night, not having sung anything up to this point, Harry whips out a to-the-tee rendition of "Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi. Old school 80's dancing was provided by Teddy along with the comedic quirks of Fran.




There was an earlier debaucle of the originally reserved room not having the karaoke machine work, so we all had to squeeze into a smaller room. Because of that, I think, we were offered a round of free shots. Ten of us decided to go with the flow. But as the group dwindled and it got later and later, there were no shots to be seen. Good thing there was just enough of us still there when they finally brought them, just minutes before we left the place. Fruity jolly rancher shots.


One of the memorable moments that ended the night was when after Brian and I sang "What's My Age Again" and some random music continued to play in the background, Teddy did his own solo acappella version of "Somebody" by Depeche Mode. FAN-tastic. He and I seemed to be the only ones who knew all the words, and it was a good thing a mic wasn't near me.

It was around 3:30am when we all headed in our respective directions. On the way back to the car, we saw a tiny car get pulled over that I think had 7 or 8 passengers, with two in the front passenger seat. It was funny to see it happen, because since the car was so small, it was hard to miss that there were way too many people in it. Driving back, our shuffled mp3 CD entertained us with alternative power pop, swing and rap.

Happy 30th Birthday, Hoong-San!! Hope you enjoyed the night as much as we did!

The All-American Rejects visit Beantown

We just got back from the AAR's show at Axis in Boston. It was FANTASTIC! I wish they had more music out so that they could have performed longer. Their set was only 45 minutes long. Definitely too short, but every minute ROCKED. It was awesome...

We've been fans of their music since we first heard "Swing, Swing" on the radio in 2003. I even remember listening to their songs, mixed along with The Postal Service, while painting our blue room in our other apartment that summer. So I jumped at the opportunity to go see them in concert, finding out just two short days ago that they would be in town.

We had to wait in the will-call line as those with tickets moved quickly by us. Brian made the interesting observation that it seemed that the older fans ended up in the will-call line. Older meaning being around our ripe age of 28 or even just 21 since most of the fans were young teenage girls, wearing small t-shirts and glitter makeup. Okay, so many didn't have glitter makeup...Nevertheless, being on line, it was like I was in the middle of an eighth grade school trip. Parents were there just to buy tickets for their kids. It was really amusing how the doorman asked if anyone was buying for their kids, just so the parents didn't have to stand in line and could leave. He also came by and asked if there was anyone 21 and older that would be getting a drink inside...he must have given out 5 bracelets, including one for me and one for Brian, and we weren't even planning on drinking, getting it just to differentiate us from everyone else (we did end up sharing one small cup of beer). But in the end, it really doesn't matter that their target demo is young girls (all their merchandise on their web suggest it's so), as long as the music is worth listening to.

We got really dinky "Admit One" ticket stubs instead of nicely printed tickets. That really stunk. But I guess the overall size of the venue made up for it. It was so small that we couldn't figure out where to stand, in the pit or on the stairs, and eventually we tried our luck in the pit/dance floor (Axis is a club).

Hello Goodbye was one of the opening acts. I liked their songs, especially their last one which briefly fused into a dance techno song, singing "What is Love?" by Haddaway (that's the song for Chris Cattan and Will Ferrell's head shaking skit on SNL). Fu-un! The second band was Armor for Sleep and was a little too hardcore for my taste. They're from Jersey and reminded me of another band from back home that a couple of my high school classmates are in.

After Hello Goodbye was done, we debated whether to move to the stairs, 'cuz even though there were a lot of short people like me in the crowd, we didn't want to be squooshed, so we headed to the stairs. Plenty of room to dance and move around, and a big bonus for being able to reach the bathrooms easily. We stood right next to the roped-off section of the main control panel area and had an unobstructed view of the whole stage (I could see all the members of the band at once...unlike in the pit, where occasional tall people would block my view. I could barely see the drummer).

But enough of that, on to the good stuff...The All-American Rejects

They performed pretty much their entire first album, with the exception of one song, I think "Drive Away", and performed a new one off their upcoming new album called "Move Along". I had only previously seen a small fragment of one of their videos on VH1 or MTV, but it was a blast seeing them perform live. They were really kick ass, engaging the audience with such great stage presence and a flair of theatrics mixed in with some non-obligatory but amusing cuss words, shocking the girls standing near me. And of course, great vocals and music that lived up to and even surpassed our expectations. Plus, we were standing dead center stage in front of Tyson, the lead singer, and it seemed like he was always singing to us since we were pretty much at his eye level with no one in front of us. He pointed one time in our direction, and I told Brian that Tyson had pointed at him...

This video captures some of the experience, from fairly audible and visual to just plain chaos...sorry, that's because I couldn't stand still. Just had to rock along. You can hear my lame singing in the background, too. The mic on the camera isn't the best for environments like these, but maybe you'll recognize one of these songs: "Don't Leave Me" "Swing, Swing" and "Last Song"




"Last Song" was their, er, last song/encore. (I had to splice in "...this is the last song..." at the end since the video cut off at just the exact moment it shouldn't have.) It's one of my favorite songs on their album, and their performance was both amazing and heartbreaking, since we all knew it was their last song, and it DEFINITELY left you wanting more. Can't wait til their next visit around here...I even considered going to see them at Irving Plaza this Thursday (now I feel like I AM in eighth grade without posters all over my room), but it's sold out. Good for them.


Post show recap:
Okay, so I read online that the band sticks around after their shows, so what the heck, we're not in a rush. But what a mess...first the exit is jammed because a) the merchandise table is at top of the stairs near the exit, b) no one wants to move, and c) Tyson makes his appearance in the foyer near the exit. Brian went to get my things from coatcheck as I tried to wiggle my way into the madness. Shirts, ticket stubs, and even shoes were being used as autograph material.

Look how young they are...

Poor Tyson. He seemed a bit tired and overwhelmed. Turns out he didn't pick the best spot, so the giant mass of girls moved with every step that Tyson made, first from the foyer, to down the stairs, and then finally to the main dance floor area, where a line miraculously forms, thank goodness. I'm on that line, of course (yes, I'm one of those starstruck people, but how many times do you get to meet the band, the lead singer at that, without needing a backstage pass?). Brian stood on the wayside the entire time as I made my way closer, and thankfully joined me on the dance floor, where he could take the photo, and I didn't have to worry about someone else taking a bad photo.

It was a little ridiculous how many of those in line had to take self-portraits of themselves, so when I was up front, I decided to step up and help out. I'm a photographer for goodness sake.

That's a funky cool photo. Tyson is crazy wacky on stage but is totally down to earth as I finally made some decent banter with someone famous, instead of usually choking on my words and saying something stupid. Famous here, I guess, is relative, since you may not have heard of them, but they definitely rock the casbah.

New album out July 12. . .Tyson told me it's better than the first...can't wait!

p.s. flash back to September 2004 where we captured "Swing, Swing" in the background on our Dr. Sheehy video at around the :25 mark

Dad's Birthday in NYC

Another cool weekend back home in NYC/NJ.

Friday, April 22, 2005
After a "wonderful" bus ride from Boston, Brian and I met up with Elmer, Hoong-San and Mom for all you can eat sushi at Kinoko. Soooooo goooood! After all the times we've had sushi, this was the first time I've tried the hand rolls (We ended up ordering 18 of those, with Elmer leading with 5 - no surprise). Not bad. Like Brian said, it's like a sushi taco.



Filled to the gills, we headed back home to surprise my dad that we came to visit for the weekend and celebrate his birthday.

I had originally planned to finally change my name on my license, but Elmer told me I had to have "6 point-documentation" which wasn't on the website I saw, so the idea of getting up super early to get to the DMV was scrapped. I guess it was a good thing since the next day would be jam packed with activities.

Saturday, April 23, 2005
Woke up to a brunch of eggs benedict and panini - filled with one of my favorite spreads, Nutella - courtesy of Mom (it's so good to come back home for such yummy treats). After running a few errands and waiting for Elmer to wake up from a food coma, we headed to NYC to go to an exhibit. Elmer did take us on a small detour to another exhibit first - "Artists for Tsunami Relief" where photographers donated work for auction and the proceeds goes to AmeriCares. There were some really interesting images, and not so. Many of the pieces were sold, and those that weren't still had their bidding sheets. There was one that had a minimum bid of $12,000, and the highest bid listed was at $8,500. On a side note, I was really surprised at how many of the prints had dents in them. I would think they would be more careful.

We then went to the "Ashes and Snow" exhibit by Gregory Colbert. Beautiful, magical, serene, and breathtaking are just a few words to describe it. Go check it out if you can. It ends June 6th. http://www.ashesandsnow.org/

Then we headed to Chelsea Piers for some bowling action. Mind you, none of us bowled in quite some time, but we had a blast. Here are some highlights of the last couple frames.



We had to wait for our chance to bowl, so Elmer, Hoong-San, Brian and I went to the arcade to play some games, but right after we changed some money into tokens, our turn to bowl came up. So after bowling, we went to play our tokens. After we tried some driving and shooting games, Hoong-San wanted to give "Dance Revolution" a whirl...



FUN! Thank goodness there wasn't such a huge crowd, but I guess I wouldn't have noticed, since you try to concentrate so much during the game.

We walked over to Chelsea Market, passing a group of tango dancers smooshed in one small corner, and had some treats at Amy's Bread - quiche, cinnamon challah, brownie, almond brioche toast, and walnut twists. Not quite the protein-packed meal we could and probably should have gone for, because everyone was feeling a bit tired and sluggish soon after.

We went back home for a quick stopover to drop off some things and have a bathroom break, during which Hoong-San decided to take a very quick nap, kinda like a 3-minute nap. Because our next stop would also be a surprise for Dad, Mom decided to park a couple blocks from the theater. We were going to see "Crazy for You" by at the John Harms Theater in Englewood, a new favorite place for Dad. On our walk, we made a must-needed stop at Starbucks for a mocha frappaccino (it didn't help me for I ended up dozing a couple times). Everyone enjoyed the show, humming, singing, and whistling "I Got Rhythm" while exiting the theater.

Well, rain was forecasted for the day, and it finally arrived as we left the theater, so parking more than two blocks away didn't turn out to be a good idea. But Elmer stepped up and got the car while the rest of us waited inside. The Thai restaurant nearby closed at 11pm, and it was minutes before then when we all finally got in the car. So what to do for dinner...

Somehow we ended up back in NYC. I guess Elmer and Hoong-San felt there wasn't a good restaurant open late near home in Jersey. We made our way to the lower east side to Congee Village, where the food was filling and the price was right. We ended up having the House Special Chicken, Sauteed Filet Beef with Chinese Broccoli, Chinese Green with Garlic, Seafood Chow Fun Noodles, and Rice Congee with something called a "Century Egg". I must say that the egg tasted like liver, which doesn't rank very high on my food scale, so it threw me off a bit. Everything else was tasty but ended up being rather salty, so I gobbled up the relatively mild noodles. The Seattle/Sacramento game was on a huge screen near our table, and we hung around after dinner and watched the last couple minutes of the game (actually, Mom had been watching the whole time, occasionally making noises throughout dinner, rooting for the SuperSonics). They ended up winning 87-82, quite to the dismay of some of the staff at the restaurant who ended up watching the last 30 seconds of the game.

We did plan to go on to karaoke, but well, it was pretty late, everyone was tired (almost everyone...), and Dad was still recovering from a cold, so we decided it was best to go back home.

Sunday, April 24, 2005
Sometime during our drive back home, we must have run over something, because the car ended up having a flat tire. Thank goodness it didn't cause problems the night before while it was raining late at night. What a nightmare that would have been. We found out as we drove to church, as Elmer noticed an unfamiliar sound as he drove half a block.

We had our traditional dim sum lunch at Silver Pond and finished with a chocolate mousse-filled cake at home.


Brian and I gave Dad the "Finding Neverland" DVD (what a lovely movie), an Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong CD singing Gershwin (what a coincidence "Crazy for You" was Gershwin!), and a framed photo of this:

(from Mom's birthday...see August 2004)

Brian and I then headed back to into NYC to catch a bus, which luckily left a half hour later than we thought since the A train was making ALL the local stops due to construction.

p.s. HS - "third nut" =D lol

Mom's Surprise Birthday in Philly

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Happy St. Patty's Day

While waiting for Brian to come home, I actually looked up the holiday, never quite knowing why it was so. Kelts, barbarians, going to battle nude, conversion, pilgrimage...definitely made for an interesting read.

Dressing in our "finest" green attire, we headed down to Clery's where we meet up with Jim, Beth and Eric. Originally, we were supposed to meet up at 5pm to beat standing in line, but leaving later than expected, we got there with a long line already formed. It wasn't too bad except for the fact that we all pretty much had something to drink already, making it difficult to fight any urge to hit the bathrooms, as Eric and Beth can testify.

Cover charges just plain suck, but the place was nice as it has two levels. We went downstairs to find it pretty much empty and with a section just waiting for us to take. Surprisingly, it stayed relatively spacious for a while, and we heard the fire marshall came by and almost shut the place down due to being over capacity. Huh. I think we figured it had to do with the sit-down dining area on the upper level influencing the capacity number. Anyways, Guy got stuck outside for a good hour or so because of it.

Minor hurdles aside, it was a good night.



the Fightin' Irish


gangsta' Irish




Mardi Gras beads DO come in handy after Mardi Gras...just to add that little somethin somethin



I look so weird in this photo...had to add it


What do you think...is Eric tall or what?


After a few hours, Brian and I had to get some sustenance, and the food there was de-licious, greasy, but yummy. The downstairs turned into a club, and we hit the dance floor...
"If I were a rich girl, nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nah..." "...Let's get [it started] in here..." Fu-un!

We all kind of separated at this point, with most of the gang still sticking around while Brian and I left sometime past midnight. The T was packed with green folks who were luckily not operating any machinery.

On that note, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Thursday night at Thirsty Scholar

It's been a long time since the Mazur group had a Thursday night outing...

After talking with Sandra about photographing her wedding, I went over to the Thirsty Scholar where Brian and the usual suspects were gathered. It was the first time we saw Therese in a while, and she was showing a good size bump. Most of the women had gone to a conference where Larry Summers gave a speech, this time not provoking any one group. Jessica and I had a funny conversation about movies, where she listed a lot of "new" movies she wanted to go see. I say "new" because, well, Brian and I had already seen most of them, probably the weekend they came out which spills over from last year, such as "Million Dollar Baby" and "Closer". Later on in the evening, there was an enlightening conversation about certain types of parties, but I won't get into it right now...

It was an unusually tame Thursday night outting, which was a good thing.

Oscar Night - February 27, 2005

By this time each year, we manage to see most of the films nominated in the big categories, but we regret that we never did get a chance to see Ray before the show. We will see it eventually. We also missed an opportunity to watch some of the nominees of the Documentary Short category last week, but in a few weeks from now, we'll get a chance to see seven of the ten nominated Short Films, both Animated and Live Action - just can't wait! (although it would have been nice to see them before the Oscars)

In our annual quest to predict the most winners, this year we added a little spice by joining an online contest through Oscar.com, hoping to win an entertainment system, even with the HDTV we already own.

But alas, out of 24 categories these are the results:

Ruby - 18 correct
Brian - 13 correct

So, there's no chance of us winning. Last time I checked, someone had 21 correct. Que sera sera...

Chris Rock was so brutally comedic in the opening, it was hard not to cringe...but it made for great entertainment. And what changes they made to the show!? They could consider starting it earlier, like 7:30pm EST if they're so worried about the length. Having to go up on stage and seeing the film community give you recognition is such a once in a lifetime chance, it's such a shame that some of the categories didn't get to experience it.

On a lighter note, we wanted to give a special thanks to cousin Eric for thinking of us and sending us our own supply of Oscar cookies for the show...YUM YUM!

Poker Night at Birge's

It's been a while since I've played poker with people in person, you know, as opposed to the online gigs. Last night, the players included: Birge, Eric, Hobe (sp?), Chris, hubby Brian, and myself. The buy-in is rather reasonable, so if you lose everything, coming back into the game isn't difficult, as long as you remember to save some money for the cab ride home.

Some of the plays were outrageous, and Brian was usually involved in them. For one of them, Brian had pocket 8's and had three of a kind on the flop. Eric had a straight on the flop and went all in. Brian called. Well, it didn't look too good for Brian, but whaddaya know, the 8 showed up on the turn. It was a riot. One of the luckiest draws ever and everyone was flipping out...especially Eric. He ended up buying in three times.

Usually everyone plays really tight, resulting in a level of tension in the air. Gosh, the first time I played, I was so nerve-racked, I could barely stop shaking whenever I moved my chips or dealt. But as according to Brian, we were playing Hobe's School of Poker, where Hobe consistently egged people to stay in, and Eric followed suit by consistently cracking jokes. I must say it was a rather fun night. It was hilarious watching the others try to have a poker face or lack of one, playing with chips like how you see on the WPT, and just trying to stare each other down.

I didn't have too many memorable moments since I was handed a string of really bad hands, like 8-4 unsuited, 2-7 unsuited or a jack with a really low kicker. But oh, when you're waiting for one of two cards on the river, and it turns up...such a good feeling. I was head to head with Brian with an outside straight on the flop, praying for a king or an eight to show on the turn or the river, and yes!, a king showed up on the river. Brian called each of my raises so that made it sweeter. He ended up having just a pair.

Brian wound up having the biggest chip count, almost accounting for two of Eric's buy-ins, and I did manage to finish with 20% more than I started, so it was cool in the gang.

Oh, and by the way, the buy-in was five dollars.

Happy Valentine's 2005

Oh Valentine's Day...

we never usually go all out for this capitalistic holiday, but this time it was especially nice, compared to our usual standards, and the fact that it's our first as a married couple.

After surprising Brian with M&M wishes in the morning, and him returning the favor after he left, I decided to make dinner for us before heading out to the movies. On the menu was baked ziti, and mind you, I never made baked ziti before. And from my experiences with making dinner, it seems that I always start prepping fifteen minutes later than I should have (ie. cooking time runs past 8pm which is always a tizzy when it comes to watching our weekly shows...Lost, The O.C....). This night would be no different unfortunately; the water took forever to boil and therefore, delayed the pasta making.

Well, everything turned out okay, although I'm going to have to get my hands on a making some marinara sauce from scratch and to use sliced not shredded mozzarella, and more of it. Brian's getting home fifteen minutes before the dish was done meant I was still on par with my cooking.

So after a good but rather short dinner, we raced off to the theater to watch "wuv...trew wuv"

The Princess Bride

What a fun experience! Of course, practically everyone in the theater had seen it already, with the exception of a handful of people who meekly raised their hands when asked if anyone hadn't. Brian and I hadn't seen the movie in the theater when it first came out, which made watching it on a large screen that much better. And along with many others who love the movie as well. Everyone laughed on cue, and we could occasionally hear people whispering the lines they knew. The credits were great to watch as the audience gave their props to their favorite actors. There were some random outbursts from a man with a very distinctive laugh that came from the middle of the audience...like at the point when Inigo is carrying Wesley and Fezzik is helping him walk on the wall in front of the castle gate after discussing their attack plan...you just see their silhouettes go off camera. I can see why the laughing man does indeed laugh at this point, but oh, is nothing sacred anymore.

So aside from the reel's old feel causing a consistent blurriness for a small part of the movie and the one major burp when the picture went black, it was a perfect movie to watch on Valentines. And one of the best things about it, is that it was free.

Elmer & Hoong-San get engaged!

Yay!

Elmer finally popped the big question on Tuesday evening. I knew the day would eventually come, and I am so happy it's now official.



Congratulations you two!!! You're MFEO! "...it's like a little clue."

Super Bowl in NOLA

What a fantastic idea Karl!

After dealing with lots of snow, we headed for sunnier and warmer days in NOLA to watch the Super Bowl with Karl and Tonya. Well, the weather wasn't that much warmer, but it was sunny for the days that mattered.

Our trip began on Wednesday, February 2nd and ended on Monday, February 7th. Wednesday ended up being a very long day, starting a half day of work early and then finishing up last minute packing before heading to the airport. Karl and Brian had an amusing conversation regarding hair dryers due to my need of bringing my own even though Tonya would most likely have one.

Anyway...

we got to their place Wed night (just missing the Krewe of Muses, a parade given by only women), greeted by their absolutely adorable "child" Barley and spent the night catching up and being amused with their DirectTV TiVo capabilities. But that wasn't enough for Brian, trying on several occasions throughout our stay to get Karl to purchase an HDTV before the SB ("where's the nearest Best Buy or Circuit City?"). Karl stood firmly with his decision to eventually buy one for next season.

Thursday's activities were filled with a tour of Karl & Tonya's neighborhood, stopping by some of Tonya's favorite shops, antique stores, and one of their local bars. We also visited a cemetary, and the weather added to the ambience by being overcast and cool. I'm glad to say that the Garden District is nothing like the French Quarter, which Brian and I have visited three times already without leaving the area...granted two of those time were during Mardi Gras...which of course was happening this same weekend and ending on the Tuesday after we depart.

For dinner, we got our hands dirty cleaning both lots of shrimp and crawfish with some spicy potatoes and corn added to the mix. Brian and I were also treated to our own crab, which I ended up taking forever to eat. Nothing like messy seafood and white wine to start the night off...actually some red as well.

Tonya had to work pretty early the next day, so she couldn't join us for the parade festivities that night. Karl packed a bunch of beers for us to enjoy while the parade passed by. Luckily he only lives a few blocks from St. Charles Street which is part of the parade route. More families out in the streets where we were as opposed to the crazy drunkeness of college students who most likely lined Canal Street near the French Quarter. Wearing Philadelphia Eagles beads and hats caught some attention, in a good way. No signs of Patriots fans around.

Since we just caught the end of the first parade and the second was surprisingly short, we headed to a couple bars: a small dive near their place watching some basketball and talking about none other than sports and the fate of the NHL, and the second one being where we ate some chicken fingers, drank beers and rum and coke and talked about some of our most embarrassing moments in a tiny corner on the upper floor. Hilariously good times.

So, okay. One full day outside the French Quarter.

Friday, we took a trolley to eat at one of K&T's recommended gumbo restaurants appropriately called the Gumbo Shop, located in none other than the FQ. Yes, we couldn't resist walking down Bourbon, passing one of our favorite old haunts - Krystal's, but eventually veering to off the beaten path. Crowded little place this restaurant was, but the food was scrumptous and the margaritas were smooth and perfect. We went to an outdoor market and strolled along near the waterfront before heading back to catch the parades that night. Of course, the city closed down certain streets ahead of time to clear the streets, and unfortunately we waited and waited before realizing the route we wanted had already been cut off. Luckily though, our escape route was just a couple blocks away as we waited with other locals, hoping the bus would come by soon.

I forgot to mention that the uptown parades are great since you get to go up real close to the floats and that in certain parts, there aren't many people. That night, we caught two parades, with the second being Le Krewe d'Etat, which had some of the best floats, of which we saw were mainly political figures and celebrities.



We didn't get to watch the end of that one since Tonya, Brian and I had to use a bathroom desperately. Lindsay, one of Tonya's bridesmaids lived near the route, and we ended up going to her place.



Saturday, February 5, 2005

We had such a great time the next day. After getting dressed in Eagles jerseys (#5 for Donovan McNabb and #81 for Terrell Owens) and a jump start with a tequila shot that I would later regret (K&T opted out), we took a bus down to the FQ for some bead-throwing action.

We had access to the Royal Sonesta Hotel balcony through K&T's company, and luckily the weather was beautiful and sunny. There was an open bar and some snacks to munch on, but we spent most of the time out on the balcony.



It's such a different dynamic being the ones throwing the beads. Everyone below is just begging for some, and you can choose to give them some or not. You can just pick people out of the crowd to throw to, even just to get people to stop flashing you, because believe you me, there are some people out there that should think twice about doing it. Actually, it's quite funny -people going crazy for some plastic beads. "Dance monkey dance!" kept going through my head, but having been in their place, I know what it's like. It's great to have both perspectives. If there was one thing for sure, any Eagles fan that passed by would get some beads, no doubt.


We brought a bag of beads we collected the nights before and some that K&T had leftover from previous years, but our supply quickly diminished. We were careful to keep the "money" beads for last, while giving away the "not-so money" beads. The "money" ones were more unique and usually had larger beads than the others. Once we were low on beads, one of the hosts gladly replenished our stash, almost as quickly as we refilled our cups.



But as much as we would have enjoyed staying there for a few more hours, we had to get ready to watch the big Krewe of Endymion parade that night, for which Karl's supervisor got bleacher tickets. We took the bus back to their place around 3:30pm to rest and have some snacks. I didn't feel so well, as the cups of beer flowed right through me, so I had to take a nap, among other things...

Not feeling a 100% yet, I joined the crew as a couple of K&T's friends showed up. (I'm so bad with names, I pretty much forgot everyone's that night.) We took a cooler filled with drinks and munchies and walked all the way to our bleacher seats located at Lee Circle. We didn't leave as early as we planned, so when we finally got there, it was pretty crowded. We ended up being on the top few rows. We nibbled on some yummy treats Tonya made as we waited for the parade to begin.

It wasn't the ideal place for catching beads, since most of the krewe members chose to not throw so hard to us (see the video). And since we were on bleachers, any extreme movement could mean our butts on the metal. So when there were the occasional fly-by's, everyone would try to grab for them, and my being rather enthusiastic, I lost my balance a couple times. Oops...
We also discovered that there were a couple of scavengers that picked up beads that fell through the cracks, kinda gross with all the garbage that falls and is thrown under the bleachers.





It ended up being a rather cold night, and unfortunately, on top of the normal wait time, the parade hit a little snag after just a few floats passed by. I wasn't drinking too much due to my "condition", but sipped on Coca-Cola during the duration, so bathroom breaks weren't in my near future. On the other hand, some of the guys had to use the porta potties conveniently located near and behind us. Oh the horror story of one of the potties...

let's just say that it was heaping.

I did manage to grab a couple beads as well as a whole bag that landed on the bleacher near me, but getting frustrated with my catches or lack thereof, I decided to make my way closer to the floats and luckily stood next to some rather expressive girls. I was satisfied with my loot soon after. We were planning to use our goodies for throwing off the balcony the next night.

It was a very long walk home for Brian and Karl who both had to relieve themselves. But unlike Karl, who found a solution on the way, Brian stuck it out all the way back. Too bad we walk much faster than those cowpokes and had to wait for them to open the door.



aaaah....

Sunday, February 6, 2005

We geared up for the big game, wearing pretty much what we wore the day before. Tonya made a delicious spread for us, including an on-the-fly version of a Philly cheesesteak and finger food to munch on as we watched. She also made a yummy cake which Brian decorated in pure Eagles-style. Tonya's quite the cook...



Oh, the details of the next couple hours don't need to be written...



but here's a 2-minute high to heartbreak video (with muted bleeps) of our emotional rollercoaster:

A cloud of frustration, anger and disbelief silently fell hard upon us. So in our state of sadness, we didn't make it out to Bourbon Street as planned, where Patriot fans would most likely have been out celebrating.

The following day, we all woke up late and K&T dropped us off at the airport for the journey back to Boston. On one of the legs, a woman wore an Eagles sweatshirt and was harassed by a Patriot fan, but she stood her ground and brushed him off. Good for her.

So the weekend ended on a sour note, but it was a great time nonetheless. At least it didn't begin the way it ended. We'll just have to look forward to next season...hopefully be then Karl, you'll be enjoying HDTV too.