Beautiful Wednesday in LA!
I've spent more time in swamps and bayous this year than I have at the beach. Actually I haven't been to the beach at all this year until today! So today, the Ramoska and I went to Will Rogers beach (perfect early afternoon nap).
For lunch, we headed to Brentwood, a part of LA I've also missed since being in Louisiana. We had lunch at La Provence.
Afterward, we had dessert at Caffe Luxxe, my favorite cafe in LA. I had a Rwanda black coffee (naturally sweet with a hint of orange and very smooth), Ramoska had a caffe nico, and we both had Paulette macarons.
We're ending the day at Commissary, catching up on blogs.
(Follow me on Instagram! I didn't know you could do that now… haven't used it in forever. But I'm back on it, so check it out!)
There's no place like New Orleans elsewhere in the US. Spent a weekend in the central business district at The Roosevelt before I came back home to LA.
Bikes.
Canal St.
Marshmallow from Teddy's Cafe in The Roosevelt, made from scratch.
Pat O'Brien's, must-visit for hurricanes.
Cafe du Monde!
Pravda, communist bar.
Pool terrace at The Roosevelt.
Merchant, delicious cafe in the CBD.
Bourbon St.
Absinthe (check out the flames!).
It's been almost exactly a year ago since I last saw Adam and the rest of the Beastie Boys at the premiere of "
Hurray! I'm back home in LA! I've been in the other "LA" (Louisiana) since the beginning of 2012. It's fantastic to experience the new year at home and love what I see so far: warm weather, new stores and restaurants, and old and new friends.
On my last night in Monroe, Louisiana, I finally had dinner at 
I first ordered the BBQ gulf shrimp appetizer that had such a yummy rosemary and lemon taste.
Then for my entree, I got the Louisiana soft shell crab (soft shells in season!). Ohmygoodness, so so delicious! Here's how it is described on the menu: "tempura fried, cucumber kimchi, heirloom tomatoes, jalapeño and chili-lime butter". Yummm.... A++ for the cucumber kimchi around it that went so well with the savory crab.
After our meal, I snuck around for some last photos. This is the upstairs full bar.
Edison bulbs hanging in the Edison dining room.
Another cool room with hanging basket lamp shades, spool tables, and burlap chairs, where men like to hang around to drink and smoke cigars.
The downstairs dining area with another full bar.
Thank you, Cotton, for that delicious last meal in Monroe. I'd be sure to dine there again and try some more drinks if I'm ever in that part of Louisiana again!
Just had to share one of my favorite photos, a shot of cypress tree reflection in the clear bayou water.
It finally got me. By "it", I mean Nature, Outdoors. At one point I'm walking through a pretty solid mud field, then in my feet went. Result, see above. New balance sneakers that have been so loyal to me through work, gone. No matter, they had holes in them anyway because of how old they are.
Can barely see the N. That mud definitely ain't coming off. The mud here is like clay. It gets caked onto your shoes, skin, face, clothes, our equipment, everything. Thought at least I'd be getting a spa treatment at work, but someone said, "Mud may be good for you, but not southern mud." Another thing about the mud here: they come with mosquitoes.
Sooo, I finally went shoe shopping (which I loathe) at the Academy, which is like the sports section of Walmart supersized to be the actual size of a Walmart, or like a giant Big 5. But there's lotsa thermals, shoes, sports equipment, etc.
So hurray for my new New Balance shoes to replace my old New B's.
And to replace boots with something that would actually work well in mud, I got these realtree thinsulate waterproof boots in a boys youth size.
Ayiyi, I don't think I've ever been this far from home for this long. I've also never been so away from my blog (which is almost a year old!). But I'm still in Louisiana, since January 2nd, discovering and being in touch with not everyday things, like the outdoors. Like the above lizard, there seems to be a new camera cart buddy everyday. Most of them are unwanted mosquitos.
Something else I've been more in touch with is my redneck side. Okay, I don't have a redneck side at all. But I'm learning the lingo, the way of life, and the odd things they have like the redneck wine glasses (above).
We're in Ouachita county near the Ouachita river. But I learned it isn't pronounced "wa-CHEE-tah", but rather, "WAH-sheh-tah." So I look at signs like this one, and with my new southern mumbling tongue, I say, "Nashtoshes."
What else... clouds! I've never seen so many clouds every day. They're sparse, they're big, they can make the weather go from in the 50s to 80s in seconds, and they've got a weak bladder. One thing I learned here is that once it starts to sprinkle a little, you better run cause it all comes pouring down at once. Anyway, here are the audio guys from my work above on a dry night.
Every show brings a new crew, and every crew turns into a new family. I'm happy to have great people to work with as well as hang out with in my free time. A small town with not much open at night but bars and waffle houses makes us get together more often. Above photo was taken last weekend, our first weekend off in WEEKS. We celebrated.
It's not hard finding the dark pitch black parts of town. So it's very easy to find the stars. I love this slow-shutter photo I took of our audio guy and the Orion constellation.
Again, in touch with nature. We're seeing the seasons change, I'm waiting for alligators to come out of hibernation, and I'm hoping the cottonmouth snakes stay under. Duck hunting season is over. But it's good time for crawfish now!
I was asked last minute before the new year to come out to Louisiana. So I spent my last day in LA, new year morning, in Malibu to get one last taste of the beach (yes, that's a friend's dog in the sand, and yes, he liked it). Then early morning on January 2nd, I was off to Monroe, Louisiana.
Here's a cute cuddly kitty who wandered into our apartment on move-in day. Sorry we couldn't keep you, buddy.
The weather changes a lot, and on this day, it was very warm out (lucky for us we were outdoors). Got bit by a lot of mosquitos, then this butterfly came by to say hello on our camera cart.
Monroe is in the northeast part of the state, an hour from Shreveport. There's a large paper mill here, so the air and our water all smells like wet paper. But the town is beautiful with the cypress trees and bayous and lots of land all around.
