New Orleans

I spent the last part of last week in New Orleans for work. I had a hearing on Friday, so I went down on Thursday to meet with my witnesses. The people I met with were really nice, and they took me to lunch both days. On Friday, we went to Landry's, which is right on the lake - the place you see in all the pictures of where the boats were all strewn over the roads. They also gave me a driving tour of the city. I loved all the details on the houses, some of them looked like gingerbread houses. Aside from that, you could still see remnants of the hurricane - still lots of houses that had the spray painted death numbers on them, lots of empty lots, lots of damaged buildings.

On Thursday night, two of my friends who live in Gonzales, Louisiana drove down to meet me for dinner. Sarah and Lisa each have a daughter the same age as Jillian, and we've known each other since we were pregnant together. We had a great time, and I can't wait to meet up with them again next time I'm in New Orleans.

Oh, and I was surprised by the accents there. I guess I hadn't really ever thought about it, but I was surprised that the people there had such strong accents! Some of them were hard to understand, but they laughed at me for "not" having an accent.

At home, Rick did good with the kids. No blood, everyone made it to school and work, and presumably they all ate at reasonable times. So it was a success. I'm thinking I should go out of town for a girls trip or something, since Rick handled it so well!