Twenty-something living in Southern Louisiana - finally starting to feel at home somewhere I've lived my whole life. Rediscovering the Gulf Coast one {fried shrimp, stately plantation home, dirt road, familiar face, ice-cold beer, nonsensical road trip} at a time.
Although currently under construction, the Great Southern Adventure will serve as the ultimate southern to-do list - from mom and pop restaurants to bizarre roadside attractions, from regal hotels to once in a life time experiences - I'll check them off one by one and blog about them as I go!
Although I cringe at the thought of this making me one of those Indie Trendy Kids and the realization that the following conjures up some ridiculous imagery, I'd liken my past few days to a Louisiana-eque Where the Wild Things Are....
Now, I caught the movie the weekend it came out, and while I liked it just fine, I wouldn't swear to you that it was life changing. BUT I will say that the cinematography was breathtaking. I'm a sucker for anything sun drenched.
On Thursday, as things settled down and family began to head out back home, we noticed that my daddy and Taunt (that would my aunt for all you non-French speaking folk) were missing from the group. They pedaled off down a trail a few hours before and no one had seen them since.
As other people searched around the park, I headed down Trail C or "Barred Owl Trek" as its called to see if they had stopped off somewhere on the trail, but 2 minutes past the wooden foot bridge and I was useless to the search party.
I firmly stand by the fact that I'm not a "nature girl" - snakes slithering about give me the ibee jeebies, mosquitos flying around make me look as though I have Tourette's, and honestly I don't know what Poison Sumac looks like so I avoid touching pretty much every leaf.
But as I jogged down the trail, my pace slowed down and I found myself in a standstill. I turned my face to the sky and found myself under a blanket of spidering tree limbs and an incredible kaleidoscope of fall colors. In the total silence of the woods, I found myself strangely at peace. I turned on my mental soundtrack as I tried to soak in every last detail of what was before me, and "All is Love" started up...
In a moment that can only be likened to that of a little kid, I began to pounce from tree stump to rock, singing aloud (and off key might I add), and snapping away on my iPhone.
I let my imagination run. I splayed my body across the cold damp ground as I let the sun shine on my face. I teetered as I tried to balance on the edge of the wooden bridge. I made up an Indian dance as I wore my feathered headband. I laughed aloud at the thought of someone coming up the trail and finding me in all my childish glory. I was ridiculous.
And I felt free.
I guess its one of those "have to be there" moments. And while I'm glad all you lovelies were not there to witness my 20 minutes of pure insanity, I'd love to share my some of my photos with y'all... (pssst... They're even better if you start of the video above as you look at 'em)
Yes. Thats an feathered Indian headband. They were "mandatory" in order to partake in our family's Thanksgiving celebration.
The last three are actually post woods-insanity. Lake Dauterive at Sunset.
If you've gone through this entire post wondering the fate of my daddy and Taunt, worry no more. They eventually made a winded return to Lodge after covering quite a bit of trails.
Also, if excessive amounts of trees, water, and sunlight make you want to puke until your insides fall out, I'd avoid Dixie Lust for the next few days. It's going to be teeming with photos from my new found love affair with the outdoors.
You might have noticed that I've been MIA since Wednesday... (if you hadn't noticed, I forgive you) I've been holed up at Lake Fausse Point with my family for the past few days - with very little cell phone/internet service.And while I had an amazzzzing time and I would have loved to stay for days and days, I'm officially back home and I cant wait to share my adventures with y'all. I hope every one of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm looking forward to catching up with each and every one of y'all.
Preface: This post is mainly for Lyla. She's been on vacation all week, and my lonely little heart misses her at work. This one is dedicated to her.
Backstory: Last month Lyla and I were at an "event" ( I won't say for what - That'll surely get me in trouble. Also, I won't even dare to use the word "party" - because that would imply an entirely different atmosphere.) Okay so we were at an "event" and there was a gentleman at this "event" - You could describe him as "mid-forties" and "straight laced."
He came by to inform us that he used to listen to country music but now he listens to that new fangled "pop music." He then went on to ask us if we had ever heard of the Black Eyed Peas, and if we knew their *new* song "Boom Boom Pow." LyLa & I shrugged and we're notified that it was his official jam - like roll down the windows and blast it sort of jam.
If you thought that was a jem of imagery, prepare yo'self.
Later in the evening, LyLa over hear these bits: ""Back in '88, I went to a bachelor party at the Dungeon in the French Quarter....," "...it was so crazy, we played whatever we wanted on the jukebox." "...you could even buy cigarettes from a machine inside the bar."
WHAAAA??! Party over in '88!
So as I was trolloping around the FQ on my little NOLA rendezvous, I stumbled upon the insanity that is NOLA's *greatest* party mecca, the Dungeon.
Please do not make me describe the crowd out front. It pains me too much.
I know you kids have been waiting for these for a while.
But before we continue on, let me point out a few things so you can skip over them if you make a comment. SKing and I apparently have a very limited number of poses - I'm going to say a max of 2. It may look like more, but trust me those photos are just us transitioning into pose un or pose deux. Also. I promise we were actually in NOLA - the French Quarter to be exact - for these. I'm aware that you can't actually see this but in the background of these there are actually drunks making asses of themselves, hoochie girls making out for attention, and some old guy thinking hes going to get some because hes wearing a von dutch hat circa 2003. Hello Dirty Coast! And thirdly and lastly, you're going to be all, "Dude Kora... did you really have to photoshop each of these into black and white submission?!" Yes. Yes I did. I had to shield your beautiful bloggy eyes from our "walking dead" corpse-like-faces... a result of our tranny makeup not being able to withstand the humidity of Bourbon.
And if you're wondering about the hunky Scottish boy in the photos, We may not know many poses, but we certianly do know how to make friends and keep it classy.
I know that I bombard you kids with an ongoing list of little things that make me smile, but this week I want to put that on hold and try out something a teensie bit different.
With Thanksgiving coming along this week, I could easily write a post about how I'm thankful for the majors - Family, Food, Shelter, etc etc etc. But those will get covered at Thursday's grace.
Here on the bloggity blog this week I'm going list all the little things that I'm thankful for.
As many as I can....
I am thankful for:
The fact that Katie Mae and I can e-mail rando stories about anything and we've only known each other a few months. Some days I just need to blab about boys or the mundane insanity that is life.
The fact that there arrrrre books on CSS coding. annnd that I actually understand what they're saying. This new layout wouldn't be here with out em'.
Having a car, and being able to go for long drives to absolutley nowhere.
I was in desperate need for a change. I went with a look that was bold, simple, and BIG. My last layout had me feeling congested and blah. So welcome to the latest look of Dixie Lust - something inspired by the fact that Crawfish Season is herrrrre (Sure they're still small and hard to peel right now, but they're here nonetheless).
And don't worry if you're not quite sure what the header above means.