28/8/2011 - Krewe of OAK

We're all aware that I headed off to New Orleans with Shannon last night. Actually, it was Shannon, her husband Chris, and their friend Andrea and Walter. I met Andrea and Walter last weekend (remember the Elvis saga?) and they're real good people. Everyone I've met here is really nice.

Shannon picked me up at 3, then we went to get Andrea. Andrea let me have a look at the dresses she had, and I picked out a gorgeous gold one to try on and possibly wear that night. She also bought a bag of goodies to decorate ourselves with - so awesome! Then we went back to Shannon's so we could choose dresses and get ready. I tried on the gold one and it was a bit short - but no fear, Andrea suggested some ruffly green shorts underneath and they worked perfectly! By now you're all thinking "Gold dress, green shorts with ruffles, Geri, what the hell?" but we were of course dressing up for the parade! Before we went to the actual parade, we went for dinner at a place called Luizza's which was lovely, if a bit chilly, and I had a really tasty crawfish pasta!

And to give you some information...

The Krewe of OAK describes itself as "More secretive that the Masonic hierarchy, more powerful than the Bilderbergers" and they hold a mid-summer Mardi Gras in August held in the Carollton neighbourhood. The difference is that the floats are made over golf carts and it's very inclusive - get involved! The parade route starts and ends at the Maple Leaf bar and proceeds down Oak Street, maybe this is where the name came from? Although members day that OAK stands for Outrageous and Kinky, and you could definitely see that in the costumes yesterday! There were brass bands and dance troupes and all kinds of people. We had so much fun, dancing around and generally having a lot of fun!

Also last night Andrea said I could go over to her place and play her parents grand piano - you guys have no idea how excited I am about this! I haven't played the piano since I was in Boone, and I miss it, and it's a real piano and I'm totally psyched! I don't know if I've mentioned before that Shannon is a school teacher, well I happened to be talking about netball last night and found out that they don't have netball here in America. So guess who is going to go teach netball to kids on Tuesday? As part of the curriculum, kids here have to learn a sport that's not popular in North America, enter me! Shannon's got to get permission from her principal but that should've be a problem. It will be so fun, must refresh myself on the rules though, it's been a while. Maybe that JSLA will actually come in handy.... ha!