New Orleans

Have you been to New Orleans? It is one of my most favorite places in the United States if not the world. I have been a lot of places and no place is quite like New Orleans. It is dirty, sexy, sultry, charming, magical and enticing city. I could go on  and on with these adjectives. It has history like no other place in the United States and almost feels like a foreign city. It has a dialect of its own making and a array of food that you could never anywhere else get in one area. The people are welcoming and charming and mysterious all in one. It is a city that seeps into your bones when you visit and is forever hard to shake. The music, the food, the history, the architecture, the people, the art and the tragedy this city has and has gone thru gives it depth that many places lack.

Alex and I went to New Orleans for our honeymoon. We fell in love with the place right away and it  made our really short list of places we would like to live. We can't wait to go back for a visit and soak up more of it fabulous culture.

This week marks the five year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. As you flip thru the news channels and radio you hear story after story of what people went thru and what it was like 5 years ago during the storm. Last night before bed I was watching the news and they were showing how Habitat for Humanity was building right that minute a house. The hammers were going and there was lots of noise. It was 11 at night. But, it only brought a half smile to my face. Why, are we seeing this kind of footage 5 years later. These scenes are what we should have been seeing months after the storm. The more of this rebuilding effort I am seeing today five years later the more it drives home the fact that we as a country 100% failed in helping our fellow Americans when they needed it most. Our government on all levels failed and is still failing when it comes to NO's rebuild. In terms of a rebirth that is another story. That city has more lives in it than a cat, and even thou they can't seem to get a break they always have some spirit left in them.

I feel that celebrities like Brad Pitt and Harry Connick Jr  have brought more awareness and help and aid to NO then our United States Government. It is quite amazing what those 2 men have done. At last count Pitt's non profit organization Make it Right has built 50 homes in the Lower Ninth Ward and Connick Jr has help build a musician's community with 72 single family homes and 10 rental units that will center around a Ellis Marsalis Center for Music.

To hear Brad Pitt's most recent comments on New Orleans and his Make it Right Foundation click here.

In next couple of days I will share with you some of mine and Alex's favorite places we visited there and maybe one day you can make a trip.

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