French Quarter Fun

Went downtown today to visit the open air market, which is somewhat like a flea market. Natalie had taken $30 with her - $20 of which she earned helping around the house, and the other $10 was from 2 visits from the Tooth Fairy.

On the way there, we stopped and watched some street performers that were hilarious. I uploaded some pictures onto Flickr for you to enjoy - but I also took 2 short videos, that are posted below.

I had brought my camera along just in case we happened to see Brad and Angelina somewhere down there, as they are (or were) back in town at the house they own in the French Quarter for Christmas - but I had no such luck seeing them, dangit! We even saw some fancy tour bus parked in front of the House of Blues, but never got a peek at whose bus it was. Turns out it was either Dr. John plus Jon Cleary OR Slang Angus plus V.I.T.A.L. emcee with Illegal Alias - neither of which are artists that I know of!

So anyway, once we got down to the open air French Market, we really couldn't find anything to buy - although along the way we came across some cool shops where we picked up more movie memorabilia, like a little Yoda, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, Gizmo, The 3 Stooges, and Napoleon Dynamite. Natalie bought herself a set of Dinosaurs, an Alligator hand back-scratcher (and yes, it is a real hand, it has scaly skin, and claws!) We also stopped in one place and bought a variety of chocolate items to share. Then we went through Jackson Square and into St. Louis Cathedral. In a matter of 15 minutes, we witnessed 4 weddings going on in various places in the square. I went into the church entryway, purchased 3 candles - 1 for Ruben's dad, 1 for my mom, and 1 to bless our family & friends. I even put on Holy Water without burning, so I guess I am not pure evil. I've always wanted to go into the Cathedral and light candles, so I'm glad that a year later I finally got the chance (in the past the cathedral has either been closed, or the gift shop where you purchase the candles at had been closed.)

After our day of fresh air and exercise, we headed home and I mentioned to Ruben how I would like to have a fire as it plans on being both warm and cold next week (it was chilly today), but we didn't have any firewood and the gas station down the street doesn't sell any either. I mentioned to Ruben to drive around the neighborhood cause someone may have recently chopped down a tree and put the wood out to be picked up by the trash guys. We were in luck, right by where you turn on our street a house had just put out quite a bit of wood similar to that we burned at Christmas which had come from this little patio-like area we had out back. While it may not be tree wood, it was burnable wood - and it was sitting on the street to be picked up, so we loaded up most of it in the back of my Durango. If you ask me the timing was perfect, although we did feel a little strange just taking the wood from a house in our neighborhood - but if they didn't want to get rid of it, they wouldn't have put it at the curb, right?

Anyway, here are the 2 videos I took today, plus a picture of Natalie with her hair in pigtails. She looks so cute. I need to take a picture of her without the cap on, as I just highlighted some strands of her hair that frames her face for her birthday party. I'll try to get some tomorrow, as right now it's time to hit the sack! Enjoy the videos!