The Year of Yes: Mardi Gras

I’m sitting in my cubicle wearing my favorite Mardi Gras beads and feeling rather stunned, like I just got off a rollercoaster. I keep scrolling through my camera to remind myself that it’s really me in the pictures a thousand miles away from home, smiling ear to ear, and decked out in beads and feather boa.

This past weekend, the Year of Yes took me to New Orleans for Mardi Gras festivities with Former Roommate L. I feel like I cheated on New York – the Big Apple will always be my first love, but the Big Easy is one heck of a temptress. A city with a nuanced history, deeply-rooted culture, beautiful architecture AND an open container law – what’s not to love?

Despite all the drinking and not sleeping, the trip was really healthy for me. On a lark I went somewhere I’d never been before without any sort of Plan beyond a text message from L saying a guy in a maroon baseball cap would pick me up from the airport. It was a total adventure and I loved every minute of it. I watched parades, ate jambalaya, explored the French Quarter, went running along the levees, partied on Bourbon Street and of course, collected a bajillion beads. The beads thing was so funny to me – I went there with a misconception that the only way to acquire beads is to, well, earn them, Girls Gone Wild style. Now, with a few drinks in me I loosen up a bit and sometimes I drink enough so I think I can dance, but exhibitionism isn’t quite my style and I doubt my small runner boobs would garner much attention anyway. As it turns out, you don’t have to flash any skin to get beads – the masked people on the parade floats just throw handfuls of them at the crowd. And sure, they’re just silly strands of shiny plastic, but when the floats go by group mentality takes over and you just have to catch them! There was plenty of craziness on Bourbon Street – girls flashing on balconies, beads flying overhead, guys that grab you as you walk past, huge frozen drinks with plastic alligators floating in the cup (a personal favorite of mine), and topless women sporting nothing but intricate butterflies painted on their chests. It’s like a week-long Halloween Parade in the Village if you replace fishnets with beads and change the color palette from black and red to purple green and gold.

L’s friends were all so much fun and I had a great time getting to know them. I’ve never felt so distinctly like a Yankee as I did when I was partying in the South with eight Texans! At the parades we made friends with the people around us including a group of Air Force pilots, one of whom shares my birthday. Naturally, I consulted Numerology Expert Receptionist about this phenomenon. Her response: same birthday means you’re soul mates. Then she reminded me that I’m supposed to be getting married this year. Oh, great, thanks. I think for now I’ll stick with my trusty astrology, which tells me today to “Turn on my charm, but don’t try to overdo it.” Now that I can handle.