how i've been spending the last few weeks

morning runs uptown along the Missisippi

lots & lots of yoga in my evenings!

Abby came to visit, which was wonderful. we made friends with the cutest dog in the planet. seriously, it was like we had somehow stepped inside of a puppy calendar. there are a lot more photos where this came from, but i'll limit myself to one. plus her name is Georgia!

gave myself a little hair trim; this swampy jungle air is making my hair grow like crazy (and turn really, really blonde). please excuse the dirty mirror...

there's jasmine everywhere right now! it smells like heaven.

i feel like i've been so MIA lately! i've been busy, but good. Abby came to visit, Lucy McKenzie is here now, and Sarah just moved out. lots of working during the day, long nights out, and leisurely long mornings / breakfasts. it's been great, but i'm really ready to get back into a normal routine-- i always feel better when i'm in a stable routine. i'm starting my practicum on Friday, and i think that this weekend / coming week will be the time to establish my new routine of working, practicum-ing and working out (inside). i've been keeping up with my runs outside, but it's really starting to heat up!

jazz fest update! these guys were so ready for festival season to start:

i went to jazz fest for its second weekend, on Saturday May 4th. it's held at the New Orleans fairgrounds, the same racetrack where Mike & I watched zebra races back in January. it had been pouring buckets of rain for the weeks leading up to jazz fest, and it was an unusually chilly year. the day we went was sunny, beautiful, and a little hot, but also muddy as hell. luckily we knew to bring rain boots; lots of other people were wearing sandals (which were quickly destroyed) or barefoot in the muck. it was too bad we couldn't sit on a blanket in the grass to enjoy the music, which is how this festival usually is. still, it was a great day and i had a blast with the Sarahs.

i laid out my rainboots the night before... kudos to Mike for lugging them here when he visited. hopefully someday they will look this clean again :)

once we parked near the fairgrounds, it took us an inordinate amount of time to find an open convenience store. it strikes me as a uniquely New Orleans thing to have all of the surrounding businesses closed during the time of year where there is the most foot traffic. after all, they want to go to see jazz fest too! i have a hard time imagining that logic making sense in any other place.

 we started the day off right. i don't think that drinking on the street will ever get old; still feels like such a crazy, strange, and illegal thing.

sarah & i enjoying the first show of the day

we saw some great music: the revivalists, galactic, and of course frank ocean were the highlights of the day. i may have cried a little during frank ocean, i was overwhelmed & so happy to see him live.

tons of flags flying-- people bring them to make it easier to meet up with a group. gotta love that piñata.

so much delicious food! i loved how they had it displayed, with these floating signs. i spotted the fried green tomatoes from across the park.

muddy boots! we found a grassy spot to sit after hanging in the mud for a few hours. which was good because those boots were getting heavy & hot. we were able to hear some music from there & do some truly epic people watching, too. 

it was the jazz and heritage festival, so there were lots of exhibits and things to see: displays from the Houma Indians, Mardi Gras float building, and Mardi Gras Indians exhibits were the highlights.

walking home along Bayou St. John after a long & wonderful day.

1. stopping to admire magnolias on a morning run
2. looking sassy during finals time
3. an exceptional day for outdoor yoga at Audubon Park with my coworkers
4. community service day with GOTR. we cleaned up the park where we run every week.
5. drinking a hard-earned bloody mary & reading The Great Gatsby poolside on Sunday afternoon.

i can't believe i've neglected this space for so long! i guess that's what happens during finals. here are a few pictures of what i've been up to lately, with jazz fest & GOTR updates still to come.

Abby comes tomorrow! life is good.

and now, a weather break

1. i've never seen a weather report like this! it's been near-constant thunderstorms, day and night, for the past week and a half. it's in the 70's and 80's, day and night-- it never really cools down. how crazy is 

that thunderstorm-with-sun weather symbol?

this is what the sky looked like when i left the gym Sunday mid-morning. so many thunderstorms!

this is the day of the tornado warning, my birthday (a week ago today). i was studying around noon on my birthday when this alert popped up on my phone (and every other cell phone in the coffee shop). i was right across the street from the fire station, and they told us to go home if we could. i hopped into my car, and Sarah & i turned on the news. the tornado touched down about 20 miles outside of the city.

it started to get really dark.

like, really, really dark. it's hard to tell how dark it was, but the streetlights & bridge lights were still on around 1 PM. this is from my balcony. it was eerie. and then it started to rain really hard, and the wind picked up. the house isn't very well sealed, so there was rain coming in around the windowpanes. we unplugged all of the electronics, and waited for it to be over!

all in all, pretty exciting. my car was fine, and we haven't seen storms quite as crazy since. i'm getting used to the nearly constant thunder rumbling, hot sticky air, and flashes of lightning!