Favorite Things 2015

Better late than never, I’m finally updating my favorite Things list. First, I’d like to thank everyone who reads this blog (in over 100 countries!). Here are Your Favorite Posts of 2015:

5 – French Quarter Fest – Sunday

4 – Southern Decadence 2015

3 – Big Easy Birthday

2 – Endymion Extravaganza – My First Ball!  (your favorite post of all time)

1 – Street Musicians – Tanya and Dorise

Now to the list! The categories are: Food & Beverage, Music & Entertainment, Culture, Shopping and Giving & More. 

Favorite Things in NOLA 2013

The categories are: Food & Beverage, Music & Entertainment, Culture, Shopping and Giving & More. Anything named previously in my Favorite Things in NOLA 2012 is marked with an Asterix*. Most items have links to their site, but if you’d like to know more, use the search window on the right to find photos, videos, history and stories.

This year, I’ve added a gallery of photos. The first photos are of items listed and the last half are of stuff I love in New Orleans from Creole tomatoes to Ashley the Traffic Tranny.

I’m also revealing Your Favorite Posts of 2013.

3 – Saints Soundtrack Vol. 2

2 – Street Musicians – Tanya and Dorise

1 – Endymion Extravaganza – My First Ball! – which is also your favorite post of all time.

Favorite Things in NOLA 2012

I must confess that I didn’t get out as much in 2012 because Hollywood South is booming and I worked a lot. Even so, here are my 2012 favorites in a nutshell followed by my Favorite Things in NOLA 2011 and Favorite Things in NOLA 2010. Anything named previously in my Favorite Things in NOLA 2011 is marked with an Asterix*.

I have divided the list into categories this year including: Food & Beverage, Music & Entertainment, Culture, Shopping and Giving & More.

Favorite Things in NOLA 2011

I continue to accumulate favorite things about New Orleans, but here’s my second year favorites in a nutshell. Anything named previously in my Favorite Things in NOLA 2010 is marked with an Asterix*. Though there are too many “ties,” revealing an inability to “just pick one,” I promise you there were so many more things I wanted to include, so many more people and places I felt deserved mentioning.

L.A. to N.O.LA’s Favorite Things (in NOLA) 2010

I can’t get you all of this stuff, Oprah-style, but every item has links to their site. If you’d like to know more about why each is my favorite, use the search window on the lower right to find photos, videos and stories.

I continue to accumulate favorite things about New Orleans, but here’s my first year favorites in a nutshell.

a French Quarter apartment hunt

When I was sitting on my couch in L.A. planning to move to New Orleans, I was open to many experiences of this city. I looked at a home in Mid-City, a neighborhood shifting identities in the last few years. I liked the idea of living across the street from City Park, home to an art museum, botanical garden, sculpture garden, a golf course and on and on and one of my favorite places in the city, the Singing Oak (which I call the Bing Bong Tree).

Ending with Style

The 7th day of Mom and Elle’s visit was one of the best. We drove to City Park, 1,300 acres of ponds, art installations, and Live Oaks up to over 600 years old. On our way there, we noticed all the traffic lights weren’t working. It slowed things down, to be sure, and created traffic, but people were remarkably patient. In L.A., it was easy to gauge how well I was doing, how happy I was in life, by how I behaved in traffic.