Saturday was an absolute marathon day for the Princess of Positive. A baseball game for son #1, the premier of Kiss My Gumbo radio on AM 690 WIST, a wedding, the reception and…pirates on Bourbon Street. OK – Scout’s honor I am not making the pirate stuff up. And, fwiw (for what it’s worth), New Orleans amazingly brings me fresh writing topics on a daily basis. ARGH! Yes, subject material literally falls form the sky here (or at least from Bourbon Street). So let me back up (car screeching noise inserted here) so I can properly share my exciting day with you.

* #1 son’s baseball game: The 11 yo Braves smoked the other team like a cheap cigar. I was very proud of my son, his team and am darn impressed with his coach. I got my cheering for the day out & ate some disgusting and salty ballpark nachos.

* My radio show: Talk radio is very tough. Even though I have been blessed with the gift of gab, I have even greater respect for anyone who does it for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. I learned a bunch the first show and the next show will be even better! The groom from the wedding was my first caller and then his blushing bride surprised me by calling in. Apparently all the bridesmaids were boo-hooing when they heard him re-cap their love story. I also had 2 callers from the Krewe of Eve as guests! Oh ya, and in case you were holding your breath in suspense for the winner of my tacky, ridiculous E-Bay contest, THE BIG TOE NAIL was the winner. Ewwwwww….I am also now disgusted with myself for putting toe nail and blushing bride in the same paragraph.

* The wedding: It was a mad dash from hell from the radio station in Metairie to the Bourbon Orleans hotel and then to the church! I got dressed and to the lobby in less than 10 minutes. The wedding was a fairy tale one with a beautiful church on St. Charles, a gorgeous bride and a handsome groom in his Dress Blues. Hubby was part of the saber ceremony which is always the icing on the cake for a military wedding.
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* The reception: The reception was at the gorgeous Bourbon Orleans hotel and we all enjoyed the balcony view. The open bar was flowing and the food kept coming all night! The Second Line at the end was a real treat!

* Pirates: After the reception, we all got out of our formal attire and met in the hotel bar and ARGH! PIRATES! Yes, my boys would have been in heaven. I heard about the Pirate convention and saw some of them from the balcony during the reception – but this was a freaking PIRATE MUTINY! You see, the hotel bar is wide open onto Bourbon Street and it wasn’t long before the wedding party was intermingled with the Pyrate Convention (ye old spelling). It was a FREAKING BLAST!! img_3459.JPG
Seriously, I was stuck on stupid for some cool writing material for my Sunday post and voila – right in front of my very eyes. I broke out my blogging/interviewer role and learned all I could about the conference. I must say, this is one we need to encourage as the last count I got (it seemed to get bigger as I interviewed every person) was that 1200 pirates attended from all over. This is only their second conference and a nice little economy boost. Besides Disney World – this seems like the most logical place for this event.

They came for: the vendors, classes on making black powder, costumes, speaking in pirate (cool – my kids would love it) and for contests. Yes, Wench of the Year and Best Jack Sparrow. I hope that next year they incorporate some Kid Pirate stuff into the conference! This picture is of the bride and Captain Jack.
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* My first time at the Jean Lafitte’s Bar – way cool — built in 1772!

* BTW – publishing this from The Bastille Computer Cafe!

****As always – you can read Kiss My Gumbo on NOLA.com or my personal blog Kiss My Gumbo.com. And how amazing to speak to people all weekend and find out they actually read my blog. I was overwhelmed. NOLA.com is the best gig (now if I could convince them to pay me more than $200 a month).

5 Replies to “Pirates & Weddings & Bourbon Street…Oh My!”

  1. I couldn’t find a place on the WIST website to listen to your hour. I missed it. I was stuck at a birthday party!
    Let me know if there is a place to listen to a recording.

  2. It was a great time, wasn’t it! I couldn’t imagine a more perfect wedding for my big sis! And pirates! What a bonus! I guess the hotel being located across from the Funky Pirate made for prime pirate viewing. Greta, you are the best! And the show was great, we were all boo-hooing! Thanks!

  3. from the bride’s (self-proclaimed) favorite uncle….. We had a WONDERFUL time. Thanks so much to you & Greg and your terrific families for all the hospitality and fun times. It was a great event for all of us. We all thought it was like a super-cool vacation. Thanks again from Wanda, Shanna, Kyle, Ryan, and especially me. A.

  4. Bourbon Street!! Saturday Night!! Pyrate Con!! I was soooo there!!! I even have pictures of me and “Jack Sparrow”. We go to Nola every year for a cigar crawl that for the last two years has been the same weekend of the pirate convention. It was a BLAST!! HHmmm…I’ll have to go back and look at my pics..you maybe in sum of em Greta! LOL I wish I had known you were there I would have loved to have meet you. Oh well, there’s always next year!!

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