Laissez les bon temps rouler, cher!

Let the good times roll, and happy Mardi Gras! My thoughts are down south in New Orleans, wishing I was partaking of King Cake, beignets, and some chickory coffee, as well as some adult beverages, dancing down St. Charles and Canal Streets with the Krewes and the good people of the Crescent City.

When I was about 18 or 19, I went to a real live Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and man oh man do I remember it! I really had no idea what Mardi Gras was all about at the time, but it was an experience everyone should have at some point in their lives. I had never seen so many people, or such elaborate floats, costumes, and decorated homes! My friend, little (good) sister (!!!) and I walked along with the parade, totally unprepared for how long it would be, but still...we all get to say we DID IT!

Tonight our good friend Melissa Sigler, a Louisiana native, will be holding court at Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar, but I won't be able to join her because Hubby has a gig tonight at another local venue. My heart will be divided between the two places, but my butt will be warming a chair at Hubby's gig. :) He's playing with another local artist friend of ours, Gordon Ellis, and also has a gig Saturday night at the Lipstick Lounge with a very promising new artist, Kat Hunter. Unfortunately, I will not be in town that night (boo!!), but I'm certain it will be an amazing night. Kat has some fabulous original songs, and includes a lot of outlaw country in her sets. We're looking forward to hearing a lot more from her in the future, and Hubby is very happy to be working with her, and with Gordon as well. He also digs working with Melissa, but hasn't had an opportunity to lately. They're working on it, though, and when they get together, Katy bar the door! (That means "watch out!" for those of you who don't speak Southern redneckese)

Had a good session with the therapist yesterday, discussing the funeral last week and family patterns I noticed while there. My take was that mom's family is overly pride-based, and dad's family is overly shame-based. Not sure what that makes me, other than screwed up in the head, which we all knew to begin with. Basically I'm in a good place right now, still a little more depressed than I'd like to be, but we're working on that with an increase in the antidepressant I take. I'm having some trouble staying asleep, and spoke with both the psychiatrist and psychologist about that. I feel tired during the day, even sleepy, though sometimes I have "slept" for 10 hours. My understanding is that Effexor can cause drowsiness, so I'm assuming that the recent increase in dosage is causing this, and that it's a temporary effect. I'm not taking any more Klonopin than I have been -- if anything, I'm taking a little less. I guess it's just a matter of letting my body get used to the different amount of meds it's getting.

This weekend I leave for Sanibel Island with my friend and her mother, who is a breast/bone cancer survivor (YAY!!!). I'm looking forward to relaxing, resting, communing with nature (seriously), and hearing the sound of the waves breaking 24 hours a day. I miss that about the place I grew up, Pensacola, FL. Though I didn't live on or even near the water, it was only a matter of a 15 or 2o minute drive to get to the beach, and I loved to sit and listen to the waves and smell the salt water. Sanibel has a basically south-facing beach, so I think we'll be able to see both sunrise and sunset on the water. I'm going to try to find that out for sure while I'm there. I'd like to take a dolphin cruise, if possible, and kick back and catch up on some reading. I plan to take some knitting with me, but I'm already laughing at the idea of knitting on the beach.

Try to drink some chickory coffee today, or at least eat something French-ish, even if it's just French bread or French fries.... Of course, if you can manage to get in a Hurricane or two, that would be much mo' bettah!

Au revoir,
WIP