Walkin' on Sunshine!

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Seventy-seven degrees today. Sixty-ish and sunny yesterday. Could it be happening at last? Why yes, it must be happening because WE SET THE PORCH UP YESTERDAY! No turning back (except for the occasional rouge snowy day that I'm sure we will still have). Even the houseplants are asking: When can we go back outside!

Yesterday's beautiful Sunday topped off a very busy week that took me to New Orleans for the annual NAGAP conference. I had never been, and I think I can now say that I've "done that." It was ok, but very run down and not really my thing. Perhaps if I was a buxom, attractive girl in my 20s rather than a 50-something mother of college kids I might feel differently about the whole French Quarter/Bourbon Street scene, but it was certainly interesting.

I think the funnest time spent in the French Quarter is when my friend Kristen, her husband, Ken, and I took a ghost tour on Friday night. It was mostly ghost stories (with no ghosts in sight - HA!), but a really great 2-hour walking tour of the history of New Orleans and it's storied and tragic past. Another cool thing we did was that the off-site program on Thursday night at "Mardi Gras World," a huge warehouse on the banks of the Mississippi River where they store all the Mardi Gras floats and weird props - it's both fascinating and super creepy at the same time. The conference itself was good, and I was happy to spend time with my NAGAP pals again!

I arrived home around 4pm on Saturday to chilling cold (take me back!), freshened up, then Mark and I went out for dinner. Having arisen at 4:45am for an early flight I mainly wanted to just get home, chill out, and go to bed.

On Sunday morning we headed out to see Cam's race against St. Lawrence University, which was held on the Genesee River near RIT's boathouse. All of RIT's boats handily beat SLU, and it was a beautiful day for a race. Just about every weekend, now through mid-May, will be taken up with either races or regattas. We are enjoying this last taste of crew as it is Cam's last year...it's been such a great sport for him.

So, off we go to a beautiful Monday. Warm temps, open windows, and lots of sunshine certainly make a Monday more bearable!

St. Louis Church

Heads at Mardi Gras World 
Yummy dessert at the conference
Voodoo tourist trap
NOLA at Night
Our coswain (and coxpup)

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