The Secret Life of the Unemployed

Ah, the oh-so glamorous life of being unemployed. Checking your email every 10 seconds to see if you've heard back from a potential employer offering you your dream job (or any job really).

I sometimes envied my free, not-tied-to-a-desk friends who I’d see check in via foursquare throughout the day and wish I was having a leisurely afternoon at Whole Foods too.

Then I was laid off at the beginning of this week (really, who lays people off on a Monday anyway?) and came face-to-face with the ugly reality that being unemployed isn't as carefree as it seems.

You find yourself glued to your computer, scouring job sites like indeed and TalentZoo, emailing ANYONE who would know ANYONE in your market/industry and utilizing social media sites to network virtually. Updating your resume, your Linkedin profile, etc., only to realize it's after noon and you haven't showered or brushed your teeth yet.

So you resign to filing for unemployment with the state and just picture yourself as that percentage statistic that solely raises the unemployment rate for the state, even the country.

Then you get antsy and look for things to keep yourself busy. You make to-do lists for the day and realize you finally have time for yard work and household projects. You clean, you do laundry, but eventually you run out of things to do.

Wait, I have to check my email again…maybe I got an interview!

Festival Season

Man, there’s nothing like Festival Season in New Orleans. What is Festival Season, you ask? Ah, well it is when Mardi Gras is over and St. Patty’s has passed and we need another excuse/more events to celebrate with live music, libations and of course, as always, FOOD!

Last weekend was French Quarter Fest and I was stoked because I hadn’t been since probably….well, college…maybe even high school (yeah that long). We’d always come home for Jazz Fest (2-3 weeks later), so it was hard to make it to both.

So we took the street car down last Saturday and made our way past the small stages on Royal Street to Jackson Square. Checked out the food vendors during the Victory Bells performance and discovered our fav of the day: Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse – Prime Beef Debris Po’Boy:

And Bourbon House's Bourbon BBQ Shrimp Po'Boy (which probably would have been better over pasta instead of on French bread).

Then we got front and center for Jeremy Davenport who brought up his 8^th grade protégé, John Michael who go to perform along with him.

After Jeremy, we made our way up to the river front (which was packed out) and saw the Honey Island Swamp Band (a local favorite of ours). The Natchez Steamboat pulled up right behind it and I couldn’t imagine a better backdrop for an outdoor music fest.

We then went in search of more food, and by the end we had sampled:

• Shrimp Regua from Antoine’s
• Crawfish in Puff Pastry with Mustard Dill from Broussard’s
• Gulf Fish Tacos from GW Fins

Just another day in New Orleans.