New Orleans

 

            Here I sit at work again after a delightful trip with Frank. In some ways, this four day get-a-way was so much better than our planned visits/vacations. I think maybe because I had to go through so much here at work to be able to go. Before I spill the beans on my romantic get away though, I think I’ll share some currently bad updates. This way, at least this entry will end on a happy, sappy note.

 

            Lately this motel is getting the better of me. It is difficult to work here under any circumstances now. Lee is out of control with her mouth, and memos, and comments, and attitudes, and talking behind your back. She was bad before but she’s just gone overboard with it all. Even Ish (the owner) has been different and untrustworthy. Like he’ll tell you one thing, and treat you a certain way, and later you find out he said something completely opposite. He’s very wishy-washy like that. He always has been. It’s hard to describe him without going into unnecessary detail. Then in the course of 7 days, THREE people quit. One of which was completely unexpected. The stress here is just too intense for me anymore. I actually walked into work today and my whole demeanor changed and it took all I could do not to run out of here in tears. I was told today I wasn’t allowed any more vacations by Ish. This man offers no raises, no health benefits, no bonuses, no holiday/sick pay, no vacation time, no incentive at all to keep working here. So if I want to take a few extra days off here and there, I am going to do it. I am over worked and under appreciated.

 

            I want another job. I am tired of working here, of walking through these doors to the same drama day after day after day. I am tired of how unprofessional they are here and I am tired of picking up the slack when other people decide they sneezed so it’s time to call in sick, and I am stuck covering for them. I am tired of being reliable and not getting praised for it. I absolutely dread this place. So, here’s the pros and cons of a new job.

 

Pro’s                                                                    Con’s

 

-Better Pay                                           I may not get to see Frank as often as I’d like

-Better Benefits                                          like his Graduation/or a summer visit.

-No More Lee/Ish

-Better Hours (maybe)                        When would I have time to go to NY to look for a

-Not a 24 hour business                                    job and apartment? If I can’t get away?

     where the next shift depends on you.

-More Professional atmosphere

-Might even work around my

    school schedule.

 

The way it looks to me is that there are more PROS to getting a new job, but the only draw back would be the interference with the two most important things in my life; Seeing Frank and finally moving to NY. But as it is I was told today I couldn’t take any days off anymore, so not even this job is once what it once was. I have considered waiting it out until it is time to either 1.) go to Frank’s graduation in May, or 2.) until it’s time for me to visit him in NY like I usually do. Then, when one of those times approach, when I know what day I’d be leaving, I’d just tell this Motel it was going to be my last day. Then when I returned I could get another job. I’m not sure how smart that is either. I just don’t know what to do anymore. It feels like a lose-lose situation.

 

 

            The drive to New Orleans last Thursday morning flew by. I woke up at 4:30, showered and dressed and I was on the road by 5am. 8 hours later I was parked in front of a small park on Frenchman Street in the French Quarters waiting for Frank to call me and tell me he was at the hotel and had the parking lot figured out and our space paid for.

 

            After we took care of that and he introduced me to our hotel room I gave him the biggest embrace I could possibly give. It was so good to be in his arms again. My troubles just seemed to melt away. All that was left was him, myself and a new city.

<pclass=”MsoNormal”> 

            I really thought that there wouldn’t be much left of the FQ since Katrina, and that even the streets would be desolate but they weren’t. They weren’t crammed with people though. The population of tourist and natives to New Orleans was like a perfect amount. Things weren’t annoyingly crowded; it wasn’t hard to move about. But there were enough people to give the area life. Everyone seemed very happy and friendly too. They also dress funny down there, ha ha. They were mix-match clothing, where the prints and colors vary. They weren’t like costumes either; they were “serious” outfits! Lol. The whole place was jovial though, and I liked that.

 

            Our hotel room was so cozy and decorative. We stayed at the Lamothe House, and our room was at the back of the courtyard. We had like a living room area separated from the bedroom area by a fireplace in the middle of the room. There were two other doors in our room that led to a huge, spacious bathroom and another one to a smaller bedroom with a twin size bed. Our bed was a king though, 😉

 

            The room was decorated with dark furniture, dark drapes and hard wood floors, and the lamps had low wattages. All the furniture was Victorian style antiques. The bed was a huge, oak, four poster bed. The whole room was just…simply beautiful. As soon as I get my hands on the picture I am going to post ‘em. The room was so romantic too, it was hard to keep us out of bed, ha ha. We’d go explore, find and excuse to go back to the room, and later we would go explore again….then back to the room. You would have thought we were honeymooners.

 

            Our first day there, Thursday, after we got settled into the room we went out and walked around the FQ and found our way over to the Moon Walk (which is a walk along the Mississippi river) and then went into a mall there to look for a light lunch. Then we went back to exploring the FQ for a while. We went back to the room to decide what we wanted to do with our evening, but then we never left the room again, haha. Eventually we just fell asleep and missed dinner all together.

 

            Friday was more eventful. We got up early and went to view a couple of plantations. Oak Ally and Laura. Oak Ally is massive and beautiful, and very “American”. White with big columns and wrap around porches. It had produced sugar canes. It is also where Interview With The Vampire was filmed! The Laura plantation was also a sugar cane producer but it was a Creole plantation. The house was painted yellow and the porch was red and the shutters were green. Our tour-guide said that was how you knew if it was a Creole plantation or a white man’s plantation. Creole plantations were very colorful and sat high off the ground, while the white people painted their plantations all white. She explained a lot of interesting Creole history that I really enjoyed. We took a lot of pictures of the plantations but Frank had his settings done wrong so some are like insanely bright, ha ha. But he can photoshop them up to make them look pretty normal.

 

            After we viewed the plantations we went down the road a ways to a small shack (resteraunt) and got lunch. We were both pretty disappointed with our meals. I think because we expected it to be more origional and flavorful since it was so far away from the touristy places. It was a local resteraunt you know? But the food was kind of cold and bland….Not very exciting at all. To make up for a shoddy lunch, we went back to our room. Wink Wink

 

            Oh but that night we had the most amazing dinner. We ate at this ritzy place called K-Pauls (where no plate was under 30 bucks, lol.) We had turtle soup (which was AMAZING, and so incredibly rich with flavor.) He ordered us a bottle of white wine and we drank the whole thing through out the course of our meal. I got blackened salmon in a brown sugar/maple and pecan sauce with mash potatos and grilled veggies. I was so into my dinner I don’t even remember what he got, ha ha. For desert we had Crème Brule with a Praline bottom. HOLY COW was that thing delicious! Ha ha. After dinner we walked around the FQ until we reached Burbon St. and we started bar hopping. We started off at Pat O’Brians with a couple of hurricanes and then went into several other bars where we proceeded to get a bit tipsy. The night ended with Frank passing in and out on the bed while I tried to remove his clothes. All he could do was laugh. We had the same amount to drink and yet he was barely coherent and I was fully aware of everything going on around us, lol. Which is strange for us because it’s usually the other way around.  But we had a good time drinking and dancing, and we actually managed a pretty serious conversation, (which I will definitely go into later because …well…it’s kind of serious.)

 

            Saturday was a bit laid back because the weather got increasingly cold. We would go out for a bit, look around the FQ and the shops, and the French Market and go back to the room and put our bags up, look at our pictures and then we’d brave the cold and venture out again. We ate dinner at the Gumbo Shop where he had crawfish etouffee and I had crawfish and pasta in a tasso cream. (Whichis basically a cheese sauce, lol.) For desert he had some apple pie and I had a chocolate brownie with fudge and ice cream. Needless to say my desert was much better, ha ha. This place was so popular though that they had us packed in there like sardines.

 

            After dinner we walked back to our room and made it

an early night. It had begun to drizzle and on top of the cold we were both big babies haha. Plus, it was our last night together and we wanted to be alone in our pretty room.

 

            Sunday morning we slept in a bit, packed our bags and put them in my car and checked out of the motel. After lunch I was going to drop him off at the airport on my way home to Missouri. We decided to eat at the Gumbo Shop again because it was so satisfying the night before, and because he hadn’t had his fill of crawfish etouffee, and while there we both decided we would miss our hotel room. Of course I was bummed about leaving and having to say good bye to him, and I could tell he wasn’t ready either.

 

            “Hanna, let’s be crazy.” He said.

           “According to you I am already there!” I said jokingly.

What came of the craziness was him moving his flight to today and us running back to the hotel to see if we could have the room back. We got it and stayed again Sunday. Hehe.

 

            So this morning I woke up at 4:30 again and had to say my good byes at 5am and I was on my way home. I cried on my way to the car. (Thankfully he stayed in bed where it was warm and didn’t see me blubbering like a baby.) It is always hard to say good bye to him. He’s such a positive thing in my life and I really cherish the time we spend together when we’re able. But some of the tears fell because I didn’t want to come back here.

 

     But over all the little trip was a lot of fun. We got to explore New Orleans and be together. He spoiled me rotten with all the fine dining and the great room. It wasn’t ALL for me though, he’s a man with expensive tastes..lol.