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A whole lotta love

Loca Negra decided in my runaround frenzy yesterday to chew the baseboards in the office – harumph. Today I tried to be Cesar the Dog Whisperer calm and her mood has reflected mine – she has been a perfect angel. I think I’ve got to be the luckiest person in the world to live in my wonderful house, in this fabulous city, surrounded by people I know and love and am just meeting, with my…

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Why I like being a divorced woman living in New Orleans

This is a 100-word essay topic that my interviewer wrote and is sending me a copy. She also wrote a similar version about New York years ago in the Pleistocene era. She said, “New Orleans is the type of place where women ask men to dance.” Now didn’t we just come to the grand conclusion that no matter how far we’ve evolved that some things remain the same – in other words, men ask, women…

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Outrageous women and their place

The photographer shooting that LaLa was just adorable and I said I had lived in San Francisco for 15 years. She said, “Why would you leave?” I said New Orleans is my home. Later in conversation, I said that I felt New Orleans could accommodate my outrageousness. In San Francisco, I always felt like I had to tone it down about 20 notches. She said, “I felt the same way.” She mentioned being up north…

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Bacchanal, Sunday, August 5

Anne Churchill from Karma Kitchen is cooking at Bacchanal next Friday through Sunday (August 3 through 5): Smaller menu, less attitude, more vegetarian stuff, humanely raised meat. The weather has been so enjoyable at night, it’s the perfect time to catch up with Chris and the whole gang, while enjoying some damn good food. Anne’s cooking is delicious. She’s also cooking for the LaLa house warming.

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Don’t forget to breathe

New Orleans Magazine is coming to photograph the LaLa for its October issue – I am fighting a three month old puppy who has decided all toys must be out, and fur must fly 24/7. The housewarming party is Saturday night and I’m getting a little anxious about everything that has to be done between now and then. Work is its usual juggle of a list of 80 things to do that grows to 100…

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Emotional branding

The whiner: The other day I was talking to someone about a bunch of stuff I had to do in this coming week, which was why I couldn’t see her for dinner, and she said to quit whining. Well, now. I can get on a whining tear if you give me room to run with it. Whining sucks – but I have difficulty setting boundaries and just saying no, so inevitably I find myself offering…

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Y’all come back now, you hear – take your shoes off – sit a spell

An email was sent to the FSJN by a couple who got married three years ago at the Maison Dupuy and are moving here from Atlanta. They arrive this Sunday. They’ll miss my party, but I sent them an email welcoming them to the best place in the world. We’ve got 250,000 vacant seats we are trying to fill here in NOLA. The summer nights have been gorgeous – right now a nice breeze is…

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Big girls don’t cry

In Broadcast News, Holly Hunter’s go-getter cracker jack character would unplug the phone and have a mini cry session. This was how she dealt with stress. A few weeks ago I broke down in tears from the stress of my job and I even told my boss about it. Perhaps this isn’t the best path to success – full disclosure of your breaking points, but at that juncture I felt I had no choice but…

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