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Living, loving, laughing, and learning in the new New Orleans
Joie d'Eve

November 2009

Home for the Holiday

11/20/09

Home for the Holiday

I know some people wait all year for Christmas, just dying to pull out the Santa figurines and put some Bing Crosby on the stereo.

I’m not one of those people.

I like Christmas just fine. I love the spicy smell of pine trees, I think twinkly white lights are beautiful, and I have a particular weakness for sour cherry candy canes.

But it’s far from my favorite holiday. No, what I wait for all year is Thanksgiving. And this is going to sound awful, but it’s really not because I cherish the time spent with family and friends. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: I love having time to myself in the kitchen, just chopping and stirring and kneading and taste-testing.

See, I love my friends and family year-round and try to...

Posted at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 3
Crown Thy Good with Sisterhood

11/13/09

Crown Thy Good with Sisterhood

My daughter, Ruby, is on a patriotic kick lately. Her preschool has taught her “America the Beautiful,” which she can sing almost flawlessly, and the Pledge of Allegiance, which gives her some trouble in the usual spots, particularly on “indivisible.”

I love watching her grow up and learn new skills, and there’s not much cuter than a toddler with her hand on her heart singing about “purple mountain majesties.” A small part of me is sad, though, not because I don’t love my country but because as Ruby becomes more of an American, she’s a little less pure Ruby. Beyond that, it’s a little strange to watch her parroting the pledge without the slightest understanding of “allegiance,” “the...

Posted at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 3
"... But Keep the Old"

11/06/09

"... But Keep the Old"

In mid-July the summer before I went away to college, I got a letter in the mail listing the other freshmen who would be in my Freshman Interest Group, which went by the awkward acronym “FIG.” I looked over the list and noted, with no excitement, that five out of the six people with whom I’d be sharing this FIG experience were from various cities in Missouri: Coffeeville, St. Louis, Sweet Springs.

 Then, at the bottom of the list was a student from Kauai, Hawaii: Aaron.

“He’s going to be my ally,” I decided immediately. “We’re either going to fall in love or be best friends forever.”

I even knew what I’d say to him. “Well,” I’d say, shaking his hand....

Posted at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 3

About This Blog

Eve is further proof, if any is needed, that New Orleans girls can never escape the city. After living here since the age of 3 and graduating from Ben Franklin High School, Eve moved to Columbia, Mo., where she received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Missouri School of Journalism and became truly, unhealthily obsessed with grammar.

She had originally intended to strike out to New York City and work in the cutthroat magazine industry there, but after Katrina, Eve felt a strong pull to return home, to her roots, her family, her waterlogged and struggling city –– and a much more forgiving work atmosphere that would allow her to skip a routine of everyday makeup and size 0 designer label business suits and enjoy the occasional cocktail or three with an absurdly fattening lunch. After waiting for her husband, Jamie, a St. Louis native, to finish law school, she packed up and moved him and their daughter, Ruby, now 3, to New Orleans in January 2008.

In addition to serving as the Web editor, the editor of New Orleans Homes and Lifestyles and the managing editor of Louisiana Life and Gulf Coast Wine + Dine, Eve blogs about the joys and struggles of living in post-Katrina New Orleans, the way the city looks through the eyes of her practical Midwestern husband, the unique problems and delights of raising a child in such a diverse and challenging city and her always entertaining and extremely colorful family.

Eve has won numerous writing awards, including the Pirates Alley Faulkner Society Gold Medal, the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence award for column writing and a Press Club of New Orleans award for her Editor’s Note in New Orleans Homes and Lifestyles.

She welcomes comments, advice, empty flattery, recipes, drink invitations and –– most especially –– grammatical or linguistic debates.
 

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