I am very excited that I will soon be a first-time aunt. Upon receiving this joyous news, and because my new niece will reside in New Orleans, I began to reflect on my own childhood and how much the city has grown. I remember my first Saints game – the Superdome was half-empty and our team had the unfortunate nickname “the Aints” – and now the Dome is packed and everyone is cheering on their Super Bowl champs! Who can forget K&B? I would always get a piece of candy at checkout with my mom, and now every time I see that shade of purple I still get a sweet tooth.
There are so many New Orleans memories I have from my youth: the opening of the Aquarium, when Monkey Hill was just a hill and even riding the gondola at the 1984 World’s Fair. Probably my favorite memory was on Mardi Gras Day when my dad would come home from riding in a parade and would always call to my sister and I to help his get his riding boots off. He would say “Shelby take the left; Mary Scott the right.” My sister and I would each grab a leg and pull and tug on his tall black riding boots until we finally wiggled them off and he was free. I always wondered what other riders did if they didn’t have children. How did they get their boots off?
I could go on forever about the Municipal Auditorium and my first time at Galatoire’s … Reminiscing on the special memories New Orleans provides us all, and passing on those stories to the next generation, is important. How else would someone born in 1981 know so much about the typhoon drinks at Pontchartrain Beach?
In the theme of growing up in New Orleans, our city has another addition. Robert “Robbie” Sanders Stone Jr. was born September 18 at Tulane Lakeside Hospital to proud parents Robert and Dorian Stone. Big sister Scarlett, 2 years old, was very excited to welcome her new brother, or as she calls him “her new baby doll.” Robbie is now home, healthy and happy, with his family.
Pictures from my Steel Magnolia-themed bridesmaid luncheon at my grandfather’s house in North Carolina. Everyone had to wear “blush” or “bashful,” and some enthusiastic bridesmaids came dressed in hair curlers and “Truvy’s Salon” smocks. We drank our juice in the form of pink champagne and had armadillo cake for desert.
What better way to celebrate your 16th birthday then with friends, food, karaoke and a scavenger hunt? That is exactly what longtime friends Benton Smallpage and Tony Slimp did at their joint party in Perdido, Fla. The weekend festivities, which were themed “S3-Slimp Smallpage 
Sixty,” started off at the Smallpages’ condo for cocktails. The guests received goodie bags and visors with the “S3” logo on them. The next night the partygoers showed up to the main event dressed all in white and divided up into teams for the scavenger hunt. After a dinner of Moe’s Original BBQ and birthday cake, a few brave souls belted out their favorite karaoke songs.
Heard something interesting for “cruisin’ the crescent?”
If so, please send it to: St. Charles Avenue
110 Veterans Blvd., Ste. 123, Metairie, La. 70005
or email: Shelby@MyNewOrleans.com
