Ok, so there I was feeling sorry for myself. No job, no friends, no money. Nothing to do. I'd spent the last 2 days crying myself to sleep and contimplating what the heck I was doing living in Louisiana. I don't belong here, I am nothing like these people. I'm never going to meet anyone or fit in. Ever.

Then, out of the blue, Shawn's girlfriend (Shawn is a diver that I have never met but heard about) calls me. I've never met her, never even talked to her before. I think I heard of her a couple times from Mike.

So she calls me and says, "Hey, Shawn was supposed to go to New Orleans tonight with me to this concert, but he had to go offshore at the last minute. I heard that you were just hanging out by your self, so do you wanna come? It will be totally free to you, I already booked a hotel and have an extra ticket." She basically wanted to leave within the next hour.

Usually I wouldn't go on a 2 hour drive with a complete stranger to stay the night in as weird of a city as New Orleans. But I felt like my prayers were answered- This was meant to happen. I felt a complete turn-around on my emotions, and had something to hope for now. Someone to go hang out with! Someone to get me off my ass, and back into the city where I belong! Someone to remind me that I can have friends here just like I had friends up north.

So I did go. We went and saw some Scottish chick, I can't remember her name, I think it was K T something....She was really good, it reminded me of a combo between Sheryl Crow and Norah Jones. And then she had a room booked at The W (can we say fancy??) so we stayed there after the show. The next morning we woke up early and she showed me around the city. New Orleans is different- It's very cool though. Beautiful, but not clean. It was so exotic, so fun and carefree, but it smelled bad. I guess it was everything I expected it to be.

I am so happy right now. I also went to the mall and checked out some places I wouln't mind being employed at, part time so I can get a regualr schedule going and meet some new people. Gymboree looked like they might want to hire me, and I also got an application for Build-a-Bear. So that made me happier as well.

Now my other new friend Tiffany said her man is coming in tonight on weather... Maybe we will get so lucky?? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the winds in the Gulf of Mexico are strong the next few days. I miss my sweetheart.

Anyways, here are some pics of my adventure!

I found my first large bug inside the apartment today. Gross!! I thought it was pretty much dead while I was taking these pictures, because I was moving the cup I had put over it, and it wasn't moving. So I got real close, stuck a quarter next to it and everything so you could get a feeling of how big it is. When I put the cup back on top of it, it tried to jump. I mean, not just a little skip, but a real jump! Scared the crap out of me, and I still have the heebie-jeebies. Now I shake out my towel before using it, shake every bag or shoe I pick up off the floor. I've only found one bug, so I probably have nothing to worry about. But I wouldn't want to find another one of those things crawling on me!!

The other picture is just of me, dinking around with the camera. I'm kind of happy, aside from the bug, because I made a bit of progress today- I called all of our credit cards, bills, etc and changed our address, and my new last name on some of them. Now I need to go to the DMV and get a Louisiana liscense, and I need to go to Mike's shop- he forgot his deoderant here, and can't get the kind he needs from anyone on the boat, so I have to bring it to the shop so they can send it on the next supply boat out to the barge he's on.

We did it! We now officially have a home in Louisiana. Wednesday afternoon we picked up the keys and moved our boxes in. It's so nice to finally have place to put all your things. It's funny how we take for granted the people who live out of a bag. This time, we could fully empty our toiletry bags, and hang up all of our clothes in the closet. And the best part is, we don't have to move them! With Mike hopping from boat to boat, and me living in Texas and quickly making a trip back to Washington, we really haven't had the "home" experience for a while. It feels great.

Mike and I were also blessed with free items on moving day. We came down here with only boxes of kitchen stuff and wedding presents, and several bags of clothes. We planned on sleeping on the air mattress that my mother loaned to me, adn getting a TV, couch, etc when Mike had brought in a few more paychecks, and all the initial bills were paid. But the company he works for had some great things that they weren't using, and one of Mike's supervisors was awesome enough to make several phone calls to all the right people, and he got us the stuff for free!! So now we have a TV, mattress, futon, chair, and 3 stools. I am still so greatful for the awesome people that Mike works with, and their willingness to help us settle in and get comfortable here.

So these pictures are of the cool things that we inherited, and also of our huge kitchen! I was so excited to see that I have a nice big kitchen :)