Of all the different cultures/ethnicities that swirl in our AsianCajun blood, Greek (sadly) is not one of the mix. Our best friend when we were young was Greek Orthodox, so we had our fair share of loukoumades at Greek festivals, but I don’t think that even gets us an honorary membership in the Greek club. I’ve also never fished or actually been to Greece (a girl can dream.), so this hat is a lie. A little lie . a baby lie. all worth it because who doesn’t like a good, jaunty cap perched on their tête, huh?

I’ve eyed these on some lovely Swedish bloggers and wondered where I could nab one. Instead of doing something sensible like search the interwebs, I moaned and complained until I stumbled into a hat shop off Jackson Square in NOLA that sold these.

This man (below) can both fish and read the sign behind him. He wears that hat with a clean conscience. I bet he likes loukoumades too. Swoon.

Right before we left for NOLA I received this beautiful corset from Norwegian Wood. I’ve never had something made to order for me before, and the sheer delight of how perfectly-tailored silk feels on your skin is magnificent.

I’m almost too scared to wear this corset out and about because I know I’ll ruin it somehow, so I took it nice and slow this weekend by playing dress-up in my bedroom.

Paired with my flouncy skirt from a boutique in Birmingham, the corset reminds me of John Singer Sargent’s painting El Jaleo. I know this is nothing like traditional flamenco dress, but if I started flamenco dancing again, this is what I would wear.

I think it makes me want to dance because it feels so damn good to wear! Do you guys have clothes that do that? It makes me want to chuck every ill-fitting, cheapie F21 dress I have out of closet and save up for real clothes (something I probably should be doing at my age anyways).

Thank you, Angie! I love, love, love it!!!

Fashionistas, I’ll do a follow-up post with a detailed shot of the corset and more practical ways of wearing a piece like this year round (and out in public sans dancing 😉 ). In the meantime, check out Angie’s other gorgeous handiwork at her Etsy shop Norwegian Wood.

So there are definitely major tourist traps all over New Orleans. I guess Court of Two Sisters could be considered one of those overpriced restaurants- but even when it’s over run with tourist (like moi), you should go. The food is good. Really good. Shrimp etouffee, eggs benedict, bread pudding, pecan pie, delicious omelets with anything you want in them and on them (including shrimp creole and chives)- seriously, this is the place to stuff yourself silly with cajun/creole food. Did I mention it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet?

That’s why I wore this jersey dress- plenty of room to expand. And teeny polka-dots are slimming, right? (Those photos at the bottom: I did that little dance pre-buffet. I wasn’t moving around nearly that much post-buffet. Le ooff).

Dress and purse, Urban Outfitters; Boots, AE; Necklace, River Island.

And to answer some of your questions:

1) Cath and I will most certainly write up a list (with tantalizing photos) of all the things you must do when you visit New Orleans.

2) Brad Pitt is not actually running for mayor down here, but the idea is very popular. The best place to buy tees in the city (including “Brad Pitt for Mayor” tees) can be found outside of the Quarter on Magazine Street at a place called Storyville. They also have an online store here.

3) Oh and we love vacation photos on fellow bloggers’ blogs (Japan! France! Hong Kong!), but I find it hard to know whether these NOLA photos are interesting to everyone or just us. So we’ll keep ’em coming 😉 Thanks for all the sweet comments, bebes!

So you know about Louisiana humidity. It turns out it’s great for your hair. Especially if you wear it wrapped up while it’s wet and then let it go. If there’s not humidity in the air my hair has a minimal wave. with humidity it does this mermaidy thing. I love NOLA!

For most of the trip I’ve packed boots and dresses (I’d wear this uniform year-round if I could). The dress is about six years old (the first thing I ever bought from H&M) and the boots are Tarjay. Again, the hair is brought to you by Louisiana. 

Check out the photo post below for more NOLA.