Our Southern Comfort Zone

"I miss my Tennessee home/And I've been away way too long/
I can't see this world unless I go/Outside my Southern Comfort Zone."
-Brad Paisley

When I hear this song, I think he must have written it for me, except that he put Tennessee instead of Georgia. I love New Orleans, which, while geographically located in both, should not be confused with the South or the Bible Belt. By my definitions, New Orleans is not in my Southern Comfort Zone. Yet I have experienced so much, seen more of "the world," and become a better person living here, so I know it's the right place to be.

The seminary is located in Gentilly (orange). We moved to Mid-City (purple).

The past few months have been super busy for us, but I am FINALLY getting around to posting pics of our new abode!! On March 1st we said goodbye to seminary campus (the "bubble," if you will) and moved out into The Big Easy fo' real - notice title of blog. The Cook family came to help us move mid-semester, and we could not have done it without them! We moved to an area known as Midcity, which the Atlantan in me constantly called Midtown when we moved here. In the same way, Midcity is also kinda the artsy/hipstery part of town. Not as nice as Uptown (think Buckhead), but not as hippie as the Marigny (think Little Five Points).

We got this at a festival. Presh.

Our neighborhood is very diverse. We have Caucasians, African-Americans, Latinos, young, old, students, and even some feral raccoons (what? yes!) living around us. Mona's Cafe, one of our favorite Greek restaurants, Finn McCool's Irish Pub, and Angelo Brocato's Italian Ice Cream Parlor are all within walking distance. Needless to say, it's a fun place to live. Josh and I just bought bikes, which Josh plans on riding to work and school. (I say wait until it is COOLER!) It's a good level of urban for me . . . walk to ice cream, take the streetcar to the Quarter, and get in my car to go to work. We like it.

My mom took this picture of us when she came
over my Spring Break to help us get settled. Thank you, Joy! 

We moved into a double Shotgun. Shotguns are the most popular style of housing in NOLA. Never heard of it? Here is Wikipedia's definition: A "shotgun house" is a narrow rectangular domestic residence, usually no more than 12 feet wide, with rooms arranged one behind the other and doors at each end of the house. It was the most popular style of house in the Southern United States from the end of the American Civil War (1861–65), through the 1920s. 




From the outside, the "double" set up of this house kinda reminds me of our little Macon lovenest where we lived when we first got married (*sigh*), but the inside is quite different.

When you first enter, here is what you see . . .

 This is the living room from a different angle.

Then, we move right along to the dining room/office. This is supposed to be a 2nd bedroom, but I just don't see how that works unless you are SUPER close to your roomie and want anyone who comes over to visit to just hang out in your room. Oh wait, I think I just described a college dorm. But no one voluntarily chooses to live that way, right?!

Set up for Easter lunch, as noted by the fancy cloth napkins.

Just a normal day

Josh's "office" . . . formerly a room, now a wall.

Notice the lovely AC window unit. All I will say about that is that I am eternally grateful to whoever thought of Central AC and will never take it for granted again. ;) Ok, I'm being slightly sarcastic, it's really not that bad, and it's cheaper too! But it is strange to me that more houses don't have Central AC when you live in a place with an average heat index of 100 degrees in the summer. Guess that's what we get for living in a city where many of the houses are 100 years old.

Then, we enter the little hallway. To the left, a bathroom.

Some fun hanging lights we found at the World Market.
They were supposed to help light up the shower area but are really more for decoration. :) 

Then we move on into the bedroom. At first I was weirded out by the thought of people walking through my room. And as you know, it's not so much because of the neatness factor (as I am a liiiitle OCD about cleanliness), but more from the privacy aspect. (See how a roommate would have to walk through your room just to get a glass of water?) But that's just normal around here, so we've gotten used to it. I still haven't decided if it makes Josh neater or it just makes me straighten up more often. :)

Entering the bedroom from the hallway

A different angle, pre-redoing the dressers

After redoing the dressers

We painted these dressers that we've had since we got married. 
I think Josh had them in his room as a kid! We used chalk paint, and they turned out really well. 
I felt like I was on that old show "Trading Spaces."  BEFORE . . .

And AFTER!

Finally, we arrive at the kitchen. We searched for a place with a kitchen that was not in the back, but they are hard to come by period, but especially in our price range. We were excited about more room space, but quickly realized we had no counter space. So we created some.

Josh built this himself! Cheaper than buying and island, and we can always use the shelving later on.
Marrying a handyman was a good idea! :)

We originally painted it with chalkboard paint. The one project in my life I felt could be Pinterest-worthy.

It was super cutesie, but just not practical, as we would use the space to cook and then wipe all the writing off when we cleaned up. So it became red!

And now you've arrived at the back of our house. We have a small area behind the house with a shed and grassy patches. It looks like a tropical jungle now that we are in the "rainy season" in southern LA. I would like to make a garden at some point, so we'll wait to post pics of the backyard whenever I get around to that. 

So that's it. If all goes as planned, this is our little casa for the next two years. And we have a couch that is great for sleeping on for when y'all decide to come visit us!! :)