Proverbs 10:19

So, it’s been a pretty cool week.  And I have a lot of stuff I want to blog about.  But I think I still need to process some stuff.  Dude, I really want to just write and write about this summer.  I am thinking a portion of my drive back to Iowa will be devoted to just writing.  And then I’ll post it for you guys.  But for now, here is my exciting story of the week.

This week at the W, we had a very high profile celebrity staying with us.  He was up on the 23rd floor, the whole floor was shut down, there were no other guests staying there, and only two of us stylists were allowed on that floor.  I wasn’t one of them.  The two women who were styling his room were only to go up there at certain times.  It was a big deal.  We weren’t supposed to tell anyone he was here.

So, he checking in when I wasn’t working, and when I did finally work on Thursday, they told us he was checking out the next morning.  I got very sad, I really wanted to see a famous person.  And with someone famous staying at the W pretty much every week, I figured at some point in time, I would see somebody.

Yay, that was my day.

Janet and I were finished with our duties for the day, so we were tying to find our friend, Michelle, to help her with her rooms.  For some reason, we were under the impression that she was on four, where our wet (pool) and sweat (fitness room) are located.  So Janet and I split up and went separate ways, the hallway is a big circle.  So I was walking down the hallway where the elevators are.  The elevators are in a little cove off to the side of the hallway.  I could hear that there were guests standing there and waiting for the elevator.  I think to myself, “I should smile at these guests in a friendly way, and say hello.”  So as I walk by the elevators, I look at the guests, and smile big.  There were three men standing there, only one looking in my direction.  I smile at him, and look him in the eyes.  I am about to say, “Hello there.”  But I couldn’t say a word.  I suddenly realize, “Oh, my gosh.  I am totally smiling at Brad Pitt.”  Yeah, Brad Pitt.  I didn’t say hello.  I just smiled like an idiot W employee, and walked by.  As soon as I got past, I’m pretty sure I went into a whole body blush, and I really started to freak out.

Dude, I saw my famous person.  And, might I add, it was Brad Pitt.  He was in town doing some stuff with hurricane relief.  Something about renovations and rebuilding in the Ninth Ward, one of the places where the levee broke.  You know, he was doing some humanitarian-type stuff.  And, I guess he’s coming back in September, when he’ll be working on filming a movie.

That’s my story.  I have more though.  As you might guess.  Believe it or not, someone who walked down Bourbon Street wearing a sandwich board with a Bible verse on it might have a story or two.

Hebrews 11:6   So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

I never thought I would be able to say that.  But technically, right now, I do live in the French Quarter.  We had a bar-b-q at a little park in the French Quarter about a week and a half ago, and we met a girl there.  She has a dog.  And she's out of town for the week.  For some reason, she decided to ask some girls that she just met that day at the park if they would dog sit for her.  So here I am, currently sitting in the living room of a cute litte French Quarter house, with a beautiful black chow mix named Roxie.  It's so much fun.  I walk her down the streets of the Quarter, I have a courtyard behind my house, and I get to my house by going through an iron gate that leads to a cute little tiny brick walkway.  The houses in the Quarter are so cute and so different from any other place I've ever seen.  "Living" here is probably one of my favorite experiences of the summer so far. 

So, the guy in charge of the program I'm down here with has decided it's time for us all to do something ridiculous and crazy. 

Bourbon Street.  I'm sure you've all heard of it, even if you've never been down here.  It's a street in the Quarter, pretty much lined with bars and strip clubs.  There's a few voo doo stores along the way, and maybe a souvenier shop or two.  But for the most part, it's bars and strip clubs.  It's a pretty loud, smelly, disgusting place to be at night, and even to some extent, during the day.  We have pretty much steered clear of this street at all times of the day this summer.  Brandon, the man in charge, has decided there's no way we can leave this city without doing something on that street.  So yeah, this Friday night, we're all, all sixty-something of us, are going to walk up and down Bourbon wearing sandwich boards with Bible verses written on them.  And one of the guys in considering setting up a "Confessional Booth" next to all the fortune telling tables.  Yeah, crazy and ridiculous.  I don't think anyone is planning on seeing people saved that night, or some sort of revival on Bourbon...although, that would be pretty sweet, and I'm not afraid to pray for that.  We just want to do something with that street while we're here.  And I can only imagine what sort of things this could open up in the hearts and minds of people who are on Bourbon that night.  Even if we never see the fruit of it.

Saturday night we're having a bar-b-q for all the people whose houses we've gutted this summer.  Should be cool, to get to see all of them again, and bless them one more time before we leave.  Speaking of, I gutted my last house yesterday.  It was a pretty good gut to go out on.  Lots of furniture and random stuff to load up on the curb.  Then lots of plaster to rip down.  I spent a good 5 hours yesterday ripping down plaster with a hammer.  It is a good feeling, whacking walls with a hammer.

I leave here in about 20 days.  Weird.  Sad.  I probably only have about 9 or 10 days left styling rooms at the W, one more night with my new dog friend, Roxie, and then a couple more weeks sleeping and living at "The Compound".  I'm sad thinking about it.  I have become very much attached to this city and the way we've been living.  I remember my first LT in Orlando.  I had a lot of fun, I liked my time there.  But by the time August rolled around, I was very much ready to head back to Iowa.  I don't think I'm a Florida kind of girl.  But here, here seems different.  I know I am a different person now, and God has used this summer for very different reasons from my summer in Orlando.  But I also think I just plain like it here.  I love the people I'm with, I love the people I've met, and I love the places I've been.  But I guess at this point, I just need to be thankful for the 20 days that I have left.  I'll enjoy every moment, and then go back to Iowa, and just right back into loving what I do there.

Oh, dude, I went to a Southern Baptist church service a couple weeks ago, that was sweet. Maybe I'll blog about that some other time.

I think I'm going to take a walk and hang out with God by the river, now.