Disclosure :: This post was created in partnership with our sponsor Toyota.
The Toyota Effect
When you think of the brand name Toyota, you probably think of cars. But did you know that Toyota has a greater mission? Toyota believes that organizations should...
My dearest children,
For the past ten years on August 29th, I have taken this day, the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, to reflect on our Katrina story. Growing up here in New Orleans, you will come to learn that everyone...
To My Little Ones,
This weekend marks the 10 year anniversary of a storm that you know nothing about. You know nothing about it because you are too little, and it happened before mommy and daddy even got married. It...
I've written about my connection to music before. Though I was graced with zero musical talent, it makes me whole. Grounds me when I'm anxious, makes me happy when I'm sad, and during those times when I just need...
As Director of Operation Playground for KaBOOM!, I saw a lot in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina, but I’ll never forget the first time I saw ‘Play World’ in New Orleans. It was a...
"I'll finish this wedding album Monday," I thought to myself. It was finally Friday, and near the end of the workday. My plans for the weekend were simple: have a relaxing evening with my husband, maybe head to a friend's house, take...
Nine years ago, people across our country asked whether or not New Orleans should be saved. They asked why we couldn't all just move a little further up river? Why we couldn't all just start over in another town?...
On Sunday, August 28th, 2005, instead of celebrating my husband's 30th birthday with our friends and family at a surprise luau, we spent the majority of our day cramped in our truck filled to the brim with photo albums...
I wandered around the streets looking for an internet café. It was 2005, well before smart phones gave us the ability to walk around with information at our fingertips. And, of course, this was the week my laptop had...
We never evacuated in the 22 years I had been alive. Not once. So when I got a phone call at 5:30 AM while I was unlocking the doors to the Starkville, MS coffee shop where I was a...
Everyone has their Katrina story. I'm very lucky that mine is not terrible or tragic like so many are. Mine is a tale of inconvenience, more than anything.
When I evacuated on Saturday, August 27, I was headed to my...
It's been 9 years. The memories are fuzzy, fading slightly. But some things will never be forgotten. How I evacuated with my boyfriend of a few months, wearing only a bathing suit and cover-up. Literally, no underwear. I was...
“Oh, I’m sure we will just evacuate for a few days for nothing.”
This was the gist of what family and friends were saying the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina. See, before Katrina, hurricane evacuations were sometimes dubbed...
Moving to New Orleans in July of 2005 was going to be the biggest adventure yet for me and my new husband. We had just settled into our new house on Palmer Street, only blocks from where my husband...