I love so many things about New Orleans, and so many things drive me crazy. This, they say, is what it means to truly love New Orleans. One of the things I love is how no matter where I am, my head is always turning. “Look at that,” is a phrase I often say. And that can refer to a gorgeous uptown home with rocking chairs on a picturesque porch just beckoning to be rocked in, sazarac in hand. It also refers to giant empty plots of land, or buildings still not demolished, or houses condemned and neighborhoods still struggling to recover in a post-Katrina environment. I’m always looking around, always curious to my environment and because of my constant connection to the environment around me, I’m also constantly thinking of ways I can contribute and give back.

Often, my relationship with New Orleans is just me and her. We have conversations, I’m ok being alone and getting to know her as I go. As I recently told someone, this is not an experiment, this is my LIFE. And so it goes. Here are some photos I took on a recent bike ride through the Marigny and Bywater neighborhoods. A good reminder that I have to get out and do this more often – take in the environment and not get wrapped up in my head, my clients, my projects and remind myself of why I’m here, to be connected to a greater good, a cause bigger than myself, and continue to put the pieces together of my own journey.