It took two and a half days of phone calls, emails, appointments, organizing, rearranging and bicycling (please picture just how soaked with sweat I am by the time I arrive at my destination, 30 minutes, 40 minutes, 50 minutes away. It is hotter than a monkeys crack around these parts), but I have put together a killer schedule for myself and gotten my hands stirring a few different pots.

The Overview. 3 days a week I will be (beautifying) the Uptown and Garden District areas with a local landscaping company. Eight hours a day, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I will be planting, replanting, trimming, tilling, seeding and pruning private and public spaces. Then Thursday and Friday I will be joining the task force, Rhino Group (Rebuilding Hope In New Orleans), established by a local Presbyterian church, helping to gut houses in neglected areas. And then Saturday and Sundays, I will alternate between joining Habitat for Humanity in their effort to build new homes for the displaced, and working (painting, sanding, etc.) around Brian and Ellies home. I also have an occasional floating gig at night, by invite, to su-chef for local culinary celebrity, Poppy Tooker, at her cooking classes at popular Magazine Street restaurant Savvy Gourmet.

It took a week of sleeping, celebrating, hanging out and lolly gagging on the North Shore, but I now have a stocked fridge, a local cafe, and a bitchin plan.

Im feelin ready to eat this city whole.