{ New Orleans Burlesque Dancer Bella Blue | Image by Stephen LaMarche }

Kendrick has a huge, huge thing for New Orleans, and looked like he was going to cry when I explained to him that adding a stop in the city to our cross-country road trip last summer was going to mean many, many extra hours in the car with our children. Like, too many. But in exchange for his flexibility on this point, I promised him that we'll make a trip there in the near future - which is a promise I'm fully okay with making, because last time I went (years and years ago, with my dad), there were oyster shooters and lots and lots of those romantic hanging trees that you see everywhere in the south, and both of those things are things that I enjoy very much.

So in preparation for this trip that we will one day go on - and because some of you might also be interested in some tips on what to do in the area - I thought I'd ask a friend who's something of an expert on the area, Cait Weiss, about her five local must-dos. Cait is a former burlesque "stage kitten" (who wrote a hell of an article on the subject) and present-day poet (you can find recent examples of her work here and here), and her suggestions have me wanting to hop a plane and go drink Sazeracs while sitting on a carousel. Like, today. (I also asked her to give me five burlesque-related must-haves, and her suggestions include the most amazing lightbulbs ever and boob tape. Love.)

{ Our Pretzel }

Ummmmm I'm sorry, but when did pool floats transform from those blue styrofoam things that you can surreptitiously pick little holes out of because god is that ever satisfying into...pretzels? And rainbow ice pops? And pizza slices and toucans and FLOATING TIKI BARS?

I think it was sometime during the summer of 2015, when all of a sudden everybody with access to a body of water absolutely required a pink donut with a bite taken out of it or a white swan (with a cute boy sitting on it behind you, obviously) in order to live a happy and fulfilled life. This entire thing is clearly Instagram's fault, but I'm okay with it because what it has resulted in is the fact that I can now purchase a set of tiny flamingos who will float peacefully around my pool, delicately cradling my Coors Light and awaiting the moment when I decide that I would like to drink it.

{ Desert Hot Springs, CA }

 The wine delivery service Wine Simple (which uses a personalized taste profile to recommend wines you'll love) is offering RG readers 20% off with code RGVIP20. Not an ad; just a present because I like wine and I'm fairly certain you do, too.

 Like everyone on the Internet, I'm all about the off-the-shoulder tops for spring. I bought this one at BCBG the other night in white, and it comes in a blue-and-white-stripe pattern too, and both are perfect and amazing and I think you should own one. Or two.