Joys Of Hostel Management (J.O.H.M.): July 2010

Happy Anniversary to me! :D  *confetti*

Yesterday, July 1st 2011, marked the one-year anniversary of my arrival in New Orleans. (Dear lord, but it went quickly... Jaw-droppingly quickly)

In honor of this special occasion, I have a little treat for you, dear readers: back in March I randomly started reading back through the messages Adam and I posted on Twitter throughout those 9 months.** Most of our funniest tweets were about random or annoying things happening at the hostel, and we usually labeled them "#joysofhostelmanagement."  It was a hilarious trip down memory lane, and I began compiling the best of the tweets to turn into a blog post about our hostel management adventures. So for the next 12 days, you'll get one post per day, representing each of the 12 months we've spent here. Enjoy!

**for those of you unfamiliar with the particularities belonging to the art of Tweeting, each message one sends out into the Twit-world is only allowed to be 140 characters long. This is why there are so many abbreviations and annoying word substitutions in the below messages. Normally, it makes Adam and I shudder to change "you" to "u", but the tweet sometimes demands it. Apologies to the grammatically sensitive.

JULY:

ANNA

Learning how to run a hostel. Life is goooood!

1 Jul

ANNA

First shuttle pick-up and guest check-in on my own -- I got this, yo. :)

4 Jul

ANNA

Fellow employees/bosses =watching fireworks and getting smashed, I'm cozy in the hostel office with internet, my Kindle and the boss's dog

4 Jul

ANNA

Good grief, was tonight a test or something?Missing bedsheets, broken light fixtures, a screaming dog, no gas in shuttle van - crazy night!

5 Jul

ANNA

Booked my first tour! Dang, that was an easy $40.

5 Jul


ADAM

Another day of learning on the job with half my brain tied behind my back. But the bosses are very cool with that. Now to watch THE GAME.

8 Jul


ADAM

My first Saturday night managing a hostel in New Orleans. Yeah, things are lively.

10 Jul

ANNA

Bourbon House Hostel is currently listening to Lille. And loving it.

15 Jul

ANNA

Housecleaner quit on ME, after we had a weird wrestling tussle over making pancake batter for breakfast. Lucky for me, the bosses didn't really like her anyways.:/

21 Jul

ANNA

Augh! Dorm bed guest thinks she got bed bug bites - the death knell for any hostel! Truly the most terrifying prospect ever. *bites nails*

21 Jul

ANNA

No housecleaner = me cleaning WHOLE hostel every day. It's a good morning when I've finished cleaning all 5 bathrooms before 9:30. w00t!  :)

25 Jul

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First impressions: neighbors

First impressions: neighbors

First impressions: Boss #1 (the one on the right)

First impressions: French Quarter

First impressions: visit from Sarah!

First impressions: French Quarter

First impressions: French Quarter - perfect little green house

First impressions: French Quarter alleyways

First impressions: Rainbow

First impressions: Restaurants I enjoy

First impressions: Mardi Gras love

First impressions: View from our loft/room into office below

First impressions: Office, with stairs leading to our loft/room

First impressions: Welcome to the Bourbon House Hostel!

First impressions: my kitchen

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Happy Birthday delights

My husband, the most courageous of men, has just stepped boldly into his 28th year. And to commemorate such an event, I had no doubt as to what I needed to prepare for him: a scavenger hunt.  Adam and I have a long history of plaguing each other with scavenger hunts as gifts. His favorite (before this one, of course) was probably the 1st hunt I ever sent him on, at the end of which I told him yes to entering a relationship with him.


This year's hunt was immeasurably less stressful - both for him and for me - and here's how it went down:


1.

Breakfast in bed for the birthday boy: eggs over easy, biscuits, bacon, juice, coffee, avocado slices, tomatoes, and roses for the presentation. His 1st clue was waiting on the tray as well.

2.

Clue #1 was a gift certificate for a hot shave at Aidan Gill ("FOR MEN"). This is BEFORE. *scruffy*

This is AFTER. *smooth as a baby's behind* The shave was SO close and intense that it shaved the color off his shirt, too.

Aidan Gill is a fun & swank barber shop that has old-fashioned barber chairs and uses brushed-on shaving cream and lots of hot towels - plus each customer gets a free drink of their choice :)

3.

The barber gave Adam clue #2, which was a gift certificate to his local comic book hangout. We lazily perused the shelves until Adam's hands were full o' books, and while checking out, the cashier practically had to hit Adam upside the head with his next clue (it was displayed prominently next to the checkout area, but Adam didn't notice it until the guy slapped his receipt on top of it. :D)

4.

Clue #3 was a bag of oatmeal raisin cookies from La Madeleine, one of my (and Adam's) favorite restaurants. We munched down dessert & drinks and Adam puzzled out his next clue. This was the only one that actually demanded some deciphering, though this was more due to my lack of artistic skills than cleverness. (image of clue below)

Adam: "Um... Pizza..Mouse? Car-Ribs-Peas? Westbank!"

5.  He figured out that it was supposed to look like "Pie-Rats, Car-Rib-Bean, WestBank" and we thusly set off in the direction of AMC Westbank Palace Cinema to see the new pirate flick. It's nothing brilliant, but it was fun nonetheless.

6. On the way to the theatre, we had some time to kill, so I pointed Adam down a quick detour to show him a tree I'd discovered at Audubon Park.  Apparently it's called the Tree of Life, and a popular destination for an outdoor wedding.  IT IS MASSIVE.

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7. After enjoying our cinematic experience, I handed Adam the last clue and congratulated him on making it thus far.  The clue was a menu for a swank little restaurant on Magazine St. that we'd been eyeballing for a while, and we made it just in time for our 7pm reservations.  I'd forgotten to pack a change of clothes for Adam (d'oh!), but these people were not as picky as Commander's Palace (which specifies on the website and on phone reservations that suits and jackets are recommended, jeans are not allowed.), and all was well.


They invited us to the bar to wait for our table to be ready, and when we were led to the table, Adam's BIG FINAL  gift was pre-set at his seat on the table, waiting for him.


This was it:

In its case

Out of case! Voila - typewriter!

The typewriter above was just a stand-in - I wanted him to actually choose his own typewriter, but didn't want to just hand him a piece of paper with a photo of a typewriter on it. (lame) So I rented this one from a retro-antique shop for a week. :)  He still hasn't made his final choice, but he's leaning towards a small, sleek Hermes Rocket, like the one pictured here: http://www.bluemooncamera.com/photo_essay.php?id=14


When his machine arrives, you can rest assured there will be pictures of the happy, noisy writer to follow.

We topped his birthday off with some spirited research as to what our next jobs will entail - we're both eager for the next chapter of our lives and it was fun talking through the options. Asia, France and Ecuador are among the discussion topics...Stay tuned!