Watermelon Auctioned for $83.

Okay, need to backtrack... (PS... some really cool stuff happened today, so this is lengthy)

At Bullets the other night, Kermit (we're besties now, I don't need to use his full name) auctioned a watermelon (for charity). It was a full out live bidding and the watermelon went for $83... to me.
No, that's not true. I did not spend $83 on a watermelon, but someone else did.
Now back to that hamburger I mentioned. Mindy, some Habitat peeps (peeps being short for "people", not the marshmallow chickens, although I would not put that past Mindy and I) and I went to Port of Call for not only a delicious hamburger, but also for a very well done baked potato on the side with your choice of toppings... yummy.
Then we went to Love Lost Lounge where we had some beer and watched a spelling bee. Yes, a spelling bee. Many hipsters, hanging out in a bar, spelling words with shots of peppermint schnapps as a prize. Mindy and I stuck around for awhile and then went home.
The next day we went to build walls again. A snowball truck drove by and I had a spearmint and strawberry snowball. Odd flavor combo, but nonetheless delicious. Then Mindy and I went with Brittany (our friendly neighbor Americorp volunteer) to check out a container to see if there was room to put all the wall we built (the walls aren't being used until the end of the month). When Brittany opened the container, a heat wave came out. We went inside and in less than 2 minutes my shins were sweating. It was over 200 degrees in there. We all moved the walls... it was hot.
After work we went home, took a nap and then met up with the Habitat group and Brittany (her last day is tomorrow) to go to a New Orleans Zephyers baseball game. We ended up getting free tickets and it was a lot of fun.
Today we only worked in the morning (moving walls into the container of death... pretty sure I sweated off 10 pounds) and then leveling the ground for another house. Next Mindy and I and Alexis and Katie (from Canada) went to the Joint for BBQ... once again delicious... everyone LOVED it)
After that we drove down to the Lower Ninth Ward. We went to see the homes that Brad Pitt had financed... those were pretty cool, all self-sustaining house. One will even float if there is a flood! Next we drove down to the levees, walked along them (on the canal side on the Lower Ninth, the levees are solid concrete walls, on the Mississippi side they are concrete, but set up like sand dunes so there are trails on top of them). After that we stumbled across the Global Green homes. The are also self-sustaining and they actually have a home (where a volunteer lives) set up as a place to tour (with a guide) and learn about how the houses are built... REALLY.FREAKIN.COOL (Julie, you would LOVE to learn about them: http://www.globalgreen.org/neworleans/ ).
After that we went to a house dedication for Dalicia Freemon (and her two precious kids!). Well... this one was a little different than the last one I went to. Last time members of the church gave the homeowner the traditional Habitat gifts and explained the gifts (flowers, wine, bread, toolkit, keys... I think I'm missing something). However, this woman was not connected to the church who partners with Habitat, so volunteers were asked to give her the gifts and read about their meaning... I got to be the first person who gave the new homeowner her gift, flowers. It was an amazing experience and she was so grateful. One of the high school boys who'd been working with us had of course offered to give the wine, but then I suggested that since he was the only volunteer from New Orleans, he present the homeowner with the key to welcome her to the community... very cool. After that we got to go inside her house and I talked to her family (who had helped work so she could get her hours- each homeowner must put in 350 hours of "sweat equity" as a down payment). Even though us four girls (Me, Mindy, two Canadians:) ) had been sweating in the heat carrying heavy walls (3 blocks to the container), looking at this woman's house... we built someone's walls!!!!
Tonight we're going to dinner at Acme Oyster House... I'll let you know how that goes.
On Sunday we're going to a gospel brunch at the House of Blues!!