NoDa is teh stupiest name for anything EVER and I mean EVER Before we blogged Mt. Cat and I went off on this stupidly named contrived neighborhood trying to steal itself from SoHo. (for those who don't know that means 'south of Houston' pronounced HOUSE-ton not like the city in Texas) well NoDa means north of Davidson... guess what was where NODA is now about 7 years ago...THE HOOD, thats what. They sure as shit weren't calling it NoDa then. They were calling it 2nd wards battleground until Charlotte closed down the public assisted housing and sold it to developers... NODA is just stupid. they even have a contrived coffee shop there named the 'Smelly Cat' coffee shop...wonder where they came up with that? There is nothing worse than copying something so obviously and creating a contrived fake neighborhood unless you do it badly...
Gee AAAAP after reading Docs comment it's tough to imagine that you could possibly have had a good time in NoDa. But I'm glad you did, it sounded real nice even. I had great visions of your night out. sounded like fun! Doc makes it sound like a night in the ghetto! I'm going to believe you on this one. Love the line from your kids."This sucks"
May 5, 2008 at 1:14 PM
Anonymous said...
Okay this may sound crazy, but ummm what is this peach fest? I feel like I am out of the loop here!! I take a lil time off and ummm I forget things,, I prolly read the post and commented and still forgot!
Mic... It's Charlotte trying to imitate NY that makes me mad. It's a nice area and all that, I just wish they had had enough creativity to name it something unique instead of trying to steal an identity from elswhere.
Cinder!!
Peachfest is a little celebration we are going to have on Tuesday May 20th startign at noon. We are going to have some fun. A Cyber-blog party of sorts where we will have an edition of Tuesday word game and try to get 500 comments in one afternoon! you are welcome and of course bring all of your friends... I have no problem with people inviting others. We will have drinks (fuzzy navels w/ peach schnapps), peach cobbler, peach t-shirts, and all kids of stuff! Please join us!
What a nice weekend. I am not sure how I feel about camping anymore. I did it a lot when I was a kid, but I am more of a hotel or rental house kind of person these days. But for kids camping is always a hit.
Doc--Wow! What's your deal? Yes, it may have been the Hood in earlier years but it has been experiencing a revival the past few. It is really fun and much different from what you're remembering, I'm sure.
Knight--that thought crossed my mind also
Micky-T--thanks for not getting sucked in by Doc's rant. Not sure what his issue is with this. I think he's just jealous that I had such a great weekend and he was stuck home cleaning carpets!
Doc--why shouldn't they try to emmulate NYC? Charlotte is (supposedly) a cultural place. Yeah, they could have had more creativity in naming but why do you care so much?
Karen--I hear ya on the hotel/rental thing. But, as long as I have access to flush toliets, hot shower and air mattress I could camp for 3 or 4 days with no problem. I really am a fan of the outdoors (shut-up Doc!).
Yeah I think Doc's jealous...though the overpriced condos they have put up do piss a lot of people off, lol! It is a nice place as long as you don't turn down the wrong street that takes you right into Crackmethville.
Now if you really want to take your life into your own hands venture down to Plaza Midwood...sounds like a great time. Well except for the camping! *shudder*
It's not me that is jealous... It's Charlotte that is jealous. Why try and create something contrived like that? Make your own tradition... Oh yeah thats right we are Charlotte NC we steal our traditions from other places. Sorry ya'll but I am actually from here and this neighborhood naming is just typical Charlotte wannabe someone else... sorry to have poo-pooed on your weekend thing but everytime I hear 'NODA' I want to pull my fingernails out.
(and I am surely not jealous of your camping. Give me my rug Doctor any weekend)
And Mic... You have to remember to pronounce Houston Street like HOUSE-tun... in New York the street is pronounced like that and the City in Texas is procounced YOO-stun
Charlotte is a wannabe city. We have always been jealous of the bigger cities always comparing ourselves to Atlanta or NY etc. Instead of just being Charlotte.
What does Charlotte have going for it that is unique? Ummm well we are the headquarters for 2 of the US's 5 biggest banks, NASCAR was invented here and it's all centered here. But most other stuff we have borrowed or stolen from elsewhere.... Heck it's hard to actually find people who are originally from here. Everyone is from NY, NJ, WVa, Ohio, or PA. Heck there are as many Pittsburgh Steeler fans here as Carolina Panther fans.
No Shit? So it's full of Half-Backs! You know the people who go to FL from up north cause they think thats the PLACE TO GO but find it's so damn hot in the summer they come half way back up to settle.
South of Davidson Street = Piedmont Courts... (or at least used to be. I haven't been there in awhile) I think Miss Merry said it best 'Crackmethville'
Sounds fun! Except for the camping. Blech. My idea of roughing it is a Holiday Inn cuz they are pretty scary. I really should go on dates with my husband but after you pay for a sitter and then dinner and whatever else you're going to do it's expensive and .. eh .. I'd rather have a Wii than a date. ;)
I'm laughing at all this NoDa/Soho stuff. The artists taking over Brooklyn came up with the neighborhood now known as Dumbo. "Down under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass." I like that one though. One of my good friends from New York recently got married and moved into a condo in the NoDa area.
Tali--I LOVE Wii! I am totally addicted to Guitar Hero. I just found out my parents bought both for when the grandkids visit this summer. The Chiles will have to pry the controller from my cold dead hands to play.
Boo hoo woe is me. I didn't get to play today. My computer at work was just plain old SHIT. I was thinking I may have to take a personal day May 20 2008 at noon EST so I can participate in Peach Fest. aaaaPie I thought it sounded like you had a glorious night out. I liked camping as a kid. Feel sorry for any Adult that didn't get to experience it as a child. Now we motorhome it. Well time for dinner. Imagine that Chinese on Cinco De Mayo, ha!
This was my first camping weekend of the season too! Got my Taurus stuckin the sand at Pismo beach, but it was a GREAT time. Camp fires are my favorite thing in the world.
I've had a very busy and interesting weekend. Let me just start off by saying May is my favorite month. There are many reasons for this...not the least of which is my birthday. But also because the weather is great, (especially in the South), it's time for sundresses and short-shorts, there are tons of stuff to do everywhere, and people are generally in a happy mood to be out of the winter doldrums. So I secured a babysitter for the Chiles for Fri night and told Hubby that it was his turn to plan (since I've done the last 20 or so dates). I was expecting dinner and a movie (since that's his usual repetoire), which was fine. However, he surprised me by actually doing research (and asking his Admin (who's single and 20 something...nuff said)) about where a good place to go would be. He wanted something with live music and activity. (Hubby is an introvert so this was a shocker!)
So he tells me we're going to an area of Charlotte known as NoDa. This is a very artsy neighborhood and it just happened that there was a Gallery Crawl that night with various live music venues. FUN! After we arrive and find a parking spot, we decided to get supper at [Image]Boudreaux's. I am a HUGE fan of Creole/Cajun food so I was excited. The Alligator Bites were good but the Shrimp and Crawfish Etoufee was ASTOUNDING! Hubby and I shared so that we could have dessert too. The Bread Pudding was a little cinnamon-y for my taste but I definately didn't have trouble finishing it off. :)
We then strolled through the neighborhood, checking out the art and local flavor. In stopping to listen to one of the live bands outdoors we were witness to some severe bumping and grinding. It was not even 9pm and this couple was acting like they must have started drinking at 3. Those of us observing were talking about taking up a collection to get them a room somewhere. Now, lest you think I'm a prude (you should know better than that anyway) I have no problem with PDAs. However, I do believe that some things should be done in the private of your own home, hotel room, or at least a back alley. Maybe if the couple were attractive I wouldn't have been as offended. Hell, maybe I was jealous I wasn't that drunk too!
[Image]So on we mosied down the street. At The Evening Muse, we caught the tail-end of a father and son guitar duo. After that was a girl named Nicolette Emanuelle who is very folksy-indie ish. She has a fairly decent voice but can sometimes get a little nasal. One song in particular caught my attention. It was entitled "To My Drunk Friends". Now that alone intrigued me but it was the chorus that made me turn to Hubby and say "Did I hear that right?" "Maybe you're coaxial, maybe you're bipolar. Well, I'm bi all the time..." Okay, then. Nothing like broadcasting that to a group of drunk strangers. Now the funny part of this is that Hubby and I had been wondering if SHE was not, or used to be, a HE. Well...that would make you "bi all the time". After that it was time to get back home to rescuepay the sitter. On to Saturday. The main event of this day was our families first ever camping trip. I have not camped in a good 15-16 years and usually prefer the local Hamption Inn. However, this was a church activity and sounded like fun for 1 evening. When we pulled up to the campsite, the Chiles got out and looked at the bare ground and trees and proclaimed that "this sucks". Now, they love to play outside and collect rocks and leaves and such so this was a bit of a surprise. I asked them to please have an open mind and we would try and have a good time. Let me just say that by [Image]Sunday morning as we were breaking camp they thought this was the best thing ever! Cooking over the fire definately appealed to the little pyromaniac. We ended the weekend with a little mini-golf (or putt-putt as they say in the South). All-in-all this was one of the better weekends. We'll see what next week brings!
-As American as Apple Pie
posted by As American as Apple Pie at 12:08 PM on May 5, 2008
41 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formNoDa is teh stupiest name for anything EVER and I mean EVER Before we blogged Mt. Cat and I went off on this stupidly named contrived neighborhood trying to steal itself from SoHo. (for those who don't know that means 'south of Houston' pronounced HOUSE-ton not like the city in Texas) well NoDa means north of Davidson... guess what was where NODA is now about 7 years ago...THE HOOD, thats what. They sure as shit weren't calling it NoDa then. They were calling it 2nd wards battleground until Charlotte closed down the public assisted housing and sold it to developers... NODA is just stupid. they even have a contrived coffee shop there named the 'Smelly Cat' coffee shop...wonder where they came up with that? There is nothing worse than copying something so obviously and creating a contrived fake neighborhood unless you do it badly...
Can you tell I have stong feelings on this??
May 5, 2008 at 12:31 PM
Sounds like a good Friday night to me and If you are a lonely singer why not announce you are bi in a song just in case someone is interested?
May 5, 2008 at 12:50 PM
Gee AAAAP after reading Docs comment it's tough to imagine that you could possibly have had a good time in NoDa.
But I'm glad you did, it sounded real nice even. I had great visions of your night out. sounded like fun!
Doc makes it sound like a night in the ghetto! I'm going to believe you on this one.
Love the line from your kids."This sucks"
May 5, 2008 at 1:14 PM
Okay this may sound crazy, but ummm what is this peach fest? I feel like I am out of the loop here!! I take a lil time off and ummm I forget things,, I prolly read the post and commented and still forgot!
Forgive me Doc and Mt. Cat!
May 5, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Mic... It's Charlotte trying to imitate NY that makes me mad. It's a nice area and all that, I just wish they had had enough creativity to name it something unique instead of trying to steal an identity from elswhere.
Cinder!!
Peachfest is a little celebration we are going to have on Tuesday May 20th startign at noon. We are going to have some fun. A Cyber-blog party of sorts where we will have an edition of Tuesday word game and try to get 500 comments in one afternoon! you are welcome and of course bring all of your friends... I have no problem with people inviting others. We will have drinks (fuzzy navels w/ peach schnapps), peach cobbler, peach t-shirts, and all kids of stuff! Please join us!
May 5, 2008 at 1:37 PM
What a nice weekend. I am not sure how I feel about camping anymore. I did it a lot when I was a kid, but I am more of a hotel or rental house kind of person these days. But for kids camping is always a hit.
May 5, 2008 at 1:42 PM
Doc--Wow! What's your deal? Yes, it may have been the Hood in earlier years but it has been experiencing a revival the past few. It is really fun and much different from what you're remembering, I'm sure.
Knight--that thought crossed my mind also
Micky-T--thanks for not getting sucked in by Doc's rant. Not sure what his issue is with this. I think he's just jealous that I had such a great weekend and he was stuck home cleaning carpets!
May 5, 2008 at 1:44 PM
Doc--why shouldn't they try to emmulate NYC? Charlotte is (supposedly) a cultural place. Yeah, they could have had more creativity in naming but why do you care so much?
Karen--I hear ya on the hotel/rental thing. But, as long as I have access to flush toliets, hot shower and air mattress I could camp for 3 or 4 days with no problem. I really am a fan of the outdoors (shut-up Doc!).
May 5, 2008 at 1:48 PM
Not sure what my issue is? Not sure I can spell it out any clearer.
May 5, 2008 at 1:52 PM
Yeah I think Doc's jealous...though the overpriced condos they have put up do piss a lot of people off, lol! It is a nice place as long as you don't turn down the wrong street that takes you right into Crackmethville.
Now if you really want to take your life into your own hands venture down to Plaza Midwood...sounds like a great time. Well except for the camping! *shudder*
May 5, 2008 at 1:55 PM
It's not me that is jealous... It's Charlotte that is jealous. Why try and create something contrived like that? Make your own tradition... Oh yeah thats right we are Charlotte NC we steal our traditions from other places. Sorry ya'll but I am actually from here and this neighborhood naming is just typical Charlotte wannabe someone else... sorry to have poo-pooed on your weekend thing but everytime I hear 'NODA' I want to pull my fingernails out.
(and I am surely not jealous of your camping. Give me my rug Doctor any weekend)
May 5, 2008 at 2:04 PM
Doc, I'll definitly side with you on the name, NoDa ...Duh!!!
I never new what SoHo meant! thanks
May 5, 2008 at 2:07 PM
So you don't want to go have dinner in NoDa for my b-day?
May 5, 2008 at 2:11 PM
No... DUH !!!
May 5, 2008 at 2:13 PM
Hey Doc I don't know ANYTHING about Charlotte but the wannabe stuff would bother me too.
What exactly DOES Charlotte have going for it?
May 5, 2008 at 2:13 PM
And Mic... You have to remember to pronounce Houston Street like HOUSE-tun... in New York the street is pronounced like that and the City in Texas is procounced YOO-stun
May 5, 2008 at 2:15 PM
But it's still So Ho right?
May 5, 2008 at 2:16 PM
Charlotte is a wannabe city. We have always been jealous of the bigger cities always comparing ourselves to Atlanta or NY etc. Instead of just being Charlotte.
What does Charlotte have going for it that is unique? Ummm well we are the headquarters for 2 of the US's 5 biggest banks, NASCAR was invented here and it's all centered here. But most other stuff we have borrowed or stolen from elsewhere.... Heck it's hard to actually find people who are originally from here. Everyone is from NY, NJ, WVa, Ohio, or PA. Heck there are as many Pittsburgh Steeler fans here as Carolina Panther fans.
May 5, 2008 at 2:21 PM
Oh yeah, It's SoHo !!
I guess if we are naming neighborhoods like that you could call my neighborhood SoEasy.... Because my neighborhood is South of Easy street !!!
May 5, 2008 at 2:23 PM
Aren't you?
May 5, 2008 at 2:24 PM
Is South of Davidson Street called SoDa?
AAAAP, What a lovely family you have.
- NoMoCa (North of The Mountain Cat)
May 5, 2008 at 2:26 PM
No Shit? So it's full of Half-Backs! You know the people who go to FL from up north cause they think thats the PLACE TO GO but find it's so damn hot in the summer they come half way back up to settle.
May 5, 2008 at 2:26 PM
LOL @ SoDa
South of Davidson Street = Piedmont Courts... (or at least used to be. I haven't been there in awhile) I think Miss Merry said it best 'Crackmethville'
May 5, 2008 at 2:29 PM
Hey .....did you see that Mexican Mountain Cat that just commented?
May 5, 2008 at 2:29 PM
I'm LMAO at that pic MC!!!!
May 5, 2008 at 2:31 PM
Sounds fun! Except for the camping. Blech. My idea of roughing it is a Holiday Inn cuz they are pretty scary. I really should go on dates with my husband but after you pay for a sitter and then dinner and whatever else you're going to do it's expensive and .. eh .. I'd rather have a Wii than a date. ;)
May 5, 2008 at 2:32 PM
It's Cinco De Mountain O !!
Yeah, It looks like his head has grown since that pic in the slideshow was taken... Either that or the sombrero shrunk.
May 5, 2008 at 2:33 PM
I'm laughing at all this NoDa/Soho stuff. The artists taking over Brooklyn came up with the neighborhood now known as Dumbo. "Down under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass." I like that one though.
One of my good friends from New York recently got married and moved into a condo in the NoDa area.
May 5, 2008 at 3:12 PM
LMAO @ Cinco de Mountain O!
Mt Cat--Thanks! That pic is actually from last May at my graduation, hence the gown and hood. I have GOT to get some current pics on my 'puter!
May 5, 2008 at 3:25 PM
Tali--I LOVE Wii! I am totally addicted to Guitar Hero. I just found out my parents bought both for when the grandkids visit this summer. The Chiles will have to pry the controller from my cold dead hands to play.
May 5, 2008 at 3:28 PM
Thanks however I traded that small hat for a much bigger sombrero. Ole!
May 5, 2008 at 3:47 PM
LOL! That is too funny Apple! I stayed up until 4am playing Guitar Hero for the first time on Sat! I am still paying for that foolishness!!
May 5, 2008 at 4:34 PM
Does camping in an RV when you're 8 years old count as camping. If not, then I've never done it.
May 5, 2008 at 4:42 PM
Doc, what crawled up your butt?
AAAAP, I'm glad you had a good time.. looks like you and I both had wonderful weekends! YAY!
I like the open flame cooking.. not so much the sleeping on the ground part.
I spent a glorious weekend down South and I may have to move. :)
May 5, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Doc.. I thought NASCAR started with Raymond Parks and moonshine in and around Atlanta... ??? With Red Byron???
Poor Jr, it really sucked when he ended up swirling around like that... so close... so close!
May 5, 2008 at 5:03 PM
Boo hoo woe is me. I didn't get to play today. My computer at work was just plain old SHIT. I was thinking I may have to take a personal day May 20 2008 at noon EST so I can participate in Peach Fest. aaaaPie I thought it sounded like you had a glorious night out. I liked camping as a kid. Feel sorry for any Adult that didn't get to experience it as a child. Now we motorhome it.
Well time for dinner. Imagine that Chinese on Cinco De Mayo, ha!
May 5, 2008 at 6:19 PM
Anndi... That moonshine running was in the NC hills.
plus the first official NASCAR race was held in Charlotte NC in 1949
May 5, 2008 at 6:36 PM
Appalachia is hardly restricted to just North Carolina sugar...
(how'sit a Canuck knows bout Ray Sparks? :P)
May 5, 2008 at 6:59 PM
Anndi- I got some Appalachia here in East Tennessee.
And you can be sure as Canucks know whats cold, thet thar's sum good ole boys still keepin still!
May 5, 2008 at 7:12 PM
I get it now!! LOL!!!!! I have read that Doc.. I just did not remember!
May 5, 2008 at 8:22 PM
This was my first camping weekend of the season too! Got my Taurus stuckin the sand at Pismo beach, but it was a GREAT time. Camp fires are my favorite thing in the world.
May 5, 2008 at 8:45 PM