Today was a great day to be in New Orleans!

It was a day to raise a toast to our city.

Mardi Gras in the Who Dat Nation!!

Today was the culmination of a long and intense season of celebration in a city that has made celebrating an art form.  We've been double-dipping lately, reveling in our historic, first-ever, long-awaited, and prayed for Superbowl championship running  concurrently with Mardi Gras.

We showed the world how proud we are of our team, and how much pride in our city our Superbowl Saints have brought us, and that we are championship partyers! We showed that we really know how to  stage a parade, with many Mardi Gras krewes lending floats to the Superbowl parade, and having team members throw beads in true New Orleans tradition.

We've been combining our love of our Saints with our love of Mardi Gras, with Drew Brees reigning as Bacchus.

But mostly, we've been feeling good about living in New Orleans.

Our city, which was under water not too long ago, is now on top of the world.

Mardi Gras is truly a day to have fun, and since the weather cooperated, that is exactly what we did!

We celebrated life in a unique place.

A place that is a feast for the eyes.

With many traditions.

A city which is optimistically looking at its future.

Which lately, many have been very proud and happy to call home.

Happy Mardi Gras!!!!

All photos are from flickr or nola.com