| One the greatest American pastimes is shopping. Whether you enjoy window shopping, buying knickknacks as a tourist, shopping online, or simply walking the local mall, there is something for everyone. Shopping has become central to our way of life, with brand names like Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger covering everything from perfume to designer jeans. First-rate shopping is easy to find with stores like Nordstrom, Nieman Marcus, and Bloomingdale’s in malls across the nation. The Mall of America is the nation’s largest, sporting a huge food court, an indoor amusement park, and shopping for all ages. A simple pair of jeans can turn into a day’s project, presenting choices like loose-fit versus boot-cut, flared versus tight, low-rise or the classic fit? Online shopping simplifies your search with websites like buyerdom.com and shopzilla.com, and the every popular Ebay. Magazines like Lucky Magazine and Domino Magazine feature online and local shopping guides from home décor to date night apparel. The Fashion Editor is one of the largest online fashion and trend setting guides, offering advice on the latest styles, the fashion industry, and famous stylists. It’s not just the ladies that find shopping addicting, with AskMen.com featuring monthly fashion and shopping question and answers. Of course, most men would rather be seen at the nearby Lowe’s or Home Depot for home fix-ups and furnishings instead. Sporting goods, electronics, and entertainment are big among most, and feature venues like BestBuy, RadioShack, and Sports Authority. After a long day, Barne’s & Noble and Borders are popular bookstores offering comfy chairs for shoppers to peruse their books in luxury before purchasing. With so many shoppers and so much to buy, yesterday’s purchases are quickly passed on to consignment shops and secondhand stores like Name Brand Exchange, sold at rummage sales, or donated to The Salvation Army and Goodwill. It’s sometimes said that there is no state quite like Louisiana. Truth is, there is no state like Louisiana, period. Where else are so many remnants of French Rule still in effect in America? Where else can you find the original Mardi Gras? And where else can you party all night, any day of the week, watch incredible live jazz shows, get your beer and wine in a to-go cup, and drink it on the street while en route to your next destination? Any American should be able to answer these questions without help. It’s the one and only French Quarter in historic New Orleans, Louisiana. New Orleans, embattled by hurricane Katrina, but infused with a spirit to endure, is still one of the hottest spots in the U.S. for unique culture, unique atmosphere, and most notably, unique and delicious cuisine. Even outside the city, and indeed throughout the state, can you find people who’ve called Louisiana home for generations, so much so that the dialect and accent are unmistakable with those from any where else in America. And with hundreds of miles of coastline along the aqua blue Gulf of Mexico, plenty of plantations, prodigious pine forests, and serious swamplands, bogs, and bayous where you’ll find an environment like no other on the planet, its an understatement to point out this state’s diversity. So much so, that it’s divided into five distinct regions, Greater New Orleans, Plantation land, Cajun Country, Crossroads, and Sportsman’s Paradise. So whether you’re fishing for catfish, eating jambalaya, drinking on Bourbon Street, frog-gigging in the bayou, or simply relaxing at a bed and breakfast surrounded by Southern charm, you’ll know one thing for sure, you couldn’t be anywhere else on the planet but Louisiana. New Orleans, Mardi Gras, French Quarter, Bourbon Street, Katrina, Gulf of Mexico, cajun, jazz, catfish, jambalaya window shopping, online shopping, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Marni, designer jeans, perfume, Nordstrom, Nieman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Mall of America, loose-fit jeans, boot-cut jeans, flared jeans, low-rise fit, classic fit, buyerdom.com, shopzilla.com, Ebay, Lucky Magazine, Domino Magazine, The Fashion Editor, fashion industry, AskMen.com, Lowe’s, Home Depot, home fix-ups, Barne’s & Noble, Borders, Amazon.com, RadioShack, CompUSA, BestBuy, Sports Authority, consignment shops, secondhand stores, Name Brand Exchange, rummage sales, The Salvation Army, Goodwill, sporting goods, electronics, furnishings, home décor
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