Of course, being handed an estimated $2 million in cash and property would brighten anyone's day. Myra Lewis is the winner of the HGTV Dream Home 2010.

That means she got the keys to a $1 million plus, 3,900 square-foot home in the East Mountains, which is fully furnished with modern appliances, home entertainment systems, couches, beds and all manner of high-end stuff. She also won the 2010 GMC Terrain in the garage of the home and $500,000 in cash.

"My feet are still floating about an inch off the ground," she said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Lewis, who works for assistant director of Dillard University's Deep South Center for Environmental Justice in New Orleans actually lost her home to damages as a result of Hurricane Katrina, she said.

"It was a house that I was really, really in love with," she said. "It was a gem in Gentilly (Louisiana)."

There were four feet of toxic water in the house, full of chemicals that didn't just ruin everything they touched, but also permeated the air and Lewis' clothes in upstairs closets and other items, as well as affecting her health.

During her efforts to wade through the wreckage and salvage what she could, Lewis developed "Katrina cough," she said.

"People that are not here in New Orleans think that we had an event and it occurred and now it's over," she said. "It has affected every aspect of our lives."

That doesn't mean the promise of rugged mountain vistas, great food and pleasant climate of New Mexico, not to mention a $1 million home to live in, are part of some escape from Louisiana for Lewis, however.

Although a lot has been made in the national press of her and her son's interest in the art scene in Santa Fe, it's going to take more than that to dislodge her from the Big Easy, which has it all, she said.

"(It's) the mix of culture, art, music and food and people, genuinely nice people," she said. "If you drink from the Mississippi water, it gets in your heart and in your soul."

It also is where her family is. Her son, Chris, is working toward an art degree at Delgado Community College, Lewis said, and her sister, Diedre Charlot, lives across the street. She said she also is in the middle of a big grant project at work that could lead to training in green jobs — such as environmental remediation and construction — for people in cities across the nation, including Detroit, Atlanta, and Savannah.

The solar panels and heavily insulated walls incorporated in the home in the East Mountains were important to her she said, although she expects there were likely some sacrifices in efficiency made to accommodate the views. From inside the house it is possible to get an unobstructed look at the nearby ski runs in the Sandia Mountains as well as the Sangre De Cristos near Santa Fe and the San Pedro Mountains to the east.

Her plan, she said, is to split time between New Orleans and her East Mountains home, if she can afford to do it, and if she can keep up with her work schedule.

The taxes that have to be paid have been a major roadblock for previous Dream Home winners, most of whom have sold the houses.

"I have so many things to work out," she said.

Lewis has been to New Mexico twice and said she really enjoyed her time here, but regrets not riding the Sandia Peak Tramway. That is definitely on her list of things to do when HGTV flies her and her sister out to see her new house for the first time at the end of April, she said.