Grab yer booty and say "aaaaarrrrrrrrrrr" + VIDEOS!

You know what time it is....

Pirate Ball Stuff time.

Here are some photos and words and stuff and at the bottom of the post are two videos of my performance. Enjoy.

About the outfit:

I'm wearing a long sleeve sheer wrap top but despite the top being a 2X it still wasn't enough to cover my bosoms. So I wore a bodice over it for support and extra color. I tucked the sleeves upwards into my bra straps to keep the bodice straps from slipping down when I dance. Make sense?

The sheer top and 35 yard skirt are from eBay. Yes the skirt is made from 35 yards of material!

The yellow bodice was handmade by a friend. I'm wearing it inside out since the outer part is a dull orange - just not bright enough.

Me and husband.

The turnout was bigger this year. There were a lot of unfamiliar faces and many people came from out of town. Yippee! We did our usual live music, silent auction and costume contested hosted by Jack Sparrow.

Here is the official crew of the Pirates of Texaaaaarrkana.

And you asked for it so here it is. Me dancing!
I am performing two Russian Gypsy influenced dances.
(Prepare for my list of excuses)
As my skirt is too gathered, I was robbed of a little yardage from my skirt and I was unable to flourish as much as I would like. Had I have known that beforehand, I would have had a much bigger skirt made.

In the video you'll notice a distracting bosom gap in my bodice. Sorry - just giving you warning. I loosened the side laces of the bodice and ran a dress rehearsal and realized I needed to let it out more so the front would fully close... but I forgot to do that. So yeah... bosom gap.
A no no in rennie costuming.

The first  dance is to a traditional Gypsy song, Hai Ne Ne Ne.

The second dance is to Gogol Bordello's "Start Wearing Purple".
I just couldn't give 100% in this routine.
At the very beginning of the dance my feet cramped up horribly and I was extremely out of breath from the tightness of the bodice. I pushed through this routine praying I wouldn't black-out. I was getting tunnel vision and my chest was aching but dang it I made it. I clipped out a little bit of the dance and improvised with some crowd interaction to give myself a break.
Improv.
That's the business of show folks.
And lesson learned:
I will NEVER dance in a boned bodice ever ever ever again.



The part with my husband was improvised as we decided not to do the "pull purple scarves from wife's bosom trick". I failed to replace that gag with something else.  He had no idea what I was going to do and neither did I.  I saw his standing there and thought,  "Sure, why not?"
SMOOCHY TIME!

Bodice free is the way to be!!

(end of the night strip time)

a dreary cheery fiesta

Yesterday, the dark menacing weather was fit for nothing more than a spooky Halloween celebration- not a colorful fiesta.

The clouds were black, the sun was no where to be found and the humidity was a thick 90%.

BUT this is Texas in July. Just as long as the temperature is under 100F, ominous skies at an outdoor baby shower are more than welcome. The only problem the weather created was dreary photos that needed some serious editing. Thank you Picmonkey. I was only able to do so much to brighten the photos, but oh well. You get the point of what's going on here, right?

For those of you just now tuning in, I hosted my own baby shower. Why? Because no one offered. Sad face? Nah. That's not really a big deal to me -  I love throwing parties and I've always wanted to host a fiesta style shindig, so I figured, why not do one for myself?

I set up a "build a burrito" station for our eleven guests. The burrito filling choices were: fajita style grilled chicken, seasoned ground beef, Mexican style rice, shredded cheese, refried pinto beans, refried black beans, sauteed mushrooms, pico de gallo, chopped olives (which every mistook for caviar), sour cream and guacamole. There were also tamales and chips with salsa and queso.....

 AND CUPCAKES!!!

Since everything was store bought, food setup was pretty easy. All I had to do was open jars or cans, put it into a dish and microwave it if necessary. Easy peasy. Eh, I made the ground beef and sauteed the mushrooms but that's all. During food prep, some nearby construction accidentally cut a water line and the running water went out. That proved to be pretty darn inconvenient for me and the guests had to deal with the whole "If it's brown flush it down. If it's yellow it's all mellow" thing. Totally not cool but we managed to survive the entire party that way.

 So that I wouldn't exhaust myself before the party started at 5pm, I slowly started to decorate the house at around noon. All decor was purchased at the Dollar Tree, the tables were borrowed from our church and the 1950s folding chairs belong to us. I made the Mexican style paper flowers myself. There were more inside but I didn't get any photos of them.

 As bloggers, many of us have to take our own photos at outings which usually results in the complete absence of self in the pics with the exception of that one selfie you managed to sneak off and snap in the bathroom. Does it bother you that you're always the only one taking photos at events and gatherings?  Wouldn't it be nice if you could just sit back and enjoy what's going on and have someone else take the photos for a change?

  I get a little tired of chasing people down, handing them my camera, "Hey! Would you mind taking a photo of me please? I just need one. Yeah, just press that button. OH! while you're at it, can you get me and my husband and my baby too?? Hey! Don't walk away from me! I need photos!! I'm a blogger! Help me!!!"

  

Yeah, I know- selfies don't always happen in the bathroom...

 And and that's my mom in the middle and my big sister on the right there. I hear tale that we all look very much alike but I don't see it. 

So that was my Saturday. How was yours? Read any good books or killed any endangered animals lately?

a pirate's life is not for me

 Last night me and my crew co-hosted our town's first ever Pirate's Ball on the lawn of a lovely Victorian mansion downtown. Yes, we CO-hosted. We were not alone in this project. I decided to team up with a local non-profit to help make the event bigger, better and more diverse... but things started to get pretty ugly during planning. I don't want to go into much details about all that but I will say we probably won't be co-hosting another event with them. Preesh the help... but not the stress.

Me and our new friend and faire supporter Fred Flores, Jack Sparrow impersonator.

 I'm really not a fan of pirate stuff but I know there are plenty of pirate fans out there and we've been wanting to host a more historical fundraising event so I came up with the idea for a Pirate's Ball a couple months ago. Everyone liked the idea so I went with it. 

 Dr. Scott the Pirate Shantyman, a regular performer at out faire, a huge supporter and all around great guy.

  And the Queen's guard in the middle. All I can say is... awesome. Irrelevant, but awesome. His hat looked like a cow had licked it but.... still awesome.

 I used to be in this band waaay back before it even had a name. They're good friends and great entertainers. 

 My husband looking slightly confused.

 Donated petit fours!!! FREE FOOD IS AWESOME FOOD!

Here's a friends of mine who's four months prego with her first baby. She decided to bare it all because her costumes and corsets won't fit anymore! I would totally do the same if my belly didn't look like I just got mauled by a tiger.

  And of course we had a raffle for three prizes.

 Attendance was around 40. Our goal was 100, but  there just aren't that many people in this town who are interested in having fun. PLUS there was another event going on that same night, hosted by OUR co-hosts. Yes, our co-hosts held another event on the same night as this one. Why? Good question. Your guess is as good as mine. Like a stated before: we won't be doing another event with them. 

Yes! She has a little ship in her hat! 

 Belly dancers are rare around here. Our original go-to dancer already had plans, the next group we booked had to drop out but luckily before they did they hooked us up with another group. Loving the mermaid themed costumes.

 

 We ended the night with a rather rowdy costume contest that was judged by none other than Jack Sparrow himself.

Now it's Sunday evening and I'm stiff, I'm sore and I'm exhausted. 

It took everything I have to get dressed and put on makeup to meet my brother and sister in-law for a Mexican lunch today. 

Ah, the ups and downs of planning events...

I love it all!

Our budget Costumes:

Husband

Vest - handmade by a friend for free

Shirt- from his Civil War reenacting days

Pants - Etsy

Boots - online renaissance store clearance

Tricorn - Awful $5 hat from local party supply store, stained black with shoe polish to conceal crappiness.

Me

Chemise - Ebay (the only chemise I could find that would fit over my belly)

Leggings - Walmart

Boots - handmedowns

Jewelry and acessories - cheap Ebay finds and gifts