A Gay Old Time

Allo good peoples!

How do these posts usually start?

Oh, yes.

Yesterday me and some of the crew of the Texarkana Renaissance Faire participated in the Texarkana Mardi Gras parade. 

The theme of the parade was "decades" so I chose the 1890s (ish) for my group since most of us already have Victorian(ish) costuming from steampunk events. I decorated a 12-ft trailer myself using plastic table cloths, flowers and paper doilies I got from the Just A Dollar that's going out of business so everything was $.69.

The float was supposed to be set up to look like a quaint little cafe on Bourbon Street but I was unable to pick up the bench, cafe table and streetlamp from my mom's place. So two of our dining chairs, plus two TV trays were set up to kind of act as a cafe setting. The day I was working on the float I saw one of the neighbors had been evicted and all of their furniture was out on the lawn, headed to be burned because it reeked horrifically of cat pish and other odors of general uncleanliness.

I was in need of two more chairs for the float so I held my breath and got two of their dining chairs and gave them a thorough power spray down after soaking the cushions in baking soda and Dawn dish soap. 

The ride down to the parade site made the float decor a little wonky but by that time I kind of didn't care anymore. I was so burnt out on float decorating.

Many of our folks were in Galveston for their Mardi Gras as the Pirates of the Caribbean so we were missing a few familiar faces. The good thing is, we had a few folks come in from Shreveport, LA to join us so we had plenty of folks!

My view from the float.

We dropped the kiddos off at their cousin's birthday party before the parade, so me and the husband were able to get in a little "us time" doing what we love to do: 

Looking weird and eating Cajun food.

Even at a crazy event like Mardi Gras we get stares but they're mostly followed by compliments and requests for photos. I actually love the attention and I love when little girls run up to me giggling and squealing because I look like some kind of Disney Princesses reject.

Have you ever had Étouffée? It's a very popular cajun dish; a kind of stew of shellfish served over rice. It's usually made with crawfish but this vendor was selling it with shrimp which makes it a little more affordable to make and sell. Still great tho!

The band featured at Mardi Gras was a group called Pelican212; a Dixieland style family band fronted by twin 11-year old trumpet players in shiny suits and glittery hi-top sneakers. They've been on Little Big Shots and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and they are so full of spunk and raw talent.

The adorable gorup!

You can see one of their amazing performances on Steve Harvey's Little Big Shots here:

Did you do anything for Mardi Gras this weekend?

Mardi Blah

It's wacky. It's festive. It's steeped in tradition.

It's MARDI GRAS 

(er, Mardi Gras Saturday really - Mardi Gras is Tuesday)

This is Texarkana's third Mardi Gras parade and the area was packed. I like to see that! The parade, which is supposed to be the highlight of the day was kind of lame - but hey, we got to eat some awesome gumbo, fried pork... stuff... and we got to have a nice family outing.

We've all be sick for about a month. We're just spreading the same germs around and it's driving me nuts. I've been running a mild fever for a couple days, I'm coughing up bits of lung but I was more than ready to get out the darn house. Can't keep me from Mardi Gras!

GUMBO! GUMBO! GUMBO! GUMBO! GUMBO! GUMBO! GUMBO! GUMBO! GUMBO! GUMBO! GUMBO! GUMBO! GUMBO! GUMBO! GUMBO! GUMBO! 

What's gumbo you ask? It's a cajun stew I guess you could call it? It's crawfish in some kind of brown stuff, served over rice. You can add anything to your gumbo - traditionally shrimp, andouille, alligator (chicken if you've no gator) and crab.

I think I'm in the wrong line of business. I wanna blow bubbles for a living!

Does this outfit look familiar?

Since I decided to pass on participating in the parade I loaned out my costuming to a good friend who was walking with the rest of the faire folk. Isn't she adorable??

 Isn't this lamé gown awesome? She made it herself. Ruff, hat and all.She's one of my gypsies at the faire and a very, very loyal faire supporter.

 The dress below is also handmade. The lady below is a professional seamstress and sells costumes at the faire. She makes all her own stuff and wedding gowns and all sorts of awesomeness. 

 I got to catch up with the rest of the crew. Isn't it weird seeing me with the guys wearing street clothes?

Why did I pass on the parade? Well me and my husband were going to sign up for a ballroom dancing workshop (true) but we realized at the last minute it was scheduled for the same day as the parade. We REALLY wanted to do the dance class but I got pretty irritated that a city organization would schedule something like that DURING a major event also hosted by the city. So it was kind of my way of boycotting the workshop I guess.

This town isn't big enough for event competition. We all need to work together and when I see stuff like that, I see red. 

I didn't walk with the faire group because well, I'm sick and also I wanted to actually SEE a parade, not be in it. This was the second parade of got to watch and not participate in since I was a little girl. I've been in parades all my life! 

Cray!

Oh, and here's my face... and a Mardi Gras headband I bought for Cedar but thought it would look better on me.

Did you do anything for Mardi Gras this Saturday? Got any plans for Tuesday?

uuuuuurrrggggggghhhh....

 Yesterday we had a booth at Railfest to promote the faire and all that good stuff but the weather was crazy awful. It was pretty warm and humid to begin with and then it rained. And then the sun came out and the air got all steamy and gross. Another little storm would roll through and then here we go again. This happened SIX TIMES. I was so frustrated with pulling in the the merch and scrambling under our tiny pop-up canopy with five other people over and over - I wanted to just run away, pick up some nachos, go home and watch Family Guy in the nude.

I was SO sweaty at the festival. My face was DRIPPING all day. I kept one of  Cedar's burp cloths in my hand to dab away the sweat as daintily as I could but it just kept coming and coming. My face was bloated and wet and I felt like soggy trash. I HATE that I sweat to much. 

Isn't there a surgery for excessive sweating??? Oh yeah! It's called gastric bypass surgery...

RAIN + HEAT = HUMIDITY + MY BLUBBER + THIS COSTUME =

SWEATY MISERY!

But I looked pretty good though, yeah?

Here is a sneak peek of my Daniella Noir the Gypsy Queen's costume. I will be joining the cast of my own faire in September  for those of you who don't pay attention already know.

I'm not wearing my hoop and crinoline that goes under the 25 yards of dip-dyed awesomeness because it was too effin' hot for that and I haven't added my bells and blings to the bodice yes and my headdress is nowhere near finished. But overall I think the costume is coming along quite nicely.

So here are some pics from the day. Ok...

Two of the women that help me with the faire make this awesome jewelry. On the left there, those are living plant necklaces! On the right, hand crafted chainmaille bracelets.

Found this in the ally.

My kiddos were there for a little while. Cedar partied til she passed out.

And that's it for Railfest. Let's get to the best part of this week.

DIY lavender absinthe.

Yup. We bought the mix at a faire in April. 

Husband was funneling the mix into the liquor but the funnel was a little wet to it was sticking to the inside. Sooo he used a chopstick to push it down aaand...

We're still cleaning out the house for the move but we haven't had time to look for a trailer. I've finally finished de-junking the bedroom and the closet. We haven't seen the floor of the closet in a couple of years! All those bags piled under there, that's costuming: steampunk, renaissance, Halloween, belly dance, accessories and more.  And look at aaaall those hangers I found taking up space on our racks and on the floor. Sheeeesh.

 I'm still pretty worn out from yesterday so the Husband took the kiddos to church so I could get a little more sleep but here I am blogging instead.

Time to go read what you guys have been up to now!

BYYYYYYYYEEE....

wine, beer, snap, tatt

 Yesterday me and the family went to our town's first ever WINE FESTIVAL.

Yes, folks. An "alternative" event that I DIDN'T host!

When I heard of the town getting a wine festival, I was a bit afraid for them taking such a big leap because I know from experience, Texarkana doesn't take to kindly to anything.... different.

Most Texarkana people like carnivals, monster truck rallies, rodeos and gun and knife shows.

This event was for "everyone else".

Texarkana, you nailed it!

Every vendor was a local business or restaurant. There were no loud buzzing trailers selling funnels cakes and over priced nachos. No blow up Spongebobs on a stick and no rowdy kids bopping each other with bootleg rainbow colored light sabers and best of all there wasn't a redneck in sight. 

At the festival we ran into a good friend...

 and more friends... and some others that I cut out so this post wouldn't run on for days...

Mingled with good people...

Saw some good arts and crafts...

 Ate some gooooood food - I'm munching on crawfish and grits and duck fat fries...

  Fell in love with this trailer. I thought about buying it off the vendor but I didn't have the cash and it didn't have a toilet.... or room for anything besides, making tea, sleeping and eating... and pooping in a paint can maybe. 

  Since beer was only being sold from one tent, the line was pretty long and we were pretty much done with the festival any way so we all went to a little pub thingy downtown called Hopkins Icehouse for some affordable cold beer to drink on the patio.

I think this looks says, "A little IPA for me too, eh dad?"

Muffaletta sliders. Yum.

 Baby toes. Yum.

 Helping tourists...

Being tourists...

I've always wanted to do the whole get a photo taken on State Line thing.

  And the night ended with a bang...

 er... ended with pain more like.

I finally got that tattoo I've been trying to get for the past two years! I just couldn't find the right mehndi design that spoke to me but this one does. This is my fifth tattoo and my first one in six years and I hope to get many many more. Maybe next time I'll get one on my left tonsil.

And before I go, dig this: I opened up an Amazon fundraising store for our travel trailer adventures. Check out THIS POST to see how it works and why I've started it and all that good stuff or click the banner below to check it out. Thanks!

YAY!

Time to go blog-stalk YOU now.

BYE!