ye olde blogge post

Hallo mein lieblings! Can you guess what this post is going to be about? Hm? No? I'll give you a hint. Ok, no I won't. I'll just tell you: It's about my faire. For those of you who are new to my blog, I am the founder and director of my town's annual renaissance faire. I have a very tiny staff and I am a bit of a control freak about how my business is ran so I do most of the work. I'm the executive director, merchant manager, entertainment director, head of marketing and advertising, webmaster - you get the point. This two-day event takes months of preparation and it's totally worth it.

Our faire isn't like other renaissance faires. We are very new and very small and because we do not own land to build a faire upon, we rent out city's fairgrounds. It's quite a challenge to turn such a modern setting into a 16th century village but we do our best and the patrons seem to be pretty pleased with our efforts.

Instead of hoops and crinoline and froo froo frills, I went for a more comfortable gypsy inspired look. I started working on a "Gypsy Queen" outfit but I was unable to finish it due to some financial issues so I'm actually wearing an incomplete costume. Along with the bodice and red top, I was supposed to wear layers of  25 yard skirts and tons of tribal jewelry and even a crown but the new baby and my husband's brief unemployment period kind of stomped on our costuming budget this year. 

Right now I'm still pretty exhausted from the loooooong days on my feet. My c-section site is achy, the soles of my feet feel like they're made of wood and I have a huge blister on my pinkie toe (no- my entire toe IS a huge blister). My house is a wreck and there's boxes of faire decor piled up in the kid's nursery but mama needs a break. So here I am, relaxing in the smell of dirty dishes doing what I love to do. Blogging and being sexy.

So anyways. Here are a few photos I took at the faire. I haven't gotten our photographer's photos in yet, but I'll be sure to share the good pictures with you all when they come in.

 Enjoy! 

 WE HAD MERMAIDS THIS YEAR!!

In their booth they showed children a bit about how pearls are formed.

Aching for a bit of water, the mermaids took over our dunking booth game. Dunk the Monk became Dunk the Mermaid!

And one lucky little lad got himself some mermaid kisses!

 My little gypsy boy in his authentic Turkish costume. $10 ebay find. Yeah!

 Visiting royalty from Middlefaire renaissance faire in Hillsboro, TX.

My gypsy camp is getting better every year!! 

 Me and some very awesome ladies that help me with the faire.

 My cast and crew is growing SO much!!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Now I'm off to go do a bit of blogger stalking to see what you foxy ladies have been up to. See ya round!

three blind mice

So what's up with it ya'll? Me? I'm sleep deprived, I'm stressed,  I'm cranky, I smell weird and often times I have a plastic cup of wine in my hand well before dinnertime. My faire is THIS weekend and the non-profit we've partnered with is not holding up their end of the deal. Their job is to advertise the faire with TV and radio spots, print ads, etc... the faire is this upcoming Saturday and that hasn't been done yet.

So, yep, I'm stressed out. This is my biggest event of the year, it needs to bring in over 3,000 people to get get in the black and it has barely been advertised!  I'm frustrated and my partners are about to get a roundhouse kick to the face straight Chuck Norris style.

UGH! This is why I like to work alone. See? This is the face of a loner. I'm cute. I know.

OUTFIT UNDER $20

Faux silk (polyester) shirt dress - Ross Dress for Less

Chucks - Salvation Army

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Well, for a brief moment everything was made aaaaall better when I got this wonderful package from cutie pie Canadian blogger Miss Skip to My Lou from the blog LouLou Downtown. Weee!!!

Included in the package: a gorgeous little sweater for Cedar crocheted by Lou herself with a matching flower brooch for me, a beanie pup for River and a super tea-rrific tea towel!

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Cedar Girl was baptized this Sunday. I gave my camera to my mother-in-law to snap a couple of pics for us but I failed to tell her not to zoom in on the camera... so we got really poopy pics. 

**EDIT**

Someone shared this pic they took. YAY!

Cedar wore a vintage handmade gown that was included in a trash bag full of baby clothes someone gave us and this adorable bonnet I got from China on Ebay for $2. Her regular dress (below) also came from Ebay. It came with another cute little white dress - two dresses for 99 cents! WIN!

And here's our best attempt at a family portrait.

I've got a weird eye thing going on. River looks like he ate a bee and Cedar just isn't feeling it.

So that was my week, How's it going with you all out there? Are you wearing proper undergarments and taking your vitamins?

one, two, buckle my shoe

Hello errrrverybody. I hope you're all doing spectacular. Yes? Yes.

We're two weeks into this whole four-person family gig and things are starting to get a little better, a little sweeter, a little smoother... more smoothest. Most smoothest? Alrighty then.

The beginning of the week was just plain terrible: doctors appointments at ungodly early morning hours, poor sleep, a jealous one year old and a constant stream of house guests. Now mind you, I'm not saying house guests are a bad thing and many came bearing gifts of food (hooray) but it was becoming quite stressful constantly having to dash to put on a bra and pants, comb my hair, tidy up the house and make sure the kids are presentable. Sometimes mommy just wants to lounge on the couch with a beer and browse Pinterest for an hour or two without having to answer the door all day long. Is that so much to ask?

Last Sunday we got poor neglected River out of the house for a spell and took him on a much needed trip to the park. The weather was awesome and River was having a blasty blast until some creep approached him and crossed over in the the stranger danger zone by practically stalking him. This strange man was super focused on River and wouldn't leave his side so our visit to the park was cut short. As we were leaving I turned to look at the man and saw him swinging alone on the swing set. He was clearly not a mentally stable person but still, not a very desirable character to have hanging around a playground.

Today (Sunday) we went to church. This was one of the few times I've actually had a reason to put nice clothes and makeup since Cedar Girl was born. Sure, I could dress up to sit around the house and take care of two babies and plan a renaissance faire but um... that only means more laundry to wash. So no. I 'm not gonna do that.

Dress: Old Navy clearance rack months ago (first time worn today)

Necklace: Gift

Purse: Salvation Army

Shoes: Walmart clearance

And this is Cedar's first time going to church AND wearing a dress!

The dress she's wearing was found in bin full of hand-me-down baby clothes I received from a friend. It still had the tags on it! Sweet freebie, yeah?

So that was my week. How was yours? Read any good books lately? or um, eaten anything good? Can I have a bite?

sooo.... how'd it go?

This first week with our new itty bitty wee one has been, er... interesting. 

The first couple of days home were awful. Since I had a c-section I could barely walk. I was in pain, virtually immobile and extremely fatigued from getting only three hours of sleep the entire time I was in the hospital. Needless to say, I was pretty darn irritable. My husband was an exhausted grumpasaurus rex as well and River had transformed into a total hellion while we were away. 

Wednesday I had a little emotional meltdown from the stress of not being able to care for my home and family the way I would on any given non-postpartum day. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate being incapacitated? My mother-in-law came to town to help me around the house and as grateful as I was for this, my pride, stubbornness and hormones just wouldn't allow me to relax and enjoy the much needed assistance. 

While printing contracts, my printer decided to be a wee bit hateful and spat my copies out on the floor.

As soon as we got home from the hospital I got right back to work on the faire. The faire is in less than three weeks and it's time to promote, promote, promote. I still have to tie up loose ends with my entertainers, make the stage schedule, find more volunteers, map up the vendor placement, arrange lodging for acts, shave my legs, sharpen my sword, practice my curtsy, etc. It sounds like a lot to do (and it is) but three weeks is actually plenty of time for me to get it all done... I just need 100% cooperation from everyone in this house. HA!! Right.

Little Cedar is a pretty demanding little lady and River has turned into a huge emotional ball of jealousy. I honestly didn't see that coming considering how independent  he was before the baby came. Before, I couldn't even pin him down for more than a couple of seconds to get a quick cuddle in and now he's whining and begging to be picked up and held constantly. When you give him the attention he wants he squirms to be released and runs away. Vurry frustrating. I think this picture describes how I've been feeling all week.

Friday I finally had the will to pull myself together and put on some decent clothes and makeup for house guests. Because my lower abdomen is still stapled together properly Frankenstein-style, leggings are out for covering up my hairy legs so I've been favoring maxis. This floor length maxi is a hand-me-down from my aunt. I couldn't wear it during pregnancy because of the low waist but it works great now for my still bloated form; it's loose and flowy and conceals my jiggly postpartum belly just right.

So that's how our first week went. Fun, yeah. Ugh, please tell me it gets easier.

So anywho ,it's the Sabbath so it's my blog-reading/no faire work day so I'll be swooping by and seeing what the heck all you sexy beasts have been up to lately. See ya soon!