Damn everything but the circus

Last Tuesday marked the end of the 2 celebration/preparation-filled months known as Carnival Season. Festivities specifically associated with “Mardi Gras” went on for 12 days! There has really been entirely too much going on to chronicle it all here, so I’m going to focus on a few (okay, more than a few) highlights.

I don’t have many pictures from the first weekend of parades I attended with some friends (Sparta, Pygmalion, Carrollton, and King Arthur), but here’s a couple of memorable moments!

Wednesday, the 2nd marked the beginning of the major parades, starting with Druids, which I watched with some fab folks!

Thursday was one of the biggest nights on the parade calendar, featuring Babylon, Chaos, and Muses back to back! Muses is the oldest all-female Mardi Gras Krewe, and their signature throw is a hand-decorated shoe! Clearly, I wanted one! I dressed as Marie Antoinette, bought a king cake, and made a sign while my students were taking a test!

I ended up handing out the cake to random spectators instead of trading it for a shoe, so I ended the night shoeless, but had an amazingly wonderful time!! My brother drove into town later that night to join us in our celebrations!

Friday morning, we threw a Mardi Gras Party for the students! We made a king cake, played Mardi Gras themed games, and crowned our own King and Queen!

Then it was home again, home again to do some last minute costume preps and get ready for more parades! My brother made a sweet hat, and I threw together a “saloon wench” inspired look of sorts to watch Hermes and Krewe de Etat!

After the parades, we trekked uptown to catch one of our favorite bands (the Old 97s) at Tipitina’s. The opening act, Those Darlin’s, was rockin’ too!!

Saturday, we watched the Krewes of Iris and Tucks, from our now infamous parade spot: just two blocks from our house and one block from the Mayfair, ensuring we always have drinks/restrooms! Also, I made friendly with the cops early on, so that I would always be able to have my primo spot right out front!

Saturday night there were no parades, and a huge rainstorm, so after pigging out with friends at the Mayfair, Bryan and I came home for a much needed nap…

…and then got up and met one of my best girlfriends to cab it up to the Marigny to experience a true cultural treat: ACROCATS!!!

It was MORE THAN FUN!!!! After a late night breakfast at the St Charles Tavern, we caught a ride with a super nice, convertible-driving Tulane student (thanks, Ben!!!), which pretty much ended our evening on a truly fabulous note!

Okay, that leaves Sunday through Tuesday to recap, but I’m going to stop this epic post right now before your eyeballs start to bleed!

I hope you had an amazing Mardi Gras wherever you are!