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!

Throw me somethin, Mister!

It’s Mardi Gras time, y’all!!!



I’ve spent the last few weeks frantically preparing costumes, and now, Carnival season is finally hitting its crescendo this week! Fortunately, I have good friends, moonshine, and a fail safe publication to guide me!

So far, I’ve seen 4 parades, collected more than my fair share of baubles, hung out with hundreds of friends, and, in general, had a BLAST!!! Super Fun-ness FTW!!!

Most costumes are still in the works, even now, in the eleventh hour. But here's some pics of our progress...

Well, heck. All of a sudden, my computer is throwing a little tantrum....hmmm, WELL THEN! I promise a full-on EXTRAVAGANZA ELEGANZA when this week is done! HAPPY MARDI GRAS, Y'ALL!!!!!

Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts.

Well, I’ve fallen behind on my planned weekly blogging, but, boy, have I ever been busy! Besides the impending crush of Mardi Gras festivities and prepping for midterms at work, I had a long and eventful visit with my folks and youngest brother!

My dad has been itching to get back to the 504 ever since he came to help us move last summer! So, I spent a good portion of the new year planning out places to take the fam on their visit!

Our first outing: My favorite, the Audubon Zoo!!!

My husband has oft noted that noone over the age of 4 acts the way that I do at the zoo, but, come on y’all! It’s the ZOOOOO!!!

We had a low key night at home that night to prepare for a long day in the French Quarter. We got Chinese carryout and watched movies: Red and The Social Network. Red is not my usual style of movie (there is very little gore in this film, and comedy-action just doesn’t do it for me). Maybe it was the presence of the statuesque and sexy Helen Mirren that did it, but I was pleasantly surprised with this little “romp” (a word one cannot really use to describe my usual cinematic fare). I knew I would enjoy The Social Network, and I did, nuff said.

The next day, after a lot of carefully coordinated preparation (5 people in a 4 room shotgun apartment can resemble a game of Twister), we headed downtown on the streetcar! It was the first time to see the French Quarter for my mom and brother, so I wanted to make the most of it!

We saw it all!...Ok, so not ALL of it….but the family friendly portions…Bourbon Street, the mighty Mississippi, the French Market, Café du Monde, Pat O’Briens, Jackson Square, all the famous architecture, character, and characters of the district, and, of course, we watched Krewe du Vieux!!!! My family's first Mardi Gras experience!!!

The next day we were all exhausted, and took a day off to relax. Dad and I walked to the market and stopped off at Big Fisherman to pick up some freshly boiled crawfish!

Monday after work, my folks picked me up in their rental car and we drove uptown through the Riverbend and Carollton, looping City Park, and stopping for a moment at the Canal Street cemetery complex! We completed our journey by trekking through traffic to Mardi Gras World, so my fam could see the innerworkings of the big Mardi Gras parades!

Tuesday, mom and dad went on a date night, so my brother and I went out on our own. He's really into all things supernatural, so I took him on one of the Haunted History tours. It turned out to be really fun, though, I occasionally felt a little more like a tourist than I'd like.

It was an eventful week, and I think (hope?) a good time was had by all! After the fam left, I cleaned up the house....only to immediately trash it again with fabrics, sequins, patterns, and beads to resume the increasingly serious work of Mardi Gras! Laissez le bons temps roulet!

One of the most sublime experiences we can ever have is to wake up feeling healthy after we have been sick

I feel good today! Not only have I overcome all but the last annoying remnants of a mucousy plague that ate almost all of my weekend, but it is 70 degrees outside! 70! 7-0, as in BEEE-Yu-Tee-Fuull!!!

Last Wednesday was Mardi Gras craft shopping day! One of my best girl's and I drove all over town, manically scratching fabrics, feathers, sequins, decorations, and other sparkly sundries off our shopping lists! We took a quick break to have some guacamole and iced tea at the Blue Tomato, which was really good (just in time too, as my frantic shopping was turning me into a zombie)!

It was a wonderful day!...but did I mention that my lovely, vivacious shopping partner was nursing one hell of a cold?.....duh, duh, duuuuuuuuuh...I was down for the count by dinner time, and didn't resemble a living organism until about mid-way through Saturday...

My sickness set me back on sewing and housework, but I did manage to pull myself out of funkiness on Saturday night just in time for some out of town guests! One of my best girlfriends and her rocker boyfriend drove down for a show, and we got to tag along! We decided to take a cab, since the performance venue was far away and in a neighborhood we were unsure of. The cab driver was wicked confused when he dropped us off at the bar...can you guess why?

The bar is new (hence the no sign), and is called Siberia. It was appropriately freezing inside the bar, though it wasn't actually a cold night outside. The fun inside the show belied the stark exterior.

I know my friend took some fabulous photos of the bands with her snazzy camera, but I'll have to get those from her later. Our friend played with Oxford's own Unwed Teenage Mothers, and a Jackson, MS band we (Los Buddies) love played too! Two other bands played too, one of which had a group of 12 yr old (ok, maybe they were 21)hipster moshers....if you can mentally conceptualize that...But by that time, my dayquil-induced haze was wearing off, so I called us a cab and climbed into my cozy bed with a roll of toilet paper and an entire bag of Ricola cough drops...

Sunday, I enjoyed a little late brunch at Coulis with my friends before they headed north, and then spent most of the day ironing freshly washed Mardi Gras fabrics and shoving cough drops, pickles, vitamins, and orange juice into my face.

By yesterday morning (VALENTINES DAY!!!), I was feeling tip-top (aside from a little lingering mucous), and ready for a romantic date with my favorite archaeologist! We decided to take the streetcar downtown and scout out locations to take my folks when they visit later this week.

We started with oysters at Acme! Bryan even offered to order them on the half-shell (my preference) instead of char-grilled!

Then we walked down Royal, and paused by my favorite antique shop to get a pic of my FABULOUS outfit!!! I actually didn't make this dress, it was last year's one-time RTW purchase while I was in New York last spring! I had totally forgotten i had it, and am SO glad I found it again because I got so many compliments on it, it made my little face blush!

We wandered for a while, had dinner at Coop's Place, and finished the evening with my VERY favorite: A hot buttered rum at the Erin Rose!

Here's a couple of pics of us wandering around looking fabulous!

After work today, I've gotta get some housework done in prep for my fam's visit Thursday, but after that, I'll be sewing up a storm and hopefully will have updates soon! I hope you had a grand Valentines Day!

These are a few of my favorite things...

How could I resist the chance to post this historic meeting of two of my favorite things: Betty White and KoKo!!!

Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods

This weekend, B and I drove up to the Arctic tundra known as Oxford, Mississippi to visit with friends. The farther north we got, the grayer and colder it got....good thing I picked up a Van Holten's Hot Mama pickle to keep myself cozy!

We've officially been gone long enough now that I felt like a visitor to Oxford instead of just a displaced resident. But of course, my friends treated me no differently, and I was so happy to see some of the people who made my ten years in Oxford so very excellent!

In addition to those folks and more, I saw some less welcome, though highly amusing people, places, and, well, mostly things!

I'm not sure who THESE belong to, but, really?

And, this girl was trying to kill this guy, why? Who cares?!?!?! This is the hands-down best photo of the weekend!

Oh, Oxford "fashion."...In addition to the usual mini skirt/ugg boot/diamond earring ensemble, the youth of Oxford have many overly priced boutiques where they can purchase expensive items made of flimsy fabrics...and they think it looks good. I'm calling this one "Little House on the Prairie Meets Foxy Brown while Trippin' on Shrooms at the Gay Bar."

Yesterday morning, we went to my favorite Oxford breakfast spot! Bottletree Bakery!
A Bowl of Soul, an Uptown (salmon cream cheese, tomatoes, onions, and capers on a sesame seed bagel), and a Ginger Scooooooooonnne (I really need to just start making these on a daily basis)!

And then, full of delicious foods and still slightly bleary-eyed from two crazy days of funness, we hit the road to head home. Home, sweet home. On the way back, I did make this gas station discovery, which would have made my friend, Pickle Freak, smile!

After work today, I needed a quick crafting fix, so I made up this pleated skirt made from a super fun circus print cotton! I'm calling it the "Greatest Show on Earth" skirt, and it's a tribute to Holly's (Betty Hutton) stupidly daring trapeze tricks in the classic film.

The skirt is soft and sweet like Holly, but one of these days I'll have to make something inspired by Gloria Grahame's slightly sluttier, grittier, elephant rider Angel (the true heroine of the film as far as I'm concerned)!

I have one more day dress and skirt to finish up this week, and then the next three weeks will be devoted to Mardi Gras crafts! Hoorah! I'd better get started, with guests coming in in only a few days, I've got a lot to do!