Oh, Mardi Gras......

Well, Mardi Gras has come and gone and I'm here with some highlights and a recap for anyone who missed it......and for anyone who was there and just can't recall.

Let's see, there was the Thoth Parade at Casa de Chris and Brandy. Good times. Some of our old house mates came like Amy and Kim which was a nice treat. Drank plenty of Sangria. After Thoth we walked to Buddha Belly and to the next parades. And, because of aforementioned Sangria, you'll have to ask someone else about the rest of that adventure. You know how I roll.

One of those blurry nights we caught a show at Checkpoint Charlie's. We got to see the Zydepunks (my 3rd time) whom I have grown to love. It was good in spite of a few fuh-REEKS that were lingering too close to our breathing room. I don't care. I love the Zydepunks.

This year we all got hotel rooms downtown. It was the usual Mardi Gras Krewe. Christie, Kenny, Jason, Christina, Michael, Breauxjean (Brent), David, and Theresa. It was a trial run to see if being down there in the gutter would cut down on travel time, bathroom sharing, etc. I've learned that either way, we're all gonna get drunk and walk for 150 miles with 75 lbs of beads around our necks. We would have a good time anywhere we stayed. Almost everyone dressed up this year and looked great. I think next year we might even have a costume on Kny.

Of course, it wouldn't have been complete without the street folk. You know, those people that you point out to your friends at the beginning of Mardi Gras. As Carnival progresses, you are too drunk to point, it's too loud to tell your friends to look, and you have seen so many freaks that you just quietly enjoy your eye candy knowing that everyone else is having their own.

I guess the glue that holds it all together is those "WTF" things that make Mardi Gras what it is. Thank God I wasn't one of those things this year.

And as it all wrapped up, we made our way back to our rooms through the usual carnage of garbage, broken sequins, and smashed tambourines.

Brandy, Michael, and myself were feeling especially shitty. I was coming down with the funk. No, not a weeks worth of hangovers. A real funk. Brandy's came later. We decided that rather than going home to feed Calvin then returning to the hotel only to leave in the morning, we would just go back to our house. At this suggestion, I called the front desk and told them to pull my car around and to send up a bellhop.....PRONTO! We threw clothing (dirty and clean mixed), beads, papers, stray shoes, the remains of the margaritas, a laptop, and anything else that did not belong to the Hampton Inn and Suites in our suitcases and ran out of that hotel like we were being chased by a Columbian drug lord. All the way, me still with feathers in my hair and black makeup smeared on my face, leaving a trail of beads and giggling like school girls because of the excitement of being the HELL outta there and home in a safe bed far away from it all. I was too drunk to drive but convinced them otherwise. And I don't think the cop watching us get in the car really cared. I didn't either.

Don't get me wrong. It was a helluva good time. But when it's over, it's over. And I was ready for some couch. I think we all enjoyed Mardi Gras 2008 although missed some of our friends.....you know who you are(namely Kevin, Tim, Kirsten, Erin, Andoe, Leigh Ann and more). We had better see you all next year. 'Cause this one was a blast.