It's already been almost two months since Mardi Gras happened! Crazy. This year's celebration was a much bigger scale than last year's, as halfway through last year I managed to hitch my wagon to a kid whose family is pretty big on the Mardi Gras scene - apparently being fancy and successful in the Mobile area opens a lot of ballroom doors. Anyway. C and I hit up TWO Mardi Gras balls this year - one in Fairhope and one in Mobile. Two balls. On back-to-back nights. Suffice it to say, I was pretty exhausted by the time my little faux-spring break was over.
Being a smaller [and more adorable] town, Fairhope's Mardi Gras celebration is definitely a smaller production. Which isn't to say that the parade route isn't packed or that the people don't go all out with revelry; the floats are still large and elaborate and laden with potentially painful projectiles and the balls are hilariously snooty. Like, the grumpy gentleman manning the door to the ball was about to not let us enter the civic center because C's tails were draped over my shoulders instead of on his person. Eyeroll.
Anyway anyway anyway. I took my MSK miniboard Friday morning, and then we kicked off the weekend by driving across the bay to revel with the Maids of Jubilee. We met up with some of Boyfriend's friends at Boyfriend's Friend's Family's store, conveniently situated on one of the main roads downtown, where we ate a light dinner and talked and drank and hung out until the parade started. And then we proceeded to get elbowed by a group of rowdy little kids trying to collect ALL THE THINGS jettisoned by the Maids.
This particular parade was game themed, which produced some of my favorite floats of the weekend.
After the parade concluded, there was a little bit of an elaborate dance to get ready inside a store equipped with one very tiny bathroom. Lots of people tucked away in random corners of the back storeroom putting on tuxes and applying makeup while trying to not to feel utterly self conscious.
And then we walked down the street to the civic center and danced and ate and had a jolly good time. And then drug ourselves home and crashed only to wake up and do it all again the next day. Fun times to be had by all.
Of note - during one of our trips through the buffet, C [in his more than slightly inebriated state] started actually crying at some point because the chicken wings he was munching were too spicy. I'm definitely not going to forget that sight any time soon.