I HAVE FRIENDS!

So, last year’s Mardi Gras was a little lonely. I walked up to the parades by myself because I was the new kid on the block. I’m happy to report this year, that I actually made plans with actual friends to see the majority of the parades.

When I say parades, I don’t mean just people marching with themes and the local marching bands and candy may or may not be thrown out…. and there’s no silly string to be found, MOM.

These parades are productions, complete with show speakers strapped to pick up trucks, dance teams, marching bands from all over the country and celebrities. Did I mention the beads? oh yeah, those. And some of them are great, some are really cheap, but some are really cool. The throws are what you really want, cups, light up stuff, coconuts, purses, shoes, etc.

My first parade of the year was NYX. One of my girlfriends is in the krewe and I was there to totally support. I called up a buddy, who I’ll admit, I’ve been a terrible friend to- I haven’t seen him since last July at the fish fry. So we finally caught up & hoofed it to St. Charles Ave. Luckily I live less than a mile in a straight shot of the parade routes – I did a lot of walking this past week.

I was excited to actually see Amy on the float, she handed me a pretty sweet swag bag to take home. I keep pulling different things out of it everyday.

The good beads are the fun ones – the ones that have a little something extra special to them. Like Ducks in Fireman hats!

Or anything that blinks/lights up really.

Thursday night I had an event in Baton Rouge, I was stuck in traffic on the way back so I decided to call it a night & stay home for the Muses parade. Friday night I met back up with friends for Krewe De’Tat and Krewe Morpheus. This time it was time to start Mardi Gras right.

Skeleton theme, lots of beads & some fun light up sunglasses!

Saturday was the start of all-day parades. They start as early as 10am. It’s a lot of standing, shouting & catching (or dodging) beads. Most like to drink but from a long athletic career, I know that drinking & hand/eye coordination do not exactly go together. I skipped the early parades in order to save strength for the bike ride ahead of me. We were heading to Mid-City for Endymion, one of the larger parades of the season. I headed up to a friends house a short mile away. Then it’d be another 5+ miles on my sad one speed Huffy Cruiser up hills (I walked half of that one) and through all the crowds to another friend of a friend’s house on the parade route.

We decided on an animal theme for these parades. I only had my Minnie ears from last year’s trip to Disney, so I went with it. The friend of a friend’s house had a great balcony and a safe space to store bikes. bonus!

But while a balcony has great viewing and personal space…. its tough to catch anything fun up there. As much as I love NYC…. I hate crowds. People always bumping you and pushing into you…. PERSONAL SPACE PEOPLE! yeesh. But I was fairly proud of myself with these parades, I didn’t elbow anybody back.

And was rewarded with a pretty sweet light saber. I lost my friends on the bike ride back. Got stuck behind some frat boy with his giant-ass cooler and about 2938572038 New Orlenian natives that refused to walk on the sidewalk instead of the bike lane. Thank goodness I was on 2 wheels instead of just my feet – google maps took me through some shaaaaaaaady places. I also was able to use one of the blinking settings on my light saber as a beacon so no cars would hit me.

Sunday I got the craft bug. I started thinking “What the hell am I going to do with all these dang beads?!” and got on Pinterest. Terrible life choice.

My apartment now looks like someone with a soul lives in it! Hooray!

Evening parade was Bacchus. No theme for the group, we were all pretty worn out from the past 2 nights so a crawfish boil, jambalaya and a fire pit were the perfect laidback pregame.

I had purchased my own face paint so I did a quick doodle for the evening. It worked out nicely as I returned home that evening with a second light saber (green this time) and a rubber chicken….? Sure. #MardiGras

Monday was a workday for most. I did my conference call and a few other items for my week and then headed to Target in search of a pajama onesie for the Orpheus parade that night. Target let me down, or so I thought until I found an awesome R2D2 pajama shirt/dress and decided to go with it.

I may or may not have passed for a college cheerleader. Not so much love for Star Wars at the parades. But hey! Harry Connick Jr. was there! It was super cold & windy so maybe they just didn’t see my outfit in all it’s glory.

Tuesday is where the fun is. Fat Tuesday, the mecca of Mardi Gras. The entire city shuts down. I shit you not. Even Wal-Mart is closed.

The Zulu parade starts at 8am, followed by Rex. Zulu hands out these coveted coconuts that are decorated. Its what everyone clamors for. I was not lucky enough to get one last year so I was determined to get one this year. For those of you that know me…. If I set my mind to something, I often get it. 😉

The group had planned to dress like Sesame Street but I found out too late so I went with flower power and my homemade tutu. #TutuTuesday !!

Hence why there’s a glitter trail all around my apartment.

Yes. I got my coconut 🙂 and you can’t tell, but I also had flower leggings on with my hot pink chucks.

I am completely exhausted and its only Tuesday….. Happy Mardi Gras!!!