Happy Fat Tuesday!
Wow, this weekend was exactly what I needed. I was kind of freaking out before I went thinking that I really shouldn't be going because of what all I have to get done this week, but really, I think it turned out for the best. I didn't realize how much I really needed to de-stress and just relax and have fun.
I flew in Thursday and was met at the airport by Carl and a huge bouquet of yellow, red and two-tone pink roses. They were gorgeous and qualify for the largest bouquet of flowers I have ever received. They were also accompanied by a really sweet note.
Then, we collected my luggage and left, back to the interstate that had just stolen hours of Carl's life in construction traffic that for some reason Texas feels the need to work on during rush hour. I don't understand. They say we are backward here in Tennessee, but working on road construction at night just makes sense. ;) We managed to get through without too much problem though, found food and made it home in time to have some tea and go to bed soon thereafter. Six hours of travel-time is really long even if it's not all driving. It occured to us this trip that it would only be two extra hours to drive the whole trip...
Friday I got to sleep late and Carl had to go to work for the morning. I did manage to be up and showered and ready by the time he made it home however, and we had the afternoon to just hang out before heading to MARDI GRAS!
Have I ever mentioned how much I love parades? I revert to about age 5 and start jumping up and down and clapping my hands because I am so excited. But really, something about the colors and sounds just excite me and make me want to laugh for the shear joy of it. Mardi Gras parades are even a level above that because the float-people are throwing you prizes, in this case, mostly beads. BEADS! I love beads! And, this parade was awesome because it was a relatively short parade route, which meant that the float-people had no reason to hoard the good beads (meaning any large, oddly-shaped or extra-shiny beads. Or pearls. I love pearls). So, basically, even without snatching too many beads out of the hands of the children hogging the railing beside us, we still managed a pretty good haul. Actually the best I have ever had at a parade and that, my friends, is saying something. I have a long history of successful parades.
We got big shiny pink beads the size of quarters. We got slightly smaller beads in goald, green, purple, blue and silver. Carl got some beads shaped like die. I got some pink heart-shaped beads. We got disco ball-type beads and ones that the individual beads were flat circles instead of spheres. I got two of the best strands of beads I have ever gotten, one pearls with smaller purple, green and gold beads in between and the other a long strand of multi-colored hearts with pearls in between each heart. Carl got some of the longest strands I have ever seen in proper Mardi Gras colors. And, to top it all off, I got a long strand of quarter-sized pearls. Did I mention I love pearls?
We also ended up with a couple of cups, bean bags, bracelets, disappointingly plastic dubloons and a couple of real ones and even a cheap-ish, but still nice-looking mask, apparently from Budweiser. Some lady dropped it and we quickly snatched it up and claimed it as our own. It is currently in Carl's room watching his every move. ;) Until he reads this post, at which point I am certain it will quickly be moved elsewhere.
After the parade passed, the night was far from over. We got to see Pat Green put on a concert, which was wildly entertaining, given that drunk people covered with beads equals drunk people throwing beads, primarily at the stage and at Pat Green himself. While I certainly didn't want to be him or his band, I must say that even as sober as I was (surprisingly, neither Carl nor I had even one beer. Personally, the excitement of the parade was enough for me), it never became un-funny to see the beads flying through the air and narrowly missing binging a band member on the head. They were ducking, although Pat Green himself was catching the beads and wrapping them around his guitar. His fiddle player, however, was getting quite annoyed, as I probably would too, if someone kept hitting my fiddle with beads.
For about half the concert, we were standing behind the most annoying man in the world, primarily because he was also the tallest man in the world, at least as far as I was concerned at that moment. He told me later, he was 6'5", way tall enough for him to entirely block our view of the stage. He also had on a cowboy hat to further increase his height. And, the man never stopped moving, so neither could we. Finally, and this is what sealed the most annoying award, he was also a chain-smoker. Eventually, a space opened up and we were able to get in front of him and he turned out to be quite genial, telling us to move up ahead because he figured it would be hard to see if you weren't 6'5".
We left moments before the concert ended. They played a song they had already sung for the encore, and neither of us like crowds enough to have wanted to hear it again, so we took off. It was around 11:30 p.m. at this point. The man at the gate wanted to know if we wanted a hand-stamp so we could get back in that night. I didn't understand.
Saturday we slept late and considered going back to Mardi Gras, but decided we didn't want to drive that far, so we spent the afternoon lounging, eating at various establishments, going back and forth to the movie place attempting to rent a movie that actually included the DVD disc (and, on my part, coming close to having a conniption in the movie rental place because of their total and complete incompetence and stupidity) and watching a movie and drinking. Carl looked a bit surprised when I downed most of my first drink after successfully not screaming at the movie people, and then he poured me another one. Have I mentioned that I love this man?
Sunday we spent attempting to hike at a state park where half of their 8-miles of hiking trails are still down from the hurricanes. Of the other 4 miles, two more are completely flooded out and two, so said the park ranger, were hike-able. This, we quickly found, was categorically untrue. Not only were large parts of these supposedly hike-able trails completely flooded out so as to have actual currents, but there was no way around these obstacles due to fallen branches and trees and grown-up brambles taking advantage of the new-found sunlight. To balance all this out, the day was perfect - sunny and cool without being cold. Perfect hiking weather. We had our own little adventure course and enjoyed it greatly.
Monday, of course, it was time for me to come home. I am so ready to not have to get on a plane again. Turbulence and Blair don't get along.
This morning, I woke up to the realization that neither my Internet nor landline phone are working, meaning basically that I can't do much work. I may take my computer in to the office and use the wireless connection that is floating around there somewhere, but that still doesn't fix my phone problem since I need to make long-distance calls for this magazine article. But, I can't leave today because the people are supposed to come fix it. Not that they managed to show up Saturday when they were supposed to, but one can always hope.
I guess this will post whenever I get my connection back.
I flew in Thursday and was met at the airport by Carl and a huge bouquet of yellow, red and two-tone pink roses. They were gorgeous and qualify for the largest bouquet of flowers I have ever received. They were also accompanied by a really sweet note.
Then, we collected my luggage and left, back to the interstate that had just stolen hours of Carl's life in construction traffic that for some reason Texas feels the need to work on during rush hour. I don't understand. They say we are backward here in Tennessee, but working on road construction at night just makes sense. ;) We managed to get through without too much problem though, found food and made it home in time to have some tea and go to bed soon thereafter. Six hours of travel-time is really long even if it's not all driving. It occured to us this trip that it would only be two extra hours to drive the whole trip...
Friday I got to sleep late and Carl had to go to work for the morning. I did manage to be up and showered and ready by the time he made it home however, and we had the afternoon to just hang out before heading to MARDI GRAS!
Have I ever mentioned how much I love parades? I revert to about age 5 and start jumping up and down and clapping my hands because I am so excited. But really, something about the colors and sounds just excite me and make me want to laugh for the shear joy of it. Mardi Gras parades are even a level above that because the float-people are throwing you prizes, in this case, mostly beads. BEADS! I love beads! And, this parade was awesome because it was a relatively short parade route, which meant that the float-people had no reason to hoard the good beads (meaning any large, oddly-shaped or extra-shiny beads. Or pearls. I love pearls). So, basically, even without snatching too many beads out of the hands of the children hogging the railing beside us, we still managed a pretty good haul. Actually the best I have ever had at a parade and that, my friends, is saying something. I have a long history of successful parades.
We got big shiny pink beads the size of quarters. We got slightly smaller beads in goald, green, purple, blue and silver. Carl got some beads shaped like die. I got some pink heart-shaped beads. We got disco ball-type beads and ones that the individual beads were flat circles instead of spheres. I got two of the best strands of beads I have ever gotten, one pearls with smaller purple, green and gold beads in between and the other a long strand of multi-colored hearts with pearls in between each heart. Carl got some of the longest strands I have ever seen in proper Mardi Gras colors. And, to top it all off, I got a long strand of quarter-sized pearls. Did I mention I love pearls?
We also ended up with a couple of cups, bean bags, bracelets, disappointingly plastic dubloons and a couple of real ones and even a cheap-ish, but still nice-looking mask, apparently from Budweiser. Some lady dropped it and we quickly snatched it up and claimed it as our own. It is currently in Carl's room watching his every move. ;) Until he reads this post, at which point I am certain it will quickly be moved elsewhere.
After the parade passed, the night was far from over. We got to see Pat Green put on a concert, which was wildly entertaining, given that drunk people covered with beads equals drunk people throwing beads, primarily at the stage and at Pat Green himself. While I certainly didn't want to be him or his band, I must say that even as sober as I was (surprisingly, neither Carl nor I had even one beer. Personally, the excitement of the parade was enough for me), it never became un-funny to see the beads flying through the air and narrowly missing binging a band member on the head. They were ducking, although Pat Green himself was catching the beads and wrapping them around his guitar. His fiddle player, however, was getting quite annoyed, as I probably would too, if someone kept hitting my fiddle with beads.
For about half the concert, we were standing behind the most annoying man in the world, primarily because he was also the tallest man in the world, at least as far as I was concerned at that moment. He told me later, he was 6'5", way tall enough for him to entirely block our view of the stage. He also had on a cowboy hat to further increase his height. And, the man never stopped moving, so neither could we. Finally, and this is what sealed the most annoying award, he was also a chain-smoker. Eventually, a space opened up and we were able to get in front of him and he turned out to be quite genial, telling us to move up ahead because he figured it would be hard to see if you weren't 6'5".
We left moments before the concert ended. They played a song they had already sung for the encore, and neither of us like crowds enough to have wanted to hear it again, so we took off. It was around 11:30 p.m. at this point. The man at the gate wanted to know if we wanted a hand-stamp so we could get back in that night. I didn't understand.
Saturday we slept late and considered going back to Mardi Gras, but decided we didn't want to drive that far, so we spent the afternoon lounging, eating at various establishments, going back and forth to the movie place attempting to rent a movie that actually included the DVD disc (and, on my part, coming close to having a conniption in the movie rental place because of their total and complete incompetence and stupidity) and watching a movie and drinking. Carl looked a bit surprised when I downed most of my first drink after successfully not screaming at the movie people, and then he poured me another one. Have I mentioned that I love this man?
Sunday we spent attempting to hike at a state park where half of their 8-miles of hiking trails are still down from the hurricanes. Of the other 4 miles, two more are completely flooded out and two, so said the park ranger, were hike-able. This, we quickly found, was categorically untrue. Not only were large parts of these supposedly hike-able trails completely flooded out so as to have actual currents, but there was no way around these obstacles due to fallen branches and trees and grown-up brambles taking advantage of the new-found sunlight. To balance all this out, the day was perfect - sunny and cool without being cold. Perfect hiking weather. We had our own little adventure course and enjoyed it greatly.
Monday, of course, it was time for me to come home. I am so ready to not have to get on a plane again. Turbulence and Blair don't get along.
This morning, I woke up to the realization that neither my Internet nor landline phone are working, meaning basically that I can't do much work. I may take my computer in to the office and use the wireless connection that is floating around there somewhere, but that still doesn't fix my phone problem since I need to make long-distance calls for this magazine article. But, I can't leave today because the people are supposed to come fix it. Not that they managed to show up Saturday when they were supposed to, but one can always hope.
I guess this will post whenever I get my connection back.