Lizz and I had a great time while she was in town.  We met up at the Tavern on Friday night for the Midsummers show and the Naughty No-No show.  I love taking people to the Tavern who have never been before, and I knew Lizz would love it.  Balcony seats were perhaps a mistake, however; Lizz almost bounced out of her seat and right off the balcony a few times!
The Naughty No-no show was a blast and hysterical.  I can't even imagine doing some of those stunts, much less mostly in a state of dishabille!  Also fire = happy Tempest.  We got home sooooooo late!

Lizz and I ran into Jay and Odie first thing and had a lovely chat with them at front gate.  Then we wandered all over the Faire on Saturday and saw a bunch of shows.  The rain didn't bother us any, either, we just skipped through it. 

After pub sing, we raced out to change in the parking lot and race downtown for Lion King.  Thanks to the absolute fubar that is the I-75/85-pretend-repaving-project (we had lots of lanes closed, but I didn't see a bit of work being done), the rain, parking traffic and parking fubars, we got to the show late.  There would have been plenty of time except that every single thing that could go wrong did.  We finally got seated about 2/3 through Act I in the middle of "Be Prepared."  My favorite part of the show was a the ghost of Mufasa.  I know a hell of a lot about how stage special effects work, and I can't quite figure out how they did that; ideas, but no solid concepts.  It was astonishing to say the least!

We got home late, again, passed out and then we were up again to the Faire, this time with Tommy in tow.  Lizz ran all over the festival in spite of the rain (or perhaps because of it, I'm blaming the rain on her).  Tommy and I stayed in the pub most of the day; his knees were shot from something earlier this week.  My poor Delicate Flower!  I spent a lot of the day playing with my camera.  I'll have pictures up tomorrow; silly Tempest left her camera at home today, after charging the battery last night.

About 4 o'clock, the Pub sets started turning into We're-Going-To-See-If-We-Can-All-Get-Fired sets, which could also have been called 80's Remix Time.  There was no-one around, so the cast and regulars just sort of did whatever we could to amuse ourselves and each other.  It got fairly silly, and very un-Renaissance.

Lizz had to leave right after Pub Sing to begin the drive home, but Tommy and I headed out to dinner with the usual suspects (well, most of them; Rykie I had oils for you!) before heading home.

With the number of phone calls, text messages and e-mails flying around today, you'd think we were getting involved in a land war in Asia, not a day at the Renaissance Festival!  When did life get so complicated?

And I got my vacation pay.  *happy*

Gina had a GREAT time at the festival today! We sort of dragged each other all over the festival. I can't near remember half of what we did, but she seemed to love all of it. And that girl is a natural Rennie if I ever met him. She knows how to flirt, she knows how to enjoy herself, and she's just the right type of audacious.
She loved the petting farm, of all places. She very much enjoyed meeting the King and Queen (we ended up sitting in on court for about fifteen minutes), and she absolutely ADORED the Musketeers (don't we all). She was equally astounded and impressed by merryfaerie's "Rattlin' Bog" and Dexter Tripp blowing himself up. And she was a lot of fun to show around Faire since she was so excited about everything and eager to meet everyone. AND she enjoyed being dressed up in garb. I will try hard to get her back out there.

Also, just discovered something about myself while getting out of the shower. I've always thought I was fat, when I looked down at myself because my boobs were in the way!!! All I could see between them was my little belly sticking out. Move one of those puppies out of the way, and I've got a half-way cute tummy with a bit of definition and sides that cut in farther than I think! I just couldn't see it! I never knew that was hiding down there.

Wow, long weekend!
Saturday: Sarah and I had a great time with Mom on Saturday. Sarah taking a week and a day to get dressed. She wasn't even in garb, and I got dressed faster than she did. That includes the time it took my mom to lace my bodice; she did a great job for her first time. So, despite my sisters vanity, we still made gate. We made our hello's at the front, watch the Nickel Shakespeare Girls for a bit, and started slowly making our way toward the first Lost Boys show.
We were just making our way out of the pub when my mother said, "I think that might be Jay." I heard Rivka and gypsyariana screaming behind me. I was then quite sure that meant jaythebarbarian had just arrived, and sure enough, I was right! So, I added another screaming, bouncing wench to the mix. Yay, Jay!!! He looked good, and it was great to see him. Introduced him to my mom and sister, and walked part way with him, as he continued to make his rounds. I'm actually quite surprised that he managed to make it all the way to Excalibur Leather before he had to stop again! We pressed on to Dancing Fire so my mother could order a pot-pie pan from Ann Lynn. She just broke he last one, and she had loved that thing.
We got my mom (and my sister) their Teal fix for the day, and then we kidnapped Squirrel and spent some pleasant time in the Tea Room.
Sarah, Whitney and Squirrel went on back to the Garden Cottage stage, and Mom and I slowly headed pub-wards. She was expected for the 2:30 TQA show, and I was following her all day. And the way, I introduced her to Phillip, and we watched the end of Blackenshear's show.
We got there just before parade, in the middle of supergoober's set, at which point, Brismont stepped out of parade to let me know he was going to be making his hit on Sarah, that I had requested, at the 2:30 Lost Boys show. Bugger.
I made my excuses to Mom, and ran, in the heat, in my pirate boots, in my back lacing bodice all the way back up to Garden Cottage stage; I was not going to miss that! I rule that faire, I did it in about 3 minutes, including getting stopped by Molly the Rose Wench, and didn't die. Didn't even pass out.
It was worth the run. He dragged her all over the top end of the Faire with a dagger to her throat...and no one cared!!! Total apathy. It was remarkable. When he finally managed to secure an audience, they made her sing a Gregorian Chant about flogging, and since she didn't do it well enough, she got flogged, anyway. I got some great pictures, and Whitney got some video, which I will post on Renspace in the next few days.
So, after that, I ran away from my murderously enraged sister, back to find Mom at the pub; stopped on the way to yell, "Silk-slut!" at whiskeyfyre, get another hug from jaythebarbarian and say hello to piraterogue. At the pub, Mom was no where to be found! Not sure where she had gone, but she came up the path about a minute behind me. We ran over to catch Barely Balanced's fire show, which was REALLY cool, and wandered back pubwards. She stopped to get her Fried Cheesecake (Green Wizard: She says it would be much better if they left off the whipped cream and just drizzled it with more raspberry sauce!), and I got a root beer float, which was VERY worth the money. Back to pub to hang out for another TQA set, and then Brett's music set. Did some dancing with whiskeyfyre and Amanda, which was a lot of fun.
And then, my first pub sing of the year! Joy! Rapture! Okay, so maybe not quite, but I was very happy. I've MISSED pub sing.
I dragged myself away from the spontaneous hand-kissing contest that developed on the path after pub-sing so my little group could all go back to the hotel. Mmmm, bodicegasm, bootgasm, beltgasm!!!
Since Mom wanted to be one of the "cool kids," we went out to La-Fi's and had Mexican for dinner. Due to the rain, there wasn't a big crowd, and Mom didn't stay long, as I knew she wouldn't. I intended to follow behind her in an hour or so, but the fun people kept just trickling in (and then trickling back out), and somehow I ended up being one of the last out at 11:45. The wenches have a new anti-drahma mantra, too!
Back at the hotel, I showered, got my clothes out for the next day, wrestled some blankets away from my mother and passed out!
Sunday: Sunday, we actually managed to get out the door quicker than on Saturday, despite having to pack up, and getting up later. Mom started a nice leisurely drive back to Charlotte, and the girls and I headed out for another day of faire. Saw crazyauntjaynie first thing, and we got our accustomed spot on the chain to love on the musicians. Sarah and Whitney had disappeared even before gate show, making me nervous. I was quite sure she still wanted revenge for her very public, yet very entertaining humiliation on Saturday. Amanda and I headed to pub, where we were shortly joined by a very out of breath whiskeyfyre, who had been toting things in the heat and her bodice all morning. (Note to self, remember to bring my chillers next weekend for Tammy to look at.) The three of us trotted ourselves up to the Tea Room (again!), stopping in front of the ships to give rosemary_dream tips on being more feminine. No, the word was appealing. Swaying walk was what we came up with; it was a fun little exchange. Whiskey: "Okay, that was worth stopping five minutes in the sun!"
I seem to be missing a lot of details on what I did on Sunday. I know I was all over Faire. I know I watched Brett's show with whiskeyfyre before she left to be Silk-slut, but I seem to be missing some time. *shrug*
Saw Lance from Mickle-a-Do in the pub with his fiancee. Spent a bit of time with crazyauntjaynie, spent some time with Amanda; hung out with Phillip in Bullseye for a while. Went to the 3:45 Lost Boys show, which was the only time I saw my sister the whole day (making me a nervous girl!), went to the 5:00 Rum Runners show. They've really improved their banter over the season, so far. Maybe they'll get a pub slot next year, or at least the Gazebo stage. I think their show improves being on a stage over in the street.
Then it was time for Pub Sing, again! Yay!! Okay, the public flogging of Caroline after making her sing a Euro-Pop song about llamas? Someone's head is going to be on a platter, but everyone else was mightily amused. And pub sing yesterday was the first time I got to hear Newcastle Town this year.
I WAS going to go home after faire, as I was broke, and I could eat for free at home, but tomomallie told me when he called that he was driving out to La-Fis to see everyone. So, I went to Eureka and ate a bunch of Chinese food while hanging out with some cool people. tomomallie showed up, and we actually met some boothies who live something like 3 miles from our house. Wow! We thought only rednecks lived within 15 miles of our house. We made new friends who live way out by us! Cool.
We went over to La-Fi's and hung out for a little while, but not too long. I had to get up early this morning. I didn't actually get up early enough to catch the bus, so I had to drive in, but it was still before 8 a.m when I got up.
I left my sister in the middle of the La-Fi's crowd, with Seamus grinning over how she was hot and single. I may have created a monster, here.

And that was my weekend. It was a pretty good one, and relatively drahma free. I hope it stays that way for the next three weeks!

While I have not received confirmations of how/when/if I'll be paid, I have receeved confirmation that the third show in the DQNPF has been "postponed" due to actor illness.
This means many things things:
1) I'm once again worried about my paycheck.
2) I get to see my husband more often!
3) If you asked me to do a sewing project for you this weekend and I said I didn't have time, I now do.
4) I get to go to pub sing, and maybe even *gasp* La-Fi's for the rest of the season! *dances madly*
5) My RAM might get a reboot, after all!!!
6) I am now is search of a gig that starts in August.

But, to celebrate my unexpected freedom, I present GARF sunday recap.

I had fun being rough, wild celt yesterday. I wore my doeskin wrap skirt over tomomallie's tartan and wore the doeskin bodice and looked quite cute. I's a look I'm going to have to repeat some time. I hope someone got a picture of it. whiskeyfyre put my hair up in fun braids with some hairsticks! (come on paycheck, I've got some plans for you!)
It being Matthew and JC's birthday week (And yamguitar's, but he ran away before we could do anything to him), it was time for the semi-annual wenching of half the Lost Boys. I got dragged into it a bit belatedly, so I just went with the flow. And it was so much fun to have ladyleo there for her first Local 74 wenching, as well as the fabulous dch4 for our (kilted!) guard.
LB first show of the day silliness ensued, due to the front row being filled to capacity with Wenches on a Wenching high.
After the show, we mostly went our separate ways, but determined to meet up at the crows nest a little later. whikseyfyre dragged me off to meet the Irishman with the gorgeous accent and pretty eyes that she's gone ga-ga over at the wooden rose booth. Yes, both eyes and accent were worth it. I say she needs to act now!
We met lady_rose30 and Amanda at the Crows Nest which turned out to be a bad idea. lady_rose30's ribs didn't much like the centrifugal force, and poor Amanda got nauseous. It did seem to me that the ride was a little more intense than in previous years. those two got partially recovered and limped off towards the pub, and whiskeyfyre and I sat near food 2, watching passer-bys until it was time for her shift over at Bullseye. We saw this GREAT kid in an awesome leather doublet, great pants, fake spats/boots with a bow and nice quiver. Must have been about 9 or 10, looked well put together. Then we caught the end of Blackenshear's show.
So, Madame went off to work and I trotted off to see the blacksmith demo, 'cause I promised Trent, on Saturday, that I would. I now miss the little bit of smithing I did in college. He had a wonderful lecture going along with his demo about the importance of history and the idea of sustainability and how difficult that is in the modern society. I got sun-burnt while sitting there, though. Not bad for a faire-burn, though. It feels warm today, but doesn't hurt.
After the demo, it was time for me to start heading out for work, so I trotted up to the hostel to return Tammie's hairsticks. I saw lady_rose30, luvnscandl and Amanda sitting in the shade chatting/gnashing about some of the repercussions of the days earlier events. So, I joined them for a few minutes, and we ended up getting our picture taken.
Chatted with whiskeyfyre at Bullseye on my way out; saw supergoober the only time all weekend as I checked into the pub to make my goodbyes. With the exception of her and 2/3 of 3/4 Ale on stage, there were no Rennies in the pub. It was creepy...and unusually quiet. Very strange. I could always depend on someone to be there for me to at least wave at. The corner was empty! *tear*
Ran into Carlos and heatherpants12 as I was leaving gate (literally, the called me as I was on my way into the parking lot).

And then it was show time, strike time, and go home time. And time to get tomomallie to put aloe on my sunburns before I went to bed.