Happy Mardi Gras!!

If you're in New Orleans, know how much I envy you, coldness and all. We're back in Memphis, drinking our Community Coffee and reading "Mimi's First Mardi Gras" to the baby (who doesn't understand (a) the book or (b) why mommy is getting teary eyed over it). We don't usually stay in NOLA for Mardi Gras day, perferring to take our days off the week before so we can see Muses Thursday, then heading out some time after Bacchus.

So, what did I learn and what's in store? I didn't pick up quite as many tips as much as last year when my sister rode, but I wanted to do a little year in review including with tips I picked up this year. As before, I'll do a top 10 list, in no particular order:

(1) Bloomin' Deals on Freret: Run by the Junior League of New Orleans (JLNO), Bloomin' Deals thrift shop has some of the best prices for shoes and boots ($2.50/pair and $5/pair, respectively). I almost wanted to keep that a secret to minimize my competition for shoes there, but I couldn't in good conscience keep it to myself (that's how much I love you, other shoe glitterers...I hope you feel the love). My sister introduced me to Bloomin' Deals after brunch at High Hat (also recommended). Good thing too, because it looks like the Goodwill on Robert E. Lee next to Robert's ain't dere no more...

(2) Roman Candy Rum: It's the 100th Anniversary of Roman Candy (!!), and they introduced a line of rums to celebrate (watch this really sweet video about it or check out their Facebook page, but be prepared to really want some Roman Candy). Now, y'all know I love Roman Candy: I have this 2014 shoe to prove it. I was a little hesitant to get too excited, because I'd had my heart broken before by King Cake vodka (which is certainly drinkable, but not exactly the stuff of dreams). Well, I can't speak for the chocolate because I haven't had any, but the vanilla and strawberry are divine. I didn't come up with this, but need to share it: Roman Candy vanilla rum + Orange juice. It's like the tastiest creamsicle cocktail you've ever had (you're welcome). OJ is also nice with the strawberry for fruity tropical deliciousness.

(3) My fellow Glitter Addicts' growing web presence: Between Twelfth Night and Fat Tuesday, I got over 100 new Pinterest followers, suggesting a lot more people are getting interested in glittered shoes/purses/sunglasses, DIY throws and/or Muses shoes. Exciting stuff! I also finally bit the bullet and made an FAQ page this year, which at the moment only includes an answer to the question "how do you do your lettering" which I got asked a lot this year (if any other Q's become FA, I will add them there).

(4) My Top 3 Proudest Moments List Gets Revised: After the NYT wrote that you couldn't find kale in New Orleans, the first shoe I did for 2015 was a KaleGate shoe with a green leafy ruffle and the phrase "New Orleans: Proud to Kale it Home" in the style of the old Proud to Call it Home bumper sticker. In the 2015 Muses parade, there was a float about clueless transplants to NOLA, and not only was the bumper sticker on the back of the float, it was on the head dresses for that float as well!

I called up my husband to tell him marrying him had just been bumped from my top 3 proudest life moments. My list now looks like this: #1 = had a baby, #2 = got my PhD, #3 = JOKE ON A MUSES FLOAT (sorry, honey).

(5) Twelfth Night Auction: This was probably the coolest part of the 2015 Carnival Season for me: Muses auctioned off three of my shoes at their Twelfth Night event to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where I work. Twelfth Night (Jan. 6th) is actually also the birthday of Danny Thomas (the founder of SJCRH), so I'm hoping the $500 raised by the auction made a lovely birthday present. So thrilled about the money raised, and so very very grateful to the Muses for making that happen.

(6) Is that what I think it is on that sign? We were watching Muses Thursday night and I noticed a sign across the street from us had some photographs on it. Closer inspection revealed that some of the shoes on the sign were FROM THE BLOG. I felt pretty famous in a limited way. I went over to ask if I could take a picture with the sign and they very kindly (if a little confusedly) let me:

That's my Tiffany Box Shoe on the far left and my Cinderella Shoe on the far right

(7) New Women's Krewes: 2015 saw the arrival of two new women's krewes: The Mystic Krewe of Femme Fatale and The Krewe of Athena. An awesome sign of the ever-increasing presence of women in Carnival. I didn't catch either, but from what I've read/seen on the web, the Mystic Krewe of Femmes Fatal's signature throw was make up compacts and the Krewe of Athena throws decorated fedoras. Can't wait to see how those develop in the coming years...

(8) Sunglasses: Speaking of other women's krewes, this year, I tried my hand at glittered sunglasses. Super fun medium to work with. I really think we're going to see the Krewe of Iris' signature handmade throw catching on in the next few years, particularly as they have a 100 year anniversary coming up. I'm making that prediction because sunglasses are wearable (which is really fun) and tie in to the krewe in a super cute way, and this year the krewe got more into publicizing them. I'm also a fan (and now proud owner) of the Iris plush King Cake baby, purple sleep mask with rhinestone sunglasses, and some beautiful hand-strung beads with shimmery iridescent purple irises on them. This was a great year for Iris: good weather, cute theme that appealed to a wide range of ages and some really spectacular throws.

(9) Show us your shoes! As usual, I spent the day after Muses checking out ebay, Facebook (where'd ya get dem Muses shoes?) and NOLA.com (Show us your Muses shoes) for a little vicarious shoe fun. I myself have never caught a shoe (the only shoe in my collection was a baby shoe that was gifted to me by a friend (the one who first introduced me to shoe glittering) when I got pregnant.

(10) Where'd the shoes go? Have to include a low-light of the year to go with all the highlights. Last year, La Boulangerie included porcelain shoe feves in their King Cakes and Galettes du Roi on Muses Thursday. You could only get them Muses Thursday, which meant riders couldn't get them, but the fact you could only get them for one day did add to the thrill. I got in the car to go buy as many as I could carry this year, but when I called on the way I found they weren't doing them this year. Bummer!



All in all, a pretty great year. How to top it? What's to come for 2016? It's funny, the end of each Mardi Gras feels way more like New Year's to me than New Year's. Here are my plans/"resolutions:"

- Glitter way more shoes! The new baby meant I didn't do a ton of 2015 shoe, but now I have a list a mile long of ideas for 2016. Friday I went and bought 10 pairs of shoes at Bloomin' Deals to ease the post-Muses-Thursday-slump. I've got my shoes, glitter, glue and ideas - time to get cracking!!

- I want to try to blog more now that I have a teensy bit more time. What do y'all like to see here? Links? Techniques/tips? Pictures of finished shoes? Works in progress? Let me know if you have a preference and I will try to listen...

- I need to update my list of Muses articles, as it's now woefully out of date

- I'm going to get an Instagram account and have my hipper younger sister teach me how to Instagram (and yes, I feel a billion years old typing that)

- I think I'm going to do a weekly "feature" of a sort-of homemade throws hall of fame. There are so many krewes and walking groups doing hand decorated/DIY throws now. What I'd really like to do is open a Museum of Handmade Carnival Throws, but for now I'll settle for doing it digitally!


Hope everyone had as great a Carnival season as I did with my family, and I wish you all a very happy Mardi Gras day!!!