So this weekend happened. The weekend that's been circled on a calendar for months. The weekend I had been attending rehearsals for, practicing dances for, sewing my fingers off for. Opening Day of the 2010 Faire season.
I have been excited about this season for several reasons. One being that this would be my first full season in five years. Because of school and other commitments I just wasn't able to make the full commitment to faire, which is a big one. The second being that though I was still the same character, I had changed her up a bit by playing her as a married lady instead of as one of the Maids*. I had been a Maid for the last 10 years and I felt it was time to move on from that role, expand a bit and make room for the new beautiful ladies that were joining the maids this season.
I took Friday off of work to make sure I had everything in order and ready to go. I packed bags, bought a new ice chest for my lunches, made sure all my undergarments were clean, did some finishing touches on the dress and finished making my hat. The hat BTW is something I'm very proud of since I had never made a tall hat before. By Friday night everything was packed and ready to go. It felt like Christmas Eve.
Saturday morning I got up bright and early to pack the car, make coffee and some breakfast and head out in time to get to site on time. Once at faire, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to carry everything in one trip. Once everything was on site I could leave a lot of it in the lockup during the run, so this morning and the evening of closing day are always the hardest when lugging the crap. I amazed myself that I actually was able to carry pretty much everything except my cloak, which I probably wouldn't need that day anyway. I was good until about 1/3 of the way when my arms started protesting and tings started falling. I persevered, and eventually finally made it to glade, already exhausted and overheating. Not good.
I decided it would be better to do my hair and makeup first to let my body cool down before dressing, so I grabbed makeup and hair stuff and went to morning meeting. After the meeting I worked on getting dressed. Now, understand that our backstage is not at all big, and there are a lot of us, in big costumes. So there's a lot of maneuvering, 'excuse me's', and frustrations. But we always make it work and the day began. First order of business, get myself some feathers for my hat. I had bought cheap small feathers at Joann to get me by, but I needed some real plumage. We headed to the feather booth and found some beautiful feathers that worked perfectly and may or may not have been REALLY overpriced for feathers. But they are so pretty and perfect for the hat so I splurged. My only splurge for the weekend.
*Maids: At Court we typically play characters of individuals that actually lived and were a part of Queen Elizabeth's court and try to do this as accurately as possible. Queen Elizabeth often had about 6-10 young girls, unmarried, as her companions. This was a station of honor for the girls. And we typically have about 6-7 girls representing the queens Maids at faire. It's a lot of fun, but pretty demanding since there are a lot of tasks to fulfill.
*Pony Ride: Heaven on Earth. It is a sweet lambic that is sold at the ale stand near Court Glade. Sooooo good. Come and visit me, I'll introduce you. J
*Sister: Laura plays Penelope Rich, my character's sister. Which is hilarious since we look pretty much like the opposite of each other. But she's a good sister. J
How fun!
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