"Oh my. Oh. Look at her. Whoa, she is awesome! Even better, kinda scary."
I almost interrupted the Queen’s presentation on historical costume to ask if she’d be my new best friend. Got scared though.
Which
reminds me of college… I redintegrate again (love that word!) One
of my two closest friends in college used to charge around campus with
a bulldog snarl on her face. With hot-pink, spiky hair, heavy eyeliner,
and lots of silver chains, she had droves of cutie-pies convinced she
was bad news. Funny thing was, she was the sweetest girl, never mean to anyone & not into anything shady. She just got a kick out of stirring up a little harmless mystery.
And there I was trotting along beside her, bright & sunny,
newly-married & all-too squeaky clean. I swear if anyone had the
nerve to look her direction long enough, they would have surely noticed
me beside her and her whole mystique would have dissipated in an
instant. My friend designed the most interesting clothes – not shy of
pink feather boas or studded black vinyl. In fact, she was all sparkes
& chains really. Extremely talented though. Last I heard from
her, she was forging swords for the movie industry or something.
Coolest girl.
Which has me thinking… Shouldn’t there be a site where we ladies
can officially call-out our maiden names and make ourselves findable?
I’m tired of searching for old friends to no avail. It’s those dern
maiden names. Or we can all post our maiden names on our blogs. Or in
the comments of this post if you like. My maiden name is
Heather Hutchings.
There friends, now find me!
So, back on track… Um yes, we took the kids to the Renaissance
Festival. Sting was there again, doing his thing. And there was my
favorite new character with that Queen of Hearts flair. I just love her! And she had the coolest green floral trunk! We could be good friends.
Granny got Elijah some tricky sticks. (I think they’re called
Crystal Stix.) And Charlotte was bestowed a lavender butterfly wand.
Costumes, jousting, greasy turkey legs, petting zoo – the kids couldn’t
have had more fun.
As for me, as long as I get a good look at a Peregrine Falcon, a
couple of freaky vultures & an owl, I’m good. The Birds of Prey
demonstration is really the highlight for me. That, and a day in the
sun with my family.
Hey
& thanks for the huzzahs over my new paper collection. I’ve always
loved to make paper dolls & cards & whatnot. I predict some
seriously good fun.
And a fashion-history factoid from my History of Costume class in
college… Did you know that women used to pluck out rows & rows of
hair, more than an inch sometimes, in order to make their foreheads
fashionably tall? Or that Queen Elizabeth used to paint blue lines on
her skin – you know, for younger- looking skin. (I’d like to see
Beyonce or Heather Locklear do that commercial.) Interesting article on historical beauty practices here. Lots of poisons though : (
Oooh…look at me –first to comment!! Those renaissance festivities ARE fun…and thanks for the fyi on the history of fashion! hee hee! Loved seeing your stuff at CHA…so glad things are all falling into place for your girl! Take care! jw
The Elizabethans were great, but they apparently never bathed…
Have you seen ‘Orlando’ with Tilda Swinton and Billy Zane? Awesome film, and some ‘Elizabethans’ in it too.
What a great post! Informative and full of pretty pictures.
fun post. the queen is a bit scary!
but what fun!
have a great weekend.
oxoxox,
jessi
She looks fab! What amazing colours..
Look out for the Other Boleyn girl – Phillipa Gregory book – and the film’s out this month I think!
Oh no, that queen looks just like my mother =D
That Queen _is_ scary!
I wish that we had a good Ren. Fest. around here. All we have is a bunch of geeky kids that like to role play distorting history.
Looks like you had a lot of fun and the kids, too!
that’s the AZ one? wow! we went to that one in 1990 or so, and it was pretty small, and pretty lame. that queen is all kinds of awesome.
We definitely need to head out there. The birds of prey exhibit is my favorite too (even better that the jousting). I love watching the hair braiding ladies as well.
That queen is scary looking but that dress in the background is dreamy. I think we have a terrific Renaissance Festival here!
love this queen!!! 😀 😀
About the maiden names… I’ll never understand why you (only women) lose your surname when you get married.
I’m spanish, and we never lose our surname. In fact we have two surnames: the first of the father and the first of the mother.
So, in Spain you’d be still Heather Hutchings, and your kids would be Elijah Bailey Hutchings and Charlotte Bailey Hutchings.
I can’t imagine how would I feel if I lose my own surname… maybe like losing a part of my childhood? I don’t know…
LOOOOOVE that QUEEN, she is totally rad!
xoxo
analise
Oooh, what faire did you guys go to? I’ve been attending my home faire (Maryland Renaissance Faire) since I was wee-tiny and my name was Liz Simon rather than Liz Cadorette. 🙂
The owl. OH how much I adore the owl. I’ve been on an owl kick lately and couldn’t tell you for a moment why that is.
Are we sure this queen is a She and not a He?
Are we sure this queen is a She and not a He?
ooh! I did not realize it was renaissance festival time again! I may have to head out there with the kids, your pictures make it look so pretty!
Do you know what they used to do with all that hair they plucked out? Hair Art.
Oh I love the Ren Faire. Your pics are beautiful! I just love to people watch!!! I have yet to go to ours in Gold Canyon! You can see the tops of the castles when driving down from Globe (where I happen to be!) It’s one of the biggest and longest running in the SouthWest, people come from ALL over! If you haven’t gone you must!
I agree on the maiden names!!! I have been googling my old friends also!! How funny! Maybe you can start up ANOTHER WEBSITE with just this??? huh?huh?
Signed, Jinky Coleman (formally known as Jinky Overstreet)
what’s really funny is that queen elizabeth actually had a condition that made her hair RECEDE! But then the ladies of the court, to be fashionable, plucked thier hairs so they could look like her! So crazy.
Heather, I didn’t realize you were in AZ. My mom was just talking about that festival the other day… she’s in Fountain Hills. Mom tells me about ALL the AZ fabulousness in an attempt to A: lure us into vacationing there… B: lure us into moving there.
Well, looks like you all had a great time! Your photos of everything are always wonderful.
Smiles,
Bari Ackerman (AKA Bari Palles)
Looks like you guys had a great day at the festival. And that lady was awesome. Are we sure it WAS a woman??!
Gosh, I don’t know. I thought she was a woman. Now I’m not so sure.
And Isaac says that top bird might be a Redtail Hawk, not a Peregrine Falcon. Who knows. They look the same to me.
awesome photos!
and that’s so funny about the forehead plucking. was that just renaissance? cuz i know that marie antoinette styled her hair to come down over her forehead because it was so high it was considered unfashionable. funny how cyclical fashion is, huh? 🙂
OH I LOVE the Ren Faire here. I’ve gone 2 years in a row now and its so fun…although I can only take so much exposed flesh and cleavage…
I did a blog a while back including a couple pics of the first ren faire I went to –
http://michelleshomestead.blogspot.com/2006/07/sorry-its-been-so-long.html
I’m the one in front in the green and burgundy dress. I made my costume, as well as the one for the girl next to me, made my hubby’s costume, standing to the left of me, and my little son’s costume (he was Trogdor the dragon)
I think you might have something here- with the Maiden names. I cannot find any of my college classmates, except the one, who happened to be married in college. I love the Renn Fair, thanks for sharing the photos. ~jen~
great post! my maiden name is Schultz. Jennifer Schultz. I’m looking for Holly. Holly McGuire Starling. please come find me. 🙂
I totally hear you about the maiden name thing! I added a name instead of dropping on – hyphenated otherwise. 🙂 so rachael loving-painter instead of rachael loving or rachael painter (there are too many painter’s to be confused with, and a rachel painter that works near where I live)
the AZ one, right? Did you see the place where you could buy tomatoes to throw at a heckler? Please tell me that they still have it. It was the funniest thing, they find these crazy funny hecklers that really get the tomato-throwers mad. Funnier than VH1’s Best Week Ever. If that’s possible.
Maiden names, huh? Have you tried Facebook? I have been able to find TONS of my old friends – even from as far back as elementary school – through that site. Most of my friends have their maiden name listed along with their married name so when you do a search for either, you’ll find them no problemo.
Yep, you can add your maiden name in facebook under “former name” so your old friends can find you.
We love our local RenFest and already are planning to go. It’s just as much fun to see the attendees in costume as the cast.
I used to work at the MD RenFest. One year I made friends with the falconer and got to carry M’lia, his red tailed male hawk around. Best part was he liked me (the hawk) and when it got cold he’d stick his beak into the front of my smock! It was very funny, walking around with a hawk peak snuggled between my pushed up ‘puppies’. 🙂
Glad to hear you enjoyed the fair. I have considered going in the past, but have never been to one. It’s still on the “Someday” list.
Did you notice the dress hanging behind the Queen? It’s fantastic. I think I need one!
Thanks so much for sharing this! It looks like so much fun!
Anna
You have a very cute blog! I like your comment about maiden names, because its so hard to find a lot of my friends from HS who I haven’t talked to in years but have since been married.
I kept my maiden name, though. No real reason, I just like my name and it wasn’t a big deal to either of us if I took his name or not.
Posted in the worng spot…anyway…
Love the Renaissance Festival…haven’t been in a couple of years though…maybe we’ll go this year. :o)
I totally agree with the maiden name thing though, after being married 9 years, I just legally changed it (I have been using my married name for all intents and purposes, just hadn’t made it official) so I could renew my license of all things. I’m very attached to my maiden name.
Congratulations on the new paper line, can’t wait to see it whole.
Fun pics!! Looks like it was a good weekend.
And I’m currently struggling just a little bit about letting Ms. April Curry go and becoming Mrs. April Horsman. Horsman? oh yes.
We go to this festival outside Chicago every year. It’s always delightful. Great pictures!
This is only our second February in South Florida. After seeing your entry, I realized I may have missed the big Ren fest nearby in Deerfield Beach! Oh no! *off to check*
PS thanks for the reminder!
I know what you mean about the maiden name thing. Mine is Evans, much easier than my married named. I’ve used both quite often over the last 27.5! years!!! I’d love to find a friend from college named Maria, she was from Spain, married Ronnie Johnson from Gainesville Florida. Not an easy search…
The fair looks like it was fun….yes, the queen is a little frightening.
The maiden name idea is wonderful. I’ve been having the same experience looking for old friends.I just googled my maiden name and didn’t come up with any links leading to me.
Or we could all stop changing our names. I kept mine and my kid’s is hyphenated. Makes for more unique and googleable names, too.
How funny , my first thought was, “well the fat ladys singing…it must be over”. You should have asked her to be your new best friend though.
Love your site. It’s been linked from my blogland begining.
Blessings,
Terisa
The Queen is awesome! I wish you had asked her to be your new best friend. I would have loved to have known what her reaction was! My married name is Hutchings!
I am so very, very jealous of you. The last time I went to the Renaissance fair was at least ten years ago. And I’ve been craving it ever since! Please, go again. For me. And give that fabulous queen a squeeze for me! *B