Costume Con in a Nutshell

I thought of doing a blow-by-blow like I did last year, but decided that if I tried, I'd surely never finish! Costume Con is only 4 days (3 if you consider that Thursday and Monday are only half days), but as fun as I find it I always come out feeling exhilirated, exhausted, and overwhelmed. It takes far too long to process into a coherent narrative and isn't linear in my mind, anyway.

The highlights (in no particular order):

• Seeing old friends and making new ones! It is difficult to describe that wonderful "mind meld" when you're with others of similar interests, but I'm sure we've all experienced it at some point. This is my yearly fix :)
  
• The incredibly creative costumes and costumers. Everyone is so inventive and talented, and I'm not just saying that - it is very good for me to be around people who exceed my abilities in every way - it gives me something to work towards :)
  
• The Ecclesiastical Garments and Fabric Manipulation classes gave me some really good ideas - at last, a use for those "what was I thinking?" scraps! Also good was the Simplicity Q & A - how many corporations actually ask their customers what they want?
  
• The competition - by Sunday I was mentally/emotionally fried and I hope my silence didn't spook my co-conspirators too much. The "competing" aspect still hasn't really sunk in, and probably won't until I see photos (my own camera ran out of memory before the historical masquerade, so I'm waiting on friends to get back to me). We have agreed that we should compete again one day - but emphatically not next year :P
  
• "Playing tourist" in my own home town - Decatur is a fun little neighborhood.
  
• The realization that anyone looks like a drag queen when wearing a wig cap
  
• Cats make gravity work better.
  
• The Ramones are perfect road-tripping music - short, fast, and you can sing along (even if you can't sing)!
  
• Cafe Lily - if you're ever in town, go. Much yumminess.
  
• Mirage Sarees in Atlanta - $0.99/yard china silk just isn't to be beat!!
  
• Embellishment, trim, and accessorizing is key for almost every single time period except this one! I must break out of my minimalist habits, at least when pursuing historical gear.
  
• The inevitable brainstorming for new costumes which you can ( skip if you're averse to extreme geeking )
  
  

Will type more as I think of it, and if I can squeeze it into words. Meantime, to more laundry.

and the links start trickling in....

My first CC22 photo sighting:

Dig these pix of 18th century costume - do you see now why I know I'm not that good? This woman looked amazing and had another lovely costume every single day. Was I jealous? Yeah, a bit, but she was a joy to see - someone described her as stepping out of a portrait and they were right! Not just my opinion either - she won best historical recreation!

Disclaimer: I barely met this woman and didn't take these photos myself - though she did manage to capture E. as our Marilyn (shouldn't be hard to spot!)in one of her shots. Additional goodie: the famed Jack Sparrow costume(rs) (no slouches either - I hear they distressed the fabric by hand for that "lost at sea" look).