Category: 614 Pride

  • These Are Things that I’m Gonna Do.

    I had so much fun working through my bucket list for the last quarter of 2019, so I decided to do more of them in 2020. Here is what I have so far…

    • Create 2020 Vision Board – Done!! Photos Below.
    • Get prettied up for Shrimp’s Cocktail Party!
    • Meet Dirty Martini at Shrimp’s Cocktail Party! on Saturday.
    • Buy a pair of Veronica Lockhart’s rhinestone cockroaches.
    • Go with the Wenches to Pub Sing at Dub Pub.
    • Wench wine meet up in February.
    • Be under or close to 200 lbs by my birthday March 14.
    • Visit Prologue bookstore.
    • Sew new Viking garb for Seth.
    • Write 30,000 words in my work in progress.
    • Go to Mustache Ride Drag Brunch
    • Go to Archery Range
    • Visit Elizabeth’s Records
    • Set up new Entertainment Stand.
    • Set up Stationary Bike.

    Vision Board – The lovely Molly Roberts held a live event for her Patrons all about creating a vision board. I decided to get in on the action and began building up images and words for my board. I just bought myself a brand new Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (as previously stated my favorite dictionary) so my old falling apart one became fodder for my vision board. I found these battery operated lights I bought at Target a couple of years ago that have glitter in bulbs around the lights and I decided they would look amazing on my vision board. I bought a shadowbox style wooden box to use and painted the inside neon pink and the outside silver. I used glitter infused mod podge to place my images on the board. I began with bright colored images and then added words and pieces from the dictionary. I found some star shaped push pins and attached the lights to the edge with them. I am really happy with how it turned out. It is going to live on my new altar for 2020.

  • Craftin’ Outlaws Santa Display

    Craftin’ Outlaws Santa Display

    Please enjoy this video of the full Santa Sonny and Cher experience from Craftin’ Outlaws Alternative Craft Fair.

  • Gruss vom Krampus!

    Gruss vom Krampus!

    Columbus has over the past couple of years really embraced the darker side of Christmas which has led to a prevalence of Krampus related activities. This year the first day of December was marked with the second annual Merry Krampus craft show and the Fourth Krampus Walk sponsored by a local pagan shop, The Magical Druid. The International Wenches Guild Local 73 decided to plan an invasion of the Krampus events.

    The Merry Krampus was held at Strongwater and featured many alternative craft vendors. I had splurged and bought early bird entries for myself and Seth which gave us an hour of shopping before the show was opened to general public. I bought a beautiful hand printed calendar from Midwest Mermaid and an amazing wrought iron wand from Rust Wolf. I ran into some friends who were vending and selling chain maille and knives. My Madame of Vice, Sarah, and I got our pictures taken with Santa and Krampus.

    We then headed down to Clintonville to participate in the Krampus Walk. We had a pretty good turnout of wenches, and had a wonderful time parading down the street all dressed up. We were photographed a lot, and made quite an impression. Obviously I chose to go for more of a Krampus look, and I had a great time.

    General consensus is that we are mostly naughty, but a really good time. Happy Krampusnacht!!

  • Skatemare Before Christmas

    Skatemare Before Christmas

    On Saturday the 30th Seth and I went out to support Ohio Roller Derby (OHRD) at their fundraiser/ exhibition bout Skatemare Before Christmas. This bout pits team Halloween, The Roller Ghouls, against team Christmas, The Jingle Belles. They also premiered their rookies dividing them into team Candy Corns versus team CandyCanes. I came out to represent team Christmas this year, so Seth decided to root for team Halloween.

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    The rookie game was up first. The Candy Canes came out strong scoring in the first couple of jams, but soon enough the Candy Corns had tied things back up. In the second half the Candy Canes came back and they would win! Score one bout for Christmas.

    During the time between the rookie bout and the main event there was a show put on by a local break dance school. The kids appeared to be between the ages of 5 and 13. They were adorable and some of them were so talented!

    The final bout was much more fast paced. Once again the Jingle Belles came out strong at first, but then the Ghouls got a good run and took over the lead. It was a good back and forth battle for a while, but in the end the Jingle Belles came out on top.

    Team Christmas wins for this year!

  • End of 2019 Bucket List – More Items Checked

    End of 2019 Bucket List – More Items Checked

    • Wench photo with the Queen!
    • Get my major changed to creative Writing.
    • Attend both days the last weekend of Ohio Renaissance Festival

    Saturday of this weekend was rainy,  but we still went out for several hours. Sunday was absolutely amazing. I got photos with many of the Wenches in our local and we got this amazing photo with the queen. I love my wenches so much, and I am so proud of what we have built.

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    • Get autographs from Rasputina (Melora Creager)

    I was not able to get Rasputina’s autographs because we needed to get home so Seth could go to work today. However, I did get the autographs of the amazing opening act Charming Disaster as well as their new LP. If you have never heard them you should absolutely check them out. They are a new favorite.

     

    • Finish Blogtober strong (I get a book if I do)
    • Rennie outing to Book Loft?
    • Get Wench tattoo
    • Participate and succeed in NaNoWriMo (Are you participating? Link me BetsySnowWhite)
    • Do a writers night.
    • Photo with Krampus!
    • Wench invasion of the Krampus Walk
    • Photo with Santa and the Wenches
    • Wench invasion of Columbus and Cincinnati Zoo.
    • Wench invasion of Kentucky Dickens Festival
    • Set up Christmas trees
    • Christmas Party
    • Attend Roaring 20s New Year Party
  • Heels of Horror XII

    Heels of Horror XII

    Last night I got to see Heels of Horror XII starring Columbus Drag Queen and Miss Congeniality Nina West. My sister Traci and I took our older sister, Krystie, who was in town from Oklahoma this weekend. The show was absolutely amazing, as always. I laughed, cheered, sang, hooted and hollared. Well done again Nina and cast!! Can’t wait til next year!

  • Anniversary Thoughts – Seven Year Itch?

    Anniversary Thoughts – Seven Year Itch?

    Today is the seventh anniversary of the day I married the best man I have ever met. Seth and I have gone on a great many adventures together in our seven years of marriage (and five years of dating before that) and we will be on many, many more. I cannot imagine my life without him in it. I am beyond blessed and so grateful to have him in my life. Thank you, Seth, for teaching me, making me laugh, loving me so much and for catching me when I fall. My heart is yours for always.

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    Our wedding was a supremely personalized and hand made event and I loved every piece of it. My mother was our officiant and made my jacket, the vests for the guys and the skirt for my niece. Our friend Cliff made the steps leading to the front of the stage and our “cake topper” which was a diorama of Seth and I in our wedding clothes fighting zombies encased in a lovely dragon skin box, with lights. My sister-in-law baked all of our cupcakes and helped with general wedding crafting. My mother-in-law helped us with crafting. My sister helped us with crafting. I made the bouquets and the boutonnieres, designed the programs, etc. Seth made our hand-fasting cord, flowers for the bouquets and our rings out of chain maille plus helping with everything else. Seth and I wrote the ceremony and our vows. It takes an army to create a wedding as beautiful as ours, and we were blessed to have some of the best people involved.

    Photos are all by Capture Life Photography

  • I Got to Attend A Body Positive Pool Party!!

    I Got to Attend A Body Positive Pool Party!!

    About a month ago an event popped up on Facebook. It was created by a group called the Fat Babes Club of Columbus and the event was called Body Positive Pool Party. I was immediately interested. Then my friend Sarah asked if anyone was going so she and I made a plan to go together. We waited eagerly for more information. So when one Saturday morning at 7 am I was waiting for  mom and sister to pick me up so we can go garage saleing and a notification came that tickets were on sale I immediately snatched up two tickets. Then I found out that my friends Julie and Megan would be coming too. This was going to be so much fun!

    Saturday I threw on my Harry Potter bathing suit and met Sarah in the parking lot across the street from the Westerville Jaycees Pool. When we got to the door they were not quite open yet, as they were still clearing the pool of daily visitors. We were the first people to begin forming a line into the event. By the time the gates opened there was a nice sized line behind us, and the party was ready to begin. My id was checked and a blue heart was drawn on my hand to show I was old enough to drink and in we went.

    Immediately into the party room there was a bar to the left and beside it was a table loaded with raffle items. As you walked through you passed a table with little bags of chips, cookies and pastries. Once you got out by the pool there was a DJ set up spinning vinyl all night and the pool was full of fun inflatables. Sarah and I claimed some chairs and then hit the bar.

    The bar had sodas, natural light strawberry lemonade, bud light and several flavors of white claw. I am a fan of white claw so I started with a raspberry. I moved to the raffle table and they had some amazing raffle items: gift baskets from local businesses and companies, make up sets, skincare sets, and more. I bought 15 tickets for $10, and put them into the drawings for a basket from Wild Cat Gift and Party, Uproar by Babe Roar, Urban Decay, Benefit Cosmetics and a couple of others I have forgotten.

    I got a tattoo this week which was stupid honestly since I knew I had a pool party this weekend, so I decided that I would not “Swim” but would get in the water keeping my arms out. I got in and there was this adorable unicorn floaty that I decided I needed to get on. Some lovely ladies helped me and I floated for exactly 2 seconds before the unicorn bucked me off and I was fully energed in the pool. Oops. Not intentional, but still What the Hell, Unicorn? I watched him buck several others as well, so it was obviously nothing personal.

    Julie and Megan arrived around 8:30 or so, and I lounged beside the pool drinking while they swam and chatted with me. Sarah got pulled into doing some footage for the people who were video recording the event. She went down the slide about 3 times, and ended up doing some under water and jumping in shots.

    They called the raffles at 9:45, and Julie won a package of facial cremes etc, and I won the Benefit Cosmetics Brows before Bros set. It had eyebrow powder, a pencil and a filler along with a pore shrinking primer and a They’re Real lip stick in Lusty Rose. I was so excited!

    There is going to be another one in August and you know that if I can I will go again.

  • Wednesday Ink Therapy

    Wednesday Ink Therapy

    My little sister and I have been sitting on a couple of gift cards to a local tattoo parlor for months, and had been putting off a plan to go get the tattoos done for almost as long. Something always came up, or one of us was sick, or the weekend was just too busy. Well finally early this week she texted me asking if she took Wednesday off if we could finally go get our tattoos. As Wednesday is my day off (I work 4×10 MTThF at the moment) I was in.

    We agreed to meet at Defining Skin at noon on Wednesday since that was when they opened, and we would figure things out from there. I was, of course, twenty minutes early as is only right and proper so I sat in my car taking selfies until Traci arrived. It turns out she had the foresight to call ahead and Charles Martin (@tmberwolf) would be able to get us in, but not until 1:30. That meant we had some time to kill.

    Traci hadn’t eaten yet and I only had maple pecan puffs, so we decided to go get something to eat and since Brewdog Franklinton was nearby it seemed an obvious choice to us. Because you have to get a beer if you go to Brewdog I decided to try their Franklinton Dumpster Fire (The night before this location opened the dumpster caught fire very dramatically and they thought they may not get to open) which is a sour gose. It was delicious with berry and a lovely smoky aftertaste. Traci got a Sucker Punch Cider from Mad Moon, which was delicious and much too easy to drink. For lunch I got cauliflower wings with blue cheese dip. They were so good. I could have moved into that dish and lived happily for some time.

    We headed back over to Defining skin where we filled out all our paperwork and waited for Charlie to be ready for us. Traci and I were both getting text; Traci a quote from Kingdom Hearts – “One Sky One Destiny” and for me one of my favorite words and a tattoo I had wanted for a long time “Bibliophile.” I wanted mine to look as much like typeset as possible, and Traci wanted hers to be script. He got them together, made the stencils and I was up first. I was afraid that the wrist would be super sensitive and uncomfortable, but it really wasn’t bad at all. All in all the whole tattoo took about 15 minutes, which is so much quicker than all my other pieces. Traci was up next and she wanted hers on her chest under her collar bones. He got it lined up and spaced out, and then got to work on her. Hers took 30 minutes or so, not very long at all. She said the chest didn’t hurt badly either, but I don’t know if I believe her.

    We are both so happy with our new ink. The only sad thing about it is that I am going to a pool party tonight and I can’t get in the pool with my fresh ink. Oh,well. It is worth it for the awesome. I am just going to put my feet in and look at my beautiful and long time coming tattoo.

     

     

  • Go Big. Be Kind. Go West. Columbus Pride 2019.

    This past weekend was Pride weekend for Columbus. The official grand marshall of the pride parade was our own Nina West fresh off of winning Miss Congeniality on Drag Race Season 11. Nina has been such a shining example of what Columbus is, and the inclusivity of the Columbus drag scene, especially in the West family. I attended the Best of Axis II recently at Axis Night Club, and Virginia West (Nina’s Drag Mother) revealed that in the West family they have performers who are Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, Straight, Poly, and more which is part of what makes them amazing.

    It is estimated that half a million people were in Columbus this weekend to watch the parade and attend pride. My husband and I walked in the parade with Planned Parenthood. I met a lovely Columberino (Columbus My Favorite Murder fan) who was also walking with PP. Virginia West, who was the parade emcee, was so passionate and ebullient when we reached the judges that it legitimately made me a little weepy. “Women’s Rights are Human Rights” and the crowd went nuts. The cheering as we walked was uplifting. On another note, my employer had an amazing turn out as well with over 400 walkers including our CEO. I later found out that Planned Parenthood won the award for Best Non-Profit Contingent.

    On Sunday, Geek Girl Brunch Columbus had a brunch/lunch outing to Bat n Rouge Baseball. Local celebrities and local lgbt advocates dress in drag and play a game of baseball/softball. I had never been and it was seriously fun though one of our members got really bad sunburn on her legs. There were people dressed as: Liza Minelli, Nina West, Chyna, Doris Day, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Game of Thrones characters, Real Housewives, and more. It was a great time.