Betsy Snow White Bibliophile

Tag: My Birthday Month

  • I turned 40 in New Orleans

    I turned 40 in New Orleans

    In January I got a test message from my sister, Traci, that said: Hey. So…Happy Birthday early, Betsy! You and I are going to New Orleans! I booked us flights and we have a hotel from March 13th -March 17th! (Mom helped me pay!)

    I was shocked and excited and probably a little trepidatious but mostly excited that I would be starting my 40th year in a city I have wanted to visit for so long. Our room would be located right in the heart of the French Quarter and centrally located to many famous local attractions. We began to plot and plan and make a share pinterest board, like you do.

    On the morning of March 13 my husband brought me to the airport where we met up with my sister, and we flew out to New Orleans by way of a 4 hour layover in the Orlando airport. We finally make it to New Orleans around 6pm and we go to our hotel in a memorable Uber ride with a semi-racist who was definitely homophobic, but who I was able to distract with the fact that I am a Saints fan. He drove us by the Superdome after I said this, which was nice, but you know not that nice.

    Once in the city we ran out to find a place to grab dinner, and because it was very much dinner time we found a cute little mexican/cuban restaurant to grab a margarita and some food. After that we were wiped from a full day of flying so we went back to the hotel, set an alarm and headed to bed so we would be rested for my birthday the next day.

    The 14th we woke up early(ish), got ready and headed out to go to Cafe DuMonde for breakfast, because in New Orleans that is what you do. When we arrived there was a line, but people were social distancing pretty well and everyone was masked. We were in line for about 30 minutes before we reached the front and were buying our beignets and iced cafe au laits. (Fun fact: If you go make sure you have cash because they are cash only, but if you don’t the store across the street has an atm and the fee isn’t too bad at all.) The beignets were delicious and in spite of the fact that I was wearing head to toe black I managed to wear very little powdered sugar which was a true birthday miracle.

    Then we headed out to explore and shop. We had no solid plans except that we knew we wanted to go to the Museum of Death, as two gothy murderinos it just seemed like the right thing to do. We made our way to the museum and we found several shops we wanted to check out as they opened for the day. The Museum of Death was fun, they had some interesting displays and information, but Traci and I agreed that it was nothing we hadn’t seen before online. My favorite part was the funerary and mortuary historical pieces. As we left I bought a tank top, an enamel pin and a patch from the gift shop.

    We walked around a bit more, bought books in a cute little bookshop, and then grabbed brunch (yep, we ate again) at an adorable restaurant called Evangeline. We then headed to one of the shops we had walked past earlier, Road Kill, where I bought a dress, a bag, sunglasses, two patches and two pins. They suggested to us that we check out two Vampire themed shops they thought we would like. I mentioned it was my birthday and one of the people in the shop pinned a couple of dollars on me, which was added to by a patron of the shop. We browsed a couple more shops, but didn’t make any purchases, then found another place to stop for drinks Cane & Table where I had what might be my personal ideal cocktail Sardi’s Delight which is “A passionfruit daiquiri with gin, a touch of pomegranate, and island spices.”

    We wandered back to the hotel to drop off bags, and then headed back out to find Boutique du Vampyre. The shop was fun, and had an amazing collection of Vampire books, so I bought a couple and then we walked over to The Vampire Cafe next door. We grabbed a couple of drinks there as well as Deep Fried Deviled Eggs which were delicious.

    We ended the night of my birthday by eating at Cafe Amelie (Mostly because I loved the name. Amelie is one of my favorite movies.)

    The next two days we walked around to take many photos, eat so much food, have some amazing drinks. On Tuesday we made it our mission to get a drink at the famous Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleon. We befriended a super nice woman from Houston and her adorable and lightly crotchety husband in line, and she decided to adopt us so we could all get on the Carousel at the same time. And It worked!! I ordered a drink that had Absinthe in it, but it is not listed on the menu for the bar and I cannot remember what it was called. It was delicious. The bartender there reminded me a bit of Penn from Penn and Teller, so there is that.

    What I am saying is that New Orleans is amazing, even when wearing a mask, and I am ready to return in order to explore more, especially since we never even made it to the Garden District. Now for an absolute photo dump.

  • My Birthday in a Post.

    My Birthday in a Post.

    Yesterday was my birthday. I am officially 39. I spent most of early yesterday with curlers in my hair getting ready for the Fancy Dress Party at the Forge Tavern later in the day. My husband, Seth, surprise d me at midnight while I was putting my curlers in with my birthday present from him: Dungeons and Dragons Castle Ravenloft the Board Game. It is a stand alone version of the Curse of Strahd which is a module for D&D that I am planning to Dungeon Master later this year. We can play it to prepare, and also use the figurines from the game when running my game later. I am super excited.

    maxresdefault

    Once we were ready we met my mom and sister for dinner at Tomatillo’s in Worthington for dinner. They gave me my present from them then. They got me a new Fitbit Versa, the game Punderdome and The Literary Witches Oracle. They also got me a unicorn hand sanitizer holder, which my mom bought before all the chaos really started, but it is super handy now.

    Then we all headed to The Forge Tavern for the Fancy Dress Party. Jameson’s Folly, which is made up of the Wenches a’ Wailing from the Renaissance Festival and their friends, was performing as a St. Patrick’s Day celebration.  The Forge made the decision not to cancel in spite of the covid-19 restrictions and instead to limit the number of people who are allowed to attend. I would say there were about 50 of us in attendance in the end, but it was a lovely night. I was gifted a lovely unicorn music box from my friend Carol, an adorable birthday wineglass from my friend Mary, and my friend Susan made me a necklace based on the book The Starless Sea. I will absolutely admit to having far too much to drink, but in spite of that it was a lovely night. Jameson’s Folly even wished me a happy birthday in a bunch of languages, did a toast to me and sang an encore song just for me.

    All in all it was an absolutely amazing birthday. Today they have officially closed all the restaurants and bars, and I am so thankful that I was able to have one more night of fun before that hit. I am 39 and the world feels like chaos, but last night I was surrounded by my favorite people so it is all okay.

  • Who am I? 20 Facts About the Weird Girl

    wp-1582857533699.jpg

    Hi! My name is Betsy White. I will be 39 in about 12 days; I was born in 1981 and I am either a millennial or a xennial depending on what websites you look at. I have been married for 8 years in October to my amazing husband Seth. We live in Columbus, Ohio with a very large cat named Samhain (Sam for short) and a very small dog named Zoe. Now for some more random facts about me:

    1. I have 5 tattoos with plans for many more. I have the word bibliophile on my right wrist. Huginn (thought) on my left arm and Muninn (memory) on my right. I have an interesting looking gentleman on my right calf whom I have named Admiral Flaneur and declared the captain of an airship. And finally I have a cricket on my right shoulder who is wearing a naval officers hat and has an arm extended with an anchor tattoo. It is a tribute piece to my grandparents; My grandmothers nickname was Cricket and my Grandfather proudly served in the navy. My mother and my younger sister also have the cricket tattoo.
    2. I don’t have a favorite color so to speak, because it depends on the day. I love all colors. For clothing I tend to wear black, but I have been working hard to add color back into my wardrobe. I had far too many years as a goth and old habits die hard. In the rest of my world I am all about color and the brighter the better.
    3. I love vinyl records and have quite a collection. My husband bought me a gorgeous record player for my birthday a couple of years ago. I love the sound of vinyl and I prefer to buy albums if at all possible.
    4. My favorite movie of all time is Labyrinth. I have a binder that has the original screenplay that I printed out once upon a time ago when I was bored. I am a genuine Jim Henson junkie, and Labyrinth is my favorite obsession.
    5. I have been writing poetry since I was a little girl, but I do not share it often. I love poetry though, and especially love to read it aloud. I just bought a new poetry book yesterday by Nikita Gill.
    6. I have multiple tarot and oracle decks. I read tarot very well, but I do not do it professionally and I have never charged for it.
    7. I love crazy colorful socks. I am especially fond of knee high or over the knee stripey ones. I own a bunch.
    8. I have been a singer since I was young. I am a high soprano. In another world I would have been an opera or musical theatre major. I still love to sing, though I don’t do it much anymore. I have been considering practicing and auditioning sometime in the next little bit if I can get brave enough.
    9. I am a pretty good seamstress. I learned to sew from my mother when I was a little girl. I can make viking garb in about an hour since I make it all the time.
    10. I love skulls, bones, taxidermy and many things dark and macabre. I have in my personal collection several skulls including a full alligator skull that I inherited from Seth’s Grandpa.
    11. If I am craving change I always just want to change my hair. Dye it or cut it off. I have been resisting the urge for the past couple of years but I still want to do it.
    12. I have a minor obsession with Fairy Tales. I love them all; the classics and the retellings. I have a massive collection of books, movies, comics and other pieces that are Fairy Tale based.
    13. I am a water sign to my core, and I love to take baths. I am obsessed with bath bombs from Witch Baby Soap. I use hand made soaps by a lovely girl named Katie who runs Elder Forest Soaps. I dream of remodeling our bathroom and putting in a larger soaking tub for me to luxuriate in. Someday.
    14. I am currently fantasizing about opening my own business. I have an idea that I am in love with, but I have no idea where to even begin. I would genuinely love to make it happen though.
    15. I love bookstores! and Libraries! and Books! And Books! I visited my newest local bookstore the other day and even joined a book club there. I am so excited. It is the LGBTQ+Allies book club and I am ready to dig in. Our first book I am reading is Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom. I listened to it on audible today, and I am planning to listen to it again before we meet on the 15th.
    16. I love to play dress up, and have my entire life. I am absolutely unashamed to go out in public wearing the craziest things. It is why I love the lady gang so much, they are dress up girls too.
    17. I have a VCR, a laser disc player, a dvd player and a bluray player. I also have media to watch on each.
    18. I cannot play video games. I had an Atari as a child, but then never had another gaming system in my house until the Playstation. I have absolutely no hand eye coordination in that way. My husband laughs at me because I play so poorly.
    19. I love musical instruments, but I cannot play any. That being said I own two acoustic guitars, a ukelele and several percussion instruments. I am actually working on playing the ukelele but will probably never play the guitars.
    20. I love to make jewelry and specialize in Shrinky Dink charms. I am thinking of making better pieces and trying to sell them.

    So…do you feel like you know me a little better? More about me as the month progresses. Do you have any questions you would love to have answered? Let me know.

  • March Onward!!

    It’s March! It is my and my husband’s birthday month! I will be 39 on March 14th and Seth will be 36 on the 30th. I was very excited that The Forge Tavern is holding another Fancy Dress Party on my birthday, so we have decided to attend that as my birthday celebration. I am going to be doing some random about me posts through the month in honor of my not almost forty birthday.

    On the first day of March here is a photo dump of things I got into in February.

    On the 15th The International Wenches Guild Local 73 met up in my hometown of Newark at the Buckeye Winery, for a Galentine’s celebration. We also hit up the new Sand Hollow Speakeasy and The White Cottage, a shop that sells beautiful jewelry and clothing.

    Last week we saw Stadium Virginium IV: Rock of Love featuring Virginia West. As usual it was an amazing show with amazing performances. I am always so blown away with the quality and production of the West Family shows. They are beyond expectations. There is definitely a reason they sell out all the time.

     

    }””””””””””””””””””””’\

    February was a mixed bag with super highs and lows that included being sick for nearly two weeks but also amazing shows, several runs of dungeons and dragons, wenches, the lady gang, and amazing shows. I cannot wait to see what March brings.