Day Forty-Four through Sixty-Six.

 Today is Day 66 of my 101-day challenge of no TV. I've spent the last several weeks doing nothing much in particular, a fact I realize is the opposite of my purpose for this whole thing in the first place. A few of the highlights, however, include babysitting my nephews with my dad, finishing a spectacular book (reading not writing, unfortunately), going to the Flint Hills Shakespeare Festival with my best friend (fantastic, by the way) and, today, going to the Renaissance Festival with my other best friend. That may seem like a significant list, but keep in mind how long it's been since my last post... (23 days to be exact). Oh, and I bought the new Cinderella movie and Pitch Perfect 2.... (spaced enough that I could watch each movie in a separate week and not break my own rule).

My life is not spectacular. If it were to be measured on a scale, I'd say its somewhere between mundane and almost-interesting. But it has its highlights, even if they are small ones, and I find I am content, despite everything. Everything being financial issues, lack of social life, and a tendency to lurk at home alone.

Today, however, happened to be one of those rare spectacular days. Today was my trip to KC to the annual Ren-Fest with my dear friend and old college roommate Lori. We haven't seen each other in months, and so it was a blast to get together again and talk Doctor Who and sci-fi novels. We were up after 3 AM chatting because we had so much to catch up on, and we are both talkative people! This bit us in the butt, however, as we had to get up at 7 the next morning to get ready for the festival.

But it was so worth it. Lori went as a gypsy, complete with jingling scarf, gold bangles, and a long, brunette wig! She brought temporary tattoos that we both used, and did a whole elaborate eye makeup thing with swirls and stuff that was pretty cool.

I was a pirate—and a darn good one, if I do say so myself! I sewed my skirt from a sheet, along with a couple of coin purses for both of us from some goodwill fabric. I got a plain costume pirate hat from Target and, with Mom's help and craft supplies, decorated it with lace and buttons and pearls. I even had a sword—though it was plastic and only cost me two bucks. I felt so sassy.

We had so much fun, actually, getting ready, that we ended up being an hour behind schedule. We weren't too worried about it, however, and left the house around 9:30-ish, and proceeded to McDonalds for a coffee run. We both needed it.

The drive-thru had a seriously long line, so we opted to go inside. Mind you, we are still all gussied up in our costumes, waltzing into McDonalds full of people. We got some looks, open gawking, and the shy glances. Only one person actually asked us why we were dressed up, and we gladly told them. After a minor issue with the frappe machine, we got our coffee and got on the road!

I am not good with directions. So Friday night, I had Google-map'd the way to get to this place and wrote it down so I could find it as I was the one doing the driving. But, of course, I forgot the directions on the table. So I did my best to remember them.

It really wasn't hard. It shouldn't have been hard. But, as in inevitable I think with me and navigation, we got a little lost. Luckily for us, modern technology is amazing and we turned on the GPS.

We had apparently gone nearly a half hour out of our way by accident. So we took another half hour getting back on track. It turns out, I took a wrong exit off of the interstate. Oops. #mybad. But we found it...eventually.... Then we trekked across a large parking lot, praying we could find the car again later, and waited in line for tickets under the hot sun with no shade. That was fun. Not.

Once we finally inside the gates, however, there were a lot more trees and shaded areas, and even a stray breeze or two. We walked all over the place, looking at vendors, watching shows, and the food—Oh! The food! I have four words for you: cheesecake on a stick.

My gypsy friend and I taking a break for some fish and chips. 

There was jousting and fire-dancing gypsies, and satyrs running around, and knife throwing and fencing and so much more! It was marvelous to just walk around and soak in all the geekdom. (Not to offend, but this is really how I felt, surrounded by it all.)

Eventually, however, we started to wear down. We bought a trinket—a necklace--and proceeded to try to find our exit. But, as I mentioned before, I am navigationally challenged and we had misplaced our map.... Not to mention we did not arrive by the main gate, which would have been a much more obvious landmark...

So we wandered around for a half hour trying to find our way back to the side entrance we came in. I'm sure we looked rather silly—as silly as a lost pirate and gypsy can look, I suppose—standing in the middle of the path, scratching our heads and pointing in various directions. Is that the way? Maybe try going up here. No, but his looks familiar, remember, we came down—

And so on and so forth. And, by this point, I had to go to the bathroom.

Do you know how hard it is to go to the bathroom in a small little stall with all those layers and accessories dangling from my belt? Yeah. Not easy. Just saying.

Alas! We finally found it! Then we stood there in the parking lot, scratching our heads and pointing in various directions.... Was the car this way? Or maybe up there? No, but remember we came down this way---

and so on and so forth....

When we did eventually reach the car, I immediately popped the trunk and started disassembling my pirate outfit. Lori took off her hair, I undid my belt and slipped out of my skirt... Don't worry, we were wearing pants underneath! Then we sat in the air conditioned car, exhausted and deliriously happy.

My life may not always be exciting. I don't go out every weekend or hang with a bunch of friends all the time. I post a lot of stuff about my cat on social media because, honestly, that's who I'm with a lot. But when I do step outside my box, I make unforgettable memories!

I cannot wait to do it all again next year. Lori has already agreed that we need to make it an annual occurrence! (I love having nerd friends.) But, maybe next year we won't get lost so much... Or maybe we will. Sometimes you need to get a little lost to find the good stories.