Atlanta Carnival 2008-2010

I know Atlanta Carnival was a freakn long time ago, but I want to relive it ... and also have a home for all my  favorite pix so they can be in one location.

Carnival is a family affair in my house



2009 Atlanta Carnival

The rain came thru & chewed us up and spit us out

Carnival 2008

Got my babe to play mas with me

Jacksonville Carnival

Took a road trip down to Jacksonville carnival last weekend & it was awesome. It’s really sad how many people aren’t aware of all the fabulous Caribbean events so close to home… either they don’t know, don’t show or don’t care about what’s going on in de hood. Yeah yeah I stole that from Boyz n The Hood. It’s amazing how smoothly the smaller festivals flow, the bigger the festival the more chaotic it is.  The backdrop of the Jacksonville parade & festival was amazing, we were along the water from start to finish & there was amazing breeze that kept us cool even with all the rum & palancing. 

I guess for those that can only travel once or twice a year it’s worthwhile to wait until the big events in the Caribbean, Toronto, NY, Miami, Atlanta, etc. But if you are like me & on the road year round anyway, why not plan your trips around the Caribbean festivals in Jacksonville, New Orleans, Charlotte, Tampa, Orlando, DC, LA, Houston, Virginia, etc as well?!?!

I fell in love with Jacksonville ♥♥ the city is beautiful, the beaches are amazing, the people are awesome, the distance is Not Bad & the nightlife was refreshing.  I dunno how to say this without offending anyone so I’m just gonna say it dammit.  Ok so, I refer to my Caribbean peeps that are new to the US as “straight off de boat” …  a lot of times the best clubs with the best music are the gulliest, filled with people that are straight off de boat & some have no behavior, cause they don’t know people are a tad bit more reserved in the US.  Other clubs where people have behavior sometimes you find the patrons are just too darn uppity for their own good & you just want to hand everyone a shot so they can chillax.   But in Jacksonville I got the best of both worlds.

New Orleans has their Annual Caribbean Festival early Nov, but sadly I have a schedule conflict & cannot attend, but if you are in the area You Should http://www.bayoubacchanal.org/

I love this guy, so far I have seen him at the Charlotte, Atlanta & now Jacksonville carnival




I love these smaller carnivals because this is how I pass on my ♥passion♥ to my daughter.  She cannot join me at the big carnivals, cause thats when I'm Straight Off De Boat wit NO BEHAVIOR...Wheepaa!! lmao a phrase I haven't heard in years but a lady in Jacksonville yelled to me from her car "Panamaaaaa Wheepaa" and it made me smile :-)

Halloween Nails

Its Oct 20th and I dont have ONE Halloween costume.  I am a die hard Halloween junkie that converted most of my friends into Halloween junkies too.  Normally by the 1st week of October 1st I have 1 or 2 costumes already picked up, but this year has been a beast.  Traveling nonstop is awesome but being that the weekends are my only time to run errands, Im not getting alot of stuff done that cant be handled online... I like to try on costumes.  Today I decided to get FOCUSED, get my mind right & get into Halloween mode. I am determined to have atleast one costume before I head to Jacksonville carnival this weekend (YIKES thats in 2 days).  Plan B is find one costume while in Jacksonville lmao

My coworker helped me decorate the skeleton on my cube door at work today, coworker went a lil overboard and my cute skeleton went from being "sassy" to being a "street walker"
VIDEO: Making of streetwalker skeleton


When I got home from work this evening, I pulled out the bucket of fingernail polish & got to work.  Told my mom & daughter that I would give them a mani & pedi tomorrow since it took me forever to come up with this nonsense below.  Mom said she wanted some whimsical Red & Silver look, I told her "if its not a Halloween theme then its a #Negative"  lmfao  maybe I can come up with a spiderweb or summin for her.

Frankenstein toe nail that looks like a Lego man w/ a bad toupee



FYI, my left & right sides are usually in completely different worlds

 So its almost midnight & Im about to work on the design for my homemade costume. I have this vision in my mind that can not be found in anystore... kinda like when I made my ninja costume back in 2008.  I loved the costume cause I luv ninja's and I luv calling everyone a ninja but drinking that nite was a beeeoootch!!!

Random spurt about everything & nothing

Got invited to another "male review"  I said this before and I shall say it again and again and again men in bright colored thongs, doing pelvic thrusts is NOT what’s real in de skreets. What I WOULD pay Top Dolla to see is some guys playing basketball in boxer briefs *hubba hubba* as a matter of fact, gimme a VIP section right up front next to the water bottles.

I have parent teacher conference today that I’m vexed about.  My daughter brought home a terrible progress report last month. I don’t get that kid, sometimes she is honor roll & other times she is “might don’t make it” The kid had the nerve to bring home an F in Spanish… REALLY?!?!?  Why is it so hard for the youth to understand the balance between work and play?  I guess I make it look too easy, like all I do is play.  I dunno if she has had enough time to get her act together but I do know that Miss Santa is only delivering socks & panties for Christmas it those grades aren’t right. Miss Santa is going to take the rest of the $$$ and go to Jamaica & get her groove back like Stella, hopefully with one of the boxer brief wearing basketball players mentioned above.

Recently realized that I have a problem with my nails.  Let me explain 1^st that I hate salons, I NEVER go to hair salons unless I’m taking my daughter to the Dominicans to get her hair straightened.  I use to go to the nail salon for manicure's but I decided to stop that as well cause I just really don’t like salons.  My nails were always a lil “extra” when I got them done (as in jungliss), but now that I do them myself they are really OVER THE TOP, ghetto fab & I just love it.  I need to check myself into Jungliss Nails Anonymous for help 

Jungliss nails enjoying the worlds largest pizza in Washington, DC

 

Jungliss nails gettn their carnival on in Miami



The nails luv flowers just as much as I do

This is when I realized I had gone TOO FAR

Miami Carnival 2010

Miami Carnival 2010

Miami Carnival was awesome, best 5 days of 2010. Wishing I could have brought my good camera to capture some real photos but it would have been hard to play mas & play paparazzi.  And we know people luv to throw water so it was best to bring my waterproof camera even though it doesn’t capture the best images.  I was able to capture a few half way decent pictures for my library.

The end of the flat earth

Upon landing in Ft Loddy Doddy, we got to witness (and record) some locals acting a FOOL.  It went on much longer then I recorded & was completely necessary LOL

When I’ve played mas in the past I never get to see the other bands because Im with my band ALL day & by the time we pass the judges, eat & rest for a few all the other bands have split up.  This year I was determined to see EVERYTHING.  I ran to the back of the parade line while stopping to dance, record & photograph all the beautiful masqueraders, then came back to my band to drink and dance. Then I ran to the front while stopping to dance, record & photograph all the beautiful masqueraders, then came back to my band to drink and dance.  While I love love love all the beautiful, barely there costumes & admiring the creativeness of each band, the thing I love the most about carnival is the steel pan & all the children in their costumes, both really touch my heart.

 

My chica & I were in red were "suppose" to be in the orange & green section but "what had happen wuz"... Apparently no one was monitoring the costumes & they were ransacked  by people who ordered the wrong sizes so ours were swiped.  So sad because I had matching nail polish, jewelry, make up & the FRESHEST matching shoes and etc etc etc. But the most important thing was to play mas so we sucked it up and made it work.  Being on the sideline carnival day is no fun. 


Pit stop at the beauty supply store to get matching nail polish

Bar on Wheels = fast feet in de street

Awesome Avatar band

I did a crazy rum & JUMP move & I cant believe this crazy guy caught me

Kudos to Mr. Matt



Flashback to carnival in Panama

 

Enjoying myself

If ya holdin the traffic... let it go

Autobot down

 

Judging lasted into the night *uugghh* and I didnt have the energy to stand around that long... lo siento

Party dun

 

I soaked up alot of sun after dancing in the blazing heat for 8 hours carnival Sunday & I managed to hit the beach & pool several times during my trip which was great since its getting cold back home in Atlanta, but not so great in the aspect that I don’t tan well.  Now I just look dirty, like that kid Pig Pen in the Peanuts Gang.  Maybe I can just tell people that I’m from New Jersey, orange people are “in” up there right? 

Now if I can only make Trinidad carnival happen... anyone want to buy a kidney or raggedy liver?!?!  I must say that there is nothing I enjoy more than playin mas.  Such a great feeling dancing all day with friends & family & stopping for hugs with everyone that has your flag.