Hey chicas,have you ever come across a super cute bikini
set were the top fit, but the bottom didn’t?That was my dilemma today, but this bathing suit was too cute to let
go.It was also too good of a deal, an
$80 Rampage bikini set for $15? #WINNING!!!
My
solution to the problem of the bottom being too small was to expand the bottom
using some D-rings.You can find D-rings
(or O-rings if you chose) in craft and/or fabric stores (Michaels or Hancock are some examples) for around $2.
So I cut the bathing suit & wrapped it around the D-rings (I had extra D-rings from making carnival belts, so I used a large D-ring in the back and a small D-ring in the front). I then used an old fashion thread & a needle to sew it back together (you can get a lil sewing kit from the Dollar Store if you don’t own one).
I also have a 2nd option for those that don’t want to bother getting D-rings.You can just wrap the bathing suit around a string/rope/ tie of some sort and sew it that way.The safety pin in the pic below is just so I can show you an example of what I’m talking about.PLEASE don’t safety pin your bathing suit and then have a Girls Gone Wild moment on di beach.
Anywho, hope this $3 or $1 solution helps you next time you come across a slightly too small bikini bottom.Ta-Ta until our next DIY…
The new addition to my 2015 carnival
roster was Hollywood Carnival aka Los Angeles Culture Festival.The Cali girl is HOME SWEET HOME!!!Still a relatively new carnival, it’s still
small, but has great vybz and I see serious potential.Purchased a festival party pass for $65 and
it included the fetes for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night… not too shaby
dammit!!!I landed Thursday evening and
was off link up with the usual suspects (Amber, Vanessa, Jermaine, and Michelle) and fete fete fete!!!
Friday we picked up our costumes from Epic Mas camp and I
must say that was THE BEST costume pick up I have ever experienced.The customer service in the band is impeccable.We were instructed to lounge by the pool and
have some cocktails while we waited for our turn to collect our costumes.They had a DJ on the 1’s and 2’s and the short
wait flew by, after costume pick up everyone was inviting to stay and keep
chillaxing, but we headed off to the beach.
Friday night we headed back to Hollywood to fete fete fete
more. The clubs in LA close at 2am, which is madness in the Caribbean world
cause we are use to partyn until di sun come, but the time difference had my
body feeling like I was partyn till 5am, so it was all good.
Saturday morning we got our lives together nice and early
and made it out to the parade route at 10:30am.Now if you know how I operate at carnivals, you know I usually arrive
whenever the *BEEP* I feel like it. Being that the parade was scheduled for
11am-3pm, (it lasted longer BTW) I came on time cause I didn’t want to miss one minute.Sadly Hollywood carnival does not allow
alcohol, I’m just glad that I knew this in advance and didn’t end up with a
repeat of Toronto carnival being sober on di road. NO BUENO!!! There were rumors
that the band had a secret stash, but we came with rum in hand and ran our
azzes in di liquor sto for MO!!!
The parade starts out with the culture fest with various
countries showcasing their awesomeness, then towards the back the parade turns
into Bikini Mas. The vybz in our band were great, the band had plenty security
although I was say that they were not needed because the stormers and
spectators were very respectful.The end
of the parade was a bit confusing as has the band went into the carnival
village and the other half went to the stage, I’m sure they will work out those
kinks next year.
Saturday night we didn’t feel like going out. Instead I
stayed up editing video and made the quickest road march video EVER in my life
of vlog’n.Clicky Clicky to watch!!!
The Sunday fete offerings include a day party and a boat
ride, but my Sunday shall include more mimosas and more beach.
Hollywood
carnival gets two thumbs up from me, as Arnold would say, "I'll be back". Maybe next time I can convince my cousins to
touch di road with me.
PS: Shout out to the hostess with the mostess for always taking care of me when I come out to LA.
Back to Barbados for some cheapo fun in the sun.I had a few people say to me, “I thought you
said you wouldn’t go back to Barbados.”CORRECTION: I said I wouldn’t go back to Cropover (winning the lottery
is the exception).I paid $734 for my
Cropover flight, I got this flight for $238. My entikre trip this go round cost
less than my Cropover flight.To those
that don’t have carnival $$$ in their budget and don’t care about playing mas,
just wanna party all day and all night, going to whatever island the weeks
leading up to carnival is a good opportunity to GET IT IN!!!There were plenty plenty fetes and boat rides
going on while we were there and they cost about 1/3 of what carnival fetes
cost.The only thing I was adamant that
we do was a catamaran cruise, because I had so much fun on my cruise during
Cropover.The homies obliged and between
the various catamaran companies we went with Tiami.The food was an amazingly delish Caribbean
buffet, the chicas took over DJ duties via Private Ryan podcasts vs the old
school calypso that they were playing. The alcohol was watered down and it
proves that we are DRUNKS because there was NO placebo effect in feeding us
drink after drink and us not atleast thinking we were tipsy. Regardless it was an amazing
afternoon on the water, snorkeling with the turtles (including one bastard
turtle who snuck up on me ninja style and bit me when I wasn’t paying
attention).
My compadre Rachel was in more of a relax mode vs a party
party party mode and that was A-ok with me.The 3 ingredients to a good time are good chunes, good friends, and good
booze.So we spent the next few days
just partyn on the hot dayym beach with Mr. Bose & my inflatable cooler.
I know I’m late as sh*t with this carnival recap, SUE
ME!Just kidding, don’t sue me, I’m poor.Sorry I’m so late with the blog, I was locked up in a carnival rehabilitation center. Anywho, I had a LOT going on carnival weekend and I really didn’t attend
as many carnival parties as I usually do. Sadly I didn’t make it to the
Wednesday evening Army fete, as much as I love camo #DAMMIT!!! I have no one to blame but myself cause I went
out for happy hour and got TWISTED and just wanted to sleep the evening
away.IMA do better 2016, promise!!!
Anywho, made to to Flag-o-rama on Thursday and got it in with the crew. I don't remember alot about that night, dont judge me *Le sigh* blame it on di rum!
Friday night was the new jouvert called Powder Fete.I’m not gonna lie to you, it was indoors and
that was not really a good thing.It was
in a warehouse type building with very high ceilings so at first you could breathe
easily with all the powder in the air, but eventually the air got too thick and
breathing was No Easy.If they could
secure an outdoor location next year I would be Oh So happy.The line was outta control for reasons I couldn’t
understand, we partied at the same venue the night before and entrance was easy
breezy.The DJs and vybz inside were
nice!As with usual jouvert tradition,
the crew and I had a parking lot fete which was a frekkin blast.Rum flowing and soca blasting from the
subwoofer.I would say this night was a
good one in the end.
Carnival Saturday: I’m going to start off by addressing the fact that Atlanta has two carnivals and The Good Carnival was relocated to Decatur.In order to maintain my sanity, I try not to dwell too long on situations that are beyond my control, so I'm not as vexed as others. I had a pretty good darn time in Decatur this year.I hear the police reported that there were no “incidents” at carnival, that’s a good thing.I had chunes, I had my crew, and I had plenty plenty rum!That’s all I really need to have a good time.I shall repost what I previously said about the Atlanta carnival situation.
As I'm sure you are aware, Atlanta has two carnivals. I know, I know!There is nothing we can do about that, so we won’t dwell on it.I know a lot of people are concerned because our carnival will not be held in downtown Atlanta this year, DON’T PANIC!Did you know that carnival has not always been held downtown and we had a dayym good time at the other locations? I want to comfort you by telling you about the other great Atlanta things that are not located in Atlanta.Did you now that the Atlanta Airport is not located in Atlanta?The Atlanta Motor Speedway is not located in Atlanta. The Atlanta Steeplechase is not held in Atlanta.The Atlanta Braves will soon no longer play in Atlanta. Many of the Atlanta Ballet performances are not held in Atlanta. Six flags over Georgia which many people travelto Atlanta to visit is not located in Atlanta.Stay strong my friends, the three ingredients to a good time are Good Chunes, Good Liquor, and Good Friends... we will be A-ok!!!Visit http://atlantacarnivalbc.com/ for more info.
Maybe one day Atlanta carnival will gets its life together,
sadly today it not that day! This year all the bands started out in a big lot
which made it much easier to link up with friends in other bands.Usually the bands are lined up on the streets
and are blocks and blocks away from each other so we can’t go back and
forth.The crew decided to do t-shirts
this year.I wish I had a pic of the
entire crew because it was about 30 of us, so you can imagine we woulda had a
blast even if we were the only people on di road. Here is my recap video of di road.
Did you notice the feather collars from my previous
post?Cut up t-shirts, pum pum shorts,
and a feather collar is the new T-shirt Section Frontline!!!I also made a few collars for folks in
costumes and I had to showcase this beauty, she rocked that dayym collar.If you wanna know how to make your own collar
click here or just paypal me some $$$ and I’ll make one for you.
I didn’t make it out Saturday night because I had to be up
at 6am the next morning to set up for the Sunday morning Breakfast party.I love this fete, but I didn’t really get to
party hard while there.Lemme explain…my
bro and I have a side gig called Ice Cream Fete*shameless plug* its rum infused ice-cream and
the breakfast fete was a perfect place to be a vendor cause around 10am its
gets HOT in HOTlanta!!!I did have a
good time in the comfort of my vendor tent with all the wonderful people that
stopped by to say hello and get some ice-cream to help them survive the
heat.
That’s it for my carnival weekend.Left the breakfast fete around 3pm and my
drunk azz slept the rest of the day away (Yes I was drinking on the job, but so was my coworker).Monday was spent making some ice-cream fete deliveries and attending a
BBQ.Like I said before, 2016 Ima do
better!!! Forgive me!!!
PS: Although this event is technically the weekend before carnival weekend, I have to give a shout out to the BEST fete of di year. Demolition Crew Cooler Fete is the official start of ATL carnival. Lawd Lawd Lawd, the foolishness that happens at this fete. Cooler fete is all about being extra extra WOTLESS!!!
