MAN, was it cold last Friday night.

I’m talking go-outside-and-instantly-lose-feeling-in-your-hands cold. Bitter-damp-wind-swirling-off-the-river-soaking-into-your-bones-and-soul COLD!

But when J and I walked into Generations Hall at 9:00 that night, I warmed right up, inside and out. It was that time of year again! Time to Blush with the Pussyfooters, at Blush Ball 2015.

It’s funny – last year, in the weeks leading up to Blush Ball 2014, I ran all over town in this mad panic, poring through thrift stores and costume shops desperately trying to discover just WHAT to wear for my first time out as a Pussyfooter event attendee. Last year, I bashfully admit, I didn’t actually own anything pink. I rolled with it, it worked out just fine.

They say that the longer you live in New Orleans, the larger and more vast your collection of random costume pieces becomes, and I can vouch that this is very true. A couple of days before Blush Ball 2015, I wandered into my storage area where Costume Things live, then stuck my head subsequently into my closet, and BING! All done, pieces were gathered, ready to go. Easy as King Cake. I had a grand head start, though, pun intended, and built my attire around the amazing awesome wonderful hat J picked up for me at the Krewe Delusion fundraiser’s silent auction before Christmas. That hat deserves a blog entry all its own!

Holy cannoli, though, when Friday rolled around I had to make some tweaks so that I wouldn’t freeze when I stepped outta da house. All good though!

Like I said, I forgot about the cold instantly once we entered Generations Hall. I was stuck carrying a jacket around for a short while, because the Coat Check was FULL (how does that happen?!), but as we proceeded to delve through the layers of party space, we at last found my sponsor C, who lovingly adopted us into her VIP seating section so that we could Stash our Stuff. Then it was ON!

Time to find our groove in the pink and orange Mothership Ocean, drink and dance and get silly all for the awesome purpose of raising funds for the Metro Center for Women and Children.

Design work done by C

One of the very first things we did was march our booties over to the Raffle table to purchase tickets.  Last year, we won a certificate to Arnaud’s, which we used for our anniversary brunch later on in October. Even if we don’t luck out this year, it’s worth it. The funds go to a good cause, and they have so much COOL stuff that it’s just fun to get the 5 Tickets for $20 deal and cross your pink-gloved fingers!

…there was a brilliant tie in the raffle that I SO want for J, even if I have to track down the source and buy one myself. Pink, with tiny little oysters. PINK WITH TINY LITTLE OYSTERS, y’all. Must. Have.

Generations Hall is a really cool event space. Covered walkways, nice patio. Three huge areas to mill around in and experience. This venue was, to me, really an improvement from last year – it accommodated the crowds so much more! Although there was something fun to be said about last year, dancing like sardines. Talk about an opportunity to meet people!

In the very back, the live entertainment went ALLLL night. The Gals of the Groove danced. Big Sam’s Funky Nation had the rest of US dancin’. Best moment was getting both at the same time!

The turnout was good – lots of folks finding their joy!

So the stage was the back layer, and the middle layer was the room where the raffle and silent auction and the Most Blessed Photo Booth were. Then there was the front room, where DJ Quickie Mart was spinnin’ his stuff. He was seamless, never stopped! After a while, I noticed that I wasn’t walking around to navigate the room. I was DANCING. Everywhere I went!

Everyone else was dancing too.

A neat realization for me, as I ditty-bopped around all over the place, was that I’d met more people in the past year and therefore knew more people at Blush Ball this time around. I sorely missed one good friend, my other sponsor L, who had to depart before we arrived. But we saw my former coworker/now buddy A, and chased C in all her antics, and J and I had some fun bringing out some laughs with B.

B Being Fabulous

It’s a good world and a good life in New Orleans! I love this event.  It’s my forever favorite now-tradition way to ring in Mardi Gras season.  And one must never turn down any chance to boogy with the Pussyfooters! I was looking forward to Blush Ball 2015 since the lights went out on 2014’s party. Now, here’s looking forward to 2016!

I love photobooth antics with C!