I knew my life has lacked adventure as of late and not knowing what type of adventure I needed was something even more perplexing but it’s amazing what happens when you put issues into the hands of fate. I would be wrongly assuming events this past week were to be mundane.
My bedmate’s birthday was February 2nd and as much as I wanted him to have a unique and special day I just didn’t see things happening that way. It was planned to have the usual dinner and a movie, which he wanted to see, but it seemed ordinary and I wanted to give him something far more than ordinary. A couple of weeks ago I ran into the assistant producer of Carnaval in Austin. As I was dancing for her she offered tickets to the event but seeing as it was on a typical work night for me I thanked her for the offer and tabled the event to next year. So I took her card and had planned on writing her to follow up. Tuesday I ran across her card, thinking the event had already taken place, only to realize she had her dates confused and the event was taking place on my bedmate’s birthday. I quickly called her to see if her offer was still available only to catch her in the nick of time. We were on the will call list and I had my extraordinary plans. All my bedmate said he wanted for his birthday was to see boobies without the strip club and here we were going to the most open nudity party of Austin. Seeing as we were virgins to Carnaval but knowing enough about it to be dangerous I showed up in as little as I dared to be comfortable in; a tutu, T-back, stripper shoes, and a waist cincher. I had heard the party was clothing optional so I decided to test it. Fortunately we ran into swinger friends who could tell us the rules because I was starting to get a bit nervous with much of APD and the Sheriffs department on hand when we arrived. I was assured nudity was completely acceptable, that’s when the coat came off. I pranced myself straight past an officer and a sheriff, coat in hand standing in all my glory and walked right up to the coat check. I thought the boys working it were going to stumble over themselves. I handed them money and waited for my change. Eventually I had to tell them I needed two dollars back because the guy with the cash box was having a challenging time deciding what change to give me. The night only got better from there… The costuming was amazing, the drum beats primal, and the atmosphere was the reason I fell in love with Austin to begin with. I hadn’t seen so many people having such a great time being strange, bizarre, and jointly naked in too many years. People came out body painted, scantily clad, with plumage of head dresses, and feathers galore. Things that sparkled in places they shouldn’t, disguises of all kinds, and a general sense of community between like minded people. I fell in love with my city all over again.
I have to admit seeing law enforcement in full force and people walking around naked in public was a bit disconcerting at first, even for me, but quickly the event became so flooded with a multitude of eye candy it was a voyeurs dream. There were paparazzi everywhere, seeing as the taking of photos and video were encouraged, and by the end of the evening even my patience was running thin. I was extremely surprised at the respectful behavior of attendees with those of us who had nudity, more than at the club some days.
We ran into girls I worked with, corporate square types we knew, swingers we hadn’t seen in five years, business associates, my clientele, and people we knew from out of town. It was as if every walk of life was attending and some how it worked. I can’t explain it other than the magic of Austin but it did. It all seemed to congeal into one rational, Carnaval.
Even though we left the party around 12:30 that night the following day was rough. I was exhausted from the promotions event it turned into and all I could think about was a cup of espresso. With Sigmund in the car my bedmate and I headed to get ourselves a jolt of java before taking him to the park for his adventure. Little did we realize it would turn into a fiasco.
It was an absolutely beautiful Spring day. Texas has an inane amount of cockleburs and it seems no matter where you go with brush they will find you. Being exhausted and not thinking as clearly as I should have been, I didn’t think of this until it was too late. Sigmund, being full of pent up energy, took off running in the direction of an open field with me in tow arms flying, hair blowing, stumbling to catch up, all the while hoping the coffee wouldn’t spill. Smiling as big as he could, tongue hanging out, he turned and looked at me as though to say, “This is the greatest mom!” just before dragging me with him again. After running in twenty different directions, trying to greet every person he saw, finally I had a break as he laid down to take a breath. That’s when I noticed his entire back side was covered and close to matted with cockleburs I lifted up his back feet to see the damage and the pads of his paws were matted. The only thing I could think was, thank goodness they are the small ones, that was until I got to his face where he had managed to matt the spinney sharp ones under his chin. I thought for certain we would have to shave him. It ended up taking my bedmate and I two hours of raking them out of his fur and gently pulling the hair from them before he was cocklebur free. All the while he slept otherwise it was a wiggle nipping match he was winning.
Carnaval Austin
The birthday boy and me.
I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said boobies so I took him to a festival known for it’s nudity, Carnaval.
My outfit for the night… tutu, shoes, and waist cincher.
The costuming was amazing!
There was a professional samba dance troupe and samba band perform.
Lots of body painting and some of the work was really great!
This girl was really funny she had a perma grin the entire time she talked to me.
The jellyfish were some of my favorite costumes that night.
These guys were my absolute favorite. Something about them was strangely fascinating to me.
Incredibly life like and took me to a cerebral place somewhere between Clockwork Orange and The Wizard of Oz.
Trippy!!
This is what I want to go as next time!
Mrs. B being mischievous.
Some of the wives of old swinger friends we hadn’t seen in 5 years.
Sunday Afternoon
Sigmund trying out his harness for the first time.
He loved going out that day but two hours of getting cockleburs out of his hair was not my bedmate and I’s idea of fun.
We won’t be doing that again.
I needed my coffee after Carnaval.
He loved going out that day but two hours of getting cockleburs out of his hair was not my bedmate and I’s idea of fun.
We won’t be doing that again.
