Isis and Osiris Ball I Was a Major Success!

Now that the Mystic Society of Isis and Osiris has completed their first ball, Miss Ginger can share the festivities with you and show you some of the magic that was produced!

First, look at the room when we first walked into it: 

Plenty of space, but not exactly an elegant environment for a black tie affair!  No worries, however, as the professionals from Townsley Designs of Austin arrived with 4 truckloads of glitz and glam, and in no time flat had transformed the room into this swanky environment:

Now THAT'S a room for a Mardi Gras celebration like no one's ever seen in Houston, TX! 

Once the space was set, the costumes were loaded in, and the Ball was ready to roll! And roll it did, with a never-stopping soundtrack provided by DJ Dylan Barnes that kept guests dancing and mingling! 

The first costumes out were Ball Captain I, followed by Isis I and Osiris I, dressed to the theme as "Venetian Red." 

After a couple more costumes, some dancing, and lots of beads flying, Miss Ginger appeared as "Murano Glass Chandelier:"

The chandelier's arms were made of 1 1/2" clear tubing, reinforced with a length of metal shelf strapping to provide stiffness without extra weight.  The globes of the chandelier were made from gallon-sized plastic water bottles, melted into shape with a heat gun.  Of course, a chandelier has to light up, so the power was provided by 7 led puck lights.  It was a very fun costume, easy to make and wear, and the audience seemed to love it! 

Next on Miss Ginger's Mardi Gras social calendar is Houston's "Mystery and Fantasy Mardi Gras Party," another black tie/fancy dress event, which this year falls on Miss Ginger's birthday, February 22nd.  The theme is 'The Mystery and Fantasy of Sci Fi," so Miss G is thinking she may get a little more use out of that gold morph suit!  Miss G is not much of a Sci-Fi buff, so she's looking forward to some great suggestions from all of her 'snaps!  leave your ideas in the comments…. who knows, she may just bring it to life! 

Mardi Gras is Coming!

Yes, folks, there WILL be Mardi Gras at Chez Ginger this year!  Since leaving her former Mardi Gras group, there hasn't been a lot of revelry and costuming around here. But that wrong is being righted!!! 

Behold:

The Mystic Society of Isis and Osiris!

Miss Ginger has been a member of this group since it's inception, as it is made up of people she loves and wants to be around. She has not been the most active member, since time and personal distractions have kept her from many of the activities, but wild horses could not drag her away from the inaugural ball:

Unlike her previous Mardi Gras group, which kept their event private, The Mystic Society's ball is open to the public… in fact, tickets are available through PayPal! 

It's a formal affair, but masking is encouraged, and Captain I has promised that instead of a long, drawn out presentation, this ball is going to be a non-stop party, with dancing, drinking, and the requisite debauchery!  All you folks along the Gulf Coast need to follow that link and snap up a ticket to this shin-dig, and if you're farther away… plan a road trip! It will be worth it!!  Hope to see you all there! 

Happy Mardi Gras!!

Queen Ginger and Princess Shelby wish you a very Happy Mardi Gras!!


The Queen will spend it in a day of meetings brushing up on her professional repertoire....   can anybody top that with plans for the funnest Mardi Gras ever?!

Almost Mardi Gras!

It's Mardi Gras weekend, and unfortunately, Queen Ginger isn't traveling to NOLA to partake in the activities. Actually, at this point, she's very glad she didn't plan to go, as torrential rains have poured on the Gulf Coast all weekend!

Tonight was the Endymion Parade, followed by a ball so big it's known as "The Endymion Experience".  As you can see by the photo, it was quite rainy outdoors, but Endymion is so huge (and well funded) that the parade meanders from it's starting point uptown all the way to the Superdome, where the floats, bands, and revelers literally parade right up the ramps into the cavernous building, and the floats form the backdrop for one enormous party!! Queen G has never made it to an Endymion ball, but it's definitely on her bucket list!


Queen G has pretty much already had her big Mardi Gras celebration for the year, and Tuesday she will be ass-deep in work with meetings and visits, so she won't get to drink, flirt, and second line through the day- but no one can keep her from hearing her favorite Mardi Gras soundtrack in her brain all day!  You'll have to sing along in your brain, too, because Queen G couldn't find a decent vocal to embed, so she'll give you the lyrics along with the inimitable Pete Fountain!




While we danced, as we dreamed, at the Mardi Gras.
Was romance what it seemed at the Mardi Gras?
Was the love that we made just a brief masquerade?
Was it gone with the song that the orchestra played?
With a sigh, with a glance at the moon above
was it just by chance that we spoke of love?
Or do you somehow feel
that the wonder was real?
While we danced at the Mardi Gras!

I Can See Clearly Now....

... the Reign is gone! 


But, let me make one thing PERFECTLY clear!  I am still, and ALWAYS will be, Queen Olympus XLI !!!  But, after as spectacular ball last night, Queen G is totally ready to pass the reign on to QOXLII !

As called for by protocol, after the Ball Captain is presented and seated, the show begins as the audience rises to welcome the reigning King and Queen- moi!  


The ball theme this year was "Mythology", chosen by this year's captain, and the reigning King and Queen were presented as the Ice King and Queen from Norse Mythology,  as chosen by last year's captain, the captain who crowned us!  Queen G was thrilled with the choice and had a blast with the concept! Framed by wreaths of glittering snowflakes in a frosty-cool palette, we entered to greet our adoring guests and be toasted by this year's captain!


The presentation came off without a hitch, which is pretty miraculous, since, the week before the ball, Queen Ginger's MRI revealed that she has not 1, but 5 herniated disks in her spine!!  Certainly, carrying all that snow on her back would not have been prudent, so a team of attendants was assembled to handle the issue.  It's good to be a Queen!  And, in a show of gallantry, as not to make his Queen feel singled out, King Tony chose to have his back piece carried as well, to keep the presentation balanced.  Chivalry is not dead in the royal world of make believe!

Queen Ginger looked resplendent, if she does say so herself, in a gown of her own design and creation, made of sequined lace, faux ermine, and enough silver and blue satin to cover a quarter of a football field- seriously!  There are 27 yards of fabric in that outfit, and it turned out EXACTLY like she wanted!  Just goes to show- if you want something done right, sometimes  you just gotta do it yourself!! Her makeup continued the icy theme, with blue lips and a blush of blue on the cheeks.  BTW, they don't make blue blush, so the Queen had to make that herself, as well!

There was a face in the crowd that many of you will recognize!  That's right, biotches- Chloe Dao, or Project Runway fame, was one of the many well-heeled Houstonians who came out that night to share the Mardi Gras madness with Queen Ginger and the Krewe!  

What a time King Tony and I had watching the ball from our seats on the proscenium, as costume after costume parade down the floor solely for our entertainment!  Of course, we shared the fun with a ballroom full of almost 1,000 of our closest, most personal friends!  By the time the show was ending, we realized we could have partied all night, but soon enough if was time to reveal our successors,  King and Queen Olympus XLI, who were presented at the Royalty of the Myans.

It is, of course, bittersweet, to hand over the realm to the new regime, but Queen Ginger was very pleased to bow to her new Queen and one of her dearest friends, who shall jokingly be referred to on these pages as QEXBF!  


So, the new King and Queen will have their hands full running the day to day activities of the realm, and preparing their return to preside over Ball XLIII, while Queen Ginger will bask in her retired glory!!




Good news is, she'll have much more time to keep all of her loyal GingerSnaps posted on what's going on in her FABULOUS world!

The Year has Started!

The new year starts today for the Krewe of Olympus- Texas, Inc, with the election of new officers!  We are truly Mardi Gras TEXAS-style this year, with 3 of our officers living in other cities! In addition to Houston, we now have Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin on the board!  With Skype, email, and Southwest Airlines, who says we all have to be in the same city?!!


Last night, King Tony and Queen Ginger had a whirlwind night, beginning with the Krewe's Campaign party, at Chez Ginger.  The campaign part is where we all get together to booze and schmooze, and the members who have announced their candidacy bring "groceries" to bribe the members for their votes!  It's all in fun, and a great chance for the candidates to share their vision for the upcoming year!




King T and Queen G snuck out early to head over to "Bringin' in the Green", a St. Patrick's day fund raiser for the Montrose Counseling Center.  Once the social hour was over, our royals headed over to the Brazos River Bottom to check out the Mr, Ms, and Miss BRB contest, and wish our dear friend Aurora Briar the best on her step-down.  


Tomorrow, the Krewe hosts it's Appreciation Party to show our love to all in the community who support hour endeavor!  It's always a lot of fun, and our first chance to watch the video recording of the event with our guests!


After that, a day in the office and then in the air again to Baton Rouge!  It's been since December that Boy G hasn't had a business trip, but now the twice-monthly travels begin again!  


With the election of Ball Captain, next year's theme is secured! Now, you KNOW Queen Ginger is not going to spill the beans, especially during her return year!  This year, Queen G and King T will have the entire year to plan and execute the costume and presentation, to create the most extravagant, over-the-top return for the ball over which they will reign!  It also gives you far-flung GingerSnaps a full year to save your pennies and plan your travel- if you ever thought someday you'd want to see one of Miss G's balls  Mardi Gras shindigs, this would be the year to come!  There's room at Chez Ginger- first come, first served!! Ball XLII will be February 11th, 2012, at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Hope to see you all there!

For the Boys....

...of course, I didn't forget about you!

For the Girls....

You all know Queen Ginger LOVES her some lesbians! So, girls, here's a few Mardi Gras pics for you!

Happy Mardi Gras, Ladies!!

"Everywhere Else It's Just Tuesday!"

Happy Mardi Gras, everybody!  This girl's sign just kinda says it all, doncha think!?  It's been a very interesting, very unusual, but very awesome Mardi Gras for Queen Ginger, and it will probably take a few posts for her to share it all with you!!


First, you must know that Miss G risked life and phlegm to bring you these on-the-scene shots of the festivities!  When she woke up this morning, she discovered this sinus thing had dropped to her chest, so she was way too miserable to drag out the drag and be a part of the scene! She sent Boy G out, incognito and sober, to spend his day taking in the sights and snapping these pics for our gentle readers!

As soon as Boy G left the hotel, he ran smack dab into Pete Fountain's Half-Fast Walking Club,  a legend among New Orleans locals and one of the most popular walking clubs in the city!  Now, don't confuse these guys with mall walkers or anyone who walks for their health!  Click here to learn about the purpose of walking clubs and their contribution to the party!

Boy G got so distracted by one handsome walker....

....that he almost missed the opportunity to catch this awesome shot of the Legendary Pete Fountain himself!  Boy G fondly remembers seeing Pete play live with Momma and Poppa G back when Pete had a place in the New Orleans Hilton.










After taking in the sights along Royal Street,  Boy G wandered up Dumaine to Lafittes, where the costumed revelers were gathering for the annual Bourbon Street Awards, to be held at noon.

Here, Boy G was able to catch up with some of the gang from home, and finally found the person she had been looking for all weekend long:

...the elusive Amber LeMay!! Of course, Amber was all dolled up in her Mardi Gras finest, and Miss Ginger was just sick that she didn't get to meet her!  Lucy Belle and the other girls were off at the parades, but being the hard-core party gurl that is Amber, she wanted to stay in the French Quarter to she wouldn't miss a sinful inch of the party!  I always knew she was from good people!!

Amber was, as always, the Belle of the Ball, and was having a great time meeting the crowds and oggling over the fabulous, creative costumes that are a hallmark of a French Quarter Mardi Gras!










We saw:

Wonder Woman meets the Golden Girls!

The Doublemint Twins- Rehobeth Beach style!

Mary Poppins and her Spoonful of Sugar.

The Supremes- and their "Love Child"!

Rosie the Robot!

and many, many, more!!  Watch this spot for a couple more posts coming your way!  There's also some great costume pics on NOLA.com!

Happy Lundi Gras!

What's that? You've never heard of Lundi Gras?  Well, quelle surprise, since it really isn't a holiday!  And you can confirm this by looking it up on Wikipedia, which isn't really an encyclopedia, so that settles it!

Lundi Gras is one of those "Hallmark holiday" kind of marketing schemes dreamed up several years ago by a greedy marketing tyrant tradition-minded city leaders to bilk the tourists out of every possible dollar extend the celebration and spirit of Mardi Gras!  Literally "Fat Monday", the term has come to mean, simply, the Monday before Mardi Gras.

The "official" Lundi Gras celebration takes place along the riverfront, with bands, entertainment, and gradually expanding crowds that peak around sunset, when the King of Rex and the Zulu King come across the river by boat and meet at Spanish Plaza for a celebratory toast.

Nowadays, people celebrate Lundi Gras all over the city,  and Boy G and his old pal John from back home spent the late morning and early afternoon walking the French Quarter and watching the city gear up for the party.  Jackson Square was already gathering quite a crowd by mid day,  with the usual artists and street performers joined by still more bible thumping christians and self-proclaimed missionaries.

The party spilled from the Square and Bourbon Street all up and down Royal, the usually reserved, daytime pedestrian street that is home to many of the cities finest antique and art dealers.  Today, however,  the street was filled with street performers, musicians, mimes, and such, of varying qualities and talents. The tourists were clearly into it, and rewarded them with attention, photos, and generous tips!!

Almost every balcony in the quarter had people with beads bargaining with the crowd below for a glimpse of this or that.  Spirited tourists frequented the balconies of hotels and guest houses with cases of beads, boas, and other throws to taunt the passersby.

In the more residential areas of the Quarter, families and locals drank, entertained, and just soaked in the party atmosphere.

And, of course, in the gay section of the quarter,  men with beads on the balconies taunted boys with bodies below, offering the largest, most luxurious strands of beads to the boys who showed the most!

It is truly impossible to be anywhere in the city and not be sucked into the spirit of the celebration!  Booze flows, beads fly, but mostly, EVERYONE wishes one another "Happy Mardi Gras" at the world's largest party!

Don't Rain on my Parade!

Queen Ginger has not attended any parades this year... she tends to avoid them like the plague!  They are, however, a really important part of the Mardi Gras experience, and being the benevolent Monarch that she is, your Queen has thoughtfully provided this link to the NOLA.com webcam at ">Fat Harry's so you can enjoy the parades yourself!!

What a Week!

Miss Queen Ginger has not had a week this busy in forever- thank goodness!  It has left her exhausted an ready for the weekend!


It started with a huge meeting and store walk Tuesday morning..... at butt-crack:30 in the morning....  in Outer Mongolia!  Queen G hates the 'burbs, and she is NOT a morning person, so she was pretty weary before it even started!


The meeting went well, and the day ended early, so our girl was able to make it to the "topping off" ceremony (insert sophomoric comment here!) for the new Legacy Community Health Services building in Montrose. In a years' old steelworkers tradition, a tree is cut and placed at the top of the steel support structure of a construction site when the framework reaches its pinnacle with no injuries to the workers. 

Being the lifegivers that the folks at Legacy are, all living things were spared in their ceremony, so instead of having a chopped down pine tree stuck into the roofline, these clever healthcare professionals acquired a living oak, which they hoisted to the rooftop to celebrate the occasion. Eventually, the tree will join a bank of others that were spared in the planning of the building to create a beautiful, shaded landscape in the community!

It really is a beautiful, large tree, and sure enough, they hoisted that mother up there and placed it at the top of the building!  

Boy G got to mingle with the gliterati of the day, including Chree Boydstun, Legacy's Chief Development Officer and one of Ginger's biggest fans here in Houston!  After several many glasses of vino, poured by an incredibly cute flock of cater waiters, Queen G and the brood headed over to Cavatore's to drool over Federico and enjoy some delish, low-carb delights! It was a low-key, belated birthday celebration and a fabu time on a Tuesday night.














The next day, Boy G spent the day in the "Learning and Development Center" basement downtown, drinking koolaid developing and practicing corporate BS useful  skills for 11 long hours!  After that, the Krewe had a board meeting scheduled, and that came forth with more drama than a "Real Housewives of Rupaul's Drag Race" episode! 


Finally, today came, with another early start, but also an early finish!  Boy G is washing and packing and prepping for the venture to NOLA tomorrow to celebrate Mardi Gras in high-gay French Quarter style!  It looks like it's going to be a warm, sunny weekend in NOLA, so watch this spot for pics of dicks and lots of hot shirtless guys whoring for beads earning scholarship money!

Congratulations to the Krewe of Bacchus!

What a FABULOUS weekend Queen Ginger and King Tony have had this weekend with the Krewe of Bacchus!!

Friday night, Queen G checked into the fabulous Palm Suite at the Tremont House hotel on Galveston Island, napped a bit, and then met up with King Tony and Captain Bill upon their arrival.  After a quick bite at the hotel,  we headed out to explore the bars in Glaveston, most notably, Robert's Lafitte,  where we knew there was certain to be a drag show of dubious quality!  Never to disapoint, we were treated to the "Miss Lafitte's Sweetheart" pagaent, and, as expected, discovered that, among the 4 contestants, there were probably about only 3 healthy teeth to share!  We're not sure what it is about Galveston Island, but if you are a drag queen of questionable dental health and you don't live here, you might as well start packing... you will end up her eventually!

After an "interesting" night of drag entertainment,  our royal threesome awoke to enjoy breakfast at the hotel,  where they reviewed the latest edit of the ball video with Captain Bill.  After a bit of liesurely shopping on the Strand, we had a yummy lunch,  and then retired to our respective chambers for a pre-ball nap!

The evening began with a cocktail party here in the lobby of the Tremont,  where Our Royal Majesties had their first audience with the new Bacchus Royalty, Queen Bacchus I.  We also got to meet King Bacchus I, as well as Bacchus I, the official representation of Bacchus, in effect, the Krewe's "mascot", for lack of a better term.  All were lovely and cordial, and appreciative of our rather large envoy from the big city to the beachy island!

After a couple of drinks at the bar,  our entourage paraded about 2 blocks down the Strand to the Galveston Railroad Museum,  as stunning preservation project to save an incredibly beautiful Art Deco station, as well as a collection of actual locomotives, cars, and equipment chronicling the golden age of rail travel.  The ball was a beuatiful affair, with a live band, plentiful cocktails, and a delicious buffet catered by Chopin of Galveston!

After supper,  visiting dignitaries were invited to the floor for a rather undignified dance contest,  where Queen G and King Tony won the prize for their respectable minuette!  No bump and grind for this royalty!  If Miss G is gonna represent,  she's gonna REPRESENT!! 

Once the ball was over,  our Royal Entourage headed to Stars Beach Club,  were they were treated to yet another drag show, and more face time with many of the beautiful people who had attended the ball!  It was  FABULOUS evening, and Queen G is suitably exhasuted and ready for a good night's rest!