Woah! I have a lot of catching up to do. Judging by the number of emails that have been flying into my inbox every day requesting new posts, I know all of you were just waiting in anticipation to know what I have been doing the past couple of months. That is a lie. A big one. Winston and I have been enjoying the warmer weather, traveling and visiting friends and family. I will try to spare you the small details about my lame hobbies like flowers and grass growth and instead tell you about my more exiting outings.
Perhaps the most exciting event that I have attended was the Kentucky Derby. And exciting for a number of reasons. The Derby is truly an adult outside prom. And I don't need to remind you that my event preparations always less than optimal, so with one week from go time, my good work friend, Andrea, and I decided it was time to get ourselves in gear. We had yet to determine which day we were going to attend and find tickets. Finding tickets was difficult, extremely. Watch out - there are lots of scam tickets out there!!!
To kick off Derby week, we headed to the mall every single night and shopped for everything and anything. We got compo mani/pedis in the mall. Yes, that is correct. A compo, not a combo. It was on the "menu" at the salon. I guess that's what happens at the mall. If you ever need to laugh, really laugh, I suggest substituting the word "compo" in for combo on a regular basis and do it with a straight face. Now, that is funny.
I had a lot of fun coming up with an entire outfit for the Derby, but Andrea was a crafting genius. She bought some extras, feathers, pins and things, and added them to a belt, her dress and a hat and created a darling compo outfit. Really.
We had a slight delay in heading down to Lousiville, but we made it in early Saturday morning and went to the track (still ticketless). We were fortunate enough to be able to buy tickets at the gate but were quickly shuffled into party city.
Still hopeful, we started circling around this center area of Jimmy-Buffett like party animals in our Derby outfits and high heels. Not what I expected, or maybe I just wasn't ready for the in-field. After about 30 minutes of wondering, finding no where to sit our spirits started crashing. Fast. We were so desperate we were willing anything to pay for shoes, chairs or for seats. We sat down in the wet grass, only to get back up with wet behinds. Another 30 minutes later we had a few more pink cocktails in attempt to numb our feet. Failure and now blisters. Okay, no horses, no racing, feet hurting and no fun. We decided that an air-conditioned bar with seats would be 107% better at this point.
We couldn't be quitters. So on our way out, we tried to sneak back to the jockey/owner side to hunt for Andrea's mom with relief - chairs, food and drinks. We finally passed by the very strict guard with a jockey who claimed us for a short period of time and spent the rest of the wonderful afternoon next to post-race horses, new friends from Iowa, and much awaited seats.
Our end of the day seats couldn't have been better. What a wonderful birthday weekend.
We learned a few lessons about the Kentucky Derby that I would like to share with you that you may already know or that you may be able to use in the future should decide to partake in this grown-up prom.
1. Heels are overrated and will ruin your day. I already know this but must have forgotten about my precious feet in the heat of the moment creating the most perfect outfit. Dumb. Don't let this distract you. Find comfortable shoes unless you plan on sitting in your seat all day. There is a lot of walking and a lot of dirt (duh, it's a racetrack with horses). Or take flip flops and a big bag or plan on carrying around a bag chair so that you can sit when your feet hurt. For me, that is everywhere and all the time. Huge mistake.
2. Unless you want to attend a Jimmy-Buffett concert, plan ahead and get real seats. No matter how hard this can be. The in-field really is like everyone says - a big party. Maybe a big group would be more fun, but then again - you need a planner person to show up early and stake out an area and big stuff - chairs, cooler, maybe a tent, but then by then why are you at a horse race? I didn't even take pictures of this. My feet hurt too much.
3. Find someone in the back. It is laid back, much like football game tailgating except these people are crazy about horse racing and you have the best seats and seeing the horses. They have all the best supplies because they have done it for years. And they will teach you everything about betting. Thank you to the very accommodating people that took us into their tailgate and fed us, gave us chairs and drinks. Andrea was even given an infamous homemade derby hat pain! Love it.
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