Behind the Scenes-The Glamour! The Intrigue!!

This is me struggling to get my corset on the second day of FaerieCon. For some reason, I was absolutely sick a s a dog. I had to go into our "back room" and lay down. 

            I always thoroughly enjoy it when people think that vendors lead glamorous lives "on the road". I've had the good fortune to get to know a lot of vendors "behind the scenes" and while they're still fascinating, they most certainly NOT rock stars.   I'm pretty sure that if my sensational customers saw me and my helpers FIVE minutes after the show ended, they would be shocked at how bedraggled, grimy, and crusty we are. We immediately pull of the hats, unlace the corsets, pack the jewelry, and throw on jeans and t-shirts. I'm not smiling and happy. I'm frantically packing, yelling PG rated profanities, and muttering under my breath as I struggle with the dolly loaded with rubbermaid bins.

So, this is the GORGEOUS view of Seattle from out of our little window in the back room of our booth. 

           We DO get to see some amazing places, but for the most part, we don't go and experience them. My  husband sometimes has free time while we're lacings girls up at shows, but for the most part, he's just bored without me (I know! Can you blame him??). When we had little kids and babies, he would take them for the whole day, pushing around strollers, going to children's museums, and being hit on at the McDonalds Playplace, seeing as he looked like a hot single dad.

OH, yes please. These macaroons LITERALLY got us through the day. Every time we would start to wilt, we would step back and throw one down. They seriously kept us going. 

           Now, my CUSTOMERS, definitely give me celebrity treatment. I mean, I didn't exactly expect the macaroons, and yet, there was a hotel delivery for us. It was REAL. Seriously, Liz, shoot me an email. I have some GOODIES for you. Whatever you want forever.   OH, and JUNK! I should have taken a picture of the loot that Kristen brought me on behalf of the Damsel facebook groups! Thank you tremendously, ladies. You guys are literally the only truly glamorous part of my job!

This is my "Boo" Bag. If you ever meet any member of my immediate family, you'll notice that none of them call me "Michelle", they all call me Boo. That was my nickname ever since I can remember, and there's only a select few people that can call me that. Anyhow, this is how I CRAM my costumes together before shows. I never try to have complete outfits. I purposely make everything so it mixes and matches as hideously as possible. 

                  You know how when people put on masks for Halloween, balls, or masquerades, they tend to act differently than they would in normal life? They can hide behind whatever they're wearing and let loose a little. I feel like the corsets are some breed of this phenomenon. When I put my corset on, I can talk to anyone, I'm not self conscious, I KNOW my body looks as good as it possibly can, and I'm not intimidated by strikingly beautiful people. However, if you ever come up to me early at a festival, and I'm NOT all put together, I might be sort of a bum-head. I don't do it on purpose, it's just that it takes a LOT of self-motivations, mantras, and affirmations to get me going for the day.

A view of our beautiful racks of corsetry! This much stock takes a LONG time to produce. 

        In the end, it's not that we DON'T have awesome jobs, because we certainly do! I'm honestly glad that people mostly get to see all the good sides of our company, and we keep the negative junk pretty well under wraps....well, except for when I go on angry rants. Still, I suppose the important thing to remember is that every single job, no matter how epic it looks, has its horrendous stresses, boredom, bad days, and struggles. We're just lucky that the good parts MORE than overshadow the crap parts.
          As always, thank you to all of you who make my job possible. We have been in business NINE years, and I hope to be in business when I'm 80, thank you very much. ;)