Gettin' Busy in the Big easy

2019 was our first trip to Naughty in N'awlins and oh my did we have so much fun!  So much in fact that we have already booked 2020.  Actually, Wade surprised me at Christmas with the gift of heading back to NOLA for Naughty!  So, since it's January and I'm a bit behind in getting these posts up, let's talk about 2019 and why it was so great we are headed for round two. 
     We got really lucky with the weather as it wasn't blazing hot for several of the days we were there.  Naughty is billed as the largest event of its kind and we have to give kudos to Naughty Events and Bob & Tess for putting on such a  well coordinated and fantastic event.  We have to admit, we had so much fun meeting new friends that we forgot to go to any of the panels but we heard from others that the ones they attended were fantastic.  Naughty has numerous panels, two daytime parties a day, and a theme night party every night.  My silly cosplay self sometimes forgets these are theme parties, not cosplay, and for Intergalactic Night went a little overboard with Wade and I's outfits (they're not outfits, they're interstellar jumpsuits...).  I probably spent a good 25 hours of maker time on those darn costumes...Wade pitched in by bedazzling his shiny silver codpiece with rhinestones so we did learn that crafting together can be pretty darn fun. 
     We actually went down a couple days early to New Orleans to connect with each other and play tourist before all the shenanigans of Naughty.  I highly recommend the Movie Tour if you are ever there and love movies like we do.  On a geeky side note, we got to see the set of the new Bill & Ted and the iconic phone booth.  That gave Wade a pop culture high all day!  Shout out to New Orleans as well for being such an amazing food city.  We had some amazing eats while we were there.  Go out of your way for Red's Chinese and Saffron. 
    On Wednesday we checked into our hotel and the convention.  There is this nervous, kinetic energy in the air is everyone is scoping out everyone else and trying to figure out what's next.  You can see that a lot of people are returning as they find old friends and have those beautiful reunion moments in the lobby.  We were nervous and not really our outgoing selves until we got to the first party that happened to be at the Hustler club.  A little liquid courage and meeting people 2 on 2 helped ease us into that first day.  The Wednesday at Naughty was a bit of a whirlwind as we hit two parties, got dressed in our white duds and had a blast walking in the parade, found some dinner and then hot the evening parties. To be fair, I barely remember that first day as it just went by so fast!  Thankfully, some new friends we met on Wednesday invited us to lunch with a group on Thursday.  It was awesome to just linger over a great lunch and really chat with people who were just a tipsy blur the day before.  Long lunches with groups of people became one of my favorite parts of each day at NIN because both Wade and I really love to get to know people (in and out of the lifestyle).  Those daily leisurely lunches is why we skipped most panels!  Our favorite daytime party proved to be the Beach Party.  Most likely because we had a three couple makeout swapski going for most of it that was super fun with new friends! The parties every night were great as well.  Every day we got to meet new people, get to know those we had already met a bit better and form real connections.  We expanded our horizons and played in new ways.  We made lifelong friends in NOLA last summer and I know it might be lightening in a bottle, but, we are hoping to make new friends this year as well!  Give the podcast episode a listen for more details...
     I tell y'all this to say that Naughty is what you want it to be.  Where else can you go and meet over 2,000 people who are in and adjacent to the lifestyle? 

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