Hangin' Like a Branch with my Tree-FF!

Gather round this campfire, forest friends and freaks.  I want to tell you all about one fine forest female named Empress Mess aka Emily.  She is a woman who wears many hats: a career as a clown, balloon artist, rat keeper, and she provides clothing & costumes to many photographers and models.  She is a very talented has a wardrobe to rival the one that leads to Narnia...

Somehow we got caught up in the webs we were weaving when we met on the web!   We followed each others blogs and instagrams for years.  She was always there for me, like roots to a tree, inspiring me!  I had always dreamed of living in a city, having a life like a carousel of moments and memories with friends who knew how to have fun.  As the years flew by like a butterfly I thought those dreams were dead.  Then I ended up moving all the way across the country from Califorest to Maryland.  When I realized I could hang out with her more, I texted her.  Should I move to Baltimore?

A few months flew by, we were both busy as bees.  I was woodworking hard on rebuilding my business from the ground up, but I mentioned a new Faerie Festival in town as she is the type of gal who is always going to fairs and even invited me to a mushroom festival I missed.  I knew she was quite swamped at work so I didn't expect her to come.  I had no one to help me and was feeling nervous about the festival, like I was a big fish from a small pond and no one was going to like me, my shop or my creations.  I saw down at my booth and took a deep breath trying to calm down and focus when I checked my phone.  It was Emily, saying she was on her way to the fair!

 

I stepped outside the stone church to a grey rainy day to greet my friend.  We walked right across the street to my house to have a smoke break and chat with Jesse for a bit.  He offered to watch my shop so we could browse the fair.  Emily was a seasoned festival veteran and pulled out a wooden mirror to admire herself with every enchanted adornment she tried on.  We met a balloon blower who made a bow and arrow, got free sprout hairclips from a vendor, had our photos taken by the pixie paparazzi, met a furry fox on fox street, went to the pub for a few beers and checked out a little free library.  

I stuffed a bag full of stuff from my shop as a present for her and she gave me a package of things she meant to send me a while ago for my birthday!  A tree card, some mushroom perfume which really makes you feel you're in a damp forest, a squirrel salt and pepper shaker set, an owl engraved on wood, and a set of magic forest stones she gathered and charged for me.  I gave her a fern crystal, some leaf necklaces, a mushroom, and more!