I the Lady Vannesa and my lord Adar have returned from out weekend at the Barony of Shattered Crystal's Annual Crystal ball! Our first SCA event and the big one that our barony Hosts.
I must say we have a smashing good time, the weekend was a blast, full of fun, we made new friends, learned more about members of our barony,  learned what to  get for our NEXT SCA event and got ideas for our wedding, feasted till we burst, and danced until we couldn't  stay awake and upright any longer. ANd I'll have pictures of all this to send out later, but for now I want to give a text account of the weekend to you all.
We arrived at the sight around 7 30 friday night, checked in, then got shown where to crash and  unloaded out things and set up our blankets on the floor. Wandered about garb less for a while helping set up  where asked to or the need for was seen, then around nine, we headed out to the nearby town to get a meal and some money for the next day. Upon our return, my Lord and I dressed ourselves into our newly made Garb, a matching pair of outfits in a navy blue *the bolt was on sale* our period styling was French renaissance. 
on our way to the Passage of Arms that was being held outside we discover a small problem with my garb, being that the buttons popped on my back, my long hair and veil covered anything, along with my knee length chemise under it kept skin from being exposed , but it was an annoyance. We  get to the brightly light up sight, two LARGE propane torches light up an area with a small pavilion for the ladies, a table with some refreshments on it and a   wooden barrier where the combatants meet. I pay my respects to our Baroness then go to join the other ladies in the pavilion and watch the passage of arms, what this is, two fighters in full  armor  each stand on opposite sides of a barrier and then for one full min  fight, calling out if they had been given a good blow or not instead d of stopping as per normal.  We did not get to see all of this event though what we did see was quite thrilling, for we missed the first part of it. as a ladies in the pavilion, I was entertained by the rather lusty  beaconings of our local Moore Magus, as he tried, rather unsusccefully to woo Lady Aislinn. Once the passage of arms was  over the ladies conferred and our favor was granted to Lord Phillipe for his conduct on the field. He was presented with the favor, a ring of silver and lapis made by our Lord Avery, which he in turn presented to the Baroness. upon further conferral a second favor was  given to a younger  fighter who's name is slipping em at the moment, this being a scarf that belonged to the lady Aislinn.
My Lord and I return now into the  building and into one of the gyms (the event is held inside a high school with three gyms, one large two small), where low! we see lord Avery,  Marsus and and I have forgotten the name of the third, setting up, small indoor period style tents made of cloth and PVC piping, we help Lord Avery set his up and at the same time he explains how to make one, and  my Lord Adar and I deiced that we shall make on for ourselves for the next event we attend. they are around seven foot wide, just large enough to set up an air mattress inside, another item we discover we shall be wanting by next event. and the effect of the three tents and of the little "fire" out front * red lights inside wood* is quite stunning and our resolve to have one of out own is strengthen and encouraged by others.
at about midnight my lord and I  retired to our little set of blankets upon the floor to sleep. we discovered the even better reason to get an air mattress., floors are very HARD even with a bit of padding under you. 
I awaken around nine thirty rise, go see what is to go on, then go aback,  drag the Dragon (as I refer to my Lord Adar) out of bed and we go have breakfast. once eaten we dress in our garb once again and then while I go off in search of someone with safety pins, he goes to the rapier lists, to  suit up into the cloth armor that is used for the  light combat. I am pinned into my dress and return to my Lord. Just in 
time to watch him be Authorized to fight with one rapier! I couldn't be prouder of him as I pin his green scarf that denots him as authorized to his shoulder. 
My Lord Adar then enters himself into the Plank Tournament that was being held. this is where two fencers face each other upon a  plank of wood and attempt to fight with out stepping off of the  10 in wide  plank. It's not as easy as it sounds. I am pleased to announce that  My dragon Won 6 fights before he grew tired and wished to do otherwise. once he's out of armor and back into his tunic we wander about for a bit, then  we go to eat lunch, this was  Quiche lorrane, a brown bread that went quite well with the vegetable soup and an apple. 
Lunch done we go to set about checking out the merchants in the far gym and find may things we wish to by, from hundreds of  styles of marvelous  ribbons for use on garb, to daggers and swords, to clothing, to jewelry , to books, to powdered inks that can be made into oil OR watercolor paints, to egyptian perfume bottles, to Hair sticks, and oh the list goes on. by the end of the day we will have purchased, one pewter mug for em to use at feast, a  very nice dagger for my lord, and he picked out for me a pair of VERY nice hand made bone hair sticks, white with  two blue glass beads on the heads, one rectangular in shape, the other atop those, in the shape of a cat's face with it's features pained in gold!. Most becoming and they go with my dress, though I do not wear them at this event.
Next we take some dance lessons between watching the armored heavy fighters outside quite a stunning thing to behold. My lord Adar at 3 in the afternoon goes and gets back into his fencing armor and partakes in a "bar room brawl" that was held outside, A melee fight that one trick to do is to find a way to sneak your weapons in  by the rather nearsighted  bounder, many inventive ways to do so was done, the best being Lady Marie's (YES we have women fighters, I could learn it if I so wished and have attended one practice) "hobby horse" that she construed and hid her rapier into, the hilt of hit being hidden in it's head. Her buckler as well was hidden though she didn't mean to,  it would seem that she (an EXCELLENT seamstress) makes matching buckler covers for all her fencing garb and it merely looked like her shirt front and not a buckler, camouflage in the truest sense! My lord Adar fought well but did not win, again i forget the name of the young man that one it came in first but lady Marie placed second.
The Brawl done  after My Lord adar received some tips from more wiser experienced fighters, we return to the main gym and freshen up, then go to the Feast! We get to our table, set up our feat gear (you bring our own table wear, we had only the two pewter mugs between us but soon plan to get full  metal or wooden  plates and, less modern eating utensils, we've been told many places to get them cheaply) the meal was yes, a FEAST, the hall was decorated grandly! and we where served well, First course was awaiting us on the table, Honey butter * one could eat this on it's own just about* and apple butter with warm French loafs to spread it upon,  fruits and cheese cubes,. While this course was eaten we where entertained by a dance by an eastern style dancer (i.e. a belly dancer), no she wasn't dressed all scantly, in fact the only flesh showing was head hands and feet, she was quite skilled and the dance was most well received. Once she was done the children in attendance present our baron and baroness with a "sunflower cake" they had made, the petals being twinkes and the center a premade (I think) chocolate cake with chocolate icing and chocolate chips on it! 
Second Course is served, this begin Smoked beef, ARmored Turnips, apecian Carrots and Cheese bread. All well cooked and most delicious. During this course we are entertained by two stories, on told by our barony's Bard, the Mistress Caroline, the other told by Lady Aislinn. these two performances so inspired My lord Adar that his intention of learning this art of Story telling and becoming a bard himself was strengthen! And having heard him read things to me he has the voice for it! 
The last course is serve, Grilled chicken that  was so tender it melted in your mouth, herbed onion bake, apple Moyle (an apple and rice dish), and Courenne (french country ring loaf). during the course the presentation are made to give the awards to the fighters in all tourneys as well as an announcement of a silent auction. all During the feat we talked with our table mates and I was given many tips and ideas for My lord and I's wedding, some of which I shall be using! The feast was so well, the food superb our thanks must go to our  head cook Lady Marie von Rosenberg (not the same as that fought with rapiers earlier) she did a wonderful job HUZZAH!!!
A small break till the ball starts and I discover something, most people have two sets of garb they bring for events, a day garb and a court garb, the day garb being more informal and the court garb being quite fancy. i resolve to make myself and my Lord  more outfits is set, especially since I have spent the day being inspired by all the wonderful gowns and men's outfits I have seen, but nothing during the day prepared me for the opulence of the night, everyone sparkled and shown in  there better outfits it was a sight to behold! my Lord and i's grab is styled more for the court then for everyday so we did  not feel underdressed, in fact I was completed at times for our grab. including by the Countess Brigh, our most recent Queen who just stepped down last moth! I was thrilled!
Once everyone  was ready the dancing started and good genteals, this is not the dancing many of you are may be thinking of, nay, this is PERIOD dancing, court dancing, where you  have steps and stand in lines and don't gyrate your hips and other such things, most times you only touch the hand of your lady in fact! It's quite fun  still, My lord Adar and I dance mostly with each other though  he danced with eh baroness and I danced with a few others, he had even been supposed to dance with the countess but  she ended up having to give him a rain check that he never took her up upon. 
My favorite of the dances was what was called the Official Branle. It's so simple and fun I can tell you how to do it now, you form a large circle, going man woman man woman,  you step to the side back and forth several times then on the 7 and 8th count the girl spins forward to face the man, places her hand on the mans shoulders and he on her hips and he lifts her up (she helps by jumping slightly) and she is set down before the man next to him on his left, this happens every 8 counts, the dance is unofficially called "pass the wench" and the music is the tune known as "Ding Dong Merrly On High", it was most fun but breathtaking and even with my safety pins and I had to be fixed back in my dress! but it was worth it!.
at the ball there are 6 sets of 10 dances each, the sets taking about an hour to do in all, you don't have to dance all the dances in a set, or all the sets, the sets took till 4 am to complete though my lord and I turned in after the fifth set, we just couldn't stay upright anymore. I was told that after the sets are done they take request and that lasted till around 7 am. Yes at the ball one dances the night away!!
I arise around nine thirty, get up (i had been sleeping both nights in my chemise and a pair of grey sweats) walk about to see who all else is about, most people in fact, the cleaning already mostly done so I return, find my lord awake and we change into jeans and shirts and pack up, we talk bit with friend then go home and crash again! 

and that's my account of My Lord and I's very FIRST SCA Event!