Okay, so Cinco De Mayo is tomorrow. But tomorrow we'll be busy downing Mexican food and margaritas, so posting to the blog will not be on my list of priorities.

We love margaritas. We make 'em the old fashioned way with simple ingredients and no mixes. Just say no to the mix! It's so simple and easy, why use a mix with a lot of processed junk in it?

Even at home we each wander in our own direction from the basic recipe, which is tequila, lime, and triple sec. Jenni likes to use blue agave as a sweetener in hers, I like to use Cointreau.

We also use a brand of tequila called Lunazul, which is 100% pure blue agave. Other popular brands that use fillers can give you a bad headache, even if you don't overindulge.

A while back we stumbled upon Dave Stolte's Home Bar Basics book. His recipe calls for both lemon and lime, which I kinda dig. I highly recommend his book. It's full of tips on building up your own home bar and it features Dave's very cool illustrations.

Our friends also have their own variations of the margarita. We plan to try them all. Not all tomorrow, of course. What's your favorite margarita recipe? Add it to the comments below!

Whether your Cinco De Mayo is filled with cervezas and guacamole, or alcohol-free with pan fried noodles, take a moment and raise a glass to the independence of Mexico.

I have this client. I won't say he's impossible, just... challenging.

Wait. Never mind. He's a totalitarian nightmare.

He makes me draw on the fly, in marker. Changes? I just have to figure it out. While he watches.

Not to mention that I'm always on call for this guy. I hadn't even finished my wine at dinner last night when I was called up for service. After handing me a blank piece of paper and a tiny marker, this is how it went:

CLIENT: "So it's a bunch of sick kids in bed. Ten. No, six. No, five.

ME: "Can you show me how many fingers that is?"

CLIENT: [shows ten fingers]

ME: "Okay, that's ten. You want ten sick kids in bed?"

CLIENT: "No, I said five."

ME: "Okay. Just clarifying."

CLIENT: "Okay, now there's a fire."

ME: "Where the sick kids are? That's kind of scary. I'll make it in a trash can."

CLIENT: [reluctant and doubtful stare] "Annnnddd... a Christmas tree!"

ME: "Okay. How's that?"

CLIENT: "Argh! Don't forget the zombie."

ME: "Of course. My fault, totally."

I advise other artists to give these types of fascist clients two cookies and send them to bed with their mommy. Anyway, that's how I handled it. I'm still waiting on this invoice to be paid.

Sitting across from me in the studio is a ginormous pile of packages ready for mailing. It's a beautiful sight.

The packages contain the very first Pants! games to be snatched up by our treasured customers.

It will be even more beautiful to see them slide down the chute at the post office. We're so completely stoked to get these games into eager, playing hands across the U.S., the UK, and as far away as New Zealand. Jenni has been crazy busy contacting customers to confirm addresses and I've been fearlessly wielding my Sharpie marker to sign copies.

It's been a fantastically fun ride to get here and this is only the beginning. Next stop: stores!

Get your mitts on a copy directly from the Sparky Firepants store.

My head outshines his sequins by a factor of 10.

I was just thinking about our trade show experiences over the last few years.

There's a ton of logistical details involved just in traveling and setting up. We have to make sure our GreeterPants people arrive safely and on time. Banner hooks. Coffee. Petty cash. Did we get our badges? Do these shoes make my head look too big?

I could go on with all the fine details involved in planning for a successful show. And while I have an iPad full of logistics and booth designs that I review every week, that's not what I was thinking about.

I was thinking about that time Uncle Sam came by our booth at the Licensing Expo in Vegas. We recruited him to pose in front of our own Uncle Sam because passing up on those opportunities makes a show boring.

We are against boring.

What that made me think about is our true function at trade shows, which is to give people that Sparky Firepants goofball let-your-hair-down experience, live and in person. Sure, we're there to show our art. Technically we could do that with a 3" binder and a card table. But why travel around the country showing your art unless you're going to be excited about what you do?

We're excited.

We love the art we make and what people do with it. We love to meet our current clients and new manufacturers. What you do is fascinating to us, so forgive us for asking a billion questions about your products. We can't help ourselves.

And if we get a little wacky by dressing up in costume at SURTEX this year (you'll have to see it to believe it), it's because that's who we are. That's what our art is all about. And yes, you will see art you can actually use.

I'll post more about SURTEX in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you can read this super duper article on Sparky Firepants in their newsletter.

Thanks, Uncle Sam.