I love to dance even when I’m trapped in a hoopskirt so immense that I could be mistaken for a ruffly blimp. That’s one of the many reasons why Jason and I have happily become repeat performers at the Festival of Trees with our old-school pals.
There were probably about 90 yards of fabric stretched across all these dresses.
The Festival of Trees is a charity event that supports Primary Children’s Hospital. The Old Glory Vintage Dancers have twirled there annually for years. Jason and I have been involved in these performances for the last three years.
Although I’d have fun swaying with a toaster, people do add to the innate pleasures of prancing. We’ve made some great dancing buddies and laughing with them during rehearsals is as enjoyable as the turns of a reel.
Although I make most of my historic attire, I borrowed this elaborate gown from our dance leader.
I’m grateful for all the fine music, lively steps, excellent friends, and enormous dresses in my life.
Although my semester was keeping me rather occupied, Jason and I took a little weekend break in November. We invited a couple friends, Tom and Aimee, to stay with us at a condo in Park City. It was a relaxing pause with great chats, fine chow, and a few unexpected stops.
Park City’s Main Street is famous for its foodstuffs and posh shops but, surprisingly, not for its Pokestops.
One of my favorite things about Park City is the food. There are so many fantastic places to eat there that a rent-a-stomach service could be a big hit. We gorged at Zoom, The Bridge Café & Grill, and Billy Blanco’s. Yet, we still found little spots in our gastrointestinal tracts for some custom-made diminutive donuts from Peace, Love, and Little Donuts.
I love great food and Park City has heaps of it.
We discovered that Main Street, Park City’s famous center, not only possesses sustenance aplenty but also Pokéstops galore. We endured the unpleasant winter wind for a few Pokéwalks, some to side streets and lanes we had never seen. We caught a lot of Pokémon we hadn’t encountered before like Nidorinos, Bellsprouts, and Beedrills. Plus, we found numerous Jigglypuffs, Tauros, Seels, Shellders, and Weedles. Yes, we were four adults roaming a ritzy area full of art galleries and luxury boutiques in search of cartoon creatures and we didn’t have a problem with that.
I am not particularly good at Bananagrams, Scrabble, or Boggle but that has never stopped me from tinkering competitively with the alphabet.
After our strolls, we played Bananagrams. I am not terribly good at word games but I love messing with letters anyway. Aimee’s domination over my feeble word realm didn’t bother me in the slightest.
Our wee break was quite nice. Park City didn’t disappoint our stomachs or our Pokédexes.
It’s easy, when you spend a substantial amount of time and money on a Halloween party, to feel a little crazy. Oh wait, that’s not where I was going with this. Rewind… it’s easy to feel a little disappointed when guests hurry off after such a shindig without helping pick up any of the 150 cups they left in your kitchen or when you hear a kid complaining about the lack of a food truck at the affair. Yes, it’s easy to feel a bit underwhelmed by thanklessness after you’ve organized an overwhelming event but that’s not what I would like to write about here. Instead, I’d like to publicly acknowledge the elixirs to our insanity.
I love our spooky lady.
Jason wanted to wear his Han Solo outfit for Halloween so I became a blonde Bespin Leia. If you don’t recognize my garb, you aren’t a true Star Wars fan.
We have about seven full skeletons in our Halloween arsenal, along with more spare bones than a can of salmon.
We had more assistance with our party this time than ever before. Jacob, Lee, Sue, and Keith all came over one night for a party-decorating party. We got a whole room done that evening; it was miraculous. The creative juices were so abundant we were all a little sticky in the end. My brother-in-law also joined us, along with some of our nieces and nephews, on a few separate occasions and we had a great time putting up spider webs and lights. During the event, Jenny supervised the carnival games. For take down, Fran, Cam, Rowley, Lee, Sue, and Keith all offered their assistance one evening. With their help, we had Halloween packed away by Thanksgiving, or shortly thereafter. Thank you all! Not only was your help very valuable, it was a much-appreciated gesture of gratitude.
A lot of this hair was mine and a lot of it was not.
In honor of the new film, we fashioned a Potter area.
As for the party itself, here are a few of this year’s random stats:
1. We had nearly 90 attendees, a new record I believe. But, for the record, we were not trying to break any records. Hopefully that upward trend stabilizes, otherwise we are going to have to institute an admittance process.
Decorating for our party is both creatively stimulating and depleting.
2. We went through 30 liters of soda, in addition to an incalculable amount of water.
3. Traditionally, about 30% of our attendees are kids. This year, children accounted for half of the partyers.
These bags took longer to assemble than I care to admit.
4. We assembled six dozen party favors and gave out every single one of them. That was a first.
5. We had a photographer taking old-time hand-developed pictures on black aluminum using a wet-plate collodion method, a process invented in 1851. The procedure was as interesting as the results.
The Victorian photographs were eerie and interesting.
6. We had 18 flavors of gourmet cotton candy spun in our backyard. (No bratty kid, not a food truck this time.)
7. A girl got hit in the face while the piñata was being hammered down. I knew that was going to happen sooner or later. For some reason, kids become animals over a few Twizzlers when a piñata is involved.
I’m not sure why an orb filled with candy makes kids simultaneously both uncontrollably excited and destructive.
8. After the gathering, Jason and I were up until 4:30 in the morning cleaning crumbs and food globs off our floors. Thanks Cam for coming back to help with the first rounds of sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, and furniture replacement at 12:30 AM!
This pirates’ cove was Jason’s idea. He even made a swashbuckling soundtrack to accompany it.
Who doesn’t like a nice spooning?
And that is how we survived our Halloween party this year, with a lot of gratitude, and a little frustration, in our hearts. To all our helpers, thank you for being enablers of our madness! We can’t tell you how much your aid meant. You are awesome!
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