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Freaky Festivities

Every year we undertake a maddening endeavor: a Halloween party of such magnitude that only those with questionable sanity would attempt it. Okay, maybe it’s not quite elaborate enough to be a product of lunacy, but it’s a ridiculous amount of work: sewing costumes, decorating every possible surface of two floors of our house, buying and wrapping prizes, organizing games and contests. Preparations start months in advance and cleanup takes weeks if we are diligent and months if we are not. If you can’t imagine how putting on such an event would take so much time it’s because you have never tried it.

This graveyard, made up of the basement boxes that — Jason converted the boxes in our basement to this graveyard. I had my doubts about how it would turn out but I was pleased with the results.

I dressed-up this year as Aphrodite; Jason went as Ares the god of war. — I dressed-up this year as the Greek goddess Aphrodite; Jason went as Ares, the god of war. As usual, I sewed both our costumes.

Here's my — Here are my goddess locks. Not too shabby considering I did the “do” myself.

This is my friend Robyn, I mean Leia, and her kiddies. Robyn won the best costume prize this year.

These decorations weren't too impressive but I liked how this picture turned out. — These decorations aren’t too impressive but I like how this picture turned out.

Jason and Drew A.K.A. Ares and Mark Antony. And yes, Jason does have a giant helmet.

Decorating for this party is the most time-consuming task. Our Halloween decorations fill over 20 giant Rubbermaid containers. Just locating and organizing the items we want to use is quite an ordeal. But the hardest part of decorating is trying to arrange the same decorations into something different every year. Coming up with good décor ideas for each area in our house is hard; coming up with distinct good ideas every year is nearly impossible.

This little mouse in a teacup was my — This little mouse, peaking out of a teacup, is my most favorite of the decoration ideas I came up with this year. For some reason I really dig it.

Jason's — Jason’s parents, Keith and Sue, dressed in 50’s attire. The stitches on Sue’s nose are not part of her costume. She fell a couple of days before our party and broke her nose in two places.

Jenn as Alice and Strider the Mad Hatter. Jenn made these fabulous costumes.

My brother, Drew, came as Mark Antony and his wife, Simone, came as his lover Cleopatra. — My brother Drew came as Mark Antony and his wife, Simone, came as Cleopatra, Antony’s lover.

I created this pirate's lair to hide some basement boxes. — I created this pirate’s lair to hide some basement boxes.

We love Halloween, which is why we take on this arduous chore year after year. All the work is worth it (in theory) when our friends and family show up decked-out in their costume inventions ready for some fiendish merriment. I especially enjoy watching the little kids, at least the ones that aren’t absolutely horrified by the Halloween paraphernalia, go from decoration to decoration muttering “wow” and “look at this one”. We’re glad to be part of the magic of Halloween even if it’s a lot of hard work, not magic, that makes it happen.

This is my nephew Miles with lot so loot from the pinata and the treasure hunt. — This is my nephew Miles with lots of loot from the pinata and treasure hunt.

These are the costume contest winners...and Jacob. — These are the costume contest winners…and Jacob.

I did a pirate treasure hunt for the kids this year. This was the pirate booty.

Here are my parents in their Halloween attire.

Jason did a great job on this ceiling. He hooked up all the lighting to a colorbox, which made all the lights flicker to our Halloween music. — Jason did a great job on this ceiling. He hooked up all the lighting to a color box, which made the lights flicker to our Halloween music.

This is yet another of the many areas we decorated for the party.

Rachel October 26, 2009 No Comments

Rain, Snow, and Stars

Jason and I love experiencing our world, whether that’s through a bike ride in the mountains or a concert in the park. Last week we did a lot of experiencing.

For starters, we went to a Snow Patrol concert. It was awesome! Of course, if I didn’t absolutely love Snow Patrol in the first place I wouldn’t have drug Jason to their concert. Although I wasn’t surprised by how skilled the band was live, I was surprised by their size: 2 drummers, 4 guitarists, and a keyboardist. I guess with all the layers in Snow Patrol’s music I shouldn’t have been too astonished that that many musicians were required to create their unique sound.
My favorite part of the evening was their performance of “The Golden Floor”. This song’s haunting melody and catchy rhythm made it an instant favorite of mine when I first heard Snow Patrol’s new album, A Hundred Million Suns, but seeing it played live exceeded all my expectations. One of the band’s drummers pounded away on some giant metal drums throughout the number. The intensity of his beating gave the song a primal feel and made the experience unforgettable.
Plain White T’s, the opening band, also put on a great, but extremely short, show. Their lead singer, Tom Higgenson, was sick and so they only played a few songs. Even though Tom was barely able to talk he managed to sing without sounding very strained. Since I really liked what little they played for us, I’ve decided that I need to purchase their CD.

This is me. I was a bit cold but I was grateful I wasn't wet. — This is me at the Real game. I was a bit cold but I was very grateful I wasn't wet.

Our second cultural event of the week was a Real SLC game. We won some amazing tickets for this game at a silent auction event for a charity. Our seats were right on the sidelines, behind the team benches. Sweet! As fate would have it, the day of the game was an incredibly rainy one. Blast! We loaded up for the match with lots of rain gear and garbage bags – everything we could think of that might decrease the soaking we assumed we were about to receive. And then the miraculous occurred: as we were traveling to the game the skies cleared and the night turned into a beautiful autumn evening. It was still cold enough that hats, gloves, jackets, and scarves were needed, but with that bundling it was pretty pleasant and, more importantly, it was completely dry.

Here I am with some of those — Anakin told me he was going to use an old Jedi trick called "wrappa armaround". He must be strong with the force because he pulled that one off.

Two days later we headed up to Salt Lake City again, this time for Star Wars: In Concert. Fantastic! A giant LED screen, Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) in the flesh, a live orchestra, actual props from the Star Wars films, and more geeky fans than you could possibly imagine made for a splendid nerdfest!

I think Jason was ready to join the darkside. — I think Jason was ready to join the dark side at this point.

Hooray for three memorable evenings!

Rachel October 19, 2009 No Comments

Masquerade

When I noticed the billboards by the freeway advertising a masquerade ball a month or so ago I was immediately intrigued. Maybe I’ve just been programmed by all the girly movies I’ve watched over the years, but I have long held the opinion that going to a masquerade ball would be awesome. When I looked up the advertised ball online and realized it was to benefit a charity, In Our Own Quiet Way, I was even more interested in attending. What can I say; I’m a sucker for a cause.

Me and Jason in appropriate ball attire.

Jason and I thought the best way to experience this ball would be with a posse of our friends. However, we were unable to convince anyone to attend with us, so for weeks we debated whether going by ourselves would be worth the effort. We finally decided, two days before the event, that we were definitely going even if none of our friends were as engrossed by the idea. I am very glad we came to that decision.

The location for the ball was perfect. The grounds were huge and came equipped with a castle. Girls never really grow out of that "I want to be a princess" phase.

Since I have made more costumes for me and Jason than you could shake a stick at, finding appropriate attire for the ball was relatively easy. We just had to dig through the far recesses of our closets and buy a couple masks.

I decided that I couldn't go to the ball without attempting to make my hair fit for the occasion. The making of this "do" took way too long and, after a few hours of partying, it started to fall out. But I was still proud of the results of my very limited hair skills.

We had a delightful evening! First we ate a tasty meal, which was donated by Carrabba’s, followed by plenty of entertainment. The night’s diversions included: belly dancers, jugglers, and a fencing demonstration. Of course that still left ample time for dancing under the stars.

Jason liked this armor dude. — Jason liked this armor dude so he paused for a goofy picture with him.

We learned much more about the charity, In Our Own Quiet Way, over the course of the evening. I am very impressed by what they are doing for the people of Kenya. I hope they will hold this event again next year. If they do, it would be great to have some of you, our excellent associates, don your masks and get jiggy with us.

Rachel September 22, 2009 3 Comments

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