A New Attitude(s)

After years of working at a place she couldn't stand, my step-mom Bunny has bravely ventured out on her own. As Dad explains in a recent e-mail update:

When we returned from our vacation in early July, Bunny had made her mind to leave. The question: go to work for someone else, buy an existing business, or build and start from scratch? She spent several weeks talking to local salon owners, realtors, and developers, and finally found a new “strip mall” with a size-appropriate slot and an affordable lease, and she decided to “go for it” on her own.

Now, following months of planning and construction, Bunny's all set to open her new salon, "Attitudes," tomorrow.

Congratulations, Bunny! We're so proud of you. :)

Halloween Mayhem

Is it possible that I'm still wiped out from last Saturday's Halloween extravadanza at Nick and Julie's? Maybe. :)

As you can see above, we did end up going as Vince and Mia again, but instead of worrying about replacing my wig (I french-braided my hair under the wig this time, and amazingly, it all fit!), we decided to work on getting M an actual Vincent Vega hairdo. I couldn't really find a greasy-ponytail wig for a guy, so I bought a generic "hippy" wig to trim into the right style. Here's the before photo:

As you can see below, it worked out great!
Mrs. Mia Wallace.
T helps Jeff with the hair color for his Tammy Faye Bakker costume.

Here's T getting into her Buddha costume while I help Jeff with his false eyelashes. Personally, I thought T (with her big pregnant belly) going as Buddha was brilliant! Our cab driver thought otherwise: "Oh, I guess you mean a Chinese Buddha, not the real Buddha." (Hm. I guess you're getting a small tip, not a real tip.)
Our host, Nick, as Senator Larry Craig -- he built that bathroom stall in the garage where the party was! This photo (which isn't actually overexposed -- the room was just full of fake fog) doesn't show it, but the sign over his head reads "MSP International Airport."
Ema kicking butt again as She-Ra, Princess of Power.

T in her Buddha skull-cap, with Sean and Jake, one of the two sets of "D--- in the Box" guys at the party. Later in the evening, Jake felt the need to go lie down (we've all been there -- damn jell-o shots), at which time others were encouraged to -- for lack of a better word -- strap on the box, as you'll observe in the second photo below. Good times! Sunday morning was a little painful, but good times!

Thank You, Mr. Tarantino

You know how some years you just don't have your act together? Halloween is my favorite holiday, but somehow we're scrambling to get ready this year. We had an invite to the same awesome costume party we attended last year, but couldn't quite decide whether to go -- partly because the folks we had planned to go with didn't know whether they felt up for it. (That's partly to be expected because T is about nine months preggers.) But it looks like things are finally coming together and we'll all go to the party.

Which happens to be tomorrow night. And I've done nothing yet as far as a costume. What to do? Recycle an old one, of course. This is only the second year that we'll be going to this particular party, so no one there has seen our Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace "Pulp Fiction" ensembles from three years ago.

The only thing I need to do is get a new wig -- my hair is so much longer now that it doesn't fit underneath the Mia wig I have from before.
Other than that, we're ready to go -- and with only about 24 hours notice! With luck, the party will be as rocking as it was last year, which for us, happened to be another Tarantino year. Here we are as the teenage assassin Gogo Yubari and a member of the Crazy 88 from "Kill Bill."

Here's Ema (a dear law school friend and my bridesmaid when we eloped) as Lara Croft at the party last year -- could she be any cooler?

Here's a pre-pregnancy T as Rainbow Brite (her mom made her amazing costume) ...

... and her husband Jeff (another great law school bud) as Groundskeeper Carl from "Caddyshack."

Here's hoping there's as much debauchery -- or at least as many jello shots -- this year as last year!

Too... Much.... Cuteness...

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to see a porcupine (notoriously shy most of the time) in the wild up North near M's folks' place. He was waddling slowly through a field near the road and looked amazingly like a small, prickly teddy bear -- one with very Pooh-like qualities. As of that moment, porcupines joined otters, sharks and bunnies on my list of favorite animals. So of course, I just had to share this video of a teeny-tiny baby porcupine (called a porcupet) who got the hiccups while eating a banana!

Looking forward to Early T-Day!

M and I are getting excited about early T-Day in Seattle! Why early?

• Well, Mike proposed the idea of doing our traditional "no-parents" Thanksgiving about a month early because he's always swamped in late November (like all Amazon.com folks are, I would guess).
• And for me, if the merger at work really does happen in early December (they could still potentially change the date), then I'll be really crazed swamped in late November, too.

So it works perfectly for M and I to jet out to Seattle (Phil will be coming from Atlanta) the first weekend in November to celebrate with Mike, Laura and Addie in their beautiful new home. Whatever we end up doing -- karaoke, PlayStation, bowling, seeing bunnies, "Smashface" and other games, general mayhem (see photos below from previous no-parents Thanksgivings) -- it's sure to be a good time.


The lovely Laura S-B glazes the bird, despite Mike's attempts to distract her with romance.

One of Sparklegirl's favorite places on Earth: the bunny park. (After I had my wisdom teeth removed, my dear friend Mel, who was there to drive me home, said I came out of my anesthetized stupor talking about the bunny park. Also, check out the beautiful fingerless mittens that Laura S-B knitted for me!)

General mayhem. :)

It's not Thanksgiving without Balderdash! (What the heck is a whalebone whale?)

More general mayhem!


Too... much... PlayStation. Can't... stay... awake...
And, yes, more mayhem.

Recent Lapse in Posting

It's been a weird few weeks for me in terms of blog posting, and I guess by that I meant that I haven't done much of it, for two main reasons:

• My stupid wrist is acting up again. In fact, this week I got my first ever cortisone shot (yowza), as well as a new wrist brace that better immobilizes my right thumb. My doctor, who's been terrific about all this, also wants me to start some physical therapy. While all of that stuff should help, the primary treatment is not using my right hand, which gets a little complicated for someone who spends the majority of her days typing. So I'm attempting to do as little non-work typing as possible.

• While I do have some additional photos of the garden to post from September, it's been tricky to stay motivated about anything gardening-related. Although Minnesotans have been lucky with warm temperatures until this week, it's also been ridiculously wet. And since you're not supposed to work the soil when it's saturated, there hasn't been much I can do out there lately. My rain barrel is completely full of water, but the last thing my plants need is more water at this point. So it's been hard not to feel some general frustration on the gardening topic, which, let's face it, it pretty central to my blog postings.

In the short-term, I'll try to concentrate on getting some of the recent backyard photos posted (along with some T-day photos from recent years!), as that requires a little less typing.

Playtime for Polar Bears and Sled Dogs?

You read it right. The two species demonstrated all the behaviors and postures associated with playing together, according to photographer Norbert Rosing, who captured images of polar bears romping with sled dogs every night for a week. Check out the audio slide-show -- be sure to turn your speakers on!