Halloween and my first visitors!

My mom and dad came for a quick visit to do the traditional parents things; grocery shop for me, build me a bookshelf, cook me great food, help me glue eyeballs on my octopus...you know the drill. It was so great having guests! We walked around my neighborhood (after the two feet of snow melted!) and checked out book stores ad coffee shops. My apartment has been really bare, and they helped spruce things right up. Em will be proud to note that I am in fact hanging my pictures as though they are in a museum, it's the only way! It was a little nerve wrecking though because the radiator was creaky and sway-y and we were attempting to hold a heavy picture up with fishing string, but even as I sit writing this the fishing string holds!




Once they had unpacked, out popped dad's traditional clown costume, fake rat and all to celebrate the occasion! Mom happily climbed into my strawberry costume. She chose to accent the costume with brown pants (mud) and a red sweatshirt (more strawberry) to make it her own. Aren't they cute!?




We had some errands to run, so here they are waiting patiently for my prescription to be filled. Use your imagination to fill in OctoElise sitting next to the strawberry for the full effect.. I think it's my favorite picture of the whole weekend!




JP chose to go as Leonardo, pulling it all together even at the last minute, but it turned out nicely and he was a hit downtown! Jeremy did crack that he was the skinniest ninja turtle he'd ever seen, but JP just used his ninja skills and defeated him.




I was, of course, an octopus. A cozy octopus with eyeballs that lasted for only half the night, but it sure was fun swirling my tentacles around!

clue two

This second clue was a while in coming because of a few mishaps, lack of supplies and also because it basically gives it away. I was trying to figure out how to show it without showing it, but then Nora got the better of my sneakiness. She was ruminating in her dreams about costumes and what she should be. When she came to the scariest things she could think of, she thought about being one of these, and instantly knew what I was. Here are a few steps:


My mom got me this sweet little Elna when I moved away. Even I, in my lack of sewing knowledge, can wrangle this machine into producing things relatively close to what I had in mind.


With a lack of furniture, especially chairs, in my apartment, I used my darling red suitcase as a perch while I worked. Balanced on my bed it brought me to just the right level.


With two down and six to go, I think it was shaping up quite nicely. Yes that is the instruction manual in the background...putting the bobbin in was a process.

See what I mean about scariest thing? But where's the beak you say? It's coming, as well as eyes and suckers..all in due time!

a patch of pumpkins

It was a gorgeous pumpkin patch day, with the mountains right next to us, but I couldn't get a picture cause the sun was setting right behind them.

1.
My lopsided beauty.

2.
The bountiful spread.

3.
Jeremy claimed his method of determination involved standing on them to see if they could hold his weight..

4.
JP, loading up the wagon.

5.
Trusty stead?

6.
We only had room for three.

7.
Menfolk.

8.
All carved up.

..but what could it be?

So I wanted my Halloween costume to be a surprise this year, but Nora has ants in her pants and so I promised her I would post some in-progress photos so she could guess what the finished product will be. Here goes:

*
In my bathtub dying my costume purple.

**
Stirring for thirty to sixty minutes turned the tips of my fingers purple.

***
Sad, sad, sad face because the container had a few holes and not only my costume and fingers turned purple, but also the porcelain..shhh.

****
First step complete. Any guesses?

fake bacon and a red mohawk

Pigeon's first birthday was last week, celebrating in style with a sign up in the window, fresh baked brownies for me and her first taste of hummus. I'd given her a bath the day before to effectively clean her birthday suit which she wasn't happy about, but the mealworm treats helped ease the transition. Realizing that she may very well be a third of the way through her life helped push me forward towards finally finding a vet.

I made an appointment and packed her cozy style in a shoe box that had formerly been housing the contents of my old junk drawer. She was understandably crabby as she had gone to bed only a few hours prior and was being rudely jostled into the bright light of the day. We made it there, jar of coffee in one hand, shoe box in the other, and met the very welcoming kind vet. Pigeon apparently doesn't like vets, or this vet, or life in general at 10:00am and made that quite clear. She balled herself up like a champion, shaking and growling and popping with gall. I've never seen her so worked up! The assistant was holding her with these ridiculous leather gloves, the smell of which were probably freaking her out even more, on a metal table under bright lights. In any case, in an effort to help her relax and be more comfortable with the situation, the vet offered her a fake bacon treat. Pigeon, the little fatty, uncurled and munched it right down. She did however pause to anoint herself with it and the resulting red mohawk was all that we have to show for the entire visit..

to the top!

I finally made it to Estes, on a gorgeous sunny day no less! We left Denver after yoga where it was 80 degrees and sunshine-y and pleasantly breezy. Strapped on my back were sandwiches, tootsie roll pops and some box wine for good measure. We blew through Boulder and stopped for a coffee in Estes, sneaking into the Mcdonald's to swipe some mayonnaise (take that establishment!). We took the requisite sign photo after snapping dozens for tourists in matching t-shirts:






We rode into Rocky Mountain National Park and tooled up the mountain taking in amazing views, trees starting to change their colors for fall, snow tipped peaks and even some Elk! I tried to take a picture from the motorcycle, but it maybe wasn't the brightest idea and I settled for shots while stationary.






At the top is was cold but gorgeous! JP made a few snowballs while I steered clear of the cold as best I could. Minnesota winter is just not a distant enough memory for me to be able to relish the idea of more snow just yet..














We had a picnic at the top which was delicious and not just because the altitude made a sip of wine feel like a bottle..




...and our trusty stead. Mmmm it was a great, great afternoon. The ride down was hurried partially because I was wearing girl shoes without socks and partially because we had dinner plans at my cousin's house that we were late for while still on the mountain.. we honked people out of our way when they paused to take in the magnificent elk that came right up to the road, choosing instead to view them at full speed with a nod of acknowledgment from my backseat perch.

rough around the edges, or how I settle in..

Here we have my closet; with ample storage, a lack of clothes (I don't know why I didn't think they wore clothes in Denver), and just enough red galoshes for all this rain we've been having!

My last bathroom was stripes so it had to be polka dots this time around..

First things first, Grandma's painting found a home, and of course my helmet came with me!

Here's my little kitchen, Pigeon's room with a view.

My tiny cot, banished to the corner. It is exactly as small as it looks.

In sum, after two days in the ol' homestead I am content to be living alone for the first time ever. I had First Apartment Coffee this morning and watched the rain from my window while I caught up with friends. Things are unpacked for the most part and even though it's a small place it's quite bare! My sights are set on a futon, a bookshelf, and some tables to round it out a bit. Rest assured that by the time I've got my first out of town visitors there will be places to sit! I'm sure the cot will suffice as a perfect guest bed, so don't worry about lodging..