Thursday, October 21, 2010

Party! Yep-yep-yep-yep-yep

Last weekend was our 7th Annual Halloween Party. The theme this year was TV Characters. I still haven't had time to post all the pics but I at least needed to post (esp. for Juls who keep asking) our Yip Yip costumes. Yes! That is what we were this year. One of my enhancements included a velcro mouth so you could open it up and talk to people face-to-face. You know, instead of face-to-gapingyipmouth. It was quite the useful feature. And as with many of my craft projects, an ambitious little pain. But overall, success wouldn't you say? S and I had many giggles even before the party. If you have forgotten the Yip Yips from sesame street days ago, shame on you! Now go review here. And include your kids! They'll laugh, too.
This was another perk of having Rich come for his Birthday. They could attend our famous party. Now all of my siblings have attended our party at one time or another. Woot!
And what looks better than Rich, as Robin, donning the awesome Photoshop Birthday hat?! Happy Birthday, Rich! We sure hope you enjoyed your weekend because you are SOOOO OOLD. :) Loved having you guys!

Monday, October 18, 2010

P to the Arty

Last week was stacked with one thing after another. Mostly in preparation for one of the highlights of the season: our Halloween Party! But my camera has not been cooperating lately so I won't have pics of that for you just yet (I borrowed one).
Rich & Randi came to Vegas for the weekend and joined in the festivities. But mostly I talked him into coming for his 30th BIRTHDAY! And what better gift to give than tix to CHROMEO!!
This was the first time they have performed in Vegas and it was a great show. We were pretty bummed out to discover that the promised Holy Ghost (the band, not the spirit :)) did not play that night, even though it was advertised so. Boo! Otherwise, the night was funk-a-licious. What talent! What style! What awesome lit up leg synth stands! It was a super weekend kick off.
As for the rest, busy but successful. It feels nice to have the big plans in the middle of the month so I can now enjoy the rest of Halloween fun sans party stress.
Also, big announcement this week: Scott's new office in the NW will be open tomorrow! They have been setting up all week. It looks really great and I'm so proud of him and all his hard work. Now we cross our fingers....

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Rogers Gardens 2010

Alright, my fellow Halloween fans! Get ready for this years tour of Rogers Gardens in Newport.
If you are not a fan of Halloween, you may skip this post (Bore!).
This store does such an amazing job. I cannot express my awe at the creativity and obvious fun they must have doing it. I smile at every turned corner, every shelf, every room. I've decided that this would be my dream job. I would love to make people feel that way. So- if you have a store and want me to this, I'm available! How fun would it be?!?
Without further blibbidy-blab, let's go!
Now, c'MON. They turned the already-rad "It's A Small World" art deco design into a haunted entry. Disney macabre? GENIUS, I say. They even honored the tick-tock clock face movement twisting back and forth... back and forth...

A beautiful cuckoo clock all black. It was huge! And notice the bird....

I thought these clip boards on the walls in this room was a clever idea. Photocopies of weird things. Some ordinary and some way creepy, like that clown near the top and the woman screaming.

Check out the vending machine in the back. Yum!

The theme inside was basically a toy factory gone wrong. All these happy things that are now haunting. The first thing you see coming in is a ventriloquist doll sitting on a table who keeps making scary jokes about how you won't leave or how he did something veery wrong.
As you keep walking through you see the elements of this idea everywhere.
This wall of Frankensteined Jack'O's was really clever. They blinked on an off with the fun music. I love all the circuitry and plugs and spray painted 'burn out' marks everywhere.

The ceiling even had huge, rotating gears.

Then in the middle of the back room was the big ventriloquist machine, making the same dolls we just saw greeting you at the front of the store. Look at that thing! That's an intense project!

And peeking inside will show you they are escaping with minds of their own.

Nearby was an area that looked like creature/machine experimentation.

In the entrance to another room, the door frame was made to look hot and burned away like this, entering an area where a blast occurred.

A blast of toy dolls! Check out all that work. And all those charred, black dolls. Oh boy. Delightfully sinister. This is when Scott had had enough and he returned to the car. Said it was all too twisted for him. (teehee- I love it!)

A close up of the plastic devastation....

Everywhere there were pieces of things.

Even tucked here in a cabinet.
I didn't get a picture of this but they had pretty girl dolls in their boxes, just as you would see at a toy store, all dressed up and smiling, mounted on the wall and on shelves. But some of the heads were wired so they would turn back and forth randomly. And they were named weird things like "Bedtime Betty" or "Sleeping Sally". I don't remember exactly, but titles that were super creepy.

I liked these pumpkin faces. Thought they would be easy to make with funkins and save the $30+ price tag.

Now this.... This table was beautiful. Weird, random sculptures of faded wood. I loved it. But they were pricey!

Hope you enjoyed the tour and are inspired to enjoy the rest of your October!!!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Recycle That T

Be Green! Go Eco! Whatever your reason to slash up an old T...
I made this little knit number (the scarf) the other day and it actually worked.
Check Academe for instructions on making your own.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Newport in Oct

We just returned from our seemingly annual October visit to California. It started a couple of years ago taking the kids to Disneyland for all the Halloween hype and we keep coming back. Don't know how much longer we can do this as the kids miss some school days, but we made the most of it.
Wednesday night we left and hurried to our friends house in Corona where the kids stayed and Scott and I left right away to catch The Drums and Surfer Blood in L.A. It was cool to compare this show to the one we saw in NYC in Jan. They sounded better and performed better. I expected the crowd to be going nuts but they didn't. We were tired, though. Most shows start at 8pm and end around 10 or 11- this one began at 10:30 and ended after midnight. Wow- we are old potatoes because we were beat the next day - too old for that kind of crazy night life. But it was worth it for one night. This old surf sound trend is enjoyable and great for people watching.
The rest of the trip was relaxing and fun. There were some uncommon hot days so we enjoyed being outside, going to the beach and the pool and even hitting Disneyland Sat night (another late nighter). Then Monday we woke up to rain! Bah. We went to Dland anyway. I guess it's fair in all our visits that we finally hit a rainy day. It was more like a misty day and it disappeared after lunch time.


I so enjoy our little family. My husband makes me laugh and the kids are great. We had a nice time but it is good to be back in routine again today. October is already on it's way and I still have yet to release my decor everywhere. Whatwhat?!? Time to get going!
And do stay tuned for the famous Rogers Gardens update. Oh yes. I went. And I took many a pics to divulge the spooky fun.
PS- The store fronts in the last collage are some I saw while visiting Laguna in August. Along the same strip mall was an Andrea's Liquor store and a Scott's Donut store. I had to show S and take photos. I think these fit the bill. In another life I would probably be a lush and S would be... soft and sweet. Ha!