A Shiny, New Dog Park!

Until this past weekend, the closest dog park was a 20-minute drive away.  Elvis is absolutely insane in the car, so it was usually a very long 20 minutes!

So naturally, I was incredibly excited when a new dog park opened on Saturday, a mere 10 minutes from my house.  The park is located next to the also newly-opened Karl Stirner Arts Trail, along the Bushkill Creek, and you have to walk a little ways along the trail to get to it - no problem for a high-energy guy like Elvis. ;-)

The park isn't huge, but it's certainly big enough for Elvis to run around like a maniac:

That's him on the right-hand side of the photo, near the rock. 

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Elvis with his new friends, but he did make a bunch of them.  One of his favorite games at home is for Glen or I to chase him in circles around the dining room table.  Well, I think that game has been supplanted by getting chased in circles around the dog park by 5 of his new doggy friends.  He had the biggest, goofiest grin on his face the whole time, with a hint of smugness because he knew he was faster than any of them.  We even got a mention in the local paper, as did Elvis' new buddy Nemo.  And for the record, Mr. Malone, Elvis is a black and white ball of energy, NOT a brown and white ball of energy. ;-)

I have to admit that at first I was annoyed by the lack of parking in close proximity to the dog park... but I guess if this is where I have to walk to get to the park, I can't be too mad about it:

How was your weekend?  Did you get to enjoy the same wonderful, crisp fall weather we had here in the Lehigh Valley?

How Bazaar

Do I win a prize for lamest blog post title ever??? ;-)

Seriously though, it looks like I'll be doing quite a number of holiday bazaars/shopping nights this year in addition to the usual Saturday craft shows.  My show on November 11 is a holiday bazaar at an elementary school, and I just sent in an application for another one at a local middle school that's going to be held on November 18.  And I just got another email about a third bazaar that's being held November 17, which I'd like to do as long as I can switch my usual library shift to another night that week.  At this point, I'm really liking the whole holiday bazaar/shopping night thing because they only take up a few hours on a weeknight, as opposed to an entire Saturday. 

If I am able to do both of those bazaars, I'll be up to a total of 4 shows in November alone, and 7 shows for the entire season.  That's on top of my regular full-time job and my part-time job at the library.  And it occurs to me that it might be a good idea to bulk up my inventory a bit, since I was only anticipating doing 4 or 5 shows.  Plus I still haven't gotten around to posting any new items in my Etsy shop, which I would really, really like to do before Thanksgiving.  Think I'll be tired by the time December rolls around??


Edit : I completely forgot about yet another tentative date for a holiday bazaar - I got an email about one that may be taking place on December 4.  So make that a total of 8 shows this season.  Eek!

Happy Halloween!

I know I said I'd have pictures of my Halloween costume up yesterday, but when we got home from the Halloween party, we came home to this:

Thanks, nor'easter in October!

We spent the morning (and part of the afternoon) turning that mess into this mess: 

By the time evening rolled around I just wanted to sleep. ;-)

Anyway, here's my Amelia Pond costume in its entirety:

Just pretend my hair is the same color as what was on the box.

And here I am with my husband, the 11th Doctor (and his brand new sonic screwdriver):

Since I put so much effort into my costume, I decided to dress up again to hand out candy to the trick-or-

treaters tonight, but sadly not a single one knew who Amelia Pond is. :-(

Oh, and Glen was filming a segment tonight for his November show at SteelStacks, so this is the type of scene trick-or-treaters were likely to encounter:

Tyler and Mike, two of the show's writers/correspondents.

Something tells me this is going to negatively impact the number of trick-or-treaters we get next year.  Or just completely change the demographic. ;-)\

Handmade Halloween: A Retrospective

Ever since my first Halloween, I've had a long-standing tradition of wearing handmade costumes.  This tradition was started by my very talented mother, who made all the costumes from my early years:

Me as a witch in 1984. 



Me as She-Ra in 1986.  One of my absolute favorite costumes ever.

Sometimes I'd make costumes completely on my own, with no intervention from my mother:

This is what happens when you leave a not-quite-8-year-old to her own devices. In case you couldn't guess, I was a Martian in 1990.


And sometimes, your Catholic school decides that the only way students are allowed to wear costumes for Halloween is if they dress up as saints:

Here I am as Kateri Tekakwitha in 1993. 
I designed this costume based on illustrations from a biography of her, and my mom sewed it.



Fast-forward to fall of 2003, my junior year of college, and the She-Ra costume returned, this time made 100% by me.



That's my good friend Jency as Harry Potter on the left. 
And that is definitely not an alcoholic beverage in my hand 1 month before my 21st birthday.

I kind of cheated in 2007.  I didn't actually MAKE my costume so much as cobble it together from things I found in Halloween stores and things I already owned.  The skirt and boots were already in my wardrobe.  I bought the wig, pitchfork red fishnets and t-shirt.

You can't see it in this picture, but my t-shirt says "I feel a sin coming on."  Classy, I know. ;-)



This year I've returned to the grand tradition of a proper handmade costume.  The only element I purchased from a Halloween store was the hat, which was still modified.  Everything else was thrifted, already in my closet, or made from scratch.  Also, I returned to the grand tradition of asking my mom for help.  Here's a little sneak preview:

Doctor Who fans will probably guess that my costume is Amelia Pond.  My husband already dresses like The Doctor most of the time, so his costume mostly involved updating his sonic screwdriver to the 11th Doctor's, since until this week he only had the 10th Doctor's.  We'll be attending a Halloween party this weekend, so expect pictures before Sunday's over. :-)

Are you going to any Halloween parties?  What are you going as?

Cherry Truffle

Usually when I dye my hair, I opt for Natural Instincts in Cinnaberry. My natural hair color is medium to dark brown with red highlights, and Cinnaberry gives those highlights a nice little boost without looking unnatural.

However, I needed to go a bit more red for my Halloween costume this year, so I went with a L'Oreal color called "cherry truffle."

Also, I switched brands without doing a patch test 48 hours before dyeing. I like to live dangerously.

My hair's still wet so I can't share the results just yet, but I'll definitely post photos of my new hair color (and my Halloween costume!) after this weekend.

Oh, and the craft show this past Saturday went pretty well! This one was well established and there was a decent crowd, so I made a pretty good profit for the day. And I processed my first credit card purchase! It's kind of silly how excited I was about it. My next show is November 11, so here's hoping I make lots more sales, credit card or otherwise! ;-)

UPDATE: While my hair is redder (more red?) than before,it's more mahogany than cherry truffle. I managed to take a quick picture between jobs tonight, and you can see that it's actually quite red where the light catches it.

I guess this means I'll have to spend a lot of time directly under bright lights during the party on Saturday?? ;-)