I'm on a Bus

Megabus, actually.

Going on hour 11 right now.
Two more to go.
Ugh.

The first leg of the trip was a bit sketchy, but this 2nd one is pretty mellow, and I got my own set of seats for now which is very nice. It means I can spread out and watch True Blood on my laptop, which is a little dicey due to all the nudity (which I notice much more when I'm watching it in public!) but definitely makes the time go faster. Megabus has free WiFi, but it was barely enough to check email, no Hulu or even Pandora so that was a little disappointing, so I'm glad I brought TB4 to catch up on before tomorrow's season 5 premier.

Fingers crossed that I can carve out the time to watch it!

So far Megabus has been tolerable, at least for the price. It would not be my preferred method of travel, but it was a quarter of the price of rail and around and eighth of airfare, so I couldn't expect perfection. I'm hearding 7 high schoolers to a speech/debate tournament, and cost was a big hurdle.

First segment of bus travel was pretty crowded which was a bummer, we were all forced to scatter amongst the remaining open seats and share with strangers. Boo. It was also ridiculously cold, which was unexpected. Then it was really hot for the first hour of this leg of the trip, I guess on the way home layers will be my friend.

Super gross reality of bus travel: the windows are full of strange hair/face grease, especially in the sun, from all the people sleeping against it. Gag gag gag.

Missing my baby, hoping I can enjoy the chance to sleep through the night and take a long bubble bath all by myself (so far I'm just anxious about it).

Cupcakes & Corpses - the 7th day of fun

Remember my "book club?" At one point we actually read books and discussed them, and it was sorta like work even though it was fun to socialize and eat treats at everyone's houses, but then we got an even better idea and just started watching TV. Attendance is at an all time high, and I'd say our discussions are actually much deeper and more analytical now. Particularly since we're watching our "main" interest, TRUE BLOOD.

*swoon*

Season 4 is definitely not disappointing thus far, other than those damn Mickens (yay for dead Mickens!). So I always know that Tuesday nights will bring me joy.

And yesterday was double fun, as I brought some treats to celebrate Al's Bday:



Mmmm...Happiness accomplished!

Romp in the Swamp Louisiana Halloween Party - Fangtasia Vampire Bar

I'm still working on these, but I haven't forgotten! I wish I had gotten better photos of our basement on Halloween, but so it goes. We already had a built in wet bar with a goofy sort of gothic archway, so it seemed a perfect fit to create my version of "Fangtasia," the vampire bar from the True Blood series.



My main tool was a TON of red gossamer that I ordered from www.giantpartystore.com. I cut it into sheets the height of our walls, folded over the top 2-3" and stapled it to form a little channel. I strung each panel on red curling ribbon stretched across the walls between 3M hooks and bunched it together to achieve my desired fullness.



I pretty much covered all the walls and bookcases that I could with 50 yards of this stuff (that was all my budget allowed!).



I also changed all of the light bulbs out in favor of red party bulbs, and used a couple strings of red Xmas lights and red coil lights (the latter were on sale for $4.99 at Menards!) which helped to create a creepy red glow. Don't you love the random rock wall in our basement too? I blame the 60's.



For my "Fangtasia" signs I did an image search for the logo and blew it up on 11" x 17" paper for a pattern. I used an x-acto knife to trace around the letters on black tagboard, and mounted it over red foil tissue paper to give the effect of glowing like neon. I glued the whole thing to some re-purposed foam core, and used some red mardi gras beads as additional trim. I cut cleanly enough that I was able to use the black "Fangtasia" letters that I had cut out as a second sign, which I mounted over the "entrance" to the bar area.



I also did a google image search for hi-resolution pics of the main characters who work in the bar, and printed them on 11" x 17" paper to make posters for the proprietor:



*swoon!*

Also the Manager on Duty and Employee of the Month:



As part of their marketing campaign, HBO had created a bunch of faux advertisements for the TruBlood drink that the show gets its name from - I figured those would be right at home in a vampire bar, so I printed a bunch in color and scooped up frames at the Dollar Tree to post them in:



I scattered them around on the bar (we just had all the booze and mixers set out, no bartender).



Of course you can buy a TruBlood officially licensed drink from HBO, but $4 each + shipping is a bit out of my price range, so I made my own "v-shots" from tiny glass vials:



In the show, vampire blood (v-juice) is a potent drug, and seems to be trafficked in tiny vials - I got mine from AxMan surplus store and ran them through the dishwasher a few times. They were filled with a mix of sparkling pomegranate juice and strawberry or raspberry pucker. I didn't get to try any, but they were all gone before the night finished, so I'm guessing they were okay.

Of course there were a million other little details I had hoped to add, but regardless I think I got the point across, and fans of the show at least appreciated it :) The clean up was also pretty easy as I just untied the ribbons holding up the gossamer and switched the lightbulbs back.

Romp in the Swamp Louisiana Halloween Party - Talbot Topping

True Blood was one of my main reasons for choosing the Louisiana theme, though in the end I didn't end up doing a ton of TB specific projects. I did transform the basement into Eric's vampire bar, Fangtasia, but that's still to come. Today I just wanted to post a quick little True Blood touch from my dessert table - here's Talbot:



Look familiar? How about if I show you this:



For those of you who do not follow the show, the glass jar above contains the remains of a staked vampire. The vampire's name was Talbot, and he was the lover of the very evil little vampire dude holding the jar, Russell. Russell couldn't bear that Talbot was gone, so he hauled that glass urn all over creation with him, talking to it and being generally creepy, till Sookie Stackhouse dumped it down the garbage disposal laughing maniacally. I really wanted to do that after the party, but I don't have a garbage disposal. And I wanted to save the rest of the strawberry compote anyways :)

The glass apothecary jar was from Homegoods - my only caution is to get one wide enough to allow a ladle down in, mine was just barely big enough for a small scoop, and they're not very long generally. It's filled with strawberry compote - just the frozen "sliced strawberries in sugar" you get in the grocery store, and we served it with mini cheesecakes, pound cake, and vanilla ice cream. I had 3 servings of Talbot that night :)

The nametag was a very quick project - I found the "Hello, My Name Is" tag in a google image search (this might not be the exact one, but you get the idea), slapped it into Powerpoint, and used the "Chiller" font to put in the name. I printed it on tagboard and cut it out, attached it to the lid with a small curl of tape and it was done.

This was easy and really fun - I'd definitely recommend it for True Blood parties. You could also use chunky red salsa and eat "Talbot" with chips!

Romp in the Swamp Louisiana Halloween Party - Mardi Gras Costumes

My Halloween entourage is pretty great. They generally RSVP. They show up on time, so I don't have that angsty "what if nobody comes?" moment of terror. Other than a drink ring on the mantle (boo!) nobody wrecked my house this year. And above all else, they always acquiesce to my costume mandate, and generally impress the heck out of me. This year was no exception. Not only were the costumes fun and creative, but nearly all of them even played into the theme! That's some serious party dedication.

Let's start with my favorite photo of the whole evening - this is lil' brother and his girlfriend, also known as "The Other Heather" (I'm surrounded!).



They did a great twist on vampire and victim, starting with formal Mardi Gras reveler outfits, paired with some fangs and a bloody "bite" mark. It's creepy but also kind of pretty!



For their efforts, they took home the "Best Couple or Group" Costume award this year. They celebrated with a bite:


(do you just love the vein popping out in his temple? so authentic!)

Another set of Mardi Gras Celebrants - my cousin Holly & her husband in some excellent masks. Holly made hers almost from scratch! She's so crafty.



I love Kelly's Venetian-style "beak" mask, it was pretty cool - it broke into 2 pieces so he could keep the top half on and still eat and drink by taking the bottom part off. Smart & stylish!

Beth and Dan had actual gator heads around their necks, along with the Mardi Gras beads:



And speaking of gators...



Attack! Dan sorta looks like he fell in our bathtub, eh? :)

I'm going to throw Jen's costume into the category of Mardi Gras revelers as well, because there's something Venetian about her bird costume that just screams Mardi Gras to me. It was dark and a little spooky, but also really elegant and pretty:



She made the skirt herself out of feather boas (sort of like Bjork!)and her beak is paper! I love simple solutions that look so chic :)Her long talons didn't last the evening, but they were on long enough to attack an errant lumberjack.



Ahh, newlyweds :)



Many more costumes, decor vignettes, and recipes to come, despite my dead laptop I am THANKING MY LUCKY STARS that lil' sis got me a passport backup drive a few years ago, and all my important files (aka, photos!) are safe and sound. Whew!

NOLA Costume Ideas - WIN True Blood Costumes!

Feelin' lucky, punk?

Then hop over to HBO and register to win "straight from the set" (and mostly bloody) costumes from this past season of True Blood. Sadly, I'm guessing all the ladies in the cast are about the circumference of my leg, so none of it would FIT, but I surely wouldn't pass up Eric's leather jacket :) Contest page here.

NOLA Costume Ideas: More True Blood - Supporting Characters

Alas, with last night's finale, we're going to be sans True Blood again until next summer, boo hoo! I'm not giving up any spoilers, but I do think it's a good time to revisit some Louisiana costume ideas inspired by True Blood - this time, let's look at some of the lesser known characters:

Pam is one of my favorite characters, but I'm not sure she'd be easily recognizable as she doesn't really have an exaggerated look. She's generally well dressed, alternating between smart suits and some campy vamp-wear at the bar, but then there's this gem:

Pam's Disco Night at Fantasia sequin jumpsuit:



My all time favorite True Blood costume, and it was only shown in passing on one episode. I'm guessing you could find a vintage pattern and recreate it if you were truly motivated.

Ginger, however, is the ESSENCE of a caricature (rather than just a character), and should be fairly easy to mock. She's a human waitress at Fangtasia and has been "Glamored" so often she's a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Just please, go easy on the screaming:



The key is the short bleach blond wig. Here's one a little long, but with good feathering. A blond bob wig should work too.



A vacant expression and any assortment of barely-there clothes should round out her look.

Fans of the Sookie Stackhouse NOVELS will definitely recognize "Bubba" - a character not (yet?) appearing in the HBO series, but would DEFINITELY be a perfect costume choice. See, Bubba is really this guy:



Who was turned into a vampire, but "something went wrong" so he's a little screwy too. This would be a super fun and easy costume - Elvis jumpsuit, wig, and fangs.

And finally, using the same basic Merotte's uniform discussed in the Sookie post and a long red wig (like this one with just a little styling) you could embody brassy waitress Arlene Fowler:



I briefly considered going this route as Arlene is pregnant this season (with a serial killer's demon baby) but since there is some ambiguity as to where the storyline is going, I've decided on another direction :)

I can't believe there is little more than a month until Halloween, where is the time going? I finally sat down and started on my invites this weekend, so hopefully I'll be able to keep up the momentum and really rock out all of my dreams and intentions. Between the time crunch, the exhaustion of pregnancy, and budgetary concerns, it should be quite an adventure to see how this all comes together this year!

NOLA Costume Ideas: True Blood's Sookie Stackhouse

True Blood is half the reason I picked theLouisiana theme for this year's party, and there are TONS of fun characters that would be really easy to whip together costumes for, such as the central figure, telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse. She's had a few fairly memorable outfits, but in my opinion it's best to go for the easily identifiable costumes and avoid the "who are you?" discussion. Each of these should be pretty recognizable, easy to put together, and on the cheap side as far as costumes go.

Sookie's usual look is her Merlotte's waitress uniform:



This would be pretty easy to make with a white t-shirt, green half apron, and black shorts. Print out and iron on the Merlotte's logo, or if you're feeling less DIY and more Shop-Till-You-Drop, buy the supplies at HBO's online store - t-shirt is $25, apron is $20. Throw your blond hair (or wig) in a ponytail, add a couple vampire bite tattoos for good measure (you know she can't get enough of it). Even if you buy all the pieces, you're only looking at $50 or so, a bargain with today's costume prices.

Really want to be a fairy, but trying to fit into the theme? No worries! Sook's a fairy too, and in her story they wear lots of random floaty fun, anything from tulle to fur, just as long as it's white.



The easiest way to capture Sookie's fairy look would be to buy a floaty white nightgown, some sequin trim, and a glue gun. I'm finding good gown options on Bonanzle or eCrater for under $30. Sequins, rhinestones, appliques, and other trim can be expensive - consider recycling embellishment from other costumes/dresses you no longer wear, or buying a heavily adorned gown at the goodwill just to chop off the trim. You might want to wear a slip under it too depending on how sheer the fabric is, but the trim will also add some structure and coverage.



This could also be done for under $50 without a problem. Fairies in True Blood don't have wings, but we wouldn't fault you if you really wanted to add a pair. I know accessories are hard to resist.

Looking for a little harder edge? How about Sookie's undercover look when she infiltrated the Werewolf bar, Lou Pines:



You can look for leather/pleather pants and a halter at the Goodwill, Ebay, or Hot Topic, or re-purpose more general costumes like catwoman, or a punk rocker. Rub on some fake tattoos, go heavy on the eyeliner, and add a black bobbed wig (you might even angle it up a little more with your own scissors)



This was actually one of my favorite Sookie looks to date, but nothing rivals her travelling dress:



Chic on the Cheap put together a similar look on their blog, and the comments have some additional helpful resources for finding that floral cardigan. It reminds me so much of my grandmother's curtains. If you can recreate this look, make sure you accessorize with single serve liquor bottles - "They're like BOOZE for DOLLS!"

My Baby Hates Karaoke

...is how I will sum up the fact I spent Saturday night/Sunday morning in the ER fairly certain that I was dying. You don't need to know the details, but the end result was a surprise 2am ultrasound. Pregnant women love us some ultra sounds, and I'd been pouting for a while that we didn't get to see the little sack-o-love for another month and then some - so while the ER in the middle of the night wasn't an ideal time, it was definitely a nice little perk and a good ending to a crazy escapade. It might just have been the lack of sleep, or the hormones, but looking back the whole thing is really hilarious (knowing now that we are both okay). Case in point:

Dr: "We won't be able to tell you gender or anything, I just took this out of the trauma room, it's pretty old and we usually just use it to look at gunshot victims and stuff. But we'll be able to see if it's a baby."

(Uh, good? If???)

Dr: "Here's your baby! It has a head, and that's the heartbeat, and legs, and it has arms somewhere in there. Probably."

(probably?!?!?)




For some reason when I see this picture, I think of a chicken, or a Thanksgiving Turkey. But I swear on the screen it actually looked like a baby. They kept the "good photo" for my file. Jerks.

And the true sign I had lost all sanity:

Dr: "You can see the skull, and the teeth -"
Me: "TEETH? WHY DOES IT HAVE TEETH? I DIDN'T KNOW THEY CAME WITH TEETH!"
Dr: "Uh, they're not out yet. They're in the gums. You can just see them here."
Me: "Oh. Okay. Whew."

I knew I should have never read those damn Twilight books. Thanks, "book club" for introducing me to the idea of sparkly vampire babies chewing their way out. At 2am it didn't seem nearly so far fetched...

And now I'm going back to sleep. I mean work...

NOLA Costume Ideas: Black Contacts

I've never tried any of these, nor can I really - I'm blind without my prescription so unless I wanted to still wear glasses they wouldn't work for me, but I still think they're cool.



Doing an Internet search for "black contacts" I see sites selling anywhere from $10 -$150, though I'm not sure the difference. But colored contacts are one of those little pieces with a huge impact that can really "make" a whole costume. For example, you could wear these ones to be either a Vampire as portrayed in the British Series "Being Human":



Of course, it helps significantly if you are as hot as Mitchell (and have a great accent)



Or you could very easily become one of the crazy residents of Bon Temps (True Blood) while under the Maenad's control:



(Though let's try to keep the orgies to a minimum, kay' thanks)


Previous costume idea posts: 1 2

"Literature" might be a stretch...

Could these book covers BE any more embarrassing?!?!?



Clearly it was time to consider making some book covers, ala 4th grade. Here's the step by step tutorial that I used to refresh my memory, and about 4 seconds later I had an easy mask for my terrible literature.

Before: woefully bad book you don't want people to see and judge you by (though you are not above reading it), and a piece of 11" x 17" paper. You can use any kind of paper you have lying around, this happens to be what I have access to. Paper bags are the old standby for their durability, but I'm really just looking to cover up the outside without damaging these (mostly borrowed) books:



Remember this ridiculous thing? I found myself with time to kill at a coffee shop last night, and this was the only book in my bag. I actually tried to hold it so that nobody could see the title and author. Definitely time for a book cover. 4 folds is all it takes - I didn't even need a scissor:



Voila! Formerly embarrassing books now cleverly incognito! I thought about writing something witty and misleading as an alternate title, but I kind of prefer the understated mystery of the plain white cover.

Kenyon books, you're next!

There is a book review in here somewhere...

How did I not have a "vampires" key word for labeling posts yet? Apparently when I first started sharing my secret shame with all of you, I didn't plan on making it a regular feature. Room to grow I guess. But since a sad amount of my life takes place on the vampire bandwagon, it's time for another installment of "those naughty books!"

Brief interruption: true story, minor digression: I was introducing the amazing Krista to my mother, and for some reason my primary technique for introductions involves describing people by what they were for Halloween the prior year. Yeah, it makes no sense to me either, but I can say the name "Krista" a million times and hubby won't know what I'm saying, but if I say "Meg Griffin Girl" he immediately gets it. Confused?

Clarification: Halloween 2008, Krista won "Most Original Costume" for her spot on Meg Griffin portrayal:



Is that not a spectacular yet simple home made costume? Love it! and it totally went with our "Hollywood Halloween" theme. Then, last year Krista once again pulled out a big bag of awesome with her twist on the Wonderland theme - VAMPIRE ALICE:



She made the red dress and white pinafore from SCRATCH, and I always give huge bonus points when people go to the lengths of pulling out a sewing machine and ironing board for costumes. That's commitment. And hello, how lovely are those fangs?!?! In a strange twist of fate, those creepy realistic chompers have a warning label cautioning you not to drink red liquids with them in. Apparently they stain - so sad. Maybe with a straw. Of course, in a pinch, Long Island iced tea works too.

Remember how this started out as a book review?

So one day, about 5 paragraphs ago, I was introducing Krista to my mother and explaining that she was in my "book club" and dressed up as Alice last year, Meg the year before. My mother gave a look of confusion "Oh, I don't watch those naughty shows..." assuming each was some sort of half naked character on a smutty vampire series. Egads. I'm developing a reputation.

AND IT'S ALL KRISTA'S FAULT. She is the local purveyor of all such smutty vampire media for a growing circle of us embarrassed but eager consumers. She got us all hooked and since she has the least willpower of all, she buys all the books immediately upon publication, reads them overnight, and then is nice enough to pass them around to the rest of us. I have previously admitted reading all of the Twilight books (terrible, but intriguing) and the Sookie Stackhouse novels (yum!) and then Charlaine Harris' other serials (not great, but good enough). Then for some reason I decided to spin out on my own and try selecting some books, which has not been nearly as successful. Thirst was awful (I had to erase that sentence 3 times to avoid bad unintentional puns - "sucked" and "bit" were my original choices, but even I couldn't do that to your ears. Eyes. Whatever.) After that fiasco (I'm still not sure if I'll give the other 2 stories in the book a chance) I dove into the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. I had high hopes. Another series to follow would be GREAT, especially one with a bunch of books already out so I don't have to wait a year between installments.

But I'm not loving Anita Blake. :(

It is definitely not anywhere near the craptacular nature of Thirst, but I'm not at all hooked either. I am finding it really hard to like the heroine, the weird religious undertones (souls are very important to her...which is not a given for me, and not well explained) and of course there is the problem that the covers look like romance novels (which I'm somehow more embarrassed about than if people actually knew they were vampire stories). The characters have annoying names I mentally trip over and argue with (Nikolaus for a woman just seems to be trying to hard), Jean Claude & Phillip just all blend together to become one cheesy vaguely French bustier ripping leading man - Jean-Phillipe-Claude-hopper. Blah. And there's all sorts of misty allusion to some dark thorny past that really needs to start coming out more significantly because I am just kind of bored.

I made it through the first book, not nearly on pace with books I've liked more, and it did pick up some towards the end, but I'm not sure if I'll be trying out any more of the series. Krista passed off a Sherrilyn Kenyon book which has an even MORE embarrassing cover, and the title "Fantasy Lover" that I'm planning to try next. I think I might have to start making little brown bag book covers for this kind of smut, sort of how a hobo hides their cheap liquor in a bag to lessen the shame. And hide from authorities.

I'm also mixing this up by starting "The Help", which I hear is very good despite zero vampires. An though I've borrowed it in hard cover so it doesn't fit in my purse, it is much less embarrassing to take out in public.