Halloween Party in our building

Our building had a Halloween Party tonight in one of the community rooms and I decided to go at the last minute. Dick is out for the evening for a work-related dinner, so I'm solo for the evening, but I knew that my fabulous neighbors, John and Gina would be there. :)

As you may know, we have boxes upon boxes of Halloween costumes and decorations in our house in San Francisco. None of them made it to Bellevue with us, as we figured we'd travel back to SF to have our annual Halloween parties there. Alas, it didn't happen this year, as we had too much travel going on this month.

That left me with a bit a dilemma of not having anything to wear tonight. What's a girl to do?

I went through my closet, figuring out what I had. Lucky for me, I brought my Harajuku Minnie Mouse hat from Disneyland with me to Bellevue. I guess I figured it might be fun to have here when it's cold. ;)

From that, I pieced together an outfit. I put it together with a black top, black tights, one of my walking skirts and my stiletto Doc Martens.

I call it: Pattern-Challenged Minnie Mouse.
Yep, that'll work. :)



I met up with John and Gina, who had fabulous costumes from a Halloween Party that they had attend last weekend.

Gina made John's costume, which is really impressive. He is Deadmau5, a progressive house-music producer and performer from Ontario. I'm not actually hip enough to know this, and I only learned that now because I looked it up on the web. :)

His costume was really great, and Gina did an amazing job on that headpiece!!

Gina was a Mad/crazy/zombie Alice, as in Alice in Wonderland. Again, not being hip, I learned that there is a video game called "Alice: Madness Returns" in which Alice is in an Asylum. Who knew?

Anyhow, their costumes were great, and they won "Best Adult Costumes"! Yay!!


John and Gina as Deadmau5 and Crazy Alice

The party was fun. I arrived about an hour in, and it only lasted about an hour after. There were lots of kids in cute costumes, which is always fun see! It was also a really nice way to meet a few of our neighbors. This is the first time I've had a chance to go to one of our building's parties, and I was able to go.

Rain

I totally spaced today. I left the our place to go to Costco, and it wasn't until I driving in the rain and on the freeway that I realized I hadn't brought an umbrella or rain jacket. Oops.

Maybe this makes me a real Pacific Northwesterner? ;)

Orange October Seattle Sunset

GO Giants! :)

Back to donating blood!

It's been over a year since we traveled to South Africa, which means I am eligible to donate blood/platelets again. Yay!

We live a mere 2 blocks away from the local blood center here in Bellevue. I went in yesterday afternoon, intending to check out the center and maybe make an appt. I told the volunteer at the front desk that I'd like to make an appt to donate platelets. She suggested that since I was new to their center (and to the network) that it might be best for me to first donate whole blood so that they can have an analysis of my blood on file first. It turns out, the center was slow when I first went in, so I decided to donate whole blood then and there. It went well. It's been such a long time since I've donated whole blood (I've been donating platelets for years) that I forgot how much faster it is to donate whole blood.

Once my information is in the system (3 days or so) I'll be able to sign into their website, create an account and make a platelet donation appointment. I'll probably try to donate platelets early next week. It'll be good to be able to donate again.

Noe helping Dick with work

Find The Chows: World Series Style!!

I just returned from vacation yesterday evening, but Dick and I have managed to watch most of the World Series Games while we were away. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a fair weather fan, but when it comes to the post-season, and especially the World Series, I'm definitely a Giant's Fan. They are such a fun team to watch. :)

I caught up with my parents on the phone this morning for about an hour. Imagine my surprise when they told me that they were at AT&T Park Saturday night for Game 4 of the World Series!! How cool is that?! And what an exciting game to watch live!!

This afternoon, my parents sent me a link to this fun site that shows the entire crowd in the stadium from various games. My Dad told me which game they were at, which level, which section and which seats. I just kept zooming, and zooming and zooming until I was able to spot them! Cool!

My Dad's comments:
We’re at game 4 view 2, section 318 (just right of home plate) in the upper deck, row 7, seats 1 and 2 on the aisle. It was the third inning before the Giants rallied so we’re looking somewhat glum. Find your parentals!

Let's see how you do:


full image


zooming in...


have you spotted them yet?


there they are!!

Here are some photos that my parents shared with me from Saturday night's World Series Game:

Sunrise over Bellevue

It's good to be back home. :)

Home Again.

We're back home with our happy kitty in Bellevue. We got back in time to catch the bottom of the third of the World Series! :)

Heading Home

We're all packed up and ready to head home to Seattle. It's been a really wonderful vacation, but it'll be nice to be back home, too.

Walter the Bear is excited about his new Seattle adventures. (Dick keeps shaking his head at me and Walter, but I just keep reminding him that it was he who picked Walter out at the State Fair last week.) :)

Last evening in New York

Washington Park at dusk, dinner (again!) at Frank and drinks at Bemelman's. Perfect end to a perfect day. (Plus, we got to watch the Giants win Game 4 of the World Series!)

A visit to Mecca- The Trina Turk Store!!

I've been a big fan of Trina Turk's designs for about five years, but I've never been into one of the retail stores before. (I've bought a few items at Macy's and several off of EBay.)

Today, we spotted a Trina Turk boutique after we got off the High Line in New York's Meatpacking District.

Oh, my!! So much fun, and it only reiterated how much I love this designer.

I bought a couple of dresses, and even a pair of shoes! Dangerous stuff. It's probably a good thing that I don't live near a store. :)

David Hockney Exhibit at Pace

While we were walking in the High Line, Dick spotted a sign on the street below us advertising a David Hockney Show at a nearby gallery. Such a lovely show to stumble upon! :)

A Stroll on the High Line

It was a perfect afternoon to take a walk along the High Line. Beautiful weather and lots of cute kids dressed up for Halloween! :)

View from the Lounge of the Mandarin Oriental

Dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum