Bremerton, WA
Last Monday I finally got around to figuring out what to do for Halloween and bought some materials to construct my costume. Since I decided that I was going to be a flower, I needed to pick up some “flowery” items so that I could create a hat. The thrift stores didn’t have as much as I would have liked in the way of fake flowers, so I ended up at Michael’s where they had some gorgeous red prettiness waiting for me. On the way back home I stopped for happy hour at my local hangout, the Red Dog Depot. I have claimed this as “my spot” and I believe I know most everyone who works there now. It’s nice to be able to have a place where “everyone knows your name…” when you don’t know many people in the area.
Back at the ranch, I spent a couple of hours constructing my costume. With wire, an underhat, some butterflies and the flowers and leaves from Michael’s, I created a lovely headpiece for Halloween. Somehow I ended up not getting a head to toe body shot of the costume, from the stem (trusty brown boots), on up (green dress) to the flower hat, which is not to be forgiven, but the headshot that I ended up with was really pretty darn sweet. Thanks Dennis!
Speaking of Dennis, Tuesday night, after packing my car nicely full of camping gear and everything else I own right now, I drove up to Portland and stayed with my friend Dennis for the night. When I got there, we took some time to catch up, then I changed into costume and had a documented (Dennis and his photos…) makeup application 
session with bright red lipstick makeup, shimmer and all. Luckily, the weekly Tuesday Blues dance was Halloween themed that week and we attended, in costume. Before the dance, we went to Crush for some dinner and drinks with Karissa and Joshua; they also brought Dennis his costume for the night… Which he changed into (after some prodding) in the photobooth that was right next to us. It isn’t every day that someone gets to pull a superman move!
It was great fun at the dance, since I hadn’t been dancing in months before this time. Cid was up from San Fran and had a great DJ set; it was lovely seeing him again, it’s been too long. I danced my buns off, loved dressing up (Halloween is my favorite holiday) and had a wonderful evening. In the morning before I left town, Dennis and I had brunch at the Tin Shed; a fabulous restaurant in Portland. I highly recommend it.
Finally, it was time to take off for Seattle where I met an old friend, Sara, for dinner at the Coastal Kitchen. They had a new themed menu that evening, based on Brittany, France. It was pretty delicious, but we would have preferred if it had come out in courses rather than on one large platter. Some of the food got cold before we could get to it! Of course, I think that had something to do with the fact that we hadn’t seen each other in something like 5 years and had a ton of juicy stuff to catch up on. After a 3 hour dinner and great company, I took off and drove to the other side of Puget Sound where I found myself a hotel room for the evening. I had wanted to stay at the hostel in Puget Sound, but it was too late in the evening by the time I got there. So, I cheated. The good thing was that I was nice and rested for the rest of my time in WA.
