A frightful (Okay, just mildly spooky) good time.

This weekend we once again ventured into the deep recesses of Westmoreland County with our friends Mr. Scott, Ms. Beth and the Other Lauren to pay a visit to Idlewild Park's annual fall celebration, Hallowboo.



During Hallowboo, the park is decorated with fanciful ghosts, pumpkins and skeletons.



The streams flow with neon green slime...



And the fountains are cursed purple...



Of course, there are also rides. Here it is - my favorite ride to photograph. The Balloon Race! You do know that before I took this photo I tried to move that cornstalk that was blocking the "B".



Poor Mark forgot that you do *not* ride The Balloon Race facing backwards. You're just asking for trouble.



Still looks fun though, doesn't it?



For the adults, there was a parade of vintage cars.



And an Icee for me. Every time I see an Icee offered, I have to get one. My favorite is Coca Cola, but I also thoroughly enjoy Cherry Smash, as seen here (Even if it does turn your tongue red).



Face paint. Again. Need I say more?



Oh look. There's a mass murderer sitting on the hill cleaning his bloody knife amidst a crowd of innocent bystanders unaware of the horror that he is about to inflict. (Run, Woody, RUN!).



But the biggest attraction at Hallowboo is trick-or treating through Storybook Forest.



The entrance to Storybook Forest features this odd mustachioed man giving the thumbs up. Mark and Mr. Scott referred to it as "The Skank 'Stache." They were both appalled when I touched it and then took a photo of it. It's what I do.



As you travel through Storybook Forest, nursery rhyme characters literally come to life and give you things like pencils. Good deal!



And there are plenty of opportunities to get into the act yourself.



Even the characters (literally) get into the spirit of things. I wonder who could that be?



In the age of computers, video games and on-demand media, the mouse who ran up the clock still plays to a riveted audience.

(Side note: This year, Lauren is dressing up as a bonafide Star Wars Jedi. Formal photos of her costume will appear later in the month as we get closer to Halloween. Trust for now that she is a Jedi, and not an Indian princess as Mother Goose incorrectly surmised.)



For me, the best part of Storybook Forest is all the whimsical architecture. I would love to be able to visit when the park is empty and just take photos to my heart's content.



One of my favorites: The Seven Dwarves house (Check out the monogrammed towels).



And another: Geppetto's Workshop.



Lastly, who says all clowns are creepy? This one is cute as a button!

More fall happenings (and hopefully a new fall themed blog banner) as the month progresses!

Do you remembah...

Hit it Earth, Wind & Fire!





So today is our 8th wedding anniversary. According to tradition, this is the bronze year. Since Mark doesn't collect coins and it was too expensive to have my trousseau bronzed, I instead gave him eight small gifts, each contained in its own numbered bag like this one. Mel C likened it to Hanukkah.

As for me...



...look what I found on the seat when I got into the car this morning.



I think I say this every year - I wish we could get married again every anniversary. It's was too much fun!

Summer antiquing: Zoar Harvest Festival 2010

Here we are in the middle of September, and I believe this is the first mention of this year's antiquing exploits. The truth is that we haven't really done the amount of antiquing this summer as we have in the past. In fact, for various reasons we missed three shows that we usually attend.

The Zoar Harvest Festival was held on August 7th and 8th. This was our second year in attendance (You can read about the first visit here.). Since we were old veterans and knew what to expect, I didn't think there would be any surprises. Boy, was I wrong! Who would've thought there would be much to discover in such a little village! The buildings were the same, of course, but I saw everything from a new perspective and took lots and lots of photos.



We really enjoyed the sheep herding demonstration (and Lauren really enjoyed the border collie pups!). The border collies reminded me of our Samantha, who's no longer with us.



Another favorite exhibit of Lauren's was the newly added petting zoo. But this wasn't your ordinary run-of-the-mill petting zoo - this was an exotic animal petting zoo. There was a baby kangaroo (above), baby zebra, a camel, a boa constrictor, and...



Tiger cubs!



This year, there also seemed to be many more people sporting period dress.



And we were happy to find that they turned the bakery into a real bakery. Previously, the bakery was only open for special events and offered breads and pretzels made using 18th century methods. Now they sell cakes, cookies and some really delicious turnovers.



Also new to the festival was the entertainment. Several different bands were scheduled to play, including the super cute Stockdale boys.



Of course, we were there primarily for the antiques. I just loved this antique doggie pull toy, but I couldn't convince myself to spend $140 on it.



Vintage arrow signs are gaining popularity, as I saw a second one at another show.



Here's an awesome gathering of French enamelware. I collect French enamelware, but I use the term "collect" loosely. It's so expensive and hard to find in the U.S., that I rarely get to add to my collection. These pieces were no exception. If I remember correctly, that gorgeous blue painted carafe was a few hundred dollars.



One of the fun aspects of going to an antique fair is that you never know what unique items you're going to see. This architectural piece supposedly came from the U.S. Capitol building!



That concludes this year's visit to Zoar. (Although there are a few more photos on Flickr.) I'm already looking forward to next year!

School daze.

I had planned on a long, photo heavy post today, but the evening got away from me. Instead, in honor of back-to-school I thought it would be fun to post our high school photos. It's hard to believe that these were taken over 20 years ago (Well, at least for me they were).

Getting your photos taken for senior portraits was a huge deal, even in my day. Depending on the package you chose, you could model several outfits. My package included three outfits, including the velvet drape thingy that they provided to you to wear for your yearbook portraits. You also got to have your photo taken with several different backdrops inside and outside the studio, including lying on a floor of mirrors, sitting in a director's chair, sitting in a wicker chair, leaning against a tree, sitting in a flower bed and lying on some rocks (See above).

I don't know why I chose to wear orange for these all important photos because I've only owned like two items of orange clothing in my life, including that dress. That dress also included a smart looking bolero jacket, which I am casually dangling over my shoulder.



Now we're talking! Oh how I *LOVED* that jacket. It was referred to as the "Militia Melissa" jacket. Mark my words - I will be replacing it this year *rubs hands together gleefully*. By the way, check out the fake rose. What is up with that?! I had to hold that thing in multiple photos too. DOWN WITH TACKY FAKE ROSES.

Oh, and just for the record because you can't see my legs, for the first and last time in my life I am wearing PANTYHOSE WITH SHORTS. Plaid shorts at that. Yikes.



Here's a prom photo. This is from 1989, the year before my own senior prom. A friend of mine was graduating that year, so I got to go. The nautical theme was due to the fact that our school district held its prom on the Gateway Clipper (A riverboat, for all you non-Pittsburghers), which was both cool and kind of lame all at the same time. It was cool because, hey, it was a boat! And it was lame because, well, it was a boat.

Anyway, you can't tell in this photo, but I had unintentionally dyed my hair GREEN earlier that day. That summer, I had used evil in a spray bottle, otherwise known as "Sun In" to lighten my hair. The parts of my hair that were lightened by the Sun In didn't take too kindly to the dark hair dye and resulted in a green cast. My parents graciously arranged to have it fixed by a professional stylist (after the prom of course). Anyway, I always seem to have a hair mishap for important events. Remind me to tell the story about the rogue hair that was sticking out of my wedding veil (That NO ONE bothered to fix for me) as I took my vows. Maybe when we reminisce about the wedding day during our anniversary later in the month.

On an unrelated note, Are those fingerless gloves FIERCE or what?!



*swoon* That is all.

Lucky dog (Lucky people).

Ten years ago, we adopted Daisy.

Then...





...now





When Daisy first became a part of our family, I made up a song about her.

(Everybody sing!)

Daisy, Daisy
Little Daisy Dog,
So sweet and nice and wonderful
What a dog you are!

(For more of Daisy's adventures, click here.)

Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World.

--Christopher Columbus