Farewell to the Old Guard

Last year I spent Veteran's Day with 3 of my fave vets. To my immediate right is my grandfather, a World War II vet. My mom decided to differentiate from my other grandfather (whom we all called Gramps) we would call this one Oompa, which we were told was dutch for grandfather, tho I can't find anything on the interwebs to substantiate this.

He passed away a few days before Veteran's Day this year, after 87 years. He'd buried four women, 2 of them wives, and said he lived about 4 years longer than he wanted to. Every time I would visit and ask how he was, he would predictably say, "STILL ALIVE. WISH I WASN'T. WON'T KILL MYSELF. DON'T BELIEVE IN IT. STILL, NOT HAPPY." Heh. Here's him in the Navy. He lied about his age to get in -- he was 16.

Here we are at his second wedding, a small backyard function. I love this pic, tho I'd forgotten how little Sister and I were when our Grandmother died. I am pleased I do have memories of her, despite being so young. Check out Dad's bad-ass turtleneck, and DAMN! Mom was such a hottie! There are 10 years between Dad and Uncle Pat, and 13 years between he and I. He looks like he just got off tour with Zeppelin here. They say to tell your hairdresser to never go lighter than your hair has ever been. Oh to get that shade back.

So. Bad. Ass. Seriously. What is this, Goodfellahs?

After the service a bunch of us went to The Ship Tavern in Multnomah Village, where my grandfather used to hang out back in the day. It was a fun event.

An old school laminated table in the tavern, encrusted with bottle caps from the old brands.

Uncle Pat and Sister perusing said slab table.

A smallish group, but it was gracious of folks to come cheers the old man.

Leftovers from an era gone by.

Dad and Sister and U.P. and I were hoping to have a Blitz, but it was not to be, so we cheered with a Henry's. Which is NOT the same thing. I love the image of the old man arriving in heaven, met by four arms-crossed, toe-tapping white-haired women. :)

Off to Portland!

So off to Portland last month. Regretfully, for a funeral, but I always welcome a chance to see my peeps. Here's where I parted ways with my sweet Cooper, which safely delivered me to the airport just minutes before my flight, thanks to my inability to be awoken by my cell phone alarm. I forget how many times Jon actually slugs me and alerts me to the buzzer.

As it was a last-minute flight, I had to fly through Oakland. The Oakland to Portland flight was QUITE empty, which was just lovely. Like the old days, flying to Connecticut to see sister when i was what...23? That Minneapolis to Connecticut flight was always sparsely populated.

Makeup. That is all. Makeup. And good makeup. In a vending machine. BENEFIT.  YES.

I'm not a fan of landing over water, or near water. That is all.

I am a fan of dining with my peeps!

ALL of my peeps!

After delicious and lovely dinner (thanks Dad!) we headed back to sister's house for the eve! Thanks for the fun evening, family! Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Amy's Birthday, and Happy Dad's Birthday! Yay!

Steampunk for Charity!

So over to the Visual Arts Collective for socialization, fortune telling, an auction, a DJ, and dancing!

It was hard to shoot in this space, but I captured a few things, including Travis's Beantown top hat.

I wish I took a better pic of the back of Sue's hair, it was quite fancy.

Psychic Kevin.

My husband really dug this art installation, so photographed we lovely harlots flanking it.

I'm unsure why Beantown is in this pic...

But missing from this one. The event ended up raising $57,000 for a great family charity in town. Happy steampunk!

Steampunk Preparty

The day of the event we received a special delivery in the mail! So fancy!

Check out the fancy details on these drink tickets!

The final product!

I was lucky to have the handsomest date at the event.

We both liked steampunk a lot.

I didn't take a lot of great pix of my hair or my wee top hat fascinator, but this do was really easy to put together and to wear. The hat had tiny clips that made the hat stay tightly affixed. $3 in the "new" section of the thrift store.

Then this one showed up! With her fancy ringlets that I covet...

And these steampunkified boots!

Here's a closer look at those fancy goggles. And apparently a paper towel I couldn't bother to move for my photo shoot.

And then we sat around in the drawing room dressed like Victorian harlots and chatting about steam engines and dirigibles and night-vision goggles.

After some steampunk tamale pie prefunk, we were off!

Steampunk Preparation

Next up: we were invited to a Steampunk charity event. "Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery, especially in a setting inspired by industrialized Western civilization during the 19th century. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the 19th century's British Victorian era or American "Wild West", in a post-apocalyptic future during which steam power has regained mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power. Steampunk perhaps most recognizably features anachronistic technologies or retro-futuristic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them, and is likewise rooted in the era's perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art." Thank you, Wikipedia. 

I bought this prom dress at a thrift store for $20 for steampunkification. I decided to shorten the inner layers...

and..."bustle" up the top layer.

Thankfully I have this tiny wooden footstool I made in seventh grade woodshop. It's a little hard to see, but my name is routered in the top. Top-notch work.

I affixed the bustling with these big silver buttons all the way around, but my husband said it needed something more, and suggested these rows of buttons. At first I wasn't convinced, but then came around. We are a good team.

And with some mismatched gold and silver buttons on this jacket I bought for $8, I was mostly steampunk-ready.

My husband acquired this top hat, and I helped gussy it up a bit with a thrift store belt that worked quite well. Despite it being a hat from one of those pop-up Halloween stores, it's a pretty nice piece! It will definitely end up in the Halloween chest.

Somehow early-90s Navy-issue combat boots worked for steampunk quite nicely.

The goggles ended up on the hat for the evening, but mostly he was put together too!

Five Years!

Halloween par-tay! Lots of good costumes, as usual. This was a zombie bagpiper on the right, who ran into Batman and his buddy who were randomly from Edinburgh. You can't write this stuff.

This is a terrible picture of my favorite costume of the evening -- a jellyfish. And also of Lori.

Always send a former Russian spy and femme fatale in for Jell-O shots reconnaissance. And acquisition.

We calculated this was our fifth year from the pix that are displayed around the room, which I love. This pic makes me happy, these have been one of our most-loved costumes.

Happy Halloween! 

A Boy... A Girl... An Open Grave...

This year we went with the Addams Family, Gomez and Morticia. This was my makeup test run, and turned out better than the final product I think. When I texted this pix to Dad he responded with "Yeck! What happened to my little girl!" Haha! The wig was two cheapie Halloween store wigs sewn together to have more volume than just the one.

I bought this dress at a thrift store for $8 and gave it a V-neck, and added gauzy ruffles to the sleeves and the bottom.

Ruffles courtesy of this weird strapless dress, also from a thrift store, $6. Looks like a skirt, but trust me, it was an 80s era disco number, complete with handkerchief hem.

Then over to the Halloween prefunk, where I completed my look with those red talons. After affixing them it was pointed out to me that I would have to use the powder room at some point, and was wearing black tights. Hmm. Hadn't thought that one out so thoroughly.

Thankfully Gomez was able to still use his digits to help with the awesome spray-painted black crayons...

That with a little duct tape were made to look like bullets in a wrist bandolier. And this one says she's not crafty. Hah.

The Black Widow! (Not the Asian pool shark.)

The Black Widow character was first introduced in 1964 as a Russian spy, and antagonist of the superhero Iron Man. She later defected to the United States, becoming an agent of the fictional spy agency SHIELD, and a member of the Avengers. She's also not above cleaning up some spilled ice in the name of peace and freedom everywhere.

I love this hilarious expression.

We don't really have the stature to properly be this couple, but the Addams Family was the first movie we saw together in a theater. And we have tickets to the traveling Broadway play in December. So a little sentimental. And mostly really fun!