Easy-peasy Halloween

Every year Halloween rolls around and I try to muster up enough enthusiasm to get into the spirit just because The Fella loves it so. I like the cheesy, old horror movies like "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo" that play on tv this time of year, and all the sitcoms with special Halloween episodes. I like the house decorations, especially the elegantly spooky ones. I even like the idea of having the opportunity to dress up as whoever (or whatever) you want to be. But overall, I despise all the effort and/or money required of costumes. Either you are willing to spend the money to buy a cool getup (which, by the way, adult costumes are not cheap, hence the reason why I've squeezed into kids' costumes a few times), or you are clever enough to craft a costume thus saving the expense. I am neither of those.

My "costumes" usually consist of some version of attached ears and tail (i.e. rabbit, cat, bumblebee), or a crowning headband combination like a halo/wings or devil horns/pitch fork. Easy-peasy, that's the way I like it. Done. Thinking about it, this lack of excitement probably stems from the time I was young, when my mom used to conveniently dress my sisters and I in our old dance costumes for trick-or-treating. Easy-peasy, get it?

But this year, The Fella went costume-shopping at Wal-Mart while I was getting henna'd up. Since I'd pretty much already run the gamut of animals and insects, I gave strict instructions for him to pick me up a colorful wig for a change. My choices were either a Lady Gaga wig that would have required me to put soda cans in my hair or a fiery red one with horns. (I went with the latter.) Still simple, because I figured I can wear basic black and be done with it. Easy-peasy.

Here's a sneak peek... (More pix to come. Despite being a self-professed anti-Halloween person, I somehow ended up with a jam-packed weekend of ghoulish festivities!)

 

The "30 for 30" project

My friend Maya is making a "30 before 30" list – I had never before heard of such a thing, but it intrigued me enough to google it. Apparently it's pretty common because you can find bloggers blogging about this here, here and here. Maya inspired me to make my own bucket list and share in this experience with her as we go through our 29th year in life (call it moral support, if you will), although I'm going to refer to mine as "30 for 30", for no reason except that last year ESPN made a documentary series with this title featuring great moments in sports history, and one of the films was about my alma mater and Miami Hurricanes football in the 80s! The U, baby! Anyhoo...

So. I can check off enter and win a social media contest, wear two Super Bowl rings, hold the Heisman trophy IN MARTHA'S LIVING ROOM, attend an Indian wedding, kayak single, delight in a Russian ballet in Russia (and see Alaska, pffffff!!), let a complete stranger show me around Morocco, learn to play chess, and start a blog – all in the past year alone. Before that, I swam with stingrays in the Cayman Islands ("swam" is used quite loosely in that I tried for a bit, cried like a sissy, then got back on the boat, but I still count it for effort!), stared a peacock square in the eyes on Fisher Island, moved to a new city, made friends with strangers on public buses, went on a hot air balloon ride over the dessert, took belly dancing classes, ventured into border towns in Mexico...

So. You can see my predicament in coming up with a Really Good "30 for 30". In undergoing this thought process, I found myself reflecting on some very interesting adventures I've had! While there was no specific rhyme or reason or self-imposed list at the time of doing any of the above other than because it sounded cool, the good news is that I'm way less boring than I thought! The bad news, there's always WAY more to do and not enough time (or money). I envision a list that stops you in your tracks, forcing you evaluate what you would like to accomplish or experience while you're able-minded and healthy.

That said, it's really hard to come up with 30 things in general! How do you decide what to put on your list? Should it consist of things that you're scared of doing? Or unusual challenges that you especially seek out? Or things that you think you can realistically do, perhaps because you know the opportunity is on the horizon or because they're within your budget and lifestyle? Is that a cop out?

The one thing that I've decided is that my list shouldn't be about continuous goals, perse, like "eat breakfast on a daily basis" or "be more positive". While these are no doubt worthy, I want my list to consist of one-time, semi-outlandish things to do before I hit the big 3-0 of official adulthood and I need to stop effing the eff around. 

Since I'm technically a bit over 29 and 3 months old, this leaves me with about 9 months to check things off until July 16, 2011. Which means I'd better get on with finalizing my list, stat. Please help!

Scenes from the Chesapeake Bay

Whenever I'm caught up in the frenzy of work and city-livin', I needn't look too far for a bit of quiet repose. Just one look at these pix from this weekend, and I am completely taken by the perfectly idyllic quality of Solomons Island in the Chesapeake Bay.

Sadly, it was just off peak season for coveted Maryland stone crab, but we made do with an incredible view of the Bay, ocean-fresh crabmeat and fried green tomato salad, crabcake sandwiches, bbq wrapped scallops, and raw bluepoint oysters . . .

{ our view from the table }

{ Stoney Seafood House }

{ charming bay homes }

A refreshing and lovely breath of fresh bay air! Perhaps Hot Tub Time Machine Cabin Trip, 2nd installment, here next year?

Do you put the WOW in bao?

As you all know by now, ta-daaaa... I'm one of the grand prize winners of the RedEye's "Put the WOW in Bao" contest! What's Wow Bao? It's only the best steamed buns and dumplings in the city, next to Chinatown. The Wow Bao brand differentiates itself from Chinatown buns by being modern and kitschy, with its tagline "Hot Asian Buns" and subtle, playful innuendos like "I Like Buns" and "That's a Good Steam". 

It all began when one day last month I was browsing the RedEye's website and saw the contest details posted on the homepage. All I had to do was leave a comment about how I would "Put the WOW in Bao" in some digital or electronic format, and lo and behold, I was selected as a finalist!

Then came the fun part. I decided to create buzz around the brand's tagline by playing up my Asian-ness in light of artful photos of myself – and my buns, of course – taken in various locations around the city. (Sorry, folks, not sure if Asian-ness is a real word, but whatev, it got me some seriously tasty, free food!) The contest was run over a two-week period, giving the finalists time to put together their master creation. 

I added a twist by turning it into my own social media contest, designing the three photos into poster-like advertisements for Wow Bao and posting them to Twitter. Followers were invited to tweet back their guesses on where the photos were taken in Chicago. If they commented, they and a guest would be invited to my grand prize party for 50 at Wow Bao.

And here are we today... this private function is all for me and my friends! Cool bao!   

{ me with the RedEye and Lettuce Entertain You contest sponsors }

Besides all the delicious bao, dumplings, rice bowls and noodle salads, the cool part was that the generous contest sponsors also presented a certificate for me to raffle off a free party for 10 at Wow Bao! The lucky winner was Katie!  

And I got this awesome free tee!

{ Look familiar? One of my winning contest photos, taken at Milwaukee Ave in Wicker Park. }

It was a fun creative contest/social media tweetup/tasty night all wrapped up into some clever, little bao. Uh-MAZ-ing!

The weekend, succinctly

The weekend began and ended – and everything in between – with good friends, old and new. My bestie from our University of Miami days arrived Thursday from Phoenix by way of Denver. There she is, meeting me after work on the Brown/Purple CTA platform, looking like a native Chicagoan!

It was a whirlwind night, dinner and drinks, catching up and giggling at trendy Hub 51 in River North.

{ chicken nachos + chopsticks }

Sadly, while Martha stayed in our home for the conference weekend, The Fella and I headed to southern Maryland early Friday for a wedding. She fed and walked FurFur, and picked up the dog like a cat. Like she always does whenever she's in town, it's her thing, she can't help herself.

Between the wedding festivities and sari wrapping and reconnecting with former University of Miami undergrad pals at the wedding, we also made a new friend of the bride who also lives in Chicago! On our drive out, we three stopped off at idyllic Solomon's Island on the Chesapeake Bay for fresh seafood.

{ new Chicago friend, Sarah, and I on Solomon's Island,

this is what we look like when we're not wearing saris }

And the weekend closed with our drive back into D.C., where The Fella and I ended up with a bit of time before our flight to meet up with another University of Miami girlfriend. Ironically, we watched the Chicago Bears v. Washington Redskins game at a local sports bar where we tried our best to stealthily root for our team amongst the sea of red and gold.

{ Darcy and I in D.C. }

It was quite the random convergence of University of Miami folks, from near and far, but it made me feel like I was home sweet home.

Indian wedding #2, wedding festivities

Indian pre-wedding festivities for an old college friend of The Fella's began on Friday afternoon in Southern Maryland with a customary ladies' mehndi, a celebration involving temporary skin decoration using henna (i.e. basically an opportunity for the ladies to come together to gossip). The result on the bride was an intricate design of scrolling flowers covering her lower arms, hands, and feet.

{ bride's mehndi }

Then came the sangeet on Friday night, a pre-wedding dinner for all the guests. There was an Indian buffet, where I ate lots of warm, fluffy naan and a variety of vegetarian dishes. Close friends and family performed special dances in honor of the bride and groom against a decorative backdrop of deep fuschias, hot pinks, and purples. I finally had a chance to wear a silk-woven, Indian-style wrap that I bought in Coral Gables at a farmer's market, of all places, in 2005. I never could find anything in my closet to pair with it, but on this trip I was able to piece together a complete ensemble that looked somewhat authentic, borrowing a burnt red choli top from Katie's sari and a blousy white pant, called a salwar, that is actually part of another traditional outfit from Maya. Never mind that I was wearing the top backwards...

{ the glowing bride and groom }

The start of the wedding ceremony began with the groom's arrival on horseback, flanked by his family and friends in a drum and dance processional. The bride's friends and family are waiting at the entrance to receive him, the women in all colors of the rainbow.

{ see more pix of my ceremony sari here }

Then there was the Hindu wedding ceremony, filled with more traditions and rituals than I could count. The rituals are based on the hymns contained in the Vedas, sacred philosophical verses that have remained unchanged for five thousand years, some rather extraordinary; the lighting of an actual fire under the mandap canopy (symbolizes the physical body starting a quest for spiritual life and sustaining the fire), tying the bride and groom together (represents the nuptial bond), and circling the sacred fire together seven times (represents that the couple will partner together in all aspects of life). It was unlike any other wedding ceremony I've witnessed.

The bride and groom exited into dazzling, brilliant sunshine. But wait, it's not over until the bride is carried away in a gold chamber, as a symbol of her leaving her family and entering a new one.

And a little Indian glitz and glamour and celebration to end the night, Bollywood style...

{ found my way into the bridal chambers }