pssst, mischief managed: Queen City Walking Tours

that person i like

my "Said Date,"

on previous occasions, referendum in blogging

took me on a date last friday.

a cool one!

which is common, but man! it was cool!

we did the

Queen City is Haunted! walking tour

through Downtown Cincy

(a sometimes terrifying place in its own right.) ;P

let me just say that it was literally a FREAKY awesome time.

our three hour tour

complete with three silly tour guides

dressed in reminescent period clothing

filled us in on all the happenings in a three block area for the past hundred + years, or so.

the tours began when the city of cincy requested the touring company to expand their ventures and provide recreational experiences for citizens across the tri-state.

and the premise is exceptional.

based in fact, the tours come to fruition

from cross-referenced stories.

stories told from multiple perspectives, having basis in actuality

with witness accounts

newspaper reports

significant life events and changes to back them up.

and then they bring in a psychic.

and they take her on the tour, without telling her any of their learned research

and she has all these freaky moments that back up all the research they've uncovered

and then, like very freaky magic,

the tour is born.

and then you bring in the poor saps

like the two above

who pay money to freak themselves out.

which, by the way, was super fun.

we walked the tour for three hours

visiting the streets of cincy

memorial hall, music hall, and 1313 vine st.

the two halls were UNBELIEVABLE.

like all performance spaces,

they totally, absolutely carry an aura with them

in a way that could easily and most usually

be counted as haunted.

i flipped out over those two places.

gorgeous. amazing. beautiful architecture. history

we even snuck up onstage at memorial hall

and snapped a picture

(mainly because we both knew that any normal house manager of that space would FREAK OUT

if they knew that we were actually up there and

subsequently encouraging the rest of the tour to be so emboldened.)

and in 1313 Vine, I again, flipped out

but mostly because the SPACE WAS TERRIFYING.

it used to be an old goth-freak-dominatrix club called "The Warehouse,"

in which WHO KNOWS WHAT happened.

we walked into the main room, and i immediately freaked out.

squeezed my eyes shut.

wrapped around aaron.

and whimpered?

perhaps i did, i'm a grown woman, so what! :)

and did i mention i grew up with ghosts?

very true. in my parents' home in texas.

ANyway, we made it out alive

and when the tour guides started leading the tour to suspecting

"activity and haunts are verrry common here! just look at our blinking EMF"

i stopped freaking out and realized again that it was all just play.

play, indeed.

very fun play.

i was so happy!

Halloween 2011: The Naked Barbie Costume

Two and a half years ago,

I was a 20-yr-old girl, sitting in the living room

of my boyfriend's house, the day after Halloween.
{also -- i'm 23 now, i can't do math?}

That year, I was cast in a show,

had a show on Halloween. 

 so i spent Halloween night wearing a fabulous beaded dress from the 80s

that i pulled from my closet

being nobody in particular

and more particularly, stewing over the fact that my boyfriend

was actually falling in love with the light in another girl's eyes.

(we broke up over it later, when all came to full-fruition.)

and two and a half years ago,

sitting in an ottoman in Lee's house,

i had one of the most brilliant ideas of my life.

for halloween, the next one hopefully,

i

was going

to be

a

naked.

barbie.

doll.

it was awesome!

i had it all planned out from that very first moment,

a simple costume, really.

nude leotard.

blonde wig.

pink heels.

and then i didn't use it the following year.

and the one after.

i didn't go out for halloween actually,

preferring not to be one of the masses traipsing around a drunken college campus

trying not to share my dislike for the trampy costumes that frequent such a place.

and then, this year, everything changed.

i bought a leotard.

a nude one.

from an excellent little dance store here in Cincinnati, called "Loshin's."

They were VERY excited about my costume, matching me up with appropriate sizes

 (to avoid camel toe,)

and appropriate colors

(to get as close a match as possible to both leotard and tights.)

i borrowed some shoes.

from Genevieve.

a RAD YOUNG WOMAN

who frequents etsy as much as i do.

seriously. she mailed them to me.

ACTUALLY!

these shoes have quite a history!

4 + years ago, Genevieve wore them to St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Wylie, Texas

when we all received a blessing to go off yonder for college.

Genevieve wears a size 10.

I wear a size 8.

They fit me perfectly.

Sooo, in the above photo,

she's basically crammed her foot into a tiny shoe

for an entire morning.

THAT my friends

is dedication to a rad pair of pink shoes.

(which, in actuality, are even MORE amazing, because they actually once belonged to genevieve's mom. shoots, i sure do love histories.)

okay, cool.

so gen heard my pleas and woes on facebook about not being able to track down

a sweet pair of hot pink heels from etsy or the internet

without it costing 15 + dollars (too much)

and totally, absolutely mailed me hers.

even though we haven't seen each other for well, actually, over four years.

SHE. ROCKS.

thank you, beebs.

and then

 i bought a wig.

i waited too long on the wig, thing, actually.

a month ago, when i had a sunday, i wandered into the recently sprung Halloween Express

and died laughing, trying on wigs and weird, cheap costume pieces.

aaaaand i didn't buy my wig then.

so yesterday, October 30th, when I showed up at Halloween Express again,

thinking i'd have my pick o' the litter when it came to blonde wigs,

i was met with amazed disappointment!

because, in actuality,

all that was left were the ratty ones that everyone had tried on for over a month.

:)

and i absolutely bought one,

took it home, combed the heck out of it,

and set it, so it would wave.

hey, i didn't take make-up for a quarter from kelly yurko at ccm for nothing.

AND THEN.

i was ready.

i had a party to go to.

and i assembled.

make-up.

pin curls.

matching pink lipstick.

spanx.

tights.

leotard.

and then not spanx because the lines were too obvious.

so. tights.

leotard.

heels.

and wig.

SHAZAAAM.

most fun costume, ever.

everyone freaked out.

i looked totally naked, and totally freaky with this blonde wig.

i wore it till i made people uncomfortable, and then i changed. :)

the crowing achievement, the one to put the whole ensemble completely over the top,

came when my now-boyfriend, Said Date, (as mentioned from here, here, here, and here)

pondered how much camouflage he owned...

you know...so he could go as G.I. Joe.

did i mention yet that he rocks?

yeah, i thought so too.

And here's to next year!

for which i already have

another great idea

with one light extinguished,

another illuminates.


all barbie portraits part of "the barbie portrait project"

happy halloween!

Please.

go look sass

and GREAT

in your costume.

Go. 

:)

aaaand cool

the new wave of pumpkins

thank you, martha stewart

"i'm so creepy! ah ah ahhh!"

porcelain

i will admit that babies are effective.

effectively, when you see a real baby with a real head that is attached, you usually ooh and ahh. coo, a little bit, if you will.

on the flip side, effectively, if you see a baby head with pumpkin mellocreme in in, you're gonna go UGH and then maybe think it's kind of awesome in a skinhead-punk-goth sort of way.

i would NEVER have this in my house.

except maybe on special occasions.

probably just to freak myself out.

the thrill of this baby head is so worth it!

(also - i apologize to my mom who will not think this is amusing. sorry, mom)

some killer halloween decor

i hope we can borrow a blender

ashley carran

and i 

are having a halloween sleep over

(no mind that her bf will be there too.)

we're doing halloween things

and making candy

and i'm contributing grown up pumpkin milk shakes.

why?

because i work out four hours on any day doing boxing.

because we're young and hot and man our metabolism is better now that it will be eventually.

and hello?? did you read the words "pumpkin" and "bourbon" and "MILKSHAKE?!"

yeah, it's more than rad.

the raddest.

i just took my blog to the highs of rad-dom with these.

check it. how sweet it is has the works

(I'll let you know if we actually make it past the eat-out-of-blender phase into the cute-glasses-and-sprinkles-thing. i'm guessin' probably not.) :D

guts for october

i love grey skies

it ain't easy bein' green/eating brains and junk

i'm not really into zombies.

which you might not know given 

the posts on 

zombie loveshoot

zombie wedding poster

and, what's that, the incredibly post-production film Haven Hill, which I lived through...

BUT

i'm very into halloween weddings.

and these would be too cool.

blllleeeeegggg!!

oh i love guacamole!

and i love clever ideas.

balls to the walls, my friends, balls to the walls.

(and on that note, if you're a younger sibling/cousin of mine,

 let's pretend i didn't publicly say "balls.") thanks.

i always love cake.

i always love cake.

and halloween.

and pennants, bunting, flags, garlands, celebrations.

all around winner?

while we're on the subject of zombie weddings...

my pal Lee sent this to me.

it's a poster a friend of his made for a wedding.

(lee's the hungry one in the bottom left, creepin' me out.)

ummm these are quite excellent

i would use these IN A HEARTBEAT

ohh, ya know, just in case you needed your day to rock a little more

you're quite bootiful

adorable.

DO YOU NEED A DINOSAUR COSTUME?!

because i've found yours.

and it's perfect.

You HAVE to check out Miss Nessa Monster on etsy.

She has also a loch ness monster. and a road kill bunny.

and i'm loving it soo much.

the search continues for PINK HEELS

i've got a killer halloween costume idea this year.

which shall remain A SECRET unless i already told you about it because i'm so excited that i can hardly contain myself.

if i have told you, KEEP IT A SECRET.

but it needs perfectly perfect hot pink heels (sz 8,) and the search continues for them.

preferably used.

preferably under twenty dollars.

preferably free. :)

seriously though, if you find some online or ANYWHERE, give a lady a shout out.

the. 

search.

continues.

yuuuuummy

so adorable.

and they also look so yummy.

props to 'em!

cute as pie

warning: do not eat