What a Week it has been!

I use the term “week” loosely, since it’s Friday and Halloween was last Wednesday. Small matters.

Halloween! I said I would write a post about our costumes and
“I meant what I said,
and I said what I meant,
an elephant is faithful
one hundred percent!”
-Horton, from Horton Hears a Who

That girl rocking the lacey gloves and two-tone hair above us, my friends, is my office-mate Jessica.

See that fur coat? It belongs to her grandmother, a lady we know as “Nana.”

Nana is a pretty rad lady. She has a fur coat. She also makes incredible fried green tomatoes, I’m told. They’re probably the best in the world…because they’re made with love. Love is a very important ingredient, folks. Maybe the most important, actually.

I know this because I had a grandma who would make really, really good Rice Krispy treats. She passed away, and sometimes I try to make them. I don’t think I’ve attained her level of professionalism, though. I think it’s the extra grandma-love.

Nana (Jessica’s grandma) was the one who broke it down for Jessica about sewing, crafting, cooking, cleaning, etc. Thing is, it was passed along well: Jessica is a pretty crafty girl.

There is a bit of discrepancy about the fur…Jessica’s grandpa thinks he paid much more than Nana thinks he paid. 🙂 We laughed about that.

I, friends, was Mary Poppins!

(“Nice to see you again, Bert!”)

I love Mary Poppins, have for quite some time.

She’s a superhero! She goes solves serious problems like family discord, absent parents, unloved children etc.–is that not the bomb dot com?

She can hop in and out of CHALK PICTURES, she looks fabulous, answers to no one, and sings and dances in professional but colorful clothes.

I don’t think we need to mention that her side-kick, Bert, is adorable.

You know what, maybe we do need to mention that. Because, real talk, how many strong, awesome, fun female characters are portrayed in the popular media? Few and far between.

But, we have Mary Poppins.

May I just be her in real life?

May I sing songs to remind people that helping others is “Tuppence a bag” for us, but can make a lifetime of a difference to them?

May I have the acrobatic number on the housetops of London with the chimney sweeps?

May I have a jolly holiday with a kind-hearted gentleman where the penguin waitstaff waltzes with us at the end?

Ummmm….guess not.

I can have a bow-tie, though.

I’ll take what I can get.

If anyone wants to gift me with tickets to see the Broadway show, that’s cool too. Just saying.

Costume? Easy as pie. That shirt and jacket were thrifted. I have no idea how that shirt collar is supposed to function in real life, so there’s an adventure waiting to be had there. The bow tie was a red handkerchief I thrifted and recycled. Fun fact: one of my brothers THREW IT AWAY because he “didn’t know what it was” and I had to find it in the trash bag on Halloween.

Don’t worry, it was on top of paper.

I consider paper to be mildly hygienic, when we’re speaking of things in trash bags, of course.

The hat was an old, black felt hat we had in our basement and the day before I stopped at a dollar store for the flowers and the “cherries.” The cherries are actually grapes. I tell you this because you’re my friend. I just cut them to be in cherry-like bunches and hot-glued them to a black ribbon with the daises.

Ta da! Mary Poppins.

It is important to note that I was once Mary Poppins when I was a little girl.

Yeah, I knew what was up.

So, I went into the photo album to find this picture. Want to know what happens exactly one week after Halloween?

This little guy is born.

That’s right, my baby brother: little Josh.

Every year since then, we celebrate Halloween and then we celebrate Josh.

Josh has always held a special place in my heart. It’s possible that you’ve never seen a cuter, happier baby. He was always smiling, always laughing with shining eyes and a mischievous giggle.

That’s pretty much what he grew up to be, too: a loving, awesome, hard-working man-of-happy.

I love that one, I do.