the Dalaverse

I'm listening to an oldies megamix station on Pandora today - Bubblegum Oldies, Motown, Oldies Soul and Classic Rock, WITHOUT Big Band/Swing or Doo Wop. And its lovely random selection reminded me of one of my strangest and most vivid associations from childhood. Do the other '80s babies remember a 'Seseme Street' segment in which Smokey Robinson sings 'You Really Got a Hold On Me' while being molested by a giant foam U? It keeps creeping up on him and wrapping itself around him while he tries to push it away. This was one of my favorite Sesame Street things when I was little (and that's saying something), and now it strikes me as both incredibly creepy and totally awesome.

I never did write about last weekend, and it'll be the new weekend soon. I should warn you now that last weekend was all about the shopping. Anyway, Friday night we did the usual family dinner, this time at Growlers where I had some very sub-par ribs. The sauce was nothing special and they were dry; at least the fries were good. Then Megan called me around 9, apparently jumping out of her skin, so we went to get the first Caramel Apple Spice of the season (inferior though it is to the original Caramel Apple Cider). We picked up Tommy to try out the haunted field/house in Olney, but unfortunately it closed by the time we got there at 10:30. Lame, Olney! So we pretty much gave up and watched TV at Meg's until I started to pass out.

On Saturday, I picked up Meg and then kinikatrue to hit the outlet mall in Hagerstown. This was a very serious, concentrated shopping expedition. I'd just gotten a paycheck and I wanted some more variety in my work wardrobe. My first purchase of the day was a little pair of baby-blue Naturalizer flats, sort of eyelet-over-satin - they're a bit summery but so bright and shiny that I couldn't resist. The first real coup, however, was at Banana Republic, where the entire store seemed to be onsale. After a frenzy in the dressing room, I walked out with a very vintage-looking plaid wool skirt and a blue pin-striped blazer that was marked down from $90 to $25, probably because there were only three of them left (only one of which fit me; it was the type of shopping luck I don't get very often). Next up was J. Crew, where to my complete surprise and delight I found chinos that fit me perfectly. Seriously, y'all, the reason I never wear dress pants is because I can NEVER find a suitable waist-to-length ratio. I would have been even more delighted had they had these magic pants in the two khaki shades, but I can always order them online now that I know how they fit (the ones I bought were black). And I got a raspberry-colored tank top to match the lining of the jacket, and did NOT buy any adorable plaid Wellies even though I wanted to.

We ate lunch at some point around the way, and occassionally poked into the non-clothing stores. I flirted with a $20 blue purse in Wilson Leather (which I should've bought because it matched the shoes perfectly), and drooled over the Fossil store and the new Kate Spade outlet (*drooooool*). Near the end of the trip we finally made it to Gap, which was also having a massive sale. I tried on some wide-legged pants which were first too short and then too long, and decided that the wide-legged thing is not for me. Instead I bought a purple sweater for the plaid skirt, a blue tanktop that I realized later was the exact color of the satin part of the shoes, and for some reason a brown-and-white striped tank top. I think I must have hit that spending overload place where any damn thing with a sale tag starts to look appealing (although seriously, the $35 sweater came to under $10 - how is that not awesome?). At this point it was dark and we were all shopped out, so we got some Dairy Queen and headed home.

Sunday - Renaissance Festival with Dad, Aunt Carolyn, my cousin Chris and my little cousin Alison. It was a fairly standard Ren Fest experience, although a bit more haphazard because we had a late start (I tend to set a rigid Fest schedule - I always walk around in the same direction and plan the shows I want to see beforehand). Aly had never been before, and she loved it. Beth made her a really cute felt tunic with pirate stuff on it, which got her compliments all day (she's ten and a half). And when she got her hair braided, she had black rosettes put in to match. We saw Johnny Fox the swordswallower, because he is the best. No matter how many times I see the exact same performance (and I see it pretty much every time, and it's always the exact same performance), I never get tired of him. I actually got a couple of good pictures with Dad's camera, which I'll post at some later date. My other must-see act is the Rogues, because they are a terrific band and I have a massive crush on the main guy. I also have pictures of them, because duh. Off of Johnny Fox's rec, we caught a new act - Jessie and James, in Hilby's usual spot (Hilby's run was already over ::weeps:: I love that skinny German juggling boy!). They do juggling and unicycle tricks and have a funny rapport, but most importantly they have dogs in their act! I've only ever seen dogs that are trained to do cool stuff on TV, and I guess at the circus ages ago. Anyway, these were all rescue dogs and they were very entertaining. Two thumbs up - I hope they're back next year. Oh, and we saw the hypnotist, who we never manage to catch because his show is late afternoon and we always leave before it. He's pretty entertaining. Festival Foode Eaten: steak on a stake, beef stew in a bread bowl, mac and cheese on a stick, fried pickles, shaved ice, and of course my beloved honey sticks. Huh. That's way below my average rate of consumption. I'm kind of ashamed. I might go this weekend or next; it doesn't really feel like fall with only one Ren Fest visit.

Obviously we missed the football game, but were jazzed to learn that the Skins totally won. IN YOUR FACE, PHILLY! I love that the Dallas and Philadelphia games came back-to-back this year. Did you know that Eagles fans once beat up the Chief badly enough to put him in the hospital? Yeah, we like kicking Philadelphia's ass. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but the Skins are looking pretty solid this year...

Plans for this weekend: tomorrow we're going to the Haunted Forest in Poolesville, which is one of the best of its kind. Hooray for Halloween season! One of these days I want to find a Hell House just so I can come out at the end and go, 'Nope, still a heathen, but thanks for trying!'

I find I don't want to talk as much about politics when people are shouting the kinds of things they're shouting at Palin/McCain rallies and getting away with it. That really is madness - scary, scary madness.