Pumpkin Carving

Eric came over today and we spent a lovely afternoon/evening carving two, giant pumpkins (by one get one free at Safeway). It was really fun and messy (we saved all of the pumpkin seeds and got all slimy in the process). He described my pumpkin as something out of a Tim Burton film (which I think is a compliment) and his pumpkin was really cool (he did the surface carving where one carves away the bright orange rind and leaves the pumpkin meat really thin so that candlelight can be seen through it). I don't think I did a really good job explaining it, so you can just look at pictures that I will post in the next few days.

Tomorrow is Monday night trivia. I can't wait because my team won for the first time EVER last week (and I wasn't there to share the glory because I was sick as a dog at home). So one might deduce that my team won BECAUSE I wasn't there to screw things up. Anyway, that means that I have to prove my worth to my teammates tomorrow but helping them win instead of causing their downfall.

In other news, school is great. My grades are good. Teaching is great. Because of scheduling issues I had to stop working as a therapist and am currently looking for a new job (but I have an interview for a cool position this week). So, work is potentially great too. And I am also moving in exactly one week to a new place that will be much more close to school and work (wherever that may be). Woohoo!

The only way that life could get any better would be if I could get inspired in the medium of metal. Raya introduced our next project and objectives and I am officially uninspired. Copper? Aluminum? Any ideas? What should I do for this project? I have to make two sculptures and all I can do is punch holes into things, bend and roll metal and cut into it. I just don't know what to do. The gauge of the metal has to remain relatively thin too, due to the machinery and equipment we are using. Gah! Any ideas? Someone inspire me, please!

Franklin-stein Street

This past weekend, David, Stephanie and I went to Chapel Hill to visit Elisabeth (from camp!).  We did lots of walking back and forth between cars (because of strict parking rules), hung out at her characteristically-high-ceilinged dorm room, played bananagrams and had dinner at a conveyer belt sushi place all before changing into our costumes.  Elisabeth was a Jedi Knight (probably a young obi one), Stephanie was a sultry devil and David was one of those endangered, yet plump bumblebees.  As his girlfriend, I played his flower counterpart by wearing a flower-printed dress and stapling flowers that I cut out of an old Georgia O'Keeffe calendar to a green cardigan.  All of this was topped off with a flower smack dab in the middle of my head:  

Then we walked Franklin Street...

What I DID NOT know was that Franklin Street is basically a giant party in the road.  Plus lots of drunken girls in small animal costumes and boys wearing anything from pizza boxes to Elvis garb.  

I'm exaggerating, of course, but maybe only a little.  Here are some of the highlights from the night:

Fun for all the ages!

Everyone wants in on the picture!

I am proud to say that I got the cone reference.

These are my friends!

This guy was cool.  He asked me where I was from because he said it was what he asked when people said to him, "Can I take your picture?"

I saw the balloon kid at the very beginning but he got away before I could take a picture.  Luckily, I was OBSESSED with finding him and snapped a shot of him on his way out.

Believe it or not, he was not the only peacock on Franklin Street that night.  And I thought it a pretty original costume.

This guy had a dance-off with himself.

Swim team? or Triathletes stuck in the swimming portion of a triathlon?

Octo-mom!  And Franklin Street isn't just for college kids anymore...

"Oh my gawd!  A Big reference?  It isn't every day that you get a Big reference!!" --really drunk guy who saw the Tom Hanks classic 

First costume I saw that night, and the reason I love group costumes

Oh, and this is what I meant by pizza box earlier.

After all of this craziness and more, we went back to Elisabeth's friend's apartment and watched creative people build halloween cakes for $10,000 in prize money.  We would have gone home after that, but with the extra hour from daylight savings, we decided to watch Corpse's Bride, a movie witch (haha) Stephanie had yet to see and ended up sleeping through.

Now, life is moving very quickly.  I'm busy working, of course, on my thesis and am trying to keep myself out of trouble (and by that, I mean keeping myself from adopting furry little animals).  My dad came to visit yesterday, installing a nice little blinker for night-driving safety along with much-needed new brake pads.  I've got babysitting this Friday for six hours and will be helping out with some kiln firings on Saturday with the other claydogs.  I've also got to greet the jurors that I selected for the Juried Student Exhibition this Sunday .  With all of that on my plate, I can say for certain that I am looking forward to a relaxing matinee showing of Kiss Me, Kate at Elon on Sunday.

Love,

Monica