Moments D556: Imitation as Flattery

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

My favourite holiday of the year has finally arrived and with it a day filled with fun and laughter.  (And yes, too much candy!)

My moment today surprised me.   I actually managed to don two costumes today (one for work and one for our outing this evening), but it wasn't about either costume this year that brings me my moment of the day.  (They were fun, but not awesome.  Next year, I am going to go after awesome!)  Honestly, I thought that the moment of the day would be the fact that I was sharing my favourite holiday with EQ which is another first for us.  And as amazing as it was to share today with EQ,  another moment knocked me over!

When we arrived at our pre-Church Street walk party, we were greeted by the host dressed up as a Prince.  Fun.  Expected.  Then we entered the living room and found ourselves greeted by Comic Guy dressed up as our host for his Halloween costume?  Completely unexpected and insanely hysterical!

Comic Guy was a perfect representation of our host.  And it reminded me about the concept of imitation being the highest form of flattery.  And so, I had to look up where that concept originated:

"Imitation is the highest form of flattery" coined by 19th century English cleric and writer, Charles Caleb Colton

The light rain didn't dampen the experience as the group of us eventually made our way out to Church street to see many more forms of flattery.  What an incredible evening with friends, my love and complete strangers, soaking in the fun energy of the holiday.  

Moments of surprise.

Moments of raw laughter.

Moments D514: Surprise Gifts

Today was a crazy day at work as I continue to catch up on the workload post vacation. The day seemed to have flown by.  Head down, day starts.  Head up, day is over.  Wow.  

Before I knew it I was off to volleyball.  Tonight was the final round of tryouts with my competitive all women's league. I was running late due to traffic so when I walked into the gym, it was already full of with teammates. What a joy to enter the gym and have many eyes twinkle, hands waving and smiles greeting you!

As I changed into my gear, I thought back to last year and how intimidated I was by the process of trying out and how I was eager to be part of the team.  My mind wandered to where I was in my life, which, inevitably, brought me round to where I currently am today.  So many changes.  So many things the same, for tonight, after my volleyball fun, I drove up to visit with my BFF once again.  (No stew this year!)  And while volleyball was a ton of fun tonight and was likely to be my moment today, the spotlight was stolen away by my BFF.

The real moment of the my day found me not after a minute in the door of my BFF's house.  She handed a gift.  I was surprised, quizzical.   It turns out, it was the first "couple" gift for EQ and I.  A thank-you gift for, which as a sidebar, was totally unnecessary as EQ & I both love BFF and want to do what we can to help! That being said, it was incredibly thoughtful and I squealed with delight when I realized just what was inside the bag.

So what was it:  matching Jack Skellington shirts for the two of us to wear on my favourite holiday of the year.  So separated by the miles, EQ & I can still share Halloween together in the same shirt.

Damn.  So sweet.

So incredibly thoughtful on so many levels.

I have the bestest friends in the world.  I am a lucky gal.

Moments enjoying reflection and dreaming.

Moments being surprised and loved.

Moments D180: Halloween Haunts

As you may know (or perhaps not if you are new to my blog), I am a huge fan of Halloween. It’s my favourite holiday of the year. I love the costumes and the silly, scary decorations and the jack-o-lanterns and the joy of watching the neighbourhood come alive.

Last year, however my love of Halloween was tainted as it was the beginning of the end of my marriage. The day before Halloween I exploded in my frustration and Halloween itself was a very painful day for me. I know I mentioned in a couple of earlier blogs that I wasn’t sure if I’d stay home this year and reflect on the year that has passed or if I’d go out and do my best to shine light again upon my favourite holiday. Last week, I picked up my costumes (yes TWO) and it seems that the universe agrees!

For today when I came home, the front yard of my apartment building was filled with Halloween decorations. I couldn’t help but smile. I thought of my rubbermaid bin in storage overstuffed with Halloween decorations. And suddenly, I was excited for Halloween. Yes, the light is breaking through the clouds on this for me. And seeing the decorations in the front yard only solidified it for me.

Bring on the Halloween Haunts. I’m ready. Jack-o-lantern #1 carved. Jack-o-lantern #2 will be carved this coming weekend. Yes. I am ready and I’m smiling.

Moments to move beyond.

Moments of surprise smiles.

Moments D176: Costumes

Today was decision day. Am I going to stay home and reflect upon my year or actually go out and enjoy my favourite holiday this year? Last year where I was depressed and sulking and had bombed my marriage with our years of issues weighing too heavily on me. Is it necessary to take this special day and reflect?

No. I think I’ve done more than enough of that over the past year. And sure, I may have spent a lot of the year keeping myself busy and NOT thinking about it, but there have been plenty of moments to pause and consider my path. And so, I committed to myself to get out there and enjoy my favourite holiday once again. Baby steps though. I won’t decorate, but I will visit Church street on Halloween.

So, today’s moment is brought to you by Value Village. What a fantastic Halloween section they had set up. Wigs, hats, costumes (new and gently used) and makeup. It was Halloween heaven. Easily an hour later of laughing and giggling and sharing ideas, I had not one but TWO costumes to choose from. SO. MUCH. FUN!

I ended up with a raccoon and an evil fairy outfit….and after my shop at Canuck Sport for new volleyball shoes before, I could possibly reorganized bits of clothing to pull off a roller derby gal! Yes, my creative juices were flowing! Both of the costumes I went home with are quite cute. I think the raccoon outfit will be warmer outside while walking Church street….BUT the wig I have for the fairy is quite fun and drawing me in….

Anyway, it was a big day for me and my moment was the realization that I don’t have to reflect; instead I can start to rebuild the meaning of that holiday FOR ME.

Moments to make a decision.

Moments of being free.

Moments D165: Pumpkins

Today was a fun day with my family. We woke (fairly early) and watched music videos with our morning coffee. What a luxurious treat!

After coffee, I shared some of my new music with my “niece” and enjoyed a homemade BELT. (Bacon, Egg, Lettuce & Tomato sandwich). It was fun to see which songs and artists were of interest to her and I knew her Mom was going to love the new P!nk Album “The Truth About Love”.

After breakfast we were enjoyed some time together. We had a chance to chat, watch some crazy show called “Oh Sit” (essentially musically chairs mashed together with an obstacle course for adults). Silly conversation and a crazy TV show. Perfect for a late Sunday morning!

And then, we were off for the afternoon. A few errands later, we were (all five of us) enjoying a drive in the country to enjoy the fall colours with the hopes of hiking the Bruce Trail before the expected rains came. As we worked our way to the Dekew Falls, it started to rain AND we ran into the Howell Pumpkin farm.

What a treat! There were pumpkins as far as the eye could see as we entered the driveway into the farm. Yellow, Orange, WHITE. Stunning colours against the grey dark sky.

Here’s one of the pictures I took:



Such amazing colours.

And then I saw the jack-o-laterns and I was reminded of how much I love this holiday and this season. Howell’s had some incredible jack-o-lanterns! Perhaps I will find time this year (or I should MAKE time this year!) to carve a jack-o-lantern again! Perhaps Halloween will come back to me.



AND I remembered how much I LOVE pumpkins! There were pumpkin donuts, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin sausages and more. I had the pleasure of trying both the donuts and the sausage. DELIGHTFUL! I am inspired to get a couple of pumpkins this year, not only for carving, but for baking and making my tasty cumin pumpkin soup.

So, today’s moment was spending good quality time with family I love dearly at a pumpkin farm. Where even standing in the cold drizzle, we managed to laugh and share our food with warmth in our hearts.

Moments with family.

Moments with pumpkins.

Moments D155: Spidergirl

Today’s moment was a silly one and it occurred early in the day. (Honestly, I’m thankful that it did because the end of my day turned out to be a disaster and I was in no place to honestly see any smiles around me.)

Looking back, I think I really needed a silly moment today. I needed something that stopped to make me smile without thinking about it. I appreciate the universe working with me on this! The energies around me the past couple of days have been confusing, exhilarating and soul growing. From a colleague’s mother’s passing, to my BFF dealing with her childhood cat’s last days to dealing with my own personal direction in life.

Sometimes we need a silly moment to break through.

This morning, I stopped at Starbucks for an Americano. As I was leaving there was a little girl, about 5, sitting alone at the table nearest to the door. She was tapping her leg against the chair and the sound caught my attention to pause and look at her. As soon as my eyes connected with her I felt the smile spread upon my face. She was dressed in a spidergirl dress. It was so sparkly and fun and silly and plain all at the same time.
 

There were no masks, no makeup. Just a cute little girl in her spidergirl dress. It was a moment that reminded me of my favourite holiday and how much I once loved it.

I’m not sure how easy this year’s Halloween will be for me. It was the beginning of the end of an 11 year relationship for me a year ago. It wasn’t pretty. And as the date draws closer I have mixed feelings about it.

But, for one brief moment today. I relived my love of the holiday. I send thanks to the universe for sending me that moment.

Moments of unexpected smiles.