Witchy Women

It was the third year for my town's Witches Wander event, but our first time attending. It was so much fun!  We were among the first 200 registered which qualified us for a "swag bag".  I bet around 250 total attended.

Our bags were filled with gift cards and coupon cards, a decorative purse scarf, a gift box with perfume and nail polish, a skull shot glass which could be used for a free shot of alcohol at a participating bar (we did not take advantage of this), a recyclable dishcloth, candy and a pen shaped like a witch's broom.  My daughter won a $10 gift card on her scratch off. I was a "loser" but won a $20 gift card to a salon on a chance to spin the wheel. 

We set off on the scavenger hunt. We visited all kinds of tiny boutiques that we have driven by but never stopped in to see what they offer.  All were decorated and offered snacks, many had photo booth walls. 

We stopped in for a refreshing Apple Cider Mimosa and a Drunk Witch Sangria.

Every participating business had a letter hidden in the store to help solve our word scramble. This business offers environmentally friendly projects and you can refill the containers too. 

The places serving adult beverages had their own word scramble. Purchase was not required (thank goodness). We would not have been able to complete either puzzle if we imbibed at every opportunity. 

A line at a carryout window for another bar. 

We stopped here because the previous place was having problems with their Stumbling Witch slushie machine. We tried the Boo Levandar and the Witching Hour Cosmopolitan, despite the price. They were so strong we dumped them in the bushes, lol. 

Another shop. 

There were street musicians. These are very talented high school boys. The witches were very supportive and they had lots of donations in their case. 

Characters

Hanging out with a few friends. 

There were two photographers offering photos at sidewalk setups.  Here is one of them. The other hasn't posted the photos yet. 

I have lived in this town all my life and I was in places I have never been before! 

Below is a fun one. A dive bar that was hosting a letter but had no themed specials. The group sitting here had designed a drink they called Enchanted and the bartender was game. They told me it was very weak but he would make it stronger. I said, thank you - I would love it very weak! 

The Enchanted drink is on the right, an Octoberfest beer on the left.  We solved our word scrambles "Enchantment" and  "Bats". I think I know where they got the name for the drink they designed, lol. 

We turned in the sheets for a raffle (we did not win) and headed over for the group photo. 

We texted my daughter in laws to see if anyone would like to join us for something to eat. My daughter in-law Amber joined us.

I went all out with Bloody Mary's Last Meal with 4 quarters of a grilled cheese sandwich, pickles, cheese, tomatoes, olives and summer sausage. (and 99% tomato juice). It was fabulous.

My partner in crime chose the Spellarilla Spooky Margarita and crab cakes. 

And my daughter in-law got an Apple Cider Mimosa since she wasn't there for the first round. 

We didn't enter the costume contest - I will share pictures of the winners if they post them. There were some pretty outstanding costumes. We visited so many clothing boutiques, I bought one sweater but can't wait to go back. It turns out there is a second hand clothing store that I never knew moved in.  

The stores had invited other small businesses and crafters to sit in at their stores so there were bakers and jewelry makers and face painters and more. Everyone was having so much fun and laughing. 

I did get my steps in! (I strive for 2 miles).

I dont' even remember where this was, lol. 

I introduced my daughter to my cancer thrift store. I will be going back with my 20% off coupon. I didn't want to carry anything delicate or too large.  I did photograph price tags (as usual) so that I could see.  She is off school on Friday so I will check the date on the coupon to see if we can wait that long. 

If God wants me to have this set of 4 sandwich plates with matching tea cups, they will still be there on Friday - along with some beautiful lamps. 

We can't wait to join them all again next year! 

The Great Pumpkin Patch

It's another "busy season".  The temperatures have dropped to tolerable. And the grandkids have returned to school and extra curricular activities.  We have been busy helping out with rides to practice and cheering for tennis, cross country, flag football, and soccer. We are in a medical appointment era and we did get our flu and covid vaccines.  And we already had our first teacher in-service for one of the elementary schools (cue the trip to the park and Bob Evans breakfast). 

Yesterday (Sunday) I was free during the day and two other grandchildren and their mother invited me to tag along to the amusement park. My job is to hold hats and purses and enjoy the scenery. I hope you enjoy it too! 

I can't imagine the work to create these wonderful displays and also the constant maintenance.  We saw several squirrels nibbling on the pumpkins and I am sure many will be replaced over the next month. 

I did buy all the grandkids and their parents passes for next year for Christmas. And I bought one for myself but skipped the meal pass since I only made a few visits this summer.  I did use this year's pass to get the special fall menu item - lobster bisque - for lunch. And had a steak and potato dinner at a log cabin. 

The weather was absolutely perfect and by the end of the day I had walked over 11,932 steps which is about 5 miles. Which is crazy. 

Just noticed the daughter cut herself out of the selfie. 

The kids rode rides and posed by all the decorations. Sunday was the perfect day for their ages, they only do the scary stuff on Friday nights and Saturdays. 

I do want to mention these are two different pairs of grandkids since they do all resemble each other.  Sometimes I have to look twice to make sure who is who. 

The Birthday that Wouldn't End and a Visit to Faux Bridgerton

I'm sorry. This really is the last birthday post.  Be prepared for LOTS of photos. 

It started on the actual morning of my birthday. I am not a morning person.  Yet, when I hear my daughter's car in the driveway, I get up, put on my robe and make breakfast for children. Grampa puts them on the bus.  My eyes were not in focus so I did not notice it was a little earlier than usual. I did notice some chaos in my living room and figured out that I was seeing the backs of three heads of similar sized people with similar colored hair where there should only be two.  

My oldest daughter (and my granddog Gary) drove one hour and forty five minutes to arrive at my house with donuts. My youngest daughter stopped at Dunkin for coffees and my 10 year old granddaughter (who is their height) and her little brother each brought me a dozen roses!  It was such a sweet surprise! 

He actually used a gift card from his late mother. Red Lobster and the Outback closed last week in that city and he is letting go of gift cards before anymore have to close. This was Texas Roadhouse. 

My husband took me out to lunch.  Because of time we ended up picking up fried chicken on the way home and fed the school people and ran uptown for the homecoming parade. The kids are big high school football fans.  I needed to get home for my beauty sleep because my best friend since 6th grade was taking me to a faux Bridgerton activity for charity. 

I was the lucky recipient of so many flowers that I was starting to think it could be a funeral parlor. 

Saturday started with thunderstorms which did affect the festivities. We waited an hour before arriving to wait out the storm and missed a Harlequin Production in a carriage house theater. In our defense, we never did get a real schedule of events. This was the first time this event was planned and things were a little confused.  Several people told us to go to the indoor Merry-go-round, but the doors were locked. We aren't sure if we missed it or went to the wrong door. This is a picture from Facebook so someone found the entrance. 

The same thing happened with ballroom dance lessons - we couldn't find the door. These videos were from the final presentation. 

There was a scavenger hunt of five shops to get a card stamped. We found one shop, the second had closed between the time the tickets were printed and now and it referred you to another location and we could not find any further locations. There was a card with the names of shops, but not street names.

The tea party was to be held in the garden and moved to an indoor public location.  The actual tea was a little sparse. 

We were directed to the fountain for photos but found that our middle ticket level did not include a photo. A very nice young man of about 10 years volunteered to take our photo with my phone and refused the payment we offered him. 

It was great fun walking around the downtown area of a city we were obviously unfamiliar with (see above) and we almost got the lay of the land.  We stopped at one of the many establishments for a refreshing cocktail. I enjoyed the "white diamond" while my friend sipped a "viscount".    

We did end up in a parking garage with murals and a temporary stage in time for the finale - a concert by the symphony orchestra and awards for (I believe "best dressed" and "diamond". 

I will now inflict a zillion photos of attendees upon my dearest readers. 90% of attendees were women.  My favorites were the two young couples, the young lady who was very pregnant whose sweet young hubby wore a waistcoat and accompanied and participated in everything with her and the other young mom, also in a blue dress, who was escorted to all activities by her husband in a shirt and cargo shorts and pushing or carrying her little son.  What good sports and how romantic!!!

And I have to mention that, as we were walking by the fountain, a large group of moms were taking pictures of a large group of young ladies in sequined mini dresses they were wearing to the homecoming dance.  One of the mom looked at my friend and I and yelled out -
"I know you - you are the Famous Birthday Girl."  I think my photoshoot made me famous. 

I wish they had had these two ladies step apart. This really was my favorite dress and they arrived separately. It is just gorgeous. Fun they met up for a photo.  

The charities that benefited from the ticket sales were a local theater and an organization which is assisting high school girls in hygiene and sanitary supply kits. 

This concludes my second costumed event.  We are not going to attend the huge Witches Walk in the neighboring city.  We have our tickets to my town's Witches Wander in October so I will be back with another dress-up event, lol.