Drag Race

The Tuesday before Halloween, DC has this thing called the "High Heeled Drag Race" where men dressed in drag race for two blocks in high heels. While this was definitely not something I would have gone to on my own, I ended up at the event with some friends and made it all the way through the race where I found myself in complete shock. I'd seen this Tina Turner wig run by and joked that it was my friend Jimmy, only to find out at the end of the race that it WAS my friend Jimmy! He dressed up, not in drag, but as Jareth the Goblin King from "The Labyrinth" movie starring David Bowie. In high heels, mind you (just like David Bowie) and he ran in the Drag Race.

Jimmy and me (still in shock...)

A still from "The Labyrinth" movie of David Bowie and Toby, the baby he kidnaps.
Andrew and Jimmy (and baby Toby)
Jimmy and Toby

Jimmy, Toby and Whitney

Halloween

So I put together a fun little Halloween costume this year, but didn't have occassion to wear it. Saturday morning I ran a 5K (woot) and when night time rolled around, I felt like staying in and watching a zombie movie with friends instead of going out. BUT in all the excitement of the holiday, I did manage a trial run of my costume. I wasn't going to blog about it (since I didn't actually go anywhere) but Shelby specially requested that I do, so here I am in all my glory. The only evidence that I dressed up as an Avatar (since no one physically saw me) are the following photographs. Enjoy!(you can kinda see my tail in this one...)(I would have blue-ified my white neck on the actual wearing, but since this was a test run I decided the face was enough...)

I carved a pumpkin

At FHE. Isn't it scary? It was a collaborative effort.

The Count of Monte Cristo

I just finished reading this book (which has consumed my life for the last few days) and I loved it. Each character is written so well. The best descriptions in the entire book are of people's eyes. The author vividly draws expressions and details that make me feel like I'm actually seeing these people suffer or rejoice in front of me. It's really quite a good read, never a dull moment. Someone asked how I could read the book after already having seen the movie, "isn't it boring cause you already know what's gonna happen?" I would just like to say that while you get the general gist of a book from a movie, the book is always better. And in this case, the book blew the movie out of the water.

If you like scandal, intrigue, heroism, bravery, insanity, love, and living on the edge of your seat, you should read this book.

More Home

Dinner at Binh's... me, Shelby, Allie, Chris, Binh, Lexie, Bryce, Kyle
Court and Matt!
Sacramento Temple at night
Honey Treat Yogurt- Shelby, me, Binh
Jon and Binh at Honey Treat
Shelby and Stella
Stella!
And now I'm back in DC. It was a great trip, and I took far too few photos! Thanks especially to Mom and Dad for the fabulous week and a half! Miss you all already!

Home

Me and Shelby with baby Luke
Courtney and Luke

Day 6 Ireland

Dublin! On day 6, we hung out in Dublin in the morning before catching our flight to Paris. We decided to check out the Dublin Castle first. They were filming a movie called "Neverland"
Lady Hazel Lavery is best known for having her portrait printed on the banknotes of Ireland. One of our friends told us we had to go to this place called Queen of Tarts. We tried to take a picture with the sign, but it was so bright, after this one pic we went inside.
Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.

Day 5 Ireland

We departed Galway early Tuesday morning after eating a delicious breakfast that included toast (yes toast) thanks to our favorite B&B host Matt (though Gerty in Cork was equally my favorite...)

This is the Connemara Giant. I saw him and had to take a picture. He was very interesting.
Behind the Giant was a sign that said "on this site in 1897, nothing happened" so naturally we had to take a picture.
We almost hit a sheep! I was sure we were gonna hit a sheep. Driving in Ireland is risky!
Kylemore Abbey! I've had this photo in calendars for years, it was so incredible to see it in real life.
Mad skills with the camera self timer ;)
We all had jobs on the trip. I was in charge of taking pictures, Carrie was in charge of candy, and Andrew was in charge of knowing the history of the places we visited. The castle was built by Mitchell Henry for his wife Margaret as a gift to show his love because they'd visited Connemara on their honeymoon and she fell in love with the place. He really loved her. Fireplace
Carrie skipping rocks.
Chapel on grounds of Kylemore Abbey
The back seat was perfect for sleeping...
We finally pulled in to Dublin on Tuesday night. We took a walk downtown where we ran across a scene that was just like from the movie "Once"! So a picture was def in order!

Day 4 Ireland

Day 4 was super fun, we started out the day driving north from Tralee to take the Shannon Ferry! Here we are waiting for the ferry. It was very windy and we listened to country music, and we liked it (especially Andrew)
FYI this was our chariot. Andrew and Carrie were rock stars, really great at driving stick on the left side!
Here we are on the Ferry. :)
On our way to our destination, it was SO rainy we stopped for hot chocolate! Ireland is not know for hot chocolate...
The weather cleared just for us as we approached the Cliffs of Moher! Andrew had this exact background on his phone for weeks prior to the trip, and now here we stood!
So beautiful.
I liked this sign. Beware of cliff edge!
Carrie's favorite picture...
Carrie and Andrew humored me quite a bit with my pictures. Furry brown cows!
Despite what anyone says, I did not touch this dog. He walked inside the building!
Gangsta
More driving!