"In An Upside Down Style"

 Bordello Bar and all of its dark & dreamy Victorian decor

This weekend was quite a doozy.
Saturday night, I accompanied Adam, Jon, Chris & Tobin to our first ever burlesque show, put on by Courtney Cruz and Devil's Playground at Bordello Bar in Downtown LA. 

But it wasn't just any burlesque show...it was SCREAM QUEENS burlesque! An evening of seductive dance, theatrics, and parody in the spirit of classic Halloween horror movies. Yes, there was plenty of strawberry jam blood, lady vampires, big plastic knives, and a hard metal band (which I'm sure has permanently damaged my poor ears). 

I'll keep it PG-13, but here are a few snapshots from the evening. Can you guess the movies?

 (...and that was King Kong, Psycho, Vampira and Carrie. Ok fine, so only Psycho and Carrie were obvious.)

 The show was terrific and very well done, and it was just one of those wonderful evenings that reminded me of all the shades of artistic expression out there. The best part is also having friends who can enjoy this at the same time they enjoy opera (wink wink, Jon).

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Sunday afternoon, I went to downtown Long Beach to meet up with Leslie, Tim & Lisa for a mini Columbia reunion. We lunched outside by the water and boats and...melted. 91 degrees in October! Beautiful day though and nothing to complain about when I get to see some of my favorite people. I can't wait until Christmas--fingers crossed--to see them again. Leslie, I plan to have MANY holiday adventures with you! (p.s. I also had the most delicious chopped salad at Yard House...hold the bacon and it's the best vegan lunch.) 

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The evening ended with some Halloween shopping at Target and the Goodwill store with Adam. Halloween is normally my least favorite time of the year (a few terrible childhood costumes can do that to you), but I'm feeling so festive this year. We have pumpkin candles burning in the house and my sister and I have already lined up plenty of pumpkin pie and corn bread recipes. Plus, Adam and I are on the hunt for our costume pieces. I won't tell you what we're going as, but let's just say it involves a hat, suspenders, a chimney sweeper, a red bow-tie, and a VERY big bag.