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Wednesday, July 4, 2012
The Halloween Honey Logo
Many, many thanks to the wicked talented graphic designer extraordinaire Kristi Carlson for designing me the most amazing cute and perfect logo for The Halloween Honey! This logo embodies everything I hope to achieve with The Halloween Honey blog and website (when that sucker is finally up and running.) In the meantime, gaze upon the wonder that is The Halloween Honey logo! Thank you so much Kristi! I love it!! And Happy 4th of July everyone!! America, yay!
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Tuesday, July 3, 2012
The Halloween Hottie of the Day-Ladies Edition
Okay, this one is purely for my husband because I am not a huge Kate Beckinsale fan. It's not that I don't like her, I just don't ever really think about her. If I were to form an opinion I'd say I find her a bit...dull. But, man, oh, man, does Jim lurve her and her vampire-fightin'-vampire movies that she seems to make every two years or so.
A few weeks ago my sister asked me, "Did you see the trailer for the new Total Recall movie? It stars Kate Beckinsale's hair."
A few weeks ago my sister asked me, "Did you see the trailer for the new Total Recall movie? It stars Kate Beckinsale's hair."
The Halloween Hottie of the Day-Male Edition
I went with my mother-in-law Vickie a few years ago while she got a tattoo. I was sitting on the stool while Vickie was getting tatted up looking through the tattoo artist's book of his work. I came to the page that I later found out was that of the tattoo on his girlfriend's thigh. "Ha! A Gary Oldman tattoo!" I declared. It was Gary Oldman, but as Dracula from the 1992 movie Bram Stoker's Dracula. The tattoo artist laughed and shook his head, "I love that you called it a 'Gary Oldman tattoo.'"
It seems Gary's vampire days are over and he has settled in nicely to playing Gotham City's lame dad Commissioner Gordon in the Christopher Nolan-directed Batman movies. I'm kinda into his Commissioner Gordon...kinda like how I was into his playing Sirius Black in the Harry Potter movies. I'm just into him.
It seems Gary's vampire days are over and he has settled in nicely to playing Gotham City's lame dad Commissioner Gordon in the Christopher Nolan-directed Batman movies. I'm kinda into his Commissioner Gordon...kinda like how I was into his playing Sirius Black in the Harry Potter movies. I'm just into him.
Full Moon Fever
There is a full moon tonight! You know what that means, crazies everywhere! The full moon in July is known as the "hay moon" among....top moon experts, I guess. Not only is tonight July's full moon, it's also one of the hottest days of the year, if not THE hottest day of the year. It's going to be 100 degrees in MINNESOTA, a state which most people think is covered in snow 365 days of the year, but for those of us who live here know it gets pretty effing hot in the summer, but not 100 degrees hot!
This combination of the full moon and excessive heats makes me a little nervous. Not for myself because if I experience lunacy or heat madness (not sure if that's a real thing) I will be going crazy in the comfort of my own home. My husband, on the other hand, a retail manager, has to work tonight, with the general public. As someone who has spent a good majority of my working life working in retail and among the general public I know for a fact that this full moon business is no joke. For starters, the General Public is pretty terrible already, add on top of that a lunar influence, I know really nothing about astrology, or the phases of the moon or anything so I am not going to start nattering on about something have no real knowledge about, but let me tell you a good full moon story:
I used to work at a dermatology clinic. Prior to this I worked at a mental health clinic. On this full moon day, the two worlds collided!
I worked at the front desk of this clinic with a group of other women. It was nearing the lunch hour when patient flow starts to slow down and the doctors and nurses prepare to take their afternoon break. A patient had checked in to see the doc, being the last patient of the morning around 11:30. She was well-dressed, seemed very normal and unassuming. She went and sat in the waiting room and helped herself to one of our magazines. She was gone about a minute before she approached the front desk, "Is this correct?" She asked me, pointing to the mailing label on the magazine. "Minneapolis?" I nodded and laughed, "Well, technically we are in Fridley, but ya know how mailing labels are." She was still puzzled and slowly walked away and sat back down. Moments later she approached my co-worker Joy, magazine in hand. "This says 'Minnesota.'" Joy nodded, "Yep," not really sure where the woman was going with this. Again, the woman walked away and sat back down, Joy and I exchanged looks and went about our business. One of the nurses went out into the waiting room to retrieve one of her other patients, this woman approached her, "Are we in Minnesota?!" She asked the nurse. The nurse was taken back by the question and kind of laughed, "...Yes." Then the woman shoved the magazine under the nurse's nose and started going on about the mailing label saying Minneapolis, Minnesota. The nurse told her that she was in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the mailing label was correct. The nurse retrieved her patient, threw me and Joy a glance of "this chick is nuts" and went back to the clinic area . We decide it would probably be best to let the doctor she was to see what was going on. Again, the woman approached the desk and starts talking to Joy. She is insistent that she took Hwy X and Y and she came from this town and that town and on and on and on....Joy soon realizes this woman thinks she is in Chicago, Illinois. Joy's sister lives there and she is starting to recognize the street and town names. Joy asks the woman to draw her a map, just to be sure. The map started with O'Hare airport. Joy took the map from the woman and says, "Okay. Thanks." smiled at her and walks back to the clinic area to let the doctor know what's up. She wondered around the waiting room bewildered. Well, the doc decides to look in her chart and sees that this poor woman is on a laundry list of mental health related medication and informs the clinic manager about what was going on just in passing. The clinic manager (being the rotten dragon lady she is....) decides to call the police even though the doctor said he was going to take her back into clinic and assess her himself before he decides what action to take. The police show up in record time and they start asking the woman where she thinks she is and all this stuff. She begins to panic and an ambulance is called and this woman is hauled away to the nearest hospital.
Full moon, amirite?!
This isn't exactly a "Full moon! People are so crazy!" story. It's a really sad story. It started out kind of funny and then it turned into the responsible people (the doctor) trying to do the responsible thing and take care of this woman in a responsible way, and ended with the clinic manager making a dumb decision and got the police involved when they didn't need to be. It was probably just coincidental that this happened on a day that there was a full moon. She had probably stopped taking her medication days prior and it resulted in this sort of confusion.
Maybe I should have told the story about the full moon night I was working at Barnes and Noble and a guy in a penis costume came running in, took a lap around the store and left. But, ya know, that's the extent of that story.
What I'm trying to say (poorly) is that this mixture of full moon, lunacy and the oppressive heat which is creating a literal pressure cooker could really be great fodder for a horror story.
Also, did you know that hospitals treat more dog bites on a full moon night?
*I'm just going to chalk up this whole blog post to Full Moon Fever. Tom Petty, you guys!
This combination of the full moon and excessive heats makes me a little nervous. Not for myself because if I experience lunacy or heat madness (not sure if that's a real thing) I will be going crazy in the comfort of my own home. My husband, on the other hand, a retail manager, has to work tonight, with the general public. As someone who has spent a good majority of my working life working in retail and among the general public I know for a fact that this full moon business is no joke. For starters, the General Public is pretty terrible already, add on top of that a lunar influence, I know really nothing about astrology, or the phases of the moon or anything so I am not going to start nattering on about something have no real knowledge about, but let me tell you a good full moon story:
I used to work at a dermatology clinic. Prior to this I worked at a mental health clinic. On this full moon day, the two worlds collided!
I worked at the front desk of this clinic with a group of other women. It was nearing the lunch hour when patient flow starts to slow down and the doctors and nurses prepare to take their afternoon break. A patient had checked in to see the doc, being the last patient of the morning around 11:30. She was well-dressed, seemed very normal and unassuming. She went and sat in the waiting room and helped herself to one of our magazines. She was gone about a minute before she approached the front desk, "Is this correct?" She asked me, pointing to the mailing label on the magazine. "Minneapolis?" I nodded and laughed, "Well, technically we are in Fridley, but ya know how mailing labels are." She was still puzzled and slowly walked away and sat back down. Moments later she approached my co-worker Joy, magazine in hand. "This says 'Minnesota.'" Joy nodded, "Yep," not really sure where the woman was going with this. Again, the woman walked away and sat back down, Joy and I exchanged looks and went about our business. One of the nurses went out into the waiting room to retrieve one of her other patients, this woman approached her, "Are we in Minnesota?!" She asked the nurse. The nurse was taken back by the question and kind of laughed, "...Yes." Then the woman shoved the magazine under the nurse's nose and started going on about the mailing label saying Minneapolis, Minnesota. The nurse told her that she was in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the mailing label was correct. The nurse retrieved her patient, threw me and Joy a glance of "this chick is nuts" and went back to the clinic area . We decide it would probably be best to let the doctor she was to see what was going on. Again, the woman approached the desk and starts talking to Joy. She is insistent that she took Hwy X and Y and she came from this town and that town and on and on and on....Joy soon realizes this woman thinks she is in Chicago, Illinois. Joy's sister lives there and she is starting to recognize the street and town names. Joy asks the woman to draw her a map, just to be sure. The map started with O'Hare airport. Joy took the map from the woman and says, "Okay. Thanks." smiled at her and walks back to the clinic area to let the doctor know what's up. She wondered around the waiting room bewildered. Well, the doc decides to look in her chart and sees that this poor woman is on a laundry list of mental health related medication and informs the clinic manager about what was going on just in passing. The clinic manager (being the rotten dragon lady she is....) decides to call the police even though the doctor said he was going to take her back into clinic and assess her himself before he decides what action to take. The police show up in record time and they start asking the woman where she thinks she is and all this stuff. She begins to panic and an ambulance is called and this woman is hauled away to the nearest hospital.
Full moon, amirite?!
This isn't exactly a "Full moon! People are so crazy!" story. It's a really sad story. It started out kind of funny and then it turned into the responsible people (the doctor) trying to do the responsible thing and take care of this woman in a responsible way, and ended with the clinic manager making a dumb decision and got the police involved when they didn't need to be. It was probably just coincidental that this happened on a day that there was a full moon. She had probably stopped taking her medication days prior and it resulted in this sort of confusion.
Maybe I should have told the story about the full moon night I was working at Barnes and Noble and a guy in a penis costume came running in, took a lap around the store and left. But, ya know, that's the extent of that story.
What I'm trying to say (poorly) is that this mixture of full moon, lunacy and the oppressive heat which is creating a literal pressure cooker could really be great fodder for a horror story.
Also, did you know that hospitals treat more dog bites on a full moon night?
*I'm just going to chalk up this whole blog post to Full Moon Fever. Tom Petty, you guys!
Monday, July 2, 2012
The Halloween Hottie of the Day-Ladies Edition
We were raised on Bewitched. It's Mom's favorite show and she has a vast collection of Bewitched memorabilia, cookie jars, dolls, coffee mugs, etc. that she holds very dear to her heart. The star of Bewitched, Elizabeth Montgomery even shares similar features with my mom. Pretty, blonde, sassy and witch-y. Mom identified so much with Elizabeth Montgomery that my sister Cori was nearly saddled with the name Sayward, the name of a character in a made-for-TV movie that Elizabeth starred in in 1978, 2 years prior to Cori being born. What a horrible name to be stuck with, Ma! Geez.
Elizabeth Montgomery also gets major props for portraying Lizzie Borden in the TV movie The Legend of Lizzie Borden.
Elizabeth Montgomery also gets major props for portraying Lizzie Borden in the TV movie The Legend of Lizzie Borden.
The Halloween Hottie of the Day-Male Edition
I finally got a chance to watch some of the fifty Ghost Adventures episodes I have in my DVR on Saturday night! While all three men on the show are terrible charming and funny, to me the stand-out is Aaron Goodwin. Yes, Zak Bagans is the quintessential Tall, Dark and Handsome and Nick Groff is cute as a bug's ear, but it's Aaron that really steals my heart whenever I watch. He kinda doesn't want to be there, he makes obvious groan-worthy jokes, he shows his fear by first screaming and jumping, then asking "Dude, did you see that?! Dude, did you see that?!" in a rapid-fire machine gun style (actually they all do that when something scares them) and he's got that big, beautiful bald head.
I find Aaron so enduring I think because he reacts to these paranormal things in a way most people would, like I how I would, with fear, a fit of giggles brought on by a mixture of excitement and terror, and total relief when it's all over.
I find Aaron so enduring I think because he reacts to these paranormal things in a way most people would, like I how I would, with fear, a fit of giggles brought on by a mixture of excitement and terror, and total relief when it's all over.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Halloween In July
It's that time of year again! Riverfest Time! Oh, Riverfest. Anoka, MN's annual cramming of the craft booths, food trucks and legions of sweaty people into a roughly three block radius of the downtown area for a Saturday in July! It sounds kind of unpleasant, and at times it is, but it's mostly a good eatin' time that usually results in sunburn and homemade handbags you really didn't want but didn't want to leave Riverfest empty-handed. I NEVER leave Riverfest empty handed. You know why? Because Riverfest is the first time during the year the latest Anoka Halloween merchandise is for sale! Woot! Woot!
Anoka is the self-proclaimed Halloween Capital of the World and my love for Anoka is deep and endless. Remember when I wrote about how I loved seeing small towns portrayed in movies and on television? Anoka is the quintessential small-town like you see in those movies and TV shows, except with all the warts and ickyness that comes with anywhere actual human beings live. Anoka falls into the trappings of occasional small-mindedness, some overzealous religions organizations, a nasty bullying problem in our middle school, small-town bullshit politics, and having a large part to do with Michele Bachmann being elected to public office. These are the things that make my storybook town less-than-perfect, but nowhere is perfect. In the last five years I have spent working in downtown Anoka and the last nearly three years I've spent living in Anoka (not to mention my nearly weekly trips to the town as a child) I've learned that the good people outnumber the bad people enormously. It's just that the bad people are louder and more annoying, and their actions have a negative affect on all of us. But, I digress. Let's talk Halloween!
Every year there is a annual Button Design Contest (can't you see this cutthroat competition already being played out in some terrible made-for-TV movie?) Citizens submit their designs to the Halloween Committee (real thing) and one is selected to be the logo for the year's festivities, you know, all three damn parades. And shirts, buttons, coffee mugs, stickers, whatever else you can slap a logo on to. Here are a few from years past:
This is last years, one of my personal favorites since the maroon and white is a play on Anoka High Schools colors. And the bat, of course.
2009's is also very cute. The clock the ghost is hugging actually sits in the middle of Main Street at First Avenue coming into Anoka from the west. Speaking of Anoka's Ghosts, I have a funny story for you: Keeping the small-town politics that go into this to a minimum....Main Street is getting a complete overhaul this summer. The sidewalks are being widen, pavers are going into the crosswalks, all sorts of fancy things. Well, a few local shopkeepers in town are being Negative Nellies and bitched to the Star Tribune about it. In turn, the Star Trib published this whole article about how merchants in Downtown Anoka are feeling like they are in "exile" and the city is slapping them in the face, blah, blah, blah. Keep in mind, the people who complained where the guy who owns the crappy tattoo shop (there is a good tattoo shop and a crappy tattoo shop in Anoka) and this woman who opened a shop in the basement of where the tattoo shop is located selling things she bought at garage sales....pillars of the community, as you can see. Well, my boss Mary, who owns the very successful and very long-standing, kick-ass reputation-ed Party Papers was very annoyed with this article and she and a few other people from the RDA committee (Rediscover Downtown Anoka, we love our committees in this town) composed a Letter to the Editor to the Star Tribune taking them to task for publishing such a negative article and how the Main Street Make-Over is going to do nothing but good thing for the town and the streets are already more beautiful so on and so forth, and then wondered why the writer of the article was skewing this in such a bad light, why didn't they send a different reporter, namely the woman who recently did a story on the town's Historical Society-backed Ghosts of Anoka Tours. The letter asked "Why didn't you send (Other Reporter's Name) she is a very talented writer and covered our ghosts so well." As I read this line of the letter I couldn't help but giggle. All I could imagine was some sort of Ghost Gossip Column, Or that all the ghosts in Anoka (there a ton! Limestone under our streets and all that...) get together for a meeting on a monthly basis to discuss how they were portrayed in the media this month, "Oh, dear! Did you see what was written about us in the Star Tribune this week! How positively delightful!" And all the ghosts of Anoka also wear monocles and have put-on British accents in my head....
End of story.
So, anyways, this year's design! I think it is darling, here it is:
Sure, the Jack-O-Lantern has been done to death, but it's hard to keep these things fresh after 90 some years! Well, I'm sure they weren't printing shirts and buttons to sell back in 1920, but you know what I mean. The tree though, I do like that spooky tree.
My only problem is, I'm not even going to be in town for Riverfest this year! It falls on the weekend I am going to The Palmer House in Sauke Centre! I guess I will just have to line-up with the rest of the Halloween enthusiasts and get my Halloween Anoka gear from one of Downtown Anoka's fabulous merchants (Party Papers, Party Papers, Party Papers, Party Papers) or failing that the SuperValue owned Cub Foods one town over does Anoka a solid and also sells them. I have options, people, it's going to be okay.
Ha! They were making these buttons back in 1950 though! Look at this!
Here is one from 1965!
Dear God, some wonderful human being is sell these all on Etsy! Wow! 1991! Snowstorm!
Okay, I will stop now. But it may be my life's work to now collect each and every one of these buttons....
Also, I guess the Anoka Halloween Celebrations are more than just three parades.
Anoka is the self-proclaimed Halloween Capital of the World and my love for Anoka is deep and endless. Remember when I wrote about how I loved seeing small towns portrayed in movies and on television? Anoka is the quintessential small-town like you see in those movies and TV shows, except with all the warts and ickyness that comes with anywhere actual human beings live. Anoka falls into the trappings of occasional small-mindedness, some overzealous religions organizations, a nasty bullying problem in our middle school, small-town bullshit politics, and having a large part to do with Michele Bachmann being elected to public office. These are the things that make my storybook town less-than-perfect, but nowhere is perfect. In the last five years I have spent working in downtown Anoka and the last nearly three years I've spent living in Anoka (not to mention my nearly weekly trips to the town as a child) I've learned that the good people outnumber the bad people enormously. It's just that the bad people are louder and more annoying, and their actions have a negative affect on all of us. But, I digress. Let's talk Halloween!
Every year there is a annual Button Design Contest (can't you see this cutthroat competition already being played out in some terrible made-for-TV movie?) Citizens submit their designs to the Halloween Committee (real thing) and one is selected to be the logo for the year's festivities, you know, all three damn parades. And shirts, buttons, coffee mugs, stickers, whatever else you can slap a logo on to. Here are a few from years past:
2010's. This was the logo the year I was pregnant. When I bought my shirt at Riverfest in July of 2010 I was five months pregnant. Having foresight, I bought a XXL. By the time I wore it last, Halloween of 2010, I was nine months pregnant and that pumpkin in the "90" no longer had a smile on his face.
2009's is also very cute. The clock the ghost is hugging actually sits in the middle of Main Street at First Avenue coming into Anoka from the west. Speaking of Anoka's Ghosts, I have a funny story for you: Keeping the small-town politics that go into this to a minimum....Main Street is getting a complete overhaul this summer. The sidewalks are being widen, pavers are going into the crosswalks, all sorts of fancy things. Well, a few local shopkeepers in town are being Negative Nellies and bitched to the Star Tribune about it. In turn, the Star Trib published this whole article about how merchants in Downtown Anoka are feeling like they are in "exile" and the city is slapping them in the face, blah, blah, blah. Keep in mind, the people who complained where the guy who owns the crappy tattoo shop (there is a good tattoo shop and a crappy tattoo shop in Anoka) and this woman who opened a shop in the basement of where the tattoo shop is located selling things she bought at garage sales....pillars of the community, as you can see. Well, my boss Mary, who owns the very successful and very long-standing, kick-ass reputation-ed Party Papers was very annoyed with this article and she and a few other people from the RDA committee (Rediscover Downtown Anoka, we love our committees in this town) composed a Letter to the Editor to the Star Tribune taking them to task for publishing such a negative article and how the Main Street Make-Over is going to do nothing but good thing for the town and the streets are already more beautiful so on and so forth, and then wondered why the writer of the article was skewing this in such a bad light, why didn't they send a different reporter, namely the woman who recently did a story on the town's Historical Society-backed Ghosts of Anoka Tours. The letter asked "Why didn't you send (Other Reporter's Name) she is a very talented writer and covered our ghosts so well." As I read this line of the letter I couldn't help but giggle. All I could imagine was some sort of Ghost Gossip Column, Or that all the ghosts in Anoka (there a ton! Limestone under our streets and all that...) get together for a meeting on a monthly basis to discuss how they were portrayed in the media this month, "Oh, dear! Did you see what was written about us in the Star Tribune this week! How positively delightful!" And all the ghosts of Anoka also wear monocles and have put-on British accents in my head....
End of story.
So, anyways, this year's design! I think it is darling, here it is:
My only problem is, I'm not even going to be in town for Riverfest this year! It falls on the weekend I am going to The Palmer House in Sauke Centre! I guess I will just have to line-up with the rest of the Halloween enthusiasts and get my Halloween Anoka gear from one of Downtown Anoka's fabulous merchants (Party Papers, Party Papers, Party Papers, Party Papers) or failing that the SuperValue owned Cub Foods one town over does Anoka a solid and also sells them. I have options, people, it's going to be okay.
Ha! They were making these buttons back in 1950 though! Look at this!
Here is one from 1965!
Dear God, some wonderful human being is sell these all on Etsy! Wow! 1991! Snowstorm!
Also, I guess the Anoka Halloween Celebrations are more than just three parades.
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