halloween happened...

...and I actually dressed up.

I used to get mildly excited about dressing up for Halloween; my first Halloween working in the pediatric therapy clinic (where I still work), I dressed up as the Cat in the Hat. I had fun dressing up, and my clients all thought my costume was pretty rad.

I'm a pretty big fan of Mr. Dr. Seuss, so I had this terrific idea to dress up as a Sneetch the following Halloween. I planned it out for a long time, and I felt pretty good about myself as I walked out of my apartment that fateful Halloween morning (2008). My world was figuratively shattered that day; approximately five people knew what I was supposed to be, even after I said, "I'm a sneetch." Ugh. Badly done, city of Idaho Falls. Badly. Done.

Anyway...I decided to get into the spirit of things this year, and I dressed up as (Nymphadora) Tonks from the Harry Potter books. I love her character, plus I already had the bulk of the costume in my wardrobe already, so win/win.

I'm an auror, don't you know.

When I walked into work last Thursday, I was nervous, because none of the other therapists I saw on my way in had dressed up. Then a fellow SLP, Matt, looked at my costume and asked me if I was supposed to be Katy Perry.

Humbug, Matt! No, I'm not Katy Perry! She's talented, I'm sure, and quite pretty, I know, but I wasn't dressed as her. (Quite honestly, I was wearing far too much clothing for a Katy Perry costume.) I got annoyed, but mostly laughed.

Changed my wig, because Tonks can totally change her appearance at will.

I stayed in the pink wig for the majority of the remainder of the day, so as to avoid the Katy Perry misunderstanding.

Full-body shot. Tonks dresses kinda punk-ish.

On the evening of Halloween, I chilled with some friends at Jen's house where we ate pizza and watched Ghost Busters. 'Twas a fun evening, I must say...

The group (minus Jeremy and Brooke)
Jeanna  the BYU fan, me (wearing a bunny nose, because Tonks can do that), Dr. Willie,
Officer Tracie, Mulan (Jen), and KJ the witch (who scared the crap out of trick-or-treaters)

I hope y'all had a safe and happy Halloween!

At present, I'm counting down until my Moab trip (3 days, minus some hours). 

the Sneetch speech...

I've never been a big fan of dressing up for Halloween (or any other occasion, really). I guess I liked it when I was little and it meant trick-or-treating for all sorts of sugary goodness. But I sort of grew out of it. Alas...I went to a big fat Halloween party on Friday night, and I wasn't about to show up without a costume. I went to the same party last year and dressed up as the Cat in the Hat. I HEART Dr. Seuss, so I thought I'd stick with the theme and go as a Sneetch.

Do you know what a Sneetch is? I certainly do; I was raised on Dr. Seuss, and I figured every other child in America was too.

Oh, how wrong I was.

I didn't do the math, but I'd estimate that somewhere near 90% of the people I've talked to about said Sneetches had no clue what I was talking about. Even when they saw the awesomeness that was Gina-the-star-bellied-sneetch, people were clueless.

It makes me sad.

So...I'm here to enlighten you, my blaudience, as to what exactly a Sneetch is. I'll do it through rhyme...a tribute to Dr. Seuss.

I am a SNEETCH
I'm yellow and tall with a rather large belly
I like frankfurter roasts, toasted mallows and jelly
The man Dr. Seuss created my kind
(He is a genius with a brilliant mind!)
My story's a good one for both young and old
But not many know it (or so I've been told)
The star on my belly, so small and so green
Caused such a commotion--oh MY what a scene!
The plain-belly sort (there are two kinds of sneetches)
Hoped stars'd make them the best SNEETCH on the beaches
Then a crazy money-mongering man came by
Long story short: he confused us (don't know why)
Now we all get along, both star-bellied and plain
"A SNEETCH is a SNEETCH" we can all proudly claim
I've done my own story no justice, it's true
Read the real story by the one Dr. Seuss

An actual SNEETCH...

Gina the Sneetch with her roommates:
Brooke the roughed-up PE teacher
& Lisa, the Egyptian Princess