That Was The Week That Was

In case you've been dying to know about my exciting life, here's a recap of Halloween week:

Shades of Mrs. Linklater in green hair and makeup [above]

Thursday night, my randy old ladies' barbershop singing group had its annual Halloween party during our Thursday night rehearsal. Everyone showed up in costume, which ranged from Joyce, who dressed up as Anne Boleyn after the beheading, with her neck wrapped in gauze to keep her head from falling off her body -- to Sue, in a costume that made no sense whatsoever, although she won a prize because the combination of Harlequin clown shirt, blue fright wig and Groucho Marx nose, glasses, and eyebrows made everyone laugh -- to a number of witches, five to be exact, only one of whom [me] went the extra mile and covered her face and hands in green make up. 

Yo, Harem Boy, you talking to me?

Little Orphan Annie on Social Security

          Given our above average age, there were no attempts to dress as a hooker, since that result would look more like a bag lady than anything resembling Lady Gaga or a Lady of the Evening. There was a geriatric version of little Orphan Annie [above], and an older, plumper version of Cinderella, in a bright pink floor length satin dress and extremely long blond wing. One of my personal favorites was a charming interpretation of the world's oldest harem girl, as well as a cat in leopard fur, a zombie in a top hat that looked like Dick Van Dyke as the chimney sweep in Mary Poppins, a pirate in a really nice brocade vest I wouldn't mind wearing in real life, plus a number of other get ups I can't remember, and someone who came straight from work who only had time to don a pair of devil's horns. 

          This year is also the 20th anniversary of our conductor keeping us on pitch, so I had a cake made with a poem suggested by our current president, "Congratulations on 20 years, Alice! You make our voices ring and our hearts sing!"  For those keeping track, I ordered a yellow cake with raspberry filling and chocolate [not fudge] buttercream frosting. I got to take a nice big piece home with me. And you didn't. 

          We gave our leader an engraved commemorative crystal frame and a lovely necklace with a gemstone surrounded by diamonds. She said they were the first diamonds she'd ever received. [Meanwhile I noticed last summer that her husband enjoys a 60-inch plasma TV in the living room.]
          I think we were only charged double for the jewelry. [I kid.] I guess it helps to have a member of the group whose husband has a jewelry store, no doubt steadily supplied by the large number of pawn shops he also owns. 

          On Wednesday, I finally got my check for $200 deposit and change from The Lock Up --  several weeks and many phone calls after it had been promised. Asswipes. At our every other month lunch at Kiki's French Bistro, two old friends made fun of me for making such a big deal about $200, after I'd spent $24,000 at the place. Hey, it's the principle of the thing. And you two are extremely well compensated, so poo poo on you.

William McNulty and Jake Wood taking a break in Haiti, 2010

          Wednesday night, William McNulty, VP of Team Rubicon, called from LA and left a message that Jake Wood, president of TR had just won GQ's "Better Man Better World" search at the Gentlemen's Ball in NYC. I called back and said, "Holy shit!" I couldn't believe he'd won. With Jake's win, TR gets $15,000 from Movado. He also gets some money and a photo spread in GQ [keep your eye out]. 

          Since the group formed last year the day after the Haiti quake, I have done some volunteer PR for them. I wrote the GQ nomination at the request of TR, because I've had good luck getting him some other awards. When Jake made the five finalists, I read the other nominations and thought mine was the best, if I say so myself. So YAY for me. But mostly it just felt great to be a part of helping Team Rubicon and making a truly useful contribution. Supposedly the writer of the nomination that wins gets an iPad. . .not that I needed any incentive to nominate Jake. I'll donate it back to TR, but first I have to get it. [The guys told me to keep it.]

Emma and Rich in Honolulu         

On Tuesday, we got closer to finishing our PSAs for an assistance dog nonprofit, headquartered on Maui in Hawaii. Service dogs are such amazing animals. The people that train them are exceptional too. The relationship between people with disabilities and their dogs is remarkable and I think we've captured the depths of that emotional bond in these spots. Emma and Rich are a wonderful example of that special relationship. I'll post a link to them on YouTube once they're approved. Right now we're figuring out a way to animate the logo and do some retooling of the elements. 

          My birthday is Sunday. No, really, I can't accept your gifts. I got an invitation from friends to join them for dinner, which is always a nice evening at their house. They have a new dog, a Marley type lab, which, if you've read Marley & Me, means he's the hyperactive American breed, not the calm, easy going British version. But I love dogs, so it should be fun. And there's Sunday night football!! Somewhere there's a man longing for a woman who loves to watch football. As long as she's got Pam Anderson's body. I can't catch a break. 

          Finally, today, I got an email announcing that a couple I know from a swank, upper middle-class suburb outside Chicago, are now certified Angus beef farmers. He's a doc; she's a marketing person. Now they're farmers. That's like a lawyer and a nurse becoming long haul truckers. They took over his family's farm in Wisconsin and started doing the grass fed organic beef thing, topping off the food cycle with some grain just before the animals are slaughtered, so the meat doesn't have that fresh as fescue taste. 

           I got to try some of their burgers last summer and the taste was terrific. I was a little skeptical about the flavor because I'd tried Tall Grass Company beef, the grass fed beef from Kansas, started by a former news anchor here in Chicago. And that meat tasted like grass smells when you've just mowed it. So I was pleasantly surprised by the real beef flavor from my friends' Wisconsin farm. 

Linda Yellin, author of The Last Blind Date, autographed her book for me          

And that's pretty much it for my jetsetter life, unless you want to include the book signing I went to last week and the musical retreat I attended on Saturday.  I already wrote about the Dixieland Band memorial service last Sunday. What do you people want from me?