Thursday Interlude: We're Creepy and We're Kooky (And Cute)

Sadly, CW was a Child Left Behind.

So, yesterday afternoon I was walking down to the first floor to attend a meeting to discuss my news stories for January Music Educators Journal. I passed our Sun Room meeting space where many an important strategy session takes place. Inside Posh Spice, a kind of demented jester, and a bloody accident victim, talked with their boss, who was decked out in ghostly necklace in celebration of, you guessed it, her birthday.

HS and CW (along with SKJ and other staffers) organized the Halloween festivities, which included a "Dead Musicians" Trivia Contest at the potluck luncheon.

Wednesday was just another Halloween at MENC, where a bunch of creative people dressed as witches and bananas and gangsters spent the day working on member business. but also carved out a bit of time for bountiful potluck staff luncheon. Your truly took photos but also reviewed December Teaching Music pages and looked ahead to the January journal.


On October 20 I celebrated my fourth year at MENC, so obviously I started work here just days before my first staff Halloween. I quickly learned that Halloween is a very big deal here MENC. Why? Um, I am still not sure. I mean we celebrate the December holidays, too, decorating for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, but Halloween, I dunno, seems to let everyone be kids again. (See some of the entries in the pumpkin-carving contest, above). And as I said, I work with some very creative people.

Before the festivities got underway, ML laid down the law.

The big highlight of the day was the Halloween social, which also included a costume contest and an amazing spread of staff-produced food. Spiced peanut butter chick peas, homemade pizza, curried chicken, veggie pizza, baked beans, , fruit salads, mac and cheese, and chocolate-dipped pretzels with cashews and almonds for fingernails served in containers decorated with shirt sleeves. JG made the latter and they were very cute. I made what has become my singnature Halloween potluck dish, that involves wrapping crescent rolls around a hot dog and a slice of cheese. I use beef hot dogs so I call it cows in a blanket, though my son points out that cows wouldn't fit in a blanket. Oh to be 14, and know everything there is to know in the world. But I digress.

Here at MENC, not everyone dresses up. Some people spend a lot of time thinking up their costumes. Other people throw them together the night before or the morning of. In any case, the ingenuity is fun to see, as you will see from my attempt at photos throughout.

For example, KR, shown below, decided to spend the day as Harry Potter character Luna

Lovegood (We have a Harry Potter clan here at MENC, in case I hadn't mentioned that earlier) She made radish earrings, baking them at home according to a jewelery-making recipe she found online. Apparently there are a lot of LL fans out there in cyberspace.

Anyway, today things are back normal here in Reston. Now it's on to Thanksgiving! And you know the rest. Just wanted to share a few more staff photos with you. How was your Halloween?

Golfing buddies, SM and DP struck
a dashing pose in MENC lobby.

MJ, SF and SA won first place
for their "Grey's Anatomy"
skit.

CW, our resident Snow White was kind and posed
with TH (just kidding, TH, we love you!)



Oh, nurse. You never know who JH
will be.



Posh Spice was in the building.
MB swears Becks was around, but he
scampered away.

The embroidery on MM's outfit was beautiful.

Ha, Ha. Was JW frightenting or funny? Both?

Normally when NS carries a violin case, it has a violin inside.


Wherever there is a group of pretty ladies, you will find TH,
who poses with KR, AD and LE.

I guess JW as the jester wasn't too scary since Cinderalla (PS)
and her daughter, L were willing to pose with him.

And scene
Til Next Thursday. Happy November
RF