It's true, everyone. My boyfriend competed in the New York Beard and Mustache Competition.
Shannon and I went to support him, and as we approached the Knitting Factory venue, each of us thought, I hope we're in the right place. Then we saw this man and knew we were okay.
Here he is from the front. Good ol' Heinz from Germany, worldwide winner for the last 6 years.
The event was actually sold out! As Dustin always says, if you have the idea to do something in New York, a thousand other people probably have the same idea. But since Dusty was a competitor, he got me (his girlfriend) and Shannon (his "sister") in... and for free, which was an unexpected bonus. The place was so ambient.
The show started with a montage of famous facial hair over the years set to "You Are So Beautiful" by Joe Cocker, with clips of Magnum, P.I., Tom Cruise, and others gracing the screen in slow motion. I got a little misty-eyed. Then there was the national anthem. Then the powerful tunes of "Angel is a Centerfold" boomed over the speakers as the Mustache Fly Girls came out to dance.
... Although Shannon and I knew we could probably do better. We plan to get Kerri and Jennifer involved and do this sort of thing for weddings, bar mitzvahs and other events around town. Next up was a folky, blue-grassy kind of band called Curtis Eller's Elephant Circus... or something like that... I was unsure of them at first; they were a bit wacky. But they earned my folky heart soon enough.
Facial hair was everywhere!!
... except on this guy, the most hairless creature in the whole room.
The competition got underway. We were introduced to our faithful judges.
(handsome, aren't they?)
They even had a mascot!
Here's Dustin with a fellow competitor in the mustache category.
He finally was announced onstage. Ah, his moment of glory. I know he was lovin' it.
The judges conferred and even had to call a woman up for the female perspective to settle on a winner.
The competitors waited in eager anticipation.
Sigh... unfortunately, although my boy made it to the Semifinals, he was not crowned Best Mustache In Show. The honors went to this guy:
Can you believe he didn't win?!?!?!
Well, at least he got a free t-shirt.
And a few days later, I went for a change of hair myself. I've been pretty sick of this ugly crap:
So I went to the Soon Design Lab and Shelly took care of me. I had my glasses off so I couldn't see anything, but I was pretty nervous when I looked down and saw all of this in my lap:
"It's just hair. It's just hair," I breathed to calm myself. I was not very confident when I saw this, mid-cut:
But it all turned out okay! Even Dustin claims to like it. It's so much easier, no stupid flyaways in my face anymore. Who cares if I look like a little boy? Mom, these multiple views are for you.
I went to Arizona last weekend. It was pretty much a lazy time. We all just laid around and took naps.
Just kidding. It was actually a super-busy weekend, and the above pictures represent how tired everyone was in between all of the goings-on of the weekend. I'll try to keep the post concise as most of you reading this were probably there for all events (Mom). I thought I was going just for Tom's Ph.D ceremony, but it ended up being an event trifecta: also that weekend was Mother's Day and Greg's last weekend in Arizona. It. Was. EMOTIONAL.
I got in late Wednesday night and arrived home in Gilbert to a note from my mum saying "Welcome home! Be ready to leave by 8am!" I don't know how I did it, but I did it. And I looked fabulous doing it.
It was all worth it because Tom looked smashing in his regalia (complete with puffy hat): Even the arena was all gussied up.
The boys, Mom, Grandma, Marsha and I all sat together, as you can clearly see from the following photos. Tom came up to say hello. It was a fest. We were sooooo proud of him! Greg looked cool as always, despite the 103-degree heat (which nearly killed me). And Nate looked... charming as ever. Here I present to you the most hilarious picture of my family EVER TAKEN. Click on it to get a close-up of each priceless face. Back home for the reception, the Stapleton women worked away in the kitchen (as usual). We gave the man of the hour a "Congrats, Dr. Tom" cake and I guess he made a wish. The best thing was that Mom and I were wearing matching/opposite outfits. Even our shoes were matching/opposite. We took some photos to commemorate the occasion. We goofed off... ... and practiced our catalogue modeling. (2 Ls? 1 L?) Awwwwwww! Then it was Mom/Tom time. They were even more adorable (if that's possible). Meanwhile, inside I tried to show Grandma how to use the computer so she could see this very blog (Hi, Grandma!). We didn't get very far beyond the concept of scrolling. The next morning I went with Tom to his College Convocation, where he got hooded on the big screen. Later that day, Mom and I went to the Dollar Tree to get some cheap starter household items for Greg that he otherwise would never think of (aluminum foil, paper plates, rope). It was uber-glam. That night, the boys and I went to Dad and Dana's house for some quality time. He made us a lovely dinner, then we watched the Suns game (which I hadn't done in years) and watched Dana decorate a cake for her li'l grandson, who turned 1 year old the next day. She made it into a tiger, which turned out awesome, especially for her first time. She opted to be the photographer for this picture.
And on Saturday, we traveled (1 L? 2 Ls?) to Scottsdale for a family dinner at Grandma's. Her cool new friend Rita was there. Nathan and I, despite our spats, still love each other. We were able to capture the rare occasion of all of us being in the same room together. The entire Stapleton direct lineage: Uncle Gene gave us a brief history of the universe.
Then we gave Greg his goody basket of Useful Stuff. (that's right, I used the non-word "stuff"!) I think he was pretty excited. Immediately following the Family Fest, I went to Sarah's for her graduation barbecue. Unfortunately, the only picture I got was of a painting I made years ago still hanging on her bedroom wall. How selfish is that? (and a crappy photo at that.) There has been a nest in my parents' backyard for some time now. Its last baby bird actually flew the coop for the first time this weekend, appropriately enough. The parent birds stopped feeding it to give it a reason to leave, then flew around the area slowly for awhile to show it how to fly. By Sunday it was successfully out of the nest and chillin' on the adirondack chair. That morning, Mother's Day, we sat on the couch with Mom and had some quality time. Unbelievably, these pictures were not posed. I left Sunday night for the red-eye back to New York. The only good thing about flying that late at night is that you get to see the sun rise from above the clouds. I returned to work immediately after dropping my suitcase at home. It was rainy and exactly 50 degrees cooler in the city than in Arizona. Talk about opposites. A lovely weekend was had by all. Happy Graduation, Tom! Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Good luck, Greg!
Okay okay, this is finally it. Forgive me if my writing voice is less than perky... I'm going on about four hours total sleep for the last 2 days. Anyway, a few Fridays ago, Dustin and I were about to get off of work, and he looked at me and said, "Do you want to go to the top of the Empire State Building?" I thought, Heck, what else do I have to do? So I said "LET'S GO!" and off we went. After waiting in a pretty long line (which seemed even longer because I was wearing high heels), we finally boarded the elevator. I proceeded to freak out, but only internally (HELLO, 86 floors!). I tried to distract myself with the fascinating bar codes on our tickets. Waiting in another line for the second (yes, it takes more than one) elevator, there was an audio guide available. Have your view of New York narrated by Tony The Cabbie. We stepped out of the elevator just as the sun was about to set. We could see PS 260 from there! (the building right in the middle) Breathtaking. The thing that I really noticed up there is that you look around you and there are no other buildings surrounding you. This seems like an obvious observation, but the sensation of wide open spaces is strange in New York. (It's the New Yorker building that I was trying to capture here.) Soon enough, it was night and the sky was dark... but this city never goes dark. In fact, it seems even more alive at night. We saw King Kong, in all his costumed glory. Another thing: I tried to look for Times Square, thinking it would be super-easy to pick out at night. Strangely enough, when I finally spotted it, I realized that from that high, the busiest intersection in the universe looks incredibly closed-off, with only a few peripheral pulsating lights escaping into the sky. It's like watching a party from across the street. Obligatory couple shot... And inside, on the way out (down), they have rows upon rows of knick-knacks and such. Imagine, a whole world of Empire State Buildings: The next day we motivated ourselves to go down to Brooklyn for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The place was crawling with gorgeous flowers. (...duh.)
And then, THEN we came upon the Cherry Blossom Promenade. There were sooooo many people there. This crazy girl group was playing.... they were pretty annoying. But I quite liked these Kimono Ladies. We wandered around the rest of the place, enjoying built nature with all of the other New Yorkers. Just try to tell me these don't take your breath away. I dare you. We laid in the grass for a bit... ...then went inside this gallery area where they had an enormous ice sculpture, which shone in the sunlight. Some people were getting married there that day. Just freaking precious. More flowers. These little girls playing in a giant willow or whatever tree just made my heart melt. It was a truly beautiful day. How many times am I going to say that on this blog?! Oh well, I hope I never have a reason to stop saying it. Here's another picture of me. The next day, Dustin and I attempted the crossword in the park. I soon realized I was on my own. And Riverside Park had its own cherry blossoms to brag about. (not to mention artsy old ladies.) And musicians! And the next weekend, I went to Central Park on my own, which seems every week to be an activity I love more and more. Everybody who was anybody was there. Young and old, tanned and... tanning (note the full-body black spandex): ... and of course some lovers cuddling in the grass. Again, freaking precious. It was a nice, bright day to be in the Park.
Having been rejected by the Frick Collection (long story), I headed to the Met and paid one dollar to see the AngloMania exhibit, which was boring and kind of silly, to be honest. I wandered into lonely halls in the England wing and found these old bedroom setups to be more interesting. This face carved into stone was FREAKY. And this was one of the saddest sights I've seen in New York in a long time (I mean, not including the homeless people): As I was walking home from the museum, I crossed Park Avenue, the median for which has lately been sporting beds upon beds of tulips. And now... ... all of them have been clipped. I wanted to cry.
Well, to cap this monstrous post off, some good old New York subway (and street) art. Boy, just wait until you see the post from this weekend's trip to AZ! It was a 103-degree blast! Gimme a couple of days for that one.
Oh, Loves, I have much to write about, but there's not much point in writing on a photoblog if one doesn't have the photos to illustrate one's words. Just have to get the photos from Dustin, because it was with his camera that we took dazzling pictures at the top of the Empire State Building and the Cherry Blossom Festival last week. Here is a picture of my newest favorite skirt, my splurge item from H&M.
Isn't it amazing???? I just can't get enough of it.
