Sweet Tweets

Monday, November 23, 2009

Of Michael's and Men

This is long over-due, but blogging has obviously been low on the to-do list...

Every October the perennial tension of finding the perfect Halloween costume rears it's ugly, pig's blood-covered and spirit-gum-enhanced warty head. I written about this before, and the quest to find something other than Party City's smutty polyester "sexy" version of everything (it would not be beneath them to come up with a "sexy" lunch lady complete with too-short skirt and plastic tray) or the ugly-version of an ogre.

It's even harder to come up with a couple's costume. There really aren't that many original ideas out there. And since we weren't excited by the idea of going as "bacon and eggs" or a "plug and outlet," Hunt and I came up with the idea of Prom King and Queen.

This is a bit of a manly stretch for any guy, but at least it didn't require tights or makeup for Hunt. But I wonder if he would have chosen wearing glittery purple tights over experiencing his first visit to the craft superstore Michael's that coincided with our costume choice.

Just stepping through the doors probably induces a self-preserving surge of testosterone in most males. Any guy would need it when confronted with an abundance of hot glue guns, fake flowers and scrapbooking supplies. We were on a mission to get materials to make our King and Queen sashes. What ensued was a scavenger hunt through the ribbon aisle. For the perfect ribbon.

That's right, I asked my boyfriend to shop for ribbon with me.

I'm afraid that my girlfriend approval rating might have temporarily dipped a few points as a result. In my defense, it was unavoidable. I do not have transportation of my own when I visit Hunt in DC, and I certainly don't know my way around that city.

I have to give Hunt a lot of credit. One of the things that I love about him is that he makes the best of any situation. Not only the best, but fun too. Maybe it's the training he's had to not freak out at anything, but I'm sure he'd rather face threading a catheter through a patient's microscopic artery than endless rolls of ribbons. But, it was actually Hunt that found the lovely white ribbon complete with miniature seed pearls sewn on it. And he helped me perfectly position the felt letters we found. He even figured out how to hot-glue the ends together so that it would lay flat and be even more professional in presentation.

And it was his discovery of an immensely over-sized mug (that he pretended to be drinking coffee out of when I turned the corner) that helped him win the prize of best-boyfriend of the year.

If we ever have to go back I might have to bribe him with a turn down the model car aisle. There's something about putting together miniature versions of cars, trucks, ships and rockets that makes men get nostalgic for his childhood. Maybe it's the balsa wood smell or the rubber cement, but it's powerful stuff.

While I might have to pay for this inaugural trip to Michael's with multiple extended visits to Best Buy, it was well worth it.

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