My boyfriend and I got to see Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman perform at the Ebell Theater in Los Angeles on Halloween, which was…(I can’t think of a better word than…) amazeballs!

I may have a slight infatuation with both of them, but I think it’s a healthy attraction to (and desire to emulate) their creative and unorthodox lifestyles.

Plus, they’re damn sexy. Hello!

I rarely remember my dreams (and I’ve only written about them once before), but Amanda has showed up in quite a few of them. In one, I was her groupie. Most recently, we were friends and staying together in a giant, steam-punkish mansion where we created music together. I feel like a 13-year-old writing fan fiction (oh, I sure did write some Hanson fan fiction back in the day).

It couldn’t have been a more fun Halloween. There might not have been any candy candy, but there was plenty of eye candy (see above!). There was a costume contest (best costume I saw was a chick dressed as Hester from The Scarlett Letter – she was carrying a fake baby and her scarlet “A” lit up like a Christmas tree! Though the audience chose two men dressed as “fucked up rabbits” as the winners). And, bonus, Margaret Cho, who is friends with Amanda, opened the show with a joke about loving candy…unwrapping candy…and foreskin. It was as lovely and off color as I would have hoped Neil read Halloweenish stories, Amanda sung, and there were quite a few adorable duets between them (Neil & Amanda started the show with the duet “Making Whoopie”)! My favorite of the night was Amanda singing “Ampersand.” No cellos. No accompaniment. Just her and her keyboard. I cried like a little baby.

The night reminded me of how important singing is to me as a creative outlet, as expression, as therapy. I think it’s easy for us all to force-forget our passions – to push them aside as low priority on our chain of “must dos” as life gets crazy. But I took that little knot feeling in my stomach that said, “just sing!” to heart.

If you ever need a kick in the ass to remember that you should go through life singing, watch this:

<3,

The Cranky One *la la la*

I was reflecting on Halloween last night and I can tell you this — Chris (my twin) and I would go trick-or-treating, pour out our pillow-cases full of candy and let the bargaining begin.  Our twin bonds were often made or broken over candy.  He preferred the gummy, sour things, me the chocolate, so swapping was easy. Certain candies though, like the Snickers, were both of our faves, which made bargaining tricky and created the “watch your candy in the middle of the night” look.

Chris and I were always shocked with friends who would bring out bags of candy in December and ask if we wanted some of their Halloween “stash.”  “Stash” is a foreign concept to two binging kids.  Binge eaters certainly have a “stash” but, like any other addict, it’s a stash that’s often accessed without restraint and unceasingly replenished.  We had that “all or nothing” mentality — if we can just eat all the candy then we won’t be tempted by it anymore.  Then we can begin the break from “forbidden” foods.

Tonight — it’s not about overzealous candy swaps, forbidden foods, haunting memories, or phantom fat.  Tonight it’s about stashing but not of the candy variety.  Tonight I will stash laughs by imprinting them in my memory to conjure when I’m blue.  I will stash kisses, hugs and jokes.  I will replace my “food baggage” with food appreciation and eat a cupcake or two.  Here’s to realizing it’s not the food that makes the day but the people I eat it with.

Here’s to baby corn, not candy corn

Source
Here’s to hoarding kisses, not chocolate

(Don’t mind the boyf’s beer…lol)

Here’s to music not madness

Click here for a free download of my band‘s spooky cover of The Cranberries’ “Zombie”

Here’s to choices, not excuses

Vegan candies you can enjoy tonight?  Click here
Recipe for vegan cupcakes? Click here (I shall be trying these tonight)
Recipe for my fave pumpkin cookies?  Click here (they are a-mazing!)

Have fun tonight, be safe, and please live it up mindfully   What are you guys doing tonight?  What are you eating? Fave Halloween candy?

<3, The Cranky One