Rocky Horror in Kingston 2015

Tonight hubby and I are going to Crystal Amazement's Rocky Horror Show, which runs tonight and the rest of the week until the 12am showing Halloween night at Convocation Hall in Theological Hall at Queen's University.

Yes, we are dressing up.  Originally we had a big bunch of folks willing to attend, but now I'm not sure if anyone else is coming.  Doesn't matter, we shall have a splendid time!

Hubby is doing Frank N Furter and I'm dressing as Columbia.  There are available costumes for both characters, but after reading many reviews I decided to try to create my own Columbia look.  Hubby bought his Frank N Furter costume (online as Audrey's Costume Castle didn't have one in his size and didn't seem interested in helping us find one) as we couldn't really find the parts second hand.

I scored a sequinned dance outfit at Phase 2 - not the Columbia sparkly corset she wears, but better than any corset costume stuff I could find, and we ordered me a pair of striped shorts from Forever 21.  Also not quite officially Columbia, but as close as we could find without me actually making something.  Walmart had blue socks, and a sparkly Dollarama hat will top off the costume (but I'm not sold on wearing it since it'll be windy and rainy like crazy tonight!)  Of course fishnet tights are easy to find, but I could only get the ones with the back seam at a Halloween store.  And I already owned chunky heeled Mary Janes, although they are not tap shoes (and I can't tap dance, so I guess it all worked out!)

The item that gave me the most trouble was the studded collar.  I feel like there was a time you could find them anywhere.  Not so much this year.  Even Audrey's didn't have one.  I ordered this one online but it's only okay.  Now if I had wanted a studded bracelet, no problem!

To top off my look I got a haircut (at James Brett - my favourite salon) and a week later I coloured my hair with a 28 washes colour.  It's more purple than her red, but I wasn't convinced that red-red is really my colour.  Purple-red has had a few compliments so far and I know (based on the makeup I already own) I can make this work for me.

Tonight I will pull out the gel and slick my now-shorter hair back, go makeup crazy and see if I can resemble this hot-patootie groupie, at least somewhat!

I still have to check out Frank N Furter's makeup - Hubby says he has a tattoo that I get to try to draw on him.  Great.  I still don't really believe my husband will leave the house in this getup and go where other people are that can see him in underwear and a "bustier" or whatever it's supposed to be.  Also it's cold and rainy today, and I'm sure it won't be any warmer tonight.  Sometimes I wish Halloween was during the summer!

Wish me luck with my make-up talents tonight!

Kingston Buskers Rendezvous 2015

Every summer since I was a kid I've looked to forward to the Buskers!  My grandparents used to take me (and my sister) when we were "tweens" as the current term is.  When I got older and started going to Queen's University I started dragging my university friends.  I'm still dragging family and friends along whenever I can, but now I have 2 little people who seems to also have my enthusiasm for them!

I'm looking forward to it this year, as every year.  July 9th to 12th the streets of downtown Kingston will have performers everywhere!  Sections of streets are closed down, Market Square has bleachers for watching, and there are kids activities during the afternoons.  It's so much fun!

My workplace - Quarry Medical Pharmacy - has been sponsoring the Buskers for many years.  I think I'm the only one that works there who really takes advantage of the free (donations suggested) events of the Buskers, but as a vibrant downtown store we really try to support the community.  The store supports many other events and local organizations.

Anyway, I will post again as the Buskers get closer, but you know me and my family will be downtown as much as possible during this years Rendezvous.  I hope you will be too!

Toodles!

Weekend Fun - June 20th and 21st

I don't have a specific event to post about this time, just a personal one.  I am getting new neighbours. I liked my old neighbours but change is good, right?  The previous neighbours packed up their stuff yesterday, and I think the new people just made an appearance (a short one) this evening.  I am hopeful they will be great neighbours, and I can share my garden abundance with them this year!

We have a busy weekend upcoming.  We are going to Kingston School of Dance's performance at The Grand Theatre on Saturday - there are 2 showings one at 2pm and one at 7pm.  My eldest daughter is in the show and it will be fabulous.  Then we are having our family and friends back to our house for dinner.  Emma has to be picked up after the 2pm show and then returned at 6 for the 7pm show - it'll be tight but we've done it before.

I am very much looking forward to Sunday where I have no real plans.  We spent all week shuttling Emma back and forth the rehearsals for this big show.  And I've been husband-less since Wednesday morning, which makes it busier for me!  He's back tonight (thank goodness!) so we can all see our daughter dance tomorrow.

Anyway, just wanted to put a real life post on here.  Tomorrow is also Doors Open Kingston where you can tour most of the historical sites for free. Door's Open Info for Kingston here  There are other sites around town available to tour like the Police Station, City Hall, K-Rock Centre, and the Queen's Solar Education Centre.  The info is in the previous link.  If you go, leave me a comment telling me what you looked at and how it was!

Happy weekend everyone - toodles!

At Last - Kingston School of Dance Year End Performance

My daughters dance at Kingston School of Dance.  This Saturday is their end-of-year performance at the Grand Theatre.  My oldest girl is in 2 numbers this year - one in each act.  My younger girl had her recital last Saturday as she danced in the Imagine Dance class - 3 year olds.  They are a bit young yet to perform twice in one day on the big stage.  Especially since the second show starts at my daughter's normal bedtime!

We are attending the 2pm show as a family.  We actually purchased 10 tickets so everyone could come!  Last year's show was fabulous, I can only imagine this one will be too!  Now that we've been a part of this dance school for 3 years we are feeling like it's our community and it's so exciting to see the people we know (even from outside the dance world) performing and looking so elegant and graceful.

Hope you see some of my readers there!

Toodles!

Cantabile Choir Friday Night Donation Concert

My boss sings in the Cantabile Choir and they are fabulous.  I am otherwise engaged this Friday evening, but they are having a donation only concert at Sydenham St United Church at 7:30pm.  The choir always puts on a good show - some come out and support a good cause!  All proceeds will be donated to Stephen Lewis’s Grandmothers for Grandmothers and the Help Losotho Campaign.

Rocking the Square

Rockin the Square

I am going to this - Friday June 12th.  It's free!  I'm hoping to drag someone (or more than one) along with me, but I'll go on my own if no one wants to come.  It's been a while since I've been to a concert alone, but it's all good.  That means I can stand where I want and do what I want without worrying about whether someone else is having a good time!

If the girls were older I would totally make them come along, but it doesn't start until the time Emma is usually in bed, so it would not be fun for me to do that this year.  I'm sure there will be many more opportunities to drag them along to concerts.

Anyway, if anyone I know is going, let me know - I am happy to hang out with people who actually want to be there!

Toodles!

Favourite Locales in Kingston

I thought I would try to compile a post about the place I go in town for my regular life.  I will try to link to ones that have links, but I'm still trying to get an idea of how to properly do this blogger thing, so bear with my and please comment with any ideas or things you did or didn't like about my posts!

First, some local websites I use to get in information about what is going on around town, or which recycling night it is!

City Of Kingston - this is the city's website.  You can find almost anything you need to know about Kingston here.  I use it for waste collection schedules, transit maps, community events, parking info and lot of other stuff.

Downtown Kingston! - their tag line is: Dine.Shop.Enjoy.  This is more of a tourism website.  Here is what is says in the About Us section; The Downtown Kingston! Business Improvement Area (BIA) is an association of more than 700 businesses located in the core commercial area of the City of Kingston. The BIA promotes Downtown Kingston! as the vibrant and healthy commercial, retail, residential, and entertainment centre of our region, attracting more people to live, shop, work and gather.  This site is great for events happening downtown, as well as restaurants and retail stores you might like to check out.

Now some places I frequent::
Quarry Medical Pharmacy - this is my workplace, and also my pharmacy.  We are great.  I love everyone at the store, both staff and customers alike.  We pride ourselves on our fantastic customer service.  If you need a pharmacy (or a tube of toothpaste) please consider QMP.

Greco's Wine Bar and Grill -  I would say this is my favourite restaurant in the city.  There are a ton of restaurants, but this one is always great.  Casual fine dining, small space, also great customer service and they always recognize their repeat customers.  Oh and the food is fabulous too!

Kingston School of Dance - my daughters take dance classes here.  I believe this is the only non-competitive dance school in town.  The people there are fantastic and really care about the kids working at their own pace and developing skills individually.  I understand many of the "big girls" go on to dance in esteemed dance troupes or schools after they graduate from high school (or in the summers between)

The Tett Centre - this is where Kingston School of Dance is located.  Taken from the website: The J.K. Tett Centre is a City of Kingston-owned heritage building on the Lake Ontario waterfront. It is operated by the Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning, a not-for-profit arts organization made up of tenant groups and community members... If you are visiting Kingston, The Tett Center offers lots of opportunity to enrich yourself in the Canadian arts, such as plays, concerts, and dance. We have many visitors and members who join us from nearby places like Inverary, Verona, Seeley's Bay, Mallorytown, Belleville and Odessa.

Springer Market Square - the hub of downtown Kingston.  Many events happen here, as well as a Farmer's Market on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from May until it snows.

Kingston's Grand Theatre - the prime performing arts venue in town.  Kingston School of Dance puts on it's end-of-year performance here every year, as well as concerts, comedians, other dance and ballet performances, and of course plays are all performed here.

Cataraqui Centre - this is the indoor mall in town.  The kids like to go run around, and there are occasional "shows" (My Little Pony, Toopy & Binoo, fashion shows etc) we catch sometimes.  Of course there are stores and they just re-did the food court.  It's a fine rainy-day activity, but can be quite congested with people at times.

I'm sure there are many more places we go on a regular basis, but I've hit the wall for this post, I think. More posts to come!

Toodles!