I love...balloons.

Over this past weekend I went to a fundraiser for The Karen Foundation for MS. It was held at the Barley House downtown and was complete with live music, auctions, food, and a Joe Haden sighting. An adorable Joe Haden sighting.

There's one more thing that this fundraiser had...balloon creations! I say "balloon creations" because there weren't just balloon animals, but there were hats and other objects. My friend Cami and I stood in line anxiously awaiting our turn to ask the balloon guy for our balloon wishes. Cami was planning to ask for a pony, as she loves ponies. I was planning to ask for Prince (the artist), as I love Prince. As we got closer a girl in front of us got a balloon pony, so Cami decided to instead go with her back up: a unicorn hat. Just in case, I also chose a back up: pizza (as I also love pizza).

Finally it was my turn. I asked for Prince. The balloon guy told me he couldn't do that, but he would sing Prince while he made me something else. I agreed and asked for pizza. He agreed and started singing "Kiss" while twisting and turning several balloons into a tomato, green pepper and onion slice of pizza.

And let me tell you, it looked good. Delicious, in fact.

Cami then got her unicorn hat, and my friend Alyson got a big crazy hat:

After a while, friends encouraged me to ask that my pizza slice be make it into a hat, which was a good idea since carrying a balloon slice of pizza around all night would not have been very easy. That was how Pizza Hat came to be.

Then I thought: How could Pizza Hat be even better?
The answer: Have Joe Haden sign it.
So I did.

Here is Joe looking extremely focused while signing Pizza Hat:




















Here is Joe looking adorable after signing Pizza Hat:



After that, Pizza (as it came to be called) and I had many more adventures. Including going to a friend's house for Feaster Easter (a belated Easter dinner with a competition for the best side dish); a crazy dance party around a suitcase; and a late night stop at Flying Monkey for a couple drinks and a quick song on the jukebox ('Call Me, Maybe' - which I should note that when I went to play this song, a couple guys standing nearby threatened to pop my pizza hat if I played it. I played it anyway and called their bluff).

The next day it was really nice out and I met some friends back at the Flying Monkey patio later in the afternoon. We decided to go to Edison's for some pizza and it was suggested that I should run home and grab Pizza.

So I did.

Pizza enjoyed a slice of pizza with us, before we went back to Flying Monkey for Sunday night karaoke.

Now Pizza is slowly deflating and getting smaller, as that's what normally happens to balloons. But I'm not sad, because we'll always have our balloon memories...and Joe Haden.

(*thanks for the photo memories, Cami!)

I love...random short story Sunday (#2).

Happy Sunday!

You may recall my first "random short story Sunday" post from about a month ago. Well today, randomly, I've decided to post another one of my stories. So gather your family, your pets and your plants and enjoy this classic tale of a miniature pony named Toodaloo.


The Story of Toodaloo and His Mysterious Lack of Ladies
by: jenny chalk

Once upon a time there was a miniature pony named Toodaloo. He was beige with white spots, had a well-kept mane and dressed in the finest saddles. He was really one of the cutest miniature ponies in his town.

Toodaloo loved wearing ponchos, vaccuming, and eating tater tots with ketchup (sometimes all at the same time, sometimes seperately) - qualities that every miniature lady-pony looked for in a mate.

Unfortunately for Toodaloo none of the miniature lady-ponies seemed interested in him. They would always come up and introduce themselves to him, but before he could say much they'd trot away. He had no idea what he was doing wrong. So he decided to ask for help from the town monkey, Yeknom.

"Tell me what the problem is!" shouted Yeknom.

"None of the ladies seem to like me," replied Toodaloo.

"One of the ladies tried to bite you?!" shouted Yeknom, who had lost most of his hearing after attending too many rock concerts.

"No. They don't like me!" shouted Toodaloo.

After a few more attempts at shouting and then several games of charades, Yeknom finally caught on to Toodaloo's problem. Yeknom said he would get to the bottom of it.

Several days later Yeknom returned to Toodaloo.

"Well," said Yeknom, "it seems that the ladies think you're a very polite jerk."

"What does that mean?!" asked Toodaloo.

"According to the ladies I spoke with," Yeknom began as he pulled a banana out of his man purse, "they try to talk to you and you politely and sweetly say goodbye to them."

"But that's not true, I don't say goodbye to them. I hardly get to say anything before they turn and trot away."

"Maybe we should go over your approach with the ladies, perhaps there's something you don't realize you're doing wrong."

"Okay, worth a try," sighed Toodaloo.

Yeknom walked up to Toodaloo, "Hi, I'm Yeknom. What's your name?"

"Toodaloo!" Toodaloo said with a smile.

"Waaaiit a minute..." they both stopped.

From then on, Toodaloo pronounced his name differently (Tuda-luh) and he had no more problems with the miniature lady-ponies. He also began a new Wednesday night ritual of playing charades with Yeknom.

The End