My October
October is my favorite month. It starts cooling down, there’s pumpkin-flavored everything and Halloween. I spent most of my October planing home repairs and for the upcoming holiday season. But things are a lot less hectic after getting settled into the new home. So I was able to enjoy the month of October. I went to Kansas City’s Japan Cultural Festival and saw the Kansas CIty’s ballet production of The Wizard of OZ. I also was able to put together a costume for Halloween and hand out candy. Overall I’m glad I got a chance to enjoy my favorite month especially after having a busy September.
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Japan Cultural Festival
The Greater Kansas City Japan Festival is an annual event that takes place at the Johnson County Community College. It’s sponsored by the college and the Heart of America Japan-America Society. The first time I went to the festival was four years ago and had a lot of fun. So when it popped up in my facebook feed I knew I had to get tickets for this year’s festival.
I had just as much fun at the Japan Festival as I did four years ago. There were lots of things to do and see. They had different workshops, demonstrations, and anime and manga. Along with a bazaar with Japanese crafts, tea sets, and snacks available for purchase. They also had food from local Japanese restaurants. I spent most of my time at the festival watching the demonstrations. But my favorite part of the festival was the cosplay contest. It was small but I still enjoyed seeing what each contestant put together.
The Wizard of OZ Ballet
I saw the Kansas City Ballet for the first time four years ago. It was their production of Alice in Wonderland and I was blown away by how amazing it was. The costumes, set design, puppetry, and the choreography was on a whole other level. So when I was walking around downtown one day and I saw a flyer for the Kansas City Ballet’s production of The Wizard of OZ. Then saw it was the 
same choreographer and music composer behind Alice in Wonderland. There was no way I wasn’t going to be there for the world premiere of The Wizard of OZ.
And just as I expected it was just as amazing as the performance I saw four years ago. My husband and I got to the Ballet an hour before the show started so that we could see the footnotes. Lead by the artistic director of the Kansas City Ballet Devon Carney and guest speakers Septime Webre, Mathew Pierce, and Lilliana Hagerman. Choreographer Septime Webre and music composer Mathew Pierce spoke about bringing the story to life through dance and music. And Lilliana talked about being apart of the production and the choreography. I love going to the footnotes before the show because you get to know more about the production before you see the performance.
Building my Halloween Costume
Halloween is my favorite. I love dressing up and decorating. I’m also someone who goes through at least five costume ideas before making a final decision less 
than a week before Halloween. I knew this year I wanted to a character from a 90s cartoon. My first idea was Arther from the PBS series. Which I’m going to do at a later time I think it’ll make a good walk around outfit for conventions. And 5 days before Halloween I decided that was going to be Lydia Deetz from the Beetlejuice cartoon. I knew was going to be fairly easy to create the poncho and the only thing I would have to buy would be the gloves.
It only took me two days to put the poncho together. I started off by getting my measurements and sketched out how I wanted it to look. Then I made a guess on how much fabric I would need and took a trip to Joann Fabrics for the materials. Luckily JoAnn Fabrics was having a 3-day sale and I was able to get all the materials that I needed on sale. I spent the weekend before Halloween working on the poncho. It’s been a while since I’ve done any cosplay project and forgot how fun I have building cosplays. I had been so busy this year I didn’t really have the free time to build cosplays. But, after building my Lydia Deetz costume I wanna get back into building cosplays regularly. I have a few projects in mind and I’m excited to get back into building cosplays.
Goodbye October. Hello November
Well, that’s it for my October. As far as November I don’t have any plans other than surviving the holidays. But, I am excited to cook a Thanksgiving dinner in my new spacious kitchen.
How was your October? Do you have any fun plans for November? Let me know in the comment section below.
In case you missed it, here’s last months recap: September Recap: I’m a Homeowner!
