For all of the celebratory ventures undertaken under our humble roof, we had never before tackled a costume party. Somehow, this year, the will was there. So we decided to make the annual "Birthday Blitz," celebrating the many fall birthdays in our midst, into a Halloween shindig as well. For my part, I'm pretty reluctant when it comes to donning a Halloween costume. It's usually half-assed or nothing. And Liz and I were stumped as to what to do. It seemed like couple-coordinating was obligatory. Hmmmm. Then a light bulb went off above Frankie's head. I was filled with some trepidation but Liz took the idea and ran with it -- ran all the way to a specialty store in Santa Monica, in fact, that deals strictly in merchandise pertaining to a particular series of books you may have heard of. Incriminating photographic evidence is below. But don't feel too compelled to look closely.

Gregg had been growing his beard in preparation to transform himself into Walter Sobchak and also spent a good deal of time helping Abbey prepare the bowling balls for her incarnation of (dream sequence number two) Maude Lebowski. Everyone (well, I mostly took pictures) pitched in to decorate the Casa and environs, and the results were quite impressive, if we do say so ourselves. Special thanks to Abbey's sis, Eliza (hooker cop in blue below), who was visiting that week, for her inspired work. Not everyone was thrilled with the bajillion spiders hanging from the ceiling (sorry, Christian) but an atmosphere was certainly created.



Looking back on that Saturday night at the end of October, it all now appears rather surreal and Fellini-esque. Maybe that's because about half of the revelers were in costume and half weren't (not that there's anything wrong with that). But we had a great time and thanks to everyone who came. Thanks as well for the many cards and gifts. You guys rock.





It may be apparent that some costumes seemed to evolve as the night wore on. . . .



-jw