Happy Homecoming! And Talk Like a Pirate Day! But we'll only be talking about homecoming today. If you are interested in Talk Like a Pirate Day, you need to check out a different blog.
This year's Homecoming Theme was "Cirque du Western: The Carnival Never Ends". (I'm still waiting on my pony over here!) My decorations had four main components: Ceiling Decor, Garlands, Circus Pictures, and Balloon Animals. Let's break it down!
For the ceiling, I made tissue paper flowers. Was I the only person in the world that didn't know how easy this was? Seriously! I had so much fun making these. I followed this tutorial from spoonful.com and the flowers look great! I don't know, but they might be my favorite part. I also hung purple balloons and gold star streamers around the room for even more fun. That was the hardest part of this whole thing. I didn't bring a step ladder so I ended up standing on a rickety, swiveley bar stool that is older than I am to pin everything to the ceiling tiles. But that all fit the circus theme because it was quite an acrobatic feat.
Next up: Garlands! I made these fun signs using the Cricut and scrapbook paper and lots of sticky tack to adhere them to the walls. My department chair has been unknowingly dubbed "Ringmaster", while I am the "Lion Tamer". I thought about being the snake charmer, but that seemed kinda mean. But believe me, sometimes being a secretary feels like being a lion tamer since I do get growled at and sometimes people want to claw my face off. Don't worry, the feeling is mutual!
But look at this darling lion! Most of the time my professors are just little kittens like this guy.
On to circus pictures. I grabbed some old-timey circus pictures from Google, glued them to yellow cardstock, laminated them, added the purple bow and, again, used a ton of sticky tack to get them on the walls.
My favorite is the lion tamer, for obvious reasons. She's staring down those lions like a boss! I have nine such photos around the office, and I get bonus points because one demonstrates a physics principle.
Finally, balloon animals. I bought a $5 balloon animal kit at Walmart with the intention of covering my office in a balloon menagerie. But by the time I got around to even experimenting with balloon animals, it was past 9:00 on Monday morning and I just needed to be done. So, I learned how to make a basic dog, quickly churned out five of them, and called it a day. I'm still really happy with these little guys though so I might have to learn how to make more.
And as promised, here is a picture of me in a tiny hat.
I was going for Lion Tamer, but I look more like a waitress with a tiny hat. Whatever.
I would love to tell you that my office was the best decorated office on campus, but due to a malfunction during my registration, it wasn't even judged. Sad face. But, I know my office is the best, and you know my office is the best, so I am declaring myself the winner! BEST AND MOST CREATIVELY DECORATED OFFICE ON CAMPUS! Thank you very much! This means the world me!
All in all, between making the flowers, garlands, pictures, and assembly, I probably put in about 8 hours of work. But you can't argue with the result. I smile every time I walk in the office. How could you not smile? It's amazing in here. Most of my grad students are international students so they don't really understand Homecoming, but they are loving the decorations. It's so funny to watch people's faces when they see the office for the first time. Plus, it reminds me not to take myself so seriously, because it's really hard to be serious with tissue paper flowers hanging from the ceiling.
When I asked my department chair if I could decorate, he said "Whatever makes you happy". I wonder if he regrets that now? He might regret it when he sees what I have cooked up for Christmas!
Happy Homecoming!!
Legal disclaimer: Again, the opinions in this blog are all mine and mine alone. I'm just showing you how I got creative with decorating and this should not be a reflection on my employer. Yada yada yada, la la la, don't sue me!
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