With three 20-somethings working bizarre schedules, it seemed like we'd never get started on this year's diorama. On Monday, February 22, Jessica was traveling and Doug was working late, so I decided I needed to get started on my own.
I had this brilliant idea that our Peeps would wear masks, SARS style. But how to make them? The idea hit me in the car (where all good ideas hit me): dryer sheets and dental floss.
Fast forward a few hours to me, huddled in bed (it was cold), squinting at my needle and mint-flavored thread. I'm not great with knots, which presented some problems. I couldn't even muster the strength to take a real photograph, so here is the view from my rudimentary cell phone:
After constructing two very delicate masks, I called it a night. My eyes were killing me, and I was feeling grim about the whole project.
We had lots of good ideas, but we had to pick one that was both totally awesome, and that we could execute without looking like total fools. We ruled out a few from the beginning, like the Twitter Fail Whale. As cute as it would have been to have a whale carried by little Peep chicks in our diorama, we had enough trouble just trying to get Woodstock to fly last year. Getting more than one bird suspended in the air just wasn't going to happen. We ruled out Lady Gaga because we didn't want to have to try putting spandex or pleather on a Peep.
We got down to two ideas: the White House Easter Egg Roll, and Swine Flu, better known as Peep Flu. For the White House scenario, I envisioned a 3D background of the White House, with tiny versions of Michelle Obama's vegetable garden and Bo the dog. Maybe we'd throw in a few Secret Service bunnies. But when I drew out what I saw in my head, it looked like this:
Not so good.
So I drew up Peep Flu, which for the life of me I can't get to rotate:
Doug, who came up with the idea, had a similar drawing to offer:
Doug originally told me his idea while I was shoveling out my driveway from the third snowpocalypse, and he said, "I just think it would be funny if we had Peeps throwing up all over the place." Funny, yes. But would the judges approve of marshmallow vomit? Jessica and I didn't think so. But we agreed that it was an idea that we could execute and have fun with as we built it. We told Doug that if we toned down the marshmallow vomit aspect, this idea would be our best bet.
When I told you I was a Peep hoarder, I was not even kidding:
On the top shelf of our pantry--the magic shelf that holds Gatorade, stemware, and booze, we have a designated corner for Peeps.
Here's our current inventory:
We keep a wide variety on hand, as you never know what out-of-season Peeps might come in handy at contest time. When this year's diorama is complete, I'll have the green light to feast away on the surplus!
With some suggestions from our friends, the three of us started to brainstorm. We came up with the following ideas:
-Lady Gaga
-The White House Easter Egg Roll
-Swine Flu
-The DC Duck Tour or Segway Tour
-Twitter Fail Whale
You can think about how well all those ideas could be executed, and up next we'll narrow it down for you.
Here we are, your diorama-building force with whom to be reckoned:
Jessica: the shy scientist better known as Cornbread in the hip-hop world. Jessica loves to unwind with a nice glass of merlot and an Arrested Development marathon.
Lisa: That's me, the media gossip, sometimes better known as Lisatella. I've been known to start my evening off with a can of Sparks...sometimes in Peep mid-construction.
Doug: Sells beds at Ikea by day, sings in every choir and chorale in the tri-state area by night. Every now and then, he wanders up the stairs to our apartment with a martini in a Solo cup. Classy.
Obviously, this team was designed for success. Stop laughing. That means you, mom. We're three states away, but we know when you're laughing at us.
Doug and his roommate moved into the apartment below ours last fall, and we immediately had wild fantasies that it would be just like Friends, with everyone hanging out in each other's apartments all the time. That kind of happened. Every now and then, you'll find someone camped out in the other's apartment...usually when there's food around.
It helps that Doug and I hail from the same corner of Pennsylvania, and Jessica spent four years of college in the City of Brotherly Love. Fate? Oh, yes. Destiny.
One night after a little drinking, Doug and I realized that we were both diorama veterans. He had entered the 2008 contest with this offering:
Holy crap, look at those details. The perfectly-placed google eyes! The necklaces! Bald Howie Mandel!
Doug didn't win any awards either, but he's clearly the engineer in our little union. We vowed to collaborate in the next Washington Post contest. After all, Doug needed to shake off the bitterness of not being chosen as a finalist after he sewed together 18 tiny pearl necklaces.
In the meantime, the Peeps and Company store opened at National Harbor, and I wrote about it for online magazine Too Shy to Stop. The store opened on my birthday. Three cheers for perfectly-timed store openings:
I was the only one of our trio who has had the chance to visit the store so far, but don't worry--I've filled them in on all the sugary details.
It's almost time to get started on our 2010 entry!
But for now, everyone gets cheered up by this Easter Beagle clip....so, enjoy.
Choosing a theme for 2009 was easy. We're huge fans of Snoopy and the Peanuts gang, so we decided to recreate a scene from the end of It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!
We chose the Easter morning scene (at the very end of this glorious Spanish clip we have decided to share with you) so that we could fit as many characters into the project as we could.
So I went to the thrift store, to awkwardly buy some naked Barbie dolls that would provide the hair for Sally, Lucy, and the rest of the Peanuts girls. Face it, most of those Peanuts guys are pretty bald.
(You're still watching the Spanish video clip, aren't you? It kind of sucks you in, even when you have no idea what they're talking about, even though you know the plot.)
Jessica and I made several trips to the craft store to get felt, google eyes, and a crap ton of hot glue sticks.
But we were dead set on making the diorama from as much food material as possible--meaning, Peeps. And jellybeans. Jellybeans are amazing, and the make for fantastic diorama-sized colored eggs.
So we spent an entire weekend piecing together this diorama, rushing because I had a date on Sunday, and heaven knows I needed to GET READY. It was a double date, to boot, but Jessica gracefully neglected to point out all the hot glue burns that I ended up sporting on my fingertips.
(P.S., that double date was the first date with my now-boyfriend, who thinks we're crazy for putting so much thought into this year's diorama but appreciates our creativity.)
In the end, our first effort looked like this:
Oh hey Woodstock...how's it hanging there on that carefully-placed piece of fishing line?
We weren't picked as finalists in the Washington Post contest. We were devastated. Okay, only sort of devastated, since we knew our diorama wasn't that fantastic. But we thought our setup was pretty darn cute, and we had a great time making it.
We took it to Easter dinner last year, and it lived on top of my sister's television until she moved at the end of the summer. Snoopy and friends landed in the trash, but they will live on forever in our hearts.
I also made this creepy Peeps centerpiece from the leftover stash. And....I made Peeps place cards too. Our Easter celebration developed diabetes on the spot.
Next, I'll explain how Doug got roped into this thing. Poor Doug.
Jessica and I have lived together for almost two years, not counting the summer we spent tucked in a tiny dorm room at the University of Maryland, tripping over each other and trying not to sweat to death. She's also a Peep fan, but I know her obsession has grown exponentially since meeting me.
Here's a quick review of some of our paraphernalia:
Peeps beanie plushies (and my Hello Kitty train case, because I'm turning 8 this year)
Peeps bubbles (for entertaining the cat, we swear)
Peeps rubber duck, my gift to Jessica from the Peeps store at National Harbor
I can't remember who gave me this. It was either from my mother, as a gag gift, or from my ex-husband, as a very serious gift. Either way, I love it. And yes, I've used it.
When the Washington Post announced their 3rd annual Peeps diorama contest, Jessica and I decide we were going to tackle the challenge. Next, I'll tell you about how the challenege pretty much tackled us.
