I have been thinking a lot about fairy tales lately. I'm not sure specifically why. Maybe because I like the show Grimm so much and could the costumes on Once Upon a Time be more amazing? I've also always been a reader of fairy tales, old and new. I think they can really make you look at life in new ways. As I get older I've realized it becomes more and more important to have and seek out those fairy tale like days and nights. I think I'm going to be regularly sharing my fairy tales both old and new with you. I'd like to start with a fairy tale weekend that took place Halloween 2010 at the House on the Rock http://www.thehouseontherock.com/. Easily one of most unique places in the world. It was a weekend hosted by Neil Gaiman, one of my favorite writers, in celebration of his book, American Gods.

Besides, touring this astounding place there was a party, signings, costume contests and a panel with Neil- which for me was truly something special because my question was choosen to be addressed by him!

Here are some pictures from the weekend and believe me when I tell you this barely scratches the surface of this amazing place.

My fox mask is from here: http://shop.lorimarie.com/

My dress is from here: http://www.jeannienitro.com/

My necklace is from here: http://www.xses.net/

This past Saturday I had the very fun experience of visiting a vodka distillery in Wisconsin. It's located about an hour from where I live in Minnesota. It was a cool, little place with friendly people and a tasty product(or three).

You can visit as well, http://www.45thparallelspirits.com/

They have several unique distinctions including being one of the few distilleries that makes everything from scratch. The farm that grows their corn is right down the street and right smack on the 45th Parallel. They even get the lids for some of their bottles from a company next door as they try to keep everything they can local. I think that is really cool!

Here our tour guide is giving us a little show of how they make the gin. Which, I liked quite a bit. It had a very light juniper flavor, a nice change as sometimes the juniper can be a little over whelming.

The owners are moving into making whiskey. These barrels can also be used to make your own custom blend(if you can afford it that is).

I was quite happy to try the vodka and to take home a bottle of Midwest Gin and Madison Avenue Limoncello-the company's sweet addition and I'm pretty sure everyone on the tour bought a bottle as it is only available at the distillery. Yum!