AH, HA, HA, HA, STAYING ALIVE! STAYING ALIVE!

Most cicadas are gone and it’s been deafeningly quiet in my backyard. Yesterday, however, I heard some disco music and found the last two live cicadas dancing it out while singing... yes, you got it right - “Staying alive”! Cicadas love "Saturday Night Fever," as it turns out, and wanted to recreate the iconic scene from the bestest 70s movie.

I completely approve of their positive attitude to life. As ancient philosophers aptly put it: Dum spiro spero (While I breathe, I hope).

It’s been a fun adventure for both me and my awesome Brood X cicada friends. Let’s finish on a fun and deep note! :)

0I6A0218.jpg

CICADA POKER FACE

That blank red-eyed stare turned out to be perfect advantage for our Brood X friends. Beginner’s luck or not, but it got a royal flush and cleaned out the bank!

0I6A8566.jpg
0I6A8558.jpg

CICADAS ELOPE TO LAS VEGAS!

Teeny cicada biological clocks started to tick wildly this week. Cicadas rushed to get married before engaging in the deed!

When they learned the prices and effort that go into American weddings, they grew concerned. They did not have the time or the $$ for the endeavor.

I told them to cheer up! Anyone can get married in Las Vegas by Elvis - no planning, no huge expense, just tons of Vegas fun! Cicadas were so excited that they jumped in the next flight.

The trip was so eventful that we will start with elopements for today’s post. But blackjack, slots, poker, huge jackpots and lots of fame coming soon! :P

0I6A8479.jpg
0I6A8473.jpg
0I6A8517.jpg
0I6A8521.jpg

CHRISTMAS IN JUNE? SURE! LET'S TRIM THAT TREE!

I’ve noticed in the last few days that, sadly, my backyard cicadas are getting fewer. I have been enjoying them so much and now time is running out!

I’ll do anything for my cicadas Trimming a Xmas tree in June? Sure thing! Finding miniature supplies for a Xmas in June set is harder than one may imagine :)

Let’s just say the session was a short one. I started with one cicada holding an ornament and wearing a hat and added two more super quickly before cicadas had enough of Xmas and flew away!

0I6A7941.jpg
0I6A7921.jpg
0I6A7911.jpg

IT'S A BIRTHDAY PARTY!

What kind of a life is it without a proper birthday party?! Our cicadas get to celebrate once every 17 years so I made sure they had extra fun and felt super special.

0I6A7886.jpg

When you have a birthday once every 17 years…

Blowing out that candle before eating cake and opening gifts!

0I6A7840.jpg

There was a revolt from all the cicadas who wanted to have a birthday party too. So they kinda raided the gifts… Freaking savages

0I6A7881.jpg
0I6A7874.jpg

ROLLING THUNDER 2021! OH YEAH!

Just when I officially gave up on finding a cicada-sized motorcycle, the luck struck TWICE! Our cicadas are naturals and really enjoyed being a part of this amazing tradition <3

0I6A2900.jpg
0I6A2868.jpg

MT EVEREST CONQUERED!

You may have been wondering why Brood X cicadas were so quiet for the past few days. You may think it’s because it was too cold - actually, nope! Cicadas took a trip to Nepal and quite a few brave should attempted to climb Mt. Everest (cicadas through, well, it’s record low temps on the East coast, how much worse can it be on top of a mountain?) Well, very cold, as it turned out :P

Cicadas loved the basecamp as they were acclimating to the mountain air. They didn’t want sherpas since shapers did not speak cicada

0I6A2716.jpg

To give you a sense of scale - it’s quite an undertaking!

0I6A2712.jpg

Things were going well until…

0I6A2724.jpg

An unexpected snowstorm hit!

0I6A2788.jpg

Many cicadas did not make it through the storm :( But two brave souls persisted!

0I6A2810.jpg

Sadly, one of the two succumbed to snow blindness but the winner finally made it up on top of the world!

0I6A2826.jpg

Now that Brood X cicadas went from our backyard, to national, to global, to the top of the world… The next logical step for them is to - go into outer space! They are getting ready for their lunar mission as I type this!

COME FLY WITH ME

It’s Memorial Day weekend in the US and our cicadas were so excited to fly see their Brood X relatives that they haven’t seen for the past 17 (!!!) years!

The dad was being the dad and kept on rushing everybody

0I6A2550.jpg

They ran to the airplane to only find out that…

0I6A2524.jpg

The airline oversold the number of seats and someone had to travel on standby (which for cicada flights means you fly attached to the airplane!) The mom cicada wouldn’t have it…

0I6A2556.jpg

The kid was elated!

0I6A2595.jpg

And so was the dad!

So they both had tons of fun during their flight and reached their destination safely

GONE FISHING

Our Brood X Adventures stars decided to take today off and engage in a relaxing activity. Cicadas felt burned out after their interview with Reuters. They are also horrified that their butts are falling off because of the fungus (and we thought it was only in Indiana?!)

They started off by practicing

0I6A2409.jpg

And then moved on to a local pond where they made new friends with local turtles

THE BUZZ KILLERS MAKE THEIR DEBUT!

Not quite the Beetles but the soon-to-be-world-famous Buzz Killers performed in my backyard twice yesterday. I loved all their songs and hope you enjoy them too. If they are not already there, they will be performing in your backyards soon too!

0I6A2321.jpg
0I6A2299.jpg

Things got pretty hot for the grand finale and the keyboard player literally flew off!

0I6A2389.jpg

BROOD X GRADUATION

Hooray and congratulations to all seniors and graduating students! I hope all of you get to take awesome graduation portraits - my cicadas said they had tons of fun during their photo shoot, especially the confetti part (which took only 1000 photos to get right :P)

image1.jpeg
image0.jpeg

2021 CICADA OLYMPICS

Hey guys, cicada finally told me what the real reason behind postponing the 2020 Olympics was - Brood X - because they wanted to participate! But they did miscalculate the month after all going through all that trouble. Don’t know what everyone likes to do with their weekends but I spent mine organizing mini-Olympic Games for my silly Brood X friends.

Cicadas participated in a lot of different sports with mixed results.

Archery was a huge hit (pun intended)!

So was weightlifting!

0I6A1572.jpg

One show-off lifted the damn thing with one hand (is it a hand? Extremity? Digit? :))!

0I6A1575.jpg

Cicadas were absolute pros at table tennis

0I6A1619.jpg

And pole vaulting!

0I6A1621.jpg

I mean, that’s like wow!

0I6A1627.jpg

Gymnastics activities were mostly a flop

0I6A1674.jpg

Apparatus was the only thing that attracted them. But they kept on making illegal moves…

0I6A1709.jpg

One cicada tried to fly which, as you know, is completely against the rules!

0I6A1699.jpg

Diving was uneventful. Cicadas were not into it.

0I6A1806.jpg

Things got more saucy during the awards ceremony. There was some crazy controversy!

0I6A1648.jpg

The Brood X athlete that won the bronze tried to steal the gold from the dude on the left (who won both gold and silver).

0I6A1660.jpg

I AM HERE LIVE, I AM NOT A CAT! I AM A CICADA :)

A Zoom court hearing gone wrong at the Arlington Judicial District Court. “I am here live, I am not a cat!” said the cicada attorney.

Today’s post is honoring my wonderful husband who happens to be an attorney and came up with the idea!

Influencer Lil' X on CikTok

Today I did a pro bono Personal Branding session for an upcoming CikTok influencer Lil’ X. Thanks for my brilliant childhood friend Mike AP for the idea! Also, my awesome friend Sarah Danielle @lets_talk_nice for letting me borrow the super cute miniature house with awesome supplies (like the ice bucket that everyone loved :P)

0I6A1138.jpg

He insisted on doing it inside his pretty messy bachelor pad but it was really not happening. So I offered my backyard!

0I6A1105.jpg

The light was great… but…

But he was a real klutz, at first

He was nervous because he was pitching to advertise products for Harris Teeter - his biggest gig yet - so I totally understood

0I6A1125.jpg

In a bit, Lil’ X completely relaxed and did great with the rest of the shoot and even had a great Linked In headshot taken (it’s this photo cropped :P)!