What have I been up to this weekend, you ask?

Well, let's see... doing four back-to-back performances of my books at Imagination Stage (sold out shows! too cool!), which gave me newfound respect for professional actors and classroom teachers... going bike-riding, running, visiting Dumbarton Oaks and generally enjoying the lovely spring-like weather here in our nation's capital...

Oh, yes, and sewing clothing for marshmallows.

If you are familiar with the Washington Post's Peeps diorama contest, you won't need to ask what I mean. This year, we struggled for a while before starting our entry. Hannah Peeptana? High School Peepsical? Ooo, how about Peepspray? But when we came up with HARRY PEEPER AND THE DEATHLY MALLOWS, we knew this was the concept for us. As you can see from this photo, a considerable amount of felt in various shades played a role. As did regular marshmallows - plus the sugar coated Peeps - plus frilly toothpicks, floral wire (Harry's glasses... hard to see in this photo, alas), stickers, rubber bands (yes, they can be made into tiny ties... see Ron and Hermione) and yarn. Oh, yes, and pipe cleaners (see Hedwig's wings and talons and Dumbledore's beard).

Anyway, we probably won't win but this was definitely a situation where just playing the game was all the fun. Or at least I thought so... not sure if Mike and the kids would agree with me. They found me particularly insufferable when I art-directed our photo shoot ("Wait, fix Hedwig's wing!").