Happy Halloweeeeeeeen!

Happy Mischief Night/Devil's Night

One of my favorite movies (from my Goth period) is The Crow. The stigma surrounding this movie only made it all the better. And since today is Oct. 30 and Devil's Night, I thought I'd throw this movie out as one to watch. It is not for the faint of heart or the angelic- it's very graphic and dark. But Brandon Lee is so very hot in this movie it makes it all worthwhile. :)

Another name for today is Mischief Night. Probably a little more tame and geographically wide-spread than Detroit's Devil's Night.

Yet another name for today is MY PARENT'S 38th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! Yes folks, my 'rents have been bound by legal matrimony for 38 years. They have definitely had their ups and downs but they have toughed it out. My mom is fond of recounting their engagement story (that, according to her, included her scrubbing the kitchen floor in her apartment while my father sat on the sofa with his feet on the coffee table watching TV) and saying the first thought that came to her mind after my father asked her to marry him was: "Why not? We can always get divorced if it doesn't work out." Well, theirs is one high school romance that definitely worked out.

When we were little, we marked their anniversary with pumpkin carving, chili and It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. I'm sure it was a blast for them.

However you call it, today is the day before Halloween!!! And I will be delivering four dozen cupcakes to friends tonight. Cause I'm good like that. ;)

My Favorite Costume

I've been slacking in my goal to post Halloween posts everyday 'til Oct. 31. My bad. In my defense, I've been putting in 14 hour work days and had to write two papers. Give me a break. :)

Although the picture below isn't very good (it was taken in '79, I believe) this witch costume has always been my favorite. My mother made it for me (she also made my brother's vampire costume). Weren't those the best costumes? The ones that mom made after much begging and pleading? The costumes we got to see created from a simple bolt of black fabric. I don't have kids and I don't sew, but if I had or did either I'd like to imagine that I'd make their costumes. As it stands, if my hypothetical child asked me to make his/her costume I'd probably hand then a garbage bag and tell them to go as trash. :)

Gardner Village

In my last post, I mentioned Witches Night Out at Gardner Village. A good friend of mine took her kids there recently (to Gardner Village, not Witches Night Out). Check out her tale of the trip and the cute pictures of her adorable kids. (Nik- I hope you don't mind me linking your blog!)

Have a good weekend and I'll be back with more Halloween posts next week!!

Halloween Happenings

(ETA: I have no idea how to fix the numbering here...so just deal with it. :))

Geek that I am, I'm always on the lookout for cool holiday activities and Halloween is no exception. There is no shortage of 'haunted houses' around, but most of them are cheesy and ridiculously expensive. Here are a few cool ideas:

1. Beaufort Ghost Walk- Take an after dark stroll through a Historic Town full of Haunted Tales. Chilling stories of murderous pirates, unexplained happenings, ghost ships and haunted houses will have you looking over your shoulder on the way home.

1. Nightfall @ Old Tucson Studios


2. Doomtown @ Rawhide


3. Witch's Night Out @ Gardner Village- I've never been to this, or any of Gardner Village's other events, but they look like a lot of fun.

5. Wicked Night at the Wrigley- A big party thrown by a local radio station at the Wrigley Mansion. The mansion is the former home of chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. and is said to be haunted.


6. Halloween Time at Disneyland - This needs no explanation.

1. For other attractions in the Phoenix area (cause that's where I live and going to some of the above might be a bit costly unless you ride your broom) go here.

Enjoy!

Abandonded

From now until October 31st, I am going to try to make all postings Halloween-related (and not about how difficult work is and how rough my classes are and how I bought Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred but haven't done it once). It's going to be a challenge for me (can you sense the sarcasm) but I'll try.

Here we go.

I linked to this photographer's website via another blog (and of course I can't remember which blog...that's the beauty of cyber-webs) and fell in love with his Abandoned series. I have a thing for old, abandoned homes. I see so much potential in them and can daydream for hours about renovating and decorating them (see dream house). For the most part, the images in this series scream to me. They entice me. Some even haunt me a bit. After all, can you imagine the kinds of creatures (human and non) one might find in some of these structures? Take this home for example. Can you see a shadow watching you from that middle up-stairs window?

I get to wondering about the people who lived there. About their lives, their dreams, their struggles. I wonder what happened to them. Did they move away during hard financial times? Did the last of their line live out their lives 0n that farm and there is no one left to carry on? The story possibilities are endless...

13 Nights of Halloween

A few years back (okay, probably about 6-7 years ago...I think), FOX Family Channel, now ABC Family, started a series of programming for Halloween geeks such as myself. The 13 Nights of Halloween is, you guessed it, 13 nights full of Halloween fundom- movies and reality shows focusing on scary-ness (The Scariest Places on Earth) and other little fun tidbits. Check it out.

My "List"

I keep a "list" (I actually just moved it into a beautiful journal one of my boss' gave me) of things I want to do, places I want to visit, etc. Essentially, my "bucket list." This past week, I added a few of new things to my list:

• Attend the Country Living Fair
• Spend the day (or week, or month, or year) at Harvard University's Widener Library
• The Farm Chicks Antique Show
• Tour Kennedy Space Center

"'Cause you gotta have a goal. Do you have a goal?" (Name that movie.)

Einstein Bros. Bagels

Continuing my love of all things pumpkin, Einstein's has pumpkin-flavored bagles, cream cheese and muffins. I was in a rush this morning to get the office with the promised "baker's dozen" assorted bagels, so I didn't get my pumpkin bagel. I'll be hitting up EBB next week for this delicious treat.

Tagged by Nikki

Nikki tagged me. So here goes...

I am - Who I am. Accept it or don't.
I think - Therefore I drive myself crazy sometimes.
I know - That love is the only thing that truly matters.
I miss - My family. Very, very much.
I fear - Clowns, drowning and never finding true love.
I feel - Completely overwhelmed.
I hear - That Kenny Chesney has a new CD out. Yay!
I smell - Strawberries.
I want - To be a wife and a mother.
I crave - Simplicity
I cry - When I think about how much my parents have given me.
I search - For stuff I want on e-Bay.
I wonder - Why everyone else always gets what I want.
I regret - Very little...why regret what you cannot change?
I wish - On stars.
I love - My parents, my friends, BOOKS.
I care - because I don't know how not to. -I agree with this Nikki. Very well-written.
I always - Read before bed.
I have - Been so very blessed.
I worry - That life is going to pass my by and that I won't make a bit of difference in the world.
I am not - skinny!- ME EITHER, NIK!
I remember - Childhood, first kisses, laughing with those I love.
I believe - in love.
I sing - really badly but still do it all the time.
I argue - Sometimes just to anger my father. It's fun.
I write - to make sense of everything I feel.
I lose - my battle with chocolate everyday.
I listen - Because I would want to be listened to.
I don't always - Stop to smell the roses.
I don't understand - A lot!
I can usually be found - Reading, in the desert or doing homework.
I need - More faith in myself.
I forget - To tell those close to me that I love them.
I am happy - when I am with family. AND FRIENDS.
I tag - Jamie

Cabbage Patch Kids

Can you read that logo? It's announcing the 25th anniversary of the Cabbage Patch Kid doll. Holy crow, I'm old. I was seven years old when I received my first CPK. Those darned dolls were impossible to find. I longed and wished and hoped for one. Then one day, my father came home with his hands behind his back and told me to pick one. That day I received my very first CPK named Hilda. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, just like me. Hilda and I because inseparable- we went EVERYWHERE together. I remember how happy I was and how much I worshipped my daddy for getting me one of the coveted dolls.

Over the years, I added more CPKs: a newborn named Archibald; Greta, a red-haired doll with stylable (is that a word?) hair; an Olympic edition. But Hilda has always remained my favorite.

When I saw this website, I called my mom and told her about them. And admitted that I kind of wanted one for Christmas. Because what personifies the magic of Christmas but a CPK? And their delicious smell?

My Halloween Picture

First, I have to give credit where credit is due. The inspiration for this ghoulishly glamorous shot came from someone at twopeas. I don't remember the poster, but if you want to see the original, search the member gallery for Halloween. Also, our wonderful intern in communications and marketing did the photo shopping.

In summation, all I did was pose. That was the easy part. :)

Then & Now

Last night, after a long discussion with one of my best friends, Jamie, I calmed down a bit about the mysterious, and completely unwelcome, 5 pounds. See, Jamie is my personal fitness and nutrition guru. She's the one I go to when I have questions about working out and losing weight- she knows everything! She promised (right, Jamie?) that next week I'll start to see the scale move...in the downward direction. I certainly hope so or I am going to have a come apart. A big one.

As I was getting ready for bed, my gaze fell to a picture frame with a picture of the two of us (Jamie and I) taken as we were setting up the reception site the morning of her wedding. That picture represents the heaviest I have ever been. I look back at the pictures of the wedding now and can't believe I let myself get that heavy.

In fall of 2003, a year after Jamie's wedding, I started on a true weight-loss journey. Almost a year later, in August of 2004, I had lost 70 pounds. Then a bunch of stuff happened, including getting laid-off from my job of nine years and starting a new career, that led me astray. I gained back 25 pounds from 2005-2007.

Then, in October of 2007, I started the cookie diet. All was right in the world as I lost 15 pounds in three weeks. But it made me sick and I wanted desperately to eat real food. So I did. And gained back 10 of the 15 lost.

That brings me to today. I'm far from being the heaviest I've ever been but I want to lose all this extra weight. Again. For good this time. I've done it before. I gave up fast food and ate at home. I worked out. I had a healthy body and a healthy attitude. I need to realize that the weight didn't go on overnight and it's not going to come off that way, either. I need to harness the strength and pride I feel when I'm at the gym, sweating my butt off on an elliptical or pushing through one more set of weights.

To motivate myself, and alleviate the sting of that stubborn 5 pounds, I'm posting before and after pictures. They may not be significant to anyone but me, but I notice the difference and that's all that matters.

October 2002

April 2008

This bites

I stepped on the scale this morning before work. Bad idea. According the scale-of-evil, I've gained 5 pounds in the past week. In the week that I was working out and watching what I ate. What the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks??? Now, I know muscle weighs more than fat, but there is no anatomical or cellular way I could have converted enough fat into muscle in 5 workouts to equal 5 pounds. Just not possible.

Needless to say I'm having a very bad day. A grumpy day. A road-rage day. And I'm thinking I might be having an In N Out day.

Twilight- The Movie

Just have to say that this is not at all who I would have cast for these characters. Can't wait to see the movie all though I am certain it can never live up to the Twilight I've created in my mind.

My Happy Place

Right now I am supposed to be creating a presentation of investment opportunities at the university. But I’m not. Instead I am daydreaming about owning a ranch in a far off place, or maybe just 30-minutes out of the city. I’m daydreaming about fresh air and falling leaves and baking pumpkin bread. About country-girl skirts and pony tails. I’m dreaming about falling asleep at night with the window open to a flood of fresh air and to the sound of nothing more than crickets and coyotes.

This is my happy place. The place I retreat to in my head when “real life” is just a little too intense, as it is now. I have upteen projects on my desk that need my immediate attention. I have three chapters of social pysch to read and a mid-term in anthropology to complete. I have workouts to do and hikes to coordinate. The final book in the Jane Madison series to read. Halloween projects to make and pumpkin treats to bake.

Actually, the only thing that’s really intense is the work stuff. And the homework. Everything else is fluff. But I want to get past the intense and to the fluff.

And I really want In N Out burger. Damn you, Kate!!!

A tid bit sore, I am

Last Monday, after my crazy, bruise-inducing, muscle-shredding weekend, I decided to jump back into working out with both feet. I'd been sick for almost a month and the couple months before that, well, I was lazy. I only worked out four times last week, but I am so freakin' sore this morning it's ridiculous. I figure the 2 1/2 workout on Saturday probably did me in. I couldn't help it, it just felt so good to move my body. Then, a good movie came on the TV at the gym so I figured, "I might as well watch it here while on the treadmill rather than on my butt, on the couch, at home." So watch it I did. There is nothing like Kate Beckinsale's leather-clad body in Underworld to motivate a girl. And to make her want to never eat chocolate/cheese/In N Out again. EVER.

Happy October

It is officially my favorite month of the year. There is just something about October that tugs at me. The cooler weather (well, sort of), changing leaves, pumpkins, harvest, HALLOWEEN. And now that is October, I can admit that my Halloween decorations have been up for two weeks. All except the wreath and doormat. I figured I'd avoid giving my neighbors the opportunity to ridicule me for decorating for All Hallows Eve mid-September. But the door decor is going up tonight.

I shall now spend my time making homemade soup and bread. And any recipe I can add pumpkin to. My friends and ward members will be inundated with pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin spice cupcakes, pumpkin bread, etc.

I have all the supplies to make a cute Halloween treat jar for my office at work. I ordered freaky pink and black contacts to match the pink and black skull-and-cross-bones shirt I bought to wear on Halloween. I'm working on a very cool project for my Halloween cards and cute little Halloween gifts for colleagues and friends.

I am soooo in my element this month.