Dear October First 2012 (Part Three)

Dear October First, again,

This is the last post on Halloween costumes I am considering.  The minor contenders!  This is a sad way to put it,  but I guess this post is for costumes I may go with if I can’t find a Princess, Cowgirl, Football Player, or Peacock costume that I like.  I shouldn’t have to have a fall back costume, but I like options.

French Maid

I have mixed feelings about these because every year I try on French maid costumes and every year I don’t end up liking any of them.  I don’t know why.

 

Nurse

Bree and I toyed with the idea of dressing up as each other’s intended profession, so I found a few nurse costumes I liked.

 

Miscellaneous

Really, I just wanted to show you all this pineapple costume.  Seriously, how awesome would it be to dress up as a pineapple?!

Dear October First 2012 (Part One)

Dear October First (again a day late),

You took your sweet time in getting here.  Actually, that’s a lie.  The Gentleman and I were talking at the football game on Saturday and time has just flown by these past few months.  I think it’s because all I do it work…

Anyway, this year I have a multi-part look at what I might be for Halloween this year.  Last year, I decided, with a heavy heart, that I couldn’t find anything I liked and, therefore, would not buy a new costume.  This year, I’m looking to change that.  But, so far I’m coming up with nothing I like.  Bree and I went shopping on Friday and she settled on a monster costume, which is just perfect for her.

I was at a bit of a loss and feeling discouraged after the trip, so we decided to try again tomorrow.

I am juggling a couple of ideas this year, but let’s start with a major one.

Princesses

Okay, who doesn’t love a good princess costume?  I mean, really.  I’m leaning toward Cinderella with Belle in a close second.  Maybe Aurora.  Really anyone but Snow White.  Unfortunately, Snow White seems to be the one with an abundance of costumes in stores this year.  Probably because of Snow White and the Huntsman and Once Upon a Time, I imagine…  Screw you pop culture for messing with my plans.

In the meantime, here are pictures of princess costumes:

 

Help! I’m Having a Hard Time with Food

This is a post about food, I guess…

So lately I haven’t been eating…  Well, that’s not the quite wording, I haven’t been eating as much as normal.

I’m not hungry or starving or anything like that, I just lose interest in food sooner than usual, I guess.

Bree and I always joked that we were closet fat kids.  One of our worst habits (and I say our because we are basically soul mates) is that we both will eat food as long as it’s in front of us.  Chips?  Goners.  Nachos?  Same.  Sushi?  Oh the worst!  The night of my birthday this past year, Bree and I went out for sushi before my big birthday dinner and ate the whole plate, then went to the Rio with everybody else and I still ordered fajitas, ate one of them and the rice and beans on the plate.  Basically, we’re eating champions.

Another funny moment about food I was reflecting on today was when Rich and I were still seeing each other and he wanted to make me dinner (see it used to be going well, but more on that later, I guess).  He asked me what my favorite food was.  And I started naming things off I liked, like breakfast for dinner, pasta, pancakes, bread, you name it.  And so, I stopped and thought about it, and I finally said “I think my favorite food may be carbs.  And Rich, without skipping a beat, responded “That’s okay, my.  My favorite food is dairy.”  And as cheesy (literally, the next thing I said was “That’s so cheesy.” To which he responded, “Pretty delicious, right?”) as it was, it really meant something to me.  It was nice to hear someone else enjoy a  potentially weird attachment to food and share that with you.  I don’t know…  I enjoyed it.

Anyway, lately I’ve just lost interest in food halfway through eating it.  Something will sound good and I’ll make it or order it, but then I don’t want it anymore.  I don’t really know what’s going on.  I want to eat, I don’t necessarily avoid eating or anything.  I’m just not as excited about food anymore, I guess.  That’s what’s going on now, I guess.  Hopefully I get interested in food again soon.  Or, at least on the bright side, I’ll have lots and lots of leftovers and will never have to cook again.

My Halloween Costumes, the 2011 Edition

So let’s look at my Halloween costumes again this year.  Fun stories abound!

Cocktail Bunny(2006/2007):  This is my favorite.  I originally purchased it my freshman year of college when I went costume shopping with Larissa.  I was deciding between it and the black version and Larissa said “Clearly, you should be wearing pink.  It’s just you.”  And that’s that.  I also wore it to a Playboy Bunny party the Theta Xis had around Easter one year.  I dressed up in full bunny regalia and Melissa went with me, brought some ears, but halfway there decided she would be “that one girl” who didn’t dress up fully.  Turns out, every other girl decided she would be “that one girl” also.  Let’s just say, I was very popular that night.

Devil (2008):  So the year I bought this costume, my riding crop was very popular with all my fraternity friends.  I do not think there was a person on Halloween that did not get slapped with it.  Lucky were the people that let me “slap” them; I simply tapped them and said “My my, I think you’ve been naughty.”  If you were slapped by a fraternity gentleman, I apologize because that thing is real leather.

 

Mad Hatter (2009):  So the year I wore this costume on Halloween (actual Halloween), I went to Denver with Allie and some of her friends.  Let me tell you the story of how I twisted my foot.  We went to a bar and I was sitting at the bar, enjoying beverages, with the heels of my shoes clamped over the rungs of the bar stool.  Well a guy dressed as Max from Where The Wild Things Are (because that movie had just come out that year) barreled toward me.  As I was falling, I managed to unhook one foot, but not the other.  And so, I twisted my foot and wandered around Denver like that.  Then I iced it all the next day.  And the next (when I wasn’t in class).

Sailor (2009):  I wore this costume on the day before Halloween when Bree planned a double date with her, me, Kegan, and old Brody.  We went to a local Haunted House that had an intro Haunted House.  We also paid for fast passes to skip the line.  So the four of us went into the haunted House and within the first ten minutes, something terrified me and I spent the rest of the evening hiding my face in Brody’s jacket and clinging to his back.  What a waste of $30, right?  I opened my eyes twice.  Once when we were in a pitch black room that you had to feel your way out of…  Inevitably, old Brody, who was doing the feeling, hit an actor in the face.  It went kind of like this:

There was a smack.

A disembodied voice cried “Ow!”

Old Brody responded with “Sorry, bro.”

I also opened my eyes at the end when the chainsaw wielders chased us out.  The one part that terrifies most people, I just calmly walked out of.  This is the Halloween that also spawned one of my favorite Halloween musings, from old Brody, “Well you do know that Halloween is for girls to be sexy and guys to be funny, right?”

Bumble Bee (2010):  I bought this last year as an alternative costume.  I can’t think of any truly notable costumes, but the wings are hard to maneuver in crowded rooms.

Angel(2010):  My dream costume from last year.  No real stories here either, but isn’t it lovely?

You know what’s coming Wednesday…  Because tomorrow’s Tuesday.

When?

So the other day, I was discussing everything that I wanted to get done before I left for my summer job.

Larissa wants to get me on a horse.

Seth and I picked a date for an actually brew tour in Fort Fun, so hopefully it works out on everyone’s end.

Savannah and I have decided to pack our bags and head for the four corners and New Mexico.

Layla promised to teach me how to cook (Bree’s been trying for years.  Good luck with that.)

Hailey was going to help me find a place to take cheap ballet classes.

I haven’t had a day off in forever to watch Titanic.  I need to do that…

And clean…

And go the gym…

But when?

I picked up a calendar the other day because we started scheduling for two weeks out at the department store.  And that’s my second to last week in town.

I have one more week after that.

And then I’ll be packed and heading to Pennsylvania….

It’s a little surreal.  When creating a list of things to do, I may or may not have forgotten that I would be packing up and leaving for two months….

The truth is, there’s a lot I want to do.  But when will I do it?  I have no idea about these things.

Anyway, it’s kind of like that thing people say about being young when I complain about having no money.

“But you have all the time you want now to do these things.  “But I have no money.”  “But think of all the time you have.”

And I look at myself working sixty hours a week and wonder when that is exactly…

The Post That’s Lamer than September Fourth

I was trying to get another update to the Montreal story up today, but I got distracted by an artist whose name I can’t remember.  So, hopefully the Montreal story will get out tomorrow…  But the guy’s name is going to bug me!

I went running today and watched Titanic.  This is what I do with my life.  Anyway, the exciting bit about that, though, is only fourteen more viewings to go.

Also trivia tomorrow, yay!

Ooh, and game night with Bree tonight, yay!

Some Lame TV News…

Well, it’s not, lame tv news, but it’s kind of lame that I’m telling you all tv news.

I had a long day at the alma mater yesterday, so it took me a while to get back…  And thus, tv news.

How I Met Your Mother Gets Two More Seasons:  Legen….   wait for it! And I hope you’re not lactose intolerant because the next word is  dary!  Legendary!  Okay awesome.

Fall 2011 TV Scorecard:  Who else got renewed?  Glee, awesome.  And Two and a Half Men…  I guess tiger blood is keeping this show alive…

Fifteen True Blood Spoilers:  I want to cry…  And go read Dead to the World… again.  This is my favorite Sookie Stackhouse novel and those spoilers terrify me.

This is how I feel about two upcoming Leo movies…  The Great Gatsby and The Devil in the White City.  I love Leo, but the books are so amazing and books and movies…  But Leo…  It’s difficult at best.  Definitely read the books before you see the movies.

Side note, this is also how I felt about the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice (my favorite book).  But the BBC mini series, awesome.

 

This is sort of TV news, but I was watching the 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Miserables on tv tonight and I think Colm Wilkinson has found work for life for originating Jean Valjean.  Like, twenty-five years later, he’s still doing this….  Crazy right?

Two good notes about Les Miserables:

One, it is probably my second favorite book of all time.  I say probably because I am ninety percent sure it is my second favorite book.

Two, Bree and I are going to see the 25th anniversary US tour.  Yay!

A Thought About Something That’s Both Awesome and Terrifying

Sometimes I look up things on Craigslist…  I don’t spend an unnatural, or even regular, amount of time on it by any means, but it’s fun to look at sometimes.

Like Missed Connections?  Missed Connections is awesome(ly hilarious? Sometimes…) and I always secretly hope one will be about me (it won’t).  Also I like to look at the furniture and cars on sale because someday…  Someday I will need new furniture and a car…  Well, a car sooner rather than later.

So I was looking at jobs on Craigslist.  I don’t really take 70% of them seriously, but there’s always a few that sound cool, but don’t work in my schedule.

This time, though, I found an advertisement for egg donation.

Would I like to make $7000?  Absolutely.  That’s awesome.

Would I like to donate my eggs?  Well, therein lies the terrifying (and tricky) part.

Will donating eggs now really decrease my chances of getting pregnant later?  Well, I’m not planning on getting pregnant any time soon and I’m pretty sure they take the eggs I lose every month anyway, right?  I guess it depends on if they’re harvesting my future eggs or not, I suppose…

Would I like to have an invasive surgery?  No, not really.  Not at all, actually.  I am terrified of doctors and dentists and everything.  I go to the dentist every six months, though.  I avoid doctors like the plague.  I hate being sick.  I hate being poked and prodded.  I really hate surgery (really, really hate it–if you’re new here, you missed me complaining about that back in August/September…  Yeah, Keith suggested I make this blog to stave off boredom, which it has done since then, thankfully).  Doctors are terrifying.  Unnecessary surgery seems terrifyingly ridiculous.

So, do I want to get paid to have surgery?  It’s better than paying for surgery, but still, probably not.

But I do like the prospect of $7000.

Realistically, though, I’m probably fifteen pounds lighter for my height than any company would like.  And, also realistically, suddenly gaining fifteen pounds isn’t healthy for me (vanity aside).  So this is probably a moot thing to call awesome and/or terrifying.

I sent this to Bree and Steph, and I still think it’s true:  “Being a sperm donor must be so fricken easy.”  (You probably make a lot less, I have no idea, but there is no surgery involved which is a-okay with me.)

 

As an aside, since today is Thursday, go check out Diary of a Woo Girl where a restaurant review is posted.  Woo!

A secondary aside, do you like my use of “fricken” up there?  I don’t know if you’ve all noticed, but I don’t really swear unless I am very angry.  I know you’re probably thinking “but in the Montreal story, you swear all the time!!” And you’re right, to an extent.  But that’s usually a quote (such as Shawn’s swearing when he burned his hand) or the appropriate way to describe something (the game “fuck the dealer” or the term “gave him shit”, for instance).  Anyway, thought you all would enjoy that aside.

As for blogging, I’ve been working on content for a post about Mardi Gras costumes (you knew it was coming) as well as a new Social Mathematics post about boyfriends.  Hooray!

March Resolution Check In

So it’s the first day of March 2011…  Time to check in on our resolutions/Bucket Lists again!

Here is the numbered list I made back on January first:1.  Travel:  There hasn’t been any new travel since January, but talks of Vegas, Wyoming, Utah, and Arizona have come up.  There’s Pennsylvania over the summer too.

2.  Get an apartment:  The job part of  this is weighing me down, but I am getting more regular hours and may have found some additional temporary work.

3.  Get a car.  (See above)

4.  Keep blogging:  As of today, March first, this is my 185th post.  And today is the launch of my second blog!  But, more on that later.

Notes from last time:

Every time the weather warms up, I open, so no outdoor activities for me just yet…

As far as visiting the alma mater, I am five for seven.
And from 24 by 24 (I’ll only list the ones with some headway that haven’t been mentioned above):

7.  Learn to cook. Bree and I made pasta the other day.  I was on salad duty.

8.  Take the GRE and score in at least the 95th percentile. I’ve been taking practice tests.

14.  Be a trivia champion at least five times. I played beergo and looked up some trivia companies.

15.  Go on local brew tours. I’ve gotten some friends in on this.  It will happen soon.

22.  Embrace being a woo girl. As I said before, I would comment on this.  And…  You can visit my new blog Diary of a Woo Girl!!!  You’ll recognize it from the tiny cowboy hat.  Woo!

Anyway, we’ll check on this Bucket list in April again.  I hope everyone else is keeping up with their bucket lists!

What Makes a Good Friend?

I was talking about this with Bree the other day, but I really discovered what it takes to be a good friend for myself this weekend.

I remember back in the early 2000s, there was an email forward running around about the difference between a good friend through the years.  I did some googling (I did say I googled a lot) and I found it.  It reads as follows:

The Definition of a Good Friend

In kindergarten your idea of a good friend was the person who let you have the red crayon when all that was left was the ugly black one.

In first grade your idea of a good friend was the person who went to the bathroom with you and held your hand as you walked through the scary halls.

In second grade your idea of a good friend was the person who helped you stand up to the class bully.

In third grade your idea of a good friend was the person who shared their lunch with you when you forgot yours on the bus.

In fourth grade your idea of a good friend wa! s the person who was willing to switch square dancing partners in gym so you wouldn’t have to be stuck do-si-do-ing with Nasty Nick or Smelly Susan.

In fifth grade your idea of a friend was the person who saved a seat on the back of the bus for you.

In sixth grade your idea of a friend was the person who went up to Nick or Susan, your new crush, and asked them to dance with you, so that if they said no you wouldn’t have to be embarrassed.

In seventh grade your idea of a friend was the person who let you copy the social studies homework from the night before that you had.

In eighth grade your idea of a good friend was the person who helped you pack up your stuffed animals and old baseball but didn’t laugh at you when you finished and broke out into tears.

In ninth grade your idea of a good friend was the person who would go to a party thrown by a senior so you wouldn’t wind up being the only freshman there.

In tenth grade your idea of a good friend was the person who changed their schedule so you would have someone to sit with at lunch.

In eleventh grade your idea of a good friend was the person who gave you rides in their new car, convinced your parents that you shouldn’t be grounded, consoled you when you broke up with Nick or Susan, and found you a date to the prom.

In twelfth grade your idea of a good friend was the person who helped you pick out a college/university, assured you that you would get into that college/university, helped you deal with your parents who were having a hard time adjusting to the idea of letting you go…

At graduation your idea of a good friend was the person who was crying on the inside but managed the biggest smile one could! give as they congratulated you.

The summer after twelfth grade your idea of a good friend was the person who helped you clean up the bottles from that party, helped you sneak out of the house when you just couldn’t deal with your parents, assured you that now that you and Nick or you and Susan were back together, you could make it through anything, helped you pack up for university and just silently hugged you as you looked through blurry eyes at 18 years of memories you were leaving behind, and finally on those last days of childhood, went out of their way to give you reassurance that you would make it in college as well as you had these past 18 years, and most importantly sent you off to college knowing you were loved.

Now, your idea of a good friend is still the person who gives you the better of the two choices, holds your hand when you’re scared, helps you fight off those who try to take advantage of you, thinks of you at times when you are not there, reminds you of what you have forgotten, helps you put the past behind you but understands when you need to hold on to it a little longer, stays with you so that you have confidence, goes out of their way to make time for you, helps you clear up your mistakes, helps you deal with pressure from others, smiles for you when they are sad, helps you become a better person, and most importantly loves you!

I think the end of that email forward is really the point.  What seems important or scary to an elementary student is different from what is important or scary to a middle school student, to a high school student, to a college student, to a post-graduate and so on.  But even though those things change, the best people in your life will always look out for what’s best for you and they won’t judge you by what’s best for them.

The best people in your life will set things down when you have a real emergency and do what they can for you.  And I think it’s really important to reciprocate that.  If you know someone who would do whatever it takes to help you, then there has to be a reason they would do that.  Wouldn’t you do the same?

It’s not just important to have those people there for you (it is), but it’s important to be that person for other people.