a little Halloweeny

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion".  Henry David Thoreau

Hello. It's a Saturday morning, the first of November, and the day after Halloween. I am sad that October is over, but this day has already been so beautiful that it's impossible for me to be at all gloomy. Nate has left me for the mountains today (just kidding, he went to visit his mom and maybe go for a hike if time permits), while I'm stuck in the city because of my pesky job. I will be OK though; it's rainy outside of my window and I have got pumpkin pop tarts and hot apple cider by my side -- what could go wrong??

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. I was only five days old when I experienced my first Halloween! I was just telling Nate this the other day as we were driving home from the grocery store after I had spent a good 30 minutes walking around the boxes filled with pumpkins and digging through them, examining each pumpkin to find "the one." I was just gushing about my love for all things orange, how pumpkin picking is an art to me, and that I think my love for orange, pumpkins, and Halloween stems from my earliest subconscious memories. I was born five days before Halloween. Pumpkins were everywhere! Orange was everywhere! For the next month until Thanksgiving, that's what my surroundings were. It's only natural that I would love them. Don't you think so?

Nate and I dressed up Harry Potter and Hermione Granger last night. It was super last minute because I was scheduled to work until 9:00 PM, so I thought that I would just go home and we would watch a scary movie or two on Netflix. (My niece told me that I should tell my boss that it's not fair for me to work on Halloween, and she even volunteered to tell him that for me, saying that I should be allowed to go trick-or-treating and I shouldn't work on her dad's birthday. Haha, she cracks me up!) But then friends of ours invited us to come to a little get-together that they were having with a few other young, married couples. Being the homebodies that we are, the holidays are one of the few times that we go out with friends and we both felt it would be a fun thing to do, even though I was a little bummed that scary movies weren't part of the plans anymore.

I have always wanted to dress up a Hermione (I have the perfect hair) but for some reason never have, so when these last minute plans arose it seemed like the perfect last minute, easy-breezy answer. I already had the skirt, sweater (we decided to go robe-less), shoes, and hair for it. Nate had everything he needed for Harry, even a burgundy and gold tie, and the only makeup required was a little lightning-bolt shaped scar. I wish I had gotten a picture of us, but I wasn't thinking, obviously. We were a hit, though! Our friends loved our costumes, and one of our newer friends even asked if this was my real hair. hahaha, I can never really tell if that question is meant as a good thing or not, but I always try to take it as a compliment.

The party was so fun, I'm so glad we went! We were out until TWO O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING, something I haven't done is so long. I sound so old and lame, ha! It was a night filled with candy and pizza eating, laughing, talking, and game playing. We played one of my favorite group games: Mafia! I have such great memories of playing that game every year at girls camp, over and over again until midnight with the other girls in my level while sitting in a dark room lit only by flashlight. And more fun memories of playing that game all across Europe with the other people in my tour group, in the main room of a little inn in the Swiss Alps, and on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean Sea. Mafia is an excellent game, and last night was no different! In one round the citizens thought I seemed suspicious and accused me in the first round of being the mafia, which I wasn't! So I had to sit out the rest of the game in silence, which was really entertaining for me. I loved being able to watch all of the goings on and seeing the suspicious ways mafia members acted and how they tricked everyone and the way everyone interacted with each other. I love observing! In the next round, Nate and I ended up being police officers/angels/detectives together! Working with him was the most fun -- like a good Bonnie and Clyde duo -- defending each other and protecting the citizens. We make a good team in everything.

And, coming in late to cap the evening off was the rain! What is better than a stormy Halloween night? I can't think of anything.