the old thanksgiving.

so last year we had a new kind of thanksgiving where we stayed here in vegas and had a few family members come into town. i have to say, it was just ok. we have been going to southern california for thanksgiving every year since the 6th grade and to not do it last year was kind of a bummer. we decided (i think on that day) that this year we would save our pennies and go there without a doubt!

finally it was time to actually hit the road on that wednesday evening. now mind you we had just gotten back from southern california a few days before, but we were going anyway:) we made it just before midnight and mom and i turned in pretty early for our turkey trot in the am! just about the only thing we took from thanksgiving last year was to run a turkey trot. we had so much fun last year and i found one fairly close to where we were this year. 5am came awful early the next day since we had a little bit of a drive to dana point from lake forest. plus we needed to pick up our bibs and park which we knew there wasnt a whole lot of down there. fortunately we were early enough and parked super easy on our way to packet pickup. there was actually a whole expo for the race and TONS of people! i have never seen a 10k/5k so big. it was the 35th year running and people had been turning out for years. we huddled close together since the sun was still hiding in the marine layer and it was pretty chilly. before i knew it we were headed out!

im ready!

the course was a lot of out and backs with almost no hills, yea! we got to see the beach a few times, ran up and down pacific coast highway, and into the state parks as well. i was feeling really good, i mean really good. i kept an eye on my garmin after i thought i went out too fast and was lovin what it said. we were just past the halfway point when i saw few people running back shouting for the park officials to call for help. there was a guy that had collapsed! i wanted to stop but there were already quite a few people around him and even more when i came back the 2nd time. soon we heard emergency vehicle and most of the runners were really great about getting out of the way so they could get to the guy. i hope he was ok, he seemed to be talking a little more the 2nd time i saw him.

we continued on and rounded the last turn around soon to hit the 5 mile mark. i looked down at my garmin and couldnt believe what it said, i could soundly set a new pr even if slowed down quite a bit. of course i kicked it up instead and sped across (well for me anyway) the finish line with a shiny new time! 52:55 flashed on my garmin and i couldnt believe it:) my last 10k pr was a 56:31...thats a 3:30 minute improvement!!! i grabbed some water and spot on a higher sidewalk to wait for my mom who finished with a time of 1:29:30! there wasnt much in the way of food so we headed back up the road a bit to grab some coffee near the hotel. we saw 2 very young looking marines grabbing coffee ahead of us and we went out to thank them after grabbing ours. turns out they were from idaho and kansas, which means they just couldnt make it home for the holiday weekend. instead they had been "adopted" for the day by a local guy for the holdiay! it was so cool and they were sooo young, i mean they looked 12. crazy that my brother looked like that when he was a new marine too.

finishers!
and we got bling:)

after breakfast and a shower it didnt take long for our hotel room to be filled with my aunts/uncles/cousin that were staying at the same hotel. we tend to travel in packs! the rumor was dinner was between 3p-4p but we decided to head over a little early to hang out with my grandpa and naturally where the food is. it wasnt there very long before i had eggnog in my hand, a hill family tradition at thanksgiving, i dont even think i had to ask haha! there was a lot of hanging out, catching up with some big things for us all, and good times with family. dinner was delicious of course and it was so much fun to just be with family. we are loud, crazy, everybody is in everybody else business, and there is always a whole lot of love to go around. it was really what i needed and just easy. that night, after my grandpa kicked us out, we headed back to our hotel room to drink. this is a new occurance for us to be honest. but after my breakup my unlce promised we could get drunk on thanksgiving and he can impart his wisdom on me;) we had a blast, even if i tend to think i can keep up with the boys when i have already had some wine and then switch to jack daniels. the things you think when you drink:)

most of my big, crazy family!

friday morning we slept in a little and i avoided the black friday craziness for the first time in 2 years! we headed to rogers garden instead:) its a family tradition to go every year! everything is so beautifully decorated and really puts you in the christmas spirit:) once finished we even convinced my dad that we needed to go to the beach instead of back to the hotel for a nap! it was super overcast, but beautiful as always.

he tried to splash me so i got even!

later that afternoon we picked up my grandpa and headed to go see lincoln. the theater was friggin packed and we ended up about 3 rows from the front. seriously good movie if you havent seen it! i can definitely see why its there is so much oscar buzz around it. the rest of the family joined us for dinner at pepinos, one of our favorite italian places! most of us were leaving the next morning so it was good to have almost all of us together one last time.

saturday morning we were up bright and early to go to the swap meet!!! i know this sounds pretty silly, but this swap meet is different. its in orange county so its much better stuff than a traditional one. we wondered the aisles and browsed through the endless cell phone covers, sunglasses, and fake plant booths. my parents like to take me with them because i try on all the silly sunglasses and hats along the way! i did however score a really sweet christmas present for my brother:)

one of the best quote aprons ever!

that afternoon before heading home i was able to shoot up to brea and meet nate and katie for lunch! i hadnt seen nate since the summer and katie since the wedding. i was so grateful for people outside my family and some my own age haha! my family is great, but we had a lot of togetherness the last few days. we met at sweet tomatoes (yum!) right near their apartment and literally down the street from where we stayed for the wedding the week before. we spent a few hours catching up, laughing, comparing storeies, and just had a good time. somehow we walked away without any pictures! afterward i got to see their very cute apartment just down the street. they are just starting out and have everything decorated so cute.

this year we switched things up a little and decided to come home saturday night instead. best decision ever! it was nice to have the extra day at home before going back to work. not that we spent it totally relaxing. i ran that morning, probably farther than i should have, then we spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon moving and storing the rest of my furniture from the apartment. it was a big relief to get everything else out and just be done. now i can really move on!

thanksgiving this year was a blast and so different from my last couple. i was really able to just be me and not have anyone else to worry about. plus it was like my family really decided we were old enough to do things like drink with them now haha! good thanksgiving:)

thankful thursday #3

wow oh wow am i late with this one! so we will call it thankful thursday on a tuesday instead:) here is part 1 and part 2 if you need to catch up!


1. family getting together

this last week we were incredibly lucky to get almost all our family together for the thanksgiving holiday in southern california! we did miss a few people but had a blast. my family is big and loud and in everybodys business and crazy, and i love it:) 

2. being independent

just recently my parents and i were talking about the things they were hoping to teach their children. my dad taught me to be strong and sporty they decided. and my mom taught me to be smart and independent. i am so grateful for all the qualities they passed along! while my independent nature has definitely gotten me in trouble and is sometimes seen as me being too headstrong, i love that it is one strong feature i have. maybe one day ill find someone who will love it as much as i do...(hey a girl can dream, right) 

 

3. enjoying the little things

whether its grabbing a cup of coffee with friends, having no plans at all and loving every minute of it, or a late night giggly-girl phone call with your best friend, or being able to meet a great group of runners on monday nights that are there without fail. its important to step back and remember those things are so great. its not always about stuff, but the things and memories we get to create everyday!

 

4. traditions

this is a season full of all kinds of things that only happen once a year and i am so excited to get some of them started this last weekend! a few we have literally been doing as kids and i wouldnt trade it for the world. we definitely missed my brother throughout the weekend, it was a little weird i wont lie to not have him there for things like rogers garden and playing on the beach. we still had such a great time and are gearing up for our fun christmas ones over the next month, i cant wait! 

its never officially thanksgiving at grandpas
house without the eggnog!

rogers garden:)

5. somewhere to lay my head

this last month or so has been some big moves for me in more ways than one! my parents were amazing and invited me back home to get myself back on my feet. they even have helped me move a few times over the last few weeks. i really got some good ones:) it may not be ideal to move back home at the age of 27, but sometime you gotta do whatcha gotta do.

 

this thursday i will post the final thankful thursday, i promise it will really be on thursday this week;) its been fun to take out time and actually write down all these things. i know some of them may seem silly or not as important, and thats ok. sometimes we are all a little too serious and you have to take a step back to say thanks!

the new thanksgiving.

for as long as I can remember we have gone to southern california for thanksgiving. in fact we all talked about it a few weeks before, we've never spent a thanksgiving in las vegas. one year in high school we went up north to my grandparents (my dads family) just outside of san francisco, and 2 years ago I had to stay home for work (yay, retail). other than that since i moved to las vegas in the 6th grade we have never as a family spent a thanksgiving here.

we were sooo young!

after last year the rumors started flyin that not everyone was planning on coming out to california. it was starting to get more expensive with plane flights, hotels, and, food out for the whole weekend. we used to be the only family that traveled so we had plenty of places to choose from to stay in. things started changing as we all started getting older and this was the year it all caught up. so we decided to just stay in vegas and start some new traditions.

in the spirit of starting something new mom and i decided to sign up for or very 1st turkey trot! i found a 12k (which is about 7.5 miles) out at the hoover dam that was perfect. it was also a trail run, something neither one of us are found of, but we figured we would give it a shot! i picked up our packets at our local running store wednesday evening with ease. afterward I did a few errands and picked one of my favorite per-race/long run dinner, qdoba:) once richard got home that night I was just about asleep so I could get in the sleep I needed for the next day.

i woke up the next morning feeling better than i had all week and was ready to go! we hitched a ride with my parents and my brother was home to come with us too. we arrived in plenty of time (a worry the day before since there's only 1 way in and one way out) and used the bathroom inside the hotel. mom and I headed to the start line and the boys headed up the hill to see us off. it was an out and back course through the six railroad tunnels with a great view of the dam at the turnaround. now to get to that great view they hyped up so much was a hill straight up and back down. i saw mom on the way back and we high-fived. she looked really good and strong! instead of mile markers like most races they had a few out there to count down your mileage instead. it was actual nice on the way back haha. about 1mile out you could see the finish line. at this point we were starting to pass the 1 mile fun walkers and that gave me an extra burst. as I crossed the line I could see my dad, richard, and my brother all in separate spots and the announcer even called my name!

1:07:39!

1:35:09!

oreos and bling, what more do you need!

i felt great after and was almost immediately hungry while we waited for mom. she finished soon after with a great time and we collected our bling ready to trek up the hill to have some breakfast. we ate at the cafe and it wasn't the best ever, but it satisfied the hunger. they dropped us off on their way home and i headed in to shower and nap before we met up with everyone at my parents house for the big feast. i slept for about an hour and definitely could have slept way longer if my alarm hadn't gone off. we headed over to my parents where my aunt nettie and uncle sam already were. richard and I were in charge of soda and the pumpkin brownies i decided to make, a sweet deal if you ask me haha.

we joined in with the family and feel into football, appetizers, and black friday ads. it was a great way to detox from the race that morning. i will say it wasn't the same without eggnog. mom and I were only a week out from the vegas 1/2 marathon and were watching just about everything that went into our bodies. that doesn't mean I didn't eat plenty:) the turkey and sides were ready a little later than we hoped for and we were waiting with our tongues hanging out. it was a-mazing! my mom is awesome cook and did a fantastic job (of course) with her first thanksgiving.

in the lockwood house, you always, always keep your fork!!

richard and i hung out for awhile then decided to head home so we could rest for a little bit before heading out for black friday madness! i got in about another hour nap and we were up and I had coffee in hand on our way out the door to target. the plan was target 1st then the nike outlet and ulta in the same parking lot. then kohls on our way to the mall, with a possible stop at best buy. we lined up at target way down the bend from the front door at about 1130p and the line actually moved pretty quick to get us in. we weren't there for the big things, we were just there for the experience and to hopefully pick up a couple good things. no matter how good a big screen tv deal is, i don't think I could camp out for 4+ hours in the cold for one.

crazy, crazy!

we scored a few good dvds and headed over to nike. i bought a jacket for the vegas race, which I badly needed, plus another one and some arm warmers. afterward we headed into ulta. we weren't quite as successful there as we hoped. the it was off to kohls. this place was crazy! the line was crazy long and we sure did wait in it to buy a few things. by the time we got out of there it was almost 3a and we had a bit of time to waste before the mall opened. so we decided to check out best buy. talk about crazy? omg. the store had been open 3 hours and the line was still snaked through the whole store with people holding big purchases. i think it was this point we decided we just needed to head to the mall then home. as we were getting ready to leave a fight broke out in the back corner causing the police to be called and associates to start running to break it up. yeah it was time to go.

we got to the mall and it was definitely time to eat. now a mall food court isn't always the best place for a runner 1 week away for a 1/2 marathon to eat. i was sooo tempted to have a pretzel or cinnabon cinnamon roll but made the right choice and went to subway instead. i had a egg breakfast sandwich and some chocolate milk, it was delicious! i felt so much better after eating and was soo glad i picked the right thing. we headed shopping in the few places we were hoping for. richard made the big purchase he was waiting for all night, a black hoodie from express. i also found my best and biggest purchase of the night at jcp, a grey toggle cost with a hood that I had my eye on for a few weeks. i got a smokin deal and even had to buy a smaller size then I thought:)

england, get ready ill be there soon:)

we made the collective decision to leave after we paid for that. i was ready long before, but i think richard forgot what we were doing, as he was looking to "just browse around." this is black friday, you don't browse, you go in, get what you want, and get out! turned out to be good we left then because as we were walking out a local newscaster from channel 5 asked if we would be on live tv! of course we said yes and went for our few minutes of fame.  im pretty sure we both fell asleep that morning before our heads hit the pillow at 6a. we set alarms for noon so we didn't sleep away the day (according to richard) and we were meeting my family later that day for the movies.  

noon seemed to come awfully quickly and we were back up before we knew it. my whole body hurt all day, sore from the race and the lack of sleep plus all the walking during black friday. we decided to meet my family at town square later in the day to see the muppets! i was seriously sooo excited. i grew up watching that show, so the fact they were coming out with a movie now, i could not wait. we met my parents there a little early since they wanted to walk around a little bit before. just before the movie started we headed to the theater to meet up with my brother and erik and his family. we took up almost a whole row and there were definitely more adults in that movie than kids! ps it was amazing! if you havent already seen it, please go. its sooo funny.

source

saturday, richard and i decided was going to be for sleeping in and decorating. thats exactly what we did. with all the craziness of the last few days we gladly took the lazy saturday to do whatever we wanted. last year we decorated and it was weird and rushed after the whirlwind thanksgiving in california. this year we were able to take our time and enjoy the process (for the most part :) ). the tree came out beautiful and richards idea of wrapping the center with white lights gave it a really cool twist.

merry christmas!!

sunday afternoon richard had to go to work:( its the absolute craziest time of the year for his job and they offer sunday double time to a few guys to help get ready for the week. he takes advantage of the bonus every year, who wouldnt! so i got to be extra lazy on the couch curled up underneath my blankets with flannel pjs on:) it was a great end for me to the 4-day weekend. we started new traditions, and had a whole new kind of thanksgiving in las vegas. we survived another year of black friday and am not totally sure that i will do it again. we also got to escape to our own house and do the things that were important to us, like decorating for christmas:)

the 1 year mark.

with all the crazy things that happened in october, my grad school class, and life in general i completely passed by something important. richard and i have now lived in our apartment for 1 whole year together! for a girl who never thought she would live with a boy, this is pretty big. this post is incredibly late and i apologize. so to make up for it, i have put together a list of things that i have realized changed big time or will never change and important live together moments:)

*new traditions are just as fun to create as holding on to old ones.

the christmas story

 the summer traditions

* we will always, always shop at 2 grocery stores.

you think im kidding...

*traveling somewhere when you live together is so much more fun and conveint when you live together.

we got to go lots of places this year!

thanksgiving 2010

the country adventure

the havasupai hiking adventure part 1 

the havasupai hiking adventure part 2 

*we will never eat completely the same, but we are getting better.

for example this past weekend the only addition i made to the meal was fruit!

different meals

 

*somethings should be kept a secret by experienced couples until you experience them, you would never believe them if they told you.

the background 

the little things no one tells you

the real settling in

*you relationship is always a work in progress. if its important enough, you will always find a way to make it work.

the start of something new 

the balancing act. 

the 2 year anniversary 

 *having different interests is good, but dont forget to compromise sometimes.

the living with a runner thing

*always be there to support each other, even if the other person is wrong in the moment, or you are the only one there, always be on their side.

the birthday extravaganza 

the next step

the deployment 

this has been an amazing first year with so many new adventures and things we have both done. i can only imagine whats in store for this next year! thank you to all those that have been reading about it all here. sharing all of this with other people for the last year has been so fun and i cant wait to keep writing all about everything for this next year. and thank you to my love for being ok with me sharing so many things with the world and for always reading my post the day it comes out! i love you:)

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the summer traditions.

two years ago our very first date was the midnight showing of transformers 2. i wanted to see the movie really bad and my original date (my brother) was in california, so i figured that this new guy would want to see it too.  it was a great first date! we were able to talk since we had to score seats pretty early and able to do the movie together. i tried to give him the signs to hold my hand throughout the movie, but it didnt happen that night. we did share our 1st kiss though. obviously being the hopeless romantic that i am it became an instant tradition i wanted to continue whenever i could.

last summer we added another tradition with the mens world cup.  one of the things that struck me about richard was his love for soccer. i had never met a guy that was into it at all, let alone as much as me! for multiple world cups i have been up at all kinds of hours to watch us matches and having any game on in the background while getting ready in the morning. most of the games were on during the week which makes it hard to watch with others.  finally we were able to gather together during the us vs ghana game at hennesseys on fremont street. vanessa decided to join us and we cheered the hell out of that place! we scored bar seats and even had a small crowd behind us. we lost the game and that ended our time at the cup, but it was really fun!

USA! USA! USA!

this year we had a full schedule continuing our traditions we began the previous 2 summers. transformers 3 was coming out this summer, so was harry potter part 2, and the womens world cup was all happening!  we began with transformers 3 which i could not wait for. like i said i am a hopeless romantic so the fact this was happening almost 2 years to the date of our 1st date i could not be more excited.

we bought our tickets a few weeks in advance sure they were going to sell out. many people thought it was really silly that we were going at midnight, i mean who does that at our age. but as it got closer it seemed like so many people tried to join. i was so proud that richard (with a push from me, lets be honest) stood firm and said it was going to just the 2 of us. i arrived at about 10pm to stake out our spot with goodies in tow...

i was there in plenty of time to grab a good spot in line so we could have prime seating. richard showed up in perfect time as were just getting ready to go into the theater. he was so worried about getting good seats after the harry potter part 1 disaster in november in which we ended up sitting in the 3rd row because we were late. the movie was great, i am still partial to the 1st one and think the 2nd one had a better story line, but the movie had more than 1 meaning for me. by the time we got home at 315am, yes am, i was beat. i had scheduled my late work day for the next morning but that tuesday night midnight showing kicked my butt for the rest of the week! soooo worth it.

the womens world cup holds an extremely special place in my heart. playing most of my childhood and seeing women succeed in a man driven sport warms me all the way through. i also had the amazing luck to attend the 1999 womens world cup final at the rose bowl to watch the us vs china game that ended in penalty kicks of all things. it was an amazing game and amazing experience.

brandi chastain

this year i felt was our time to take the trophy back. the team hadnt had much luck in the world cup since and the team was finally looking strong enough to take it. the first game was on a tuesday so i was able to watch it at home with richard. the second game was on the saturday of fourth of july weekend so we made the trek back to hennesseys. this year the group expanded and expanded. not really my favorite idea, i liked it just being the 3 of us. but what a game to watch together! and the spirit of our group was awesome.

getting his war paint on!

USA! USA! USA!

harry potter part 2 was our next big adventure. i am a HUGE harry potter fan. i mean i went to the midnight parties with my mom (another HUGE fan) to pick up the books so i could start reading them the second i woke up in the morning. then there was the trip to florida last year where we got to be one of the first people to get into the wizarding world of harry potter.  thank goodness richard loves my quirks and obsession with harry potter and has hopped on the train even more since we started dating.

all ready at platform 9 3/4

we couldnt decide which theater to go too, of course we were going at midnight. i was very strong in my stance to go by ourselves and that worked, for a little while. this time people were actively asking and wanting to go with us. after going by ourselves to transformers richard was also strong on the side to go on our own. then we found out some friends of ours had already bought tickets for the same time without even talking about. once there were some going more jumped on board and we were going with a group. i still went equally as early so we could score some sweet spots, which we did. while waiting i got to give anthony the readers digest version of the first movie, accompanied by the 13 year-old in front of me. richard joined with plenty of time and nick saved the day by bringing a ton of chicken nuggets (and by a ton i mean 90, no kidding) since we were all starving that late at night. the movie of course was phenomenal.

movie time goodies, yes that is a capriottis sandwich.

since the us women kick ass we secured our spot in the final after the crazy quarter and semi-final games. we decided to skip hennesseys for the quarter final, it was too rich for my blood after the 1st round, plus we were holding out for the final instead. and it was very cool to stay at home and celebrate on our couch:) once we made it through to the finals we knew we were headed right back to the bar. it was already the plan when suddenly "the group" started to expand and expand. one of the things we really loved was the small group we had to do these things. we thought about staying home, just going to a bar nearby, or going to watch with my parents and brother from another mother instead. in the end i know we made the right choice by heading back to hennesseys.

we got there super early with american spirit in full force, had some breakfast, and a few drinks. we met up with kassen and mark who had staked out spots on the couchs while we sat at the bar. i rarely ever get to sit at the bar, plus you cant mess with the mojo. it was a really tough game and i think the women even underestimated japan a little bit. they had so many opportunities to put the game away that they did not capitalize on. unfortunately japan did capitalize and even the score every time they were down sending us to penalty kicks. after 3 unscored goals by the us and 3 scored by japan, we pretty much knew we were done. after all the heart and determination and fans they had acquired to watch them walk away with 2nd place was heart wrenching. 

richard and i learned this summer to always keep our traditions alive. that we sometimes start trends. no matter how many people jump on board even if its only for the moment we are the 2 most important people in the equation. and of course, silly traditions keep things interesting.

the halloween party.

i really go back and forth on my love for halloween.  now part of me likes the costumes and candy and the fact that it usually means we are finally getting cooler weather.  the other part of me hates the scariness factor and the need for girls to dress like whores and the pressure to come up with the perfect costume.   last year i spent so much money on my dorothy costume.  now it was cute as hell, and probably shorter then it should have been, but i made a vow this year to not spend nearly the money.  see last year i waited so long to figure out if i was going to dress up and what i would be that to get all the parts of my costume i needed to do express shipping to get them all here on time.  big mistake for a costume i have one picture in and spent about 4 hours in.

this year my priorities were a little different.  first i participated in a really fun 5k on thursday night with my mom.  i actually dragged up enough courage to run through 2 graveyards in an etchy-sketchy part of las vegas for a really good cause, the easter seals of nevada.  you also had to dress up for the event!  now that i am a running costume pro i was actually excited to go.  i went as a fairy and mom went as a deviled egg!  we both shattered our 5k times mine @26:38 and mom @38:26.  and mom even won 2nd place in her age group!  we celebrated at metro pizza naturally:)

friday was all about voting, the start of my 3-day weekend, and carving pumpkins.  it was the last day for early voter registration and unless i wanted to drive back up to shelia tarr on tuesday i had to vote friday.  so after a delicious lunch at raising canes with tiffany i went off to do my patriotic duty and cast my early vote.  as i was pulling in richard calls to say he finally going to get the pumpkin carving kit we found 2 weeks ago, that i had been asking hime to pick back up since he was home during the day.  i had just come from picking up the same kit.  there was quite a line, but it went through really quickly.  i made a bee line for home because i was so excited about carving pumpkins.  i hadnt carved one in a few years and richard had never carved one, this was going to be fun.

we had picked our pumpkins the weekend before at the grocery store and each had weighed in at about 16 pounds with excellent stems.  those are very important you know.  once you have the perfect pumpkin it is all about the perfect pattern to carve.  i had chosen a very cute mummy, but richard was all over the place being super indecisive.  so we lay out all the newspaper on the kitchen floor, tools ready, and big knives set to carve.  as i start to cut out the lid, richard starts reading the directions from the pattern book and looking at me like i am doing it all wrong.  of all things i know how to carve a perfect pumpkin.  once the lid is off i start digging out all the gooey stuff inside, loving every minute.  richard takes one look inside my pumpkin and the things i am pulling out and i thought he was going to tell me i am on my own!  finally he starts carving out the lid and begins gingerly pulling out the gooey guts. 

he looks so uncomfortable, at this point i cant help but laugh.  he pulls out the bare minimum and claims he is finished and has a idea for his pumpkin.  earlier he decided we will both carve individual pumpkins and then we let his friends decide, who were coming over the next evening, who the better pumpkin was.

after helping in the search for a thundercat logo and hearing the complaints about the printer, i knew my pumpkin carving championship was over.  i mean it was a really good idea and i wish i come up with something cool as well, but come on your friends and thundercats, there was no way i was winning.  as he started poking out the pattern he realized he hadnt cleaned out the pumpkin nearly enough, so he started digging again.  about an hour later our pumpkins were complete!  the thundercat logo did look really cool and when it was lit up, man you could tell i wasnt going to win.  see example a.

later that night when richard went to work the baking bug had taken over.  i had been desperately looking for a reason to bake pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and knew that the small halloween/housewarming party we were having the next night was the perfect excuse.  while i know that not everyone likes the cookies-fools-i also made halloween funfetti cupcakes.  i made a special cupcake for richard with lots of frosting, he was not so impressed.  and forget the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, he was way not havin that.  i knew the next day we were going to need to buy candy so he would have some snacks. 

there was originally quite the dilemma about how to decorate.  i like the cutesy/kid version of halloween with smiley faces and candy.  richard likes the all out scary, mean, the more terrifying the better.  he learned first hand how scared i am of, well everything when we were in walmart and he made me burst into tears over a giant stuffed red-eye scary rat.  while he still thinks its funny, we scaled back on the decorations.  we started the evening with a few friends coming by early to hang out and begin the drinking early.  richard borrowed the deviled egg costume and it was a big hit.  it also could have been the fact he was already pretty buzzed by the time the rest of the group came by.  we had found some pretty good quality alcohol while unpacking the things from richards storage unit so had a good base going into the evening.  richard even gave a cribs tour of the apartment to vanessa, it was hilarious.  partially because your tour is by a deviled egg and partially because richard is pretty buzzed.

many drinks later we headed out to kellys for an evening filled with karoke, more drinking, vanessa stumbling to tylers car about 5 minutes after we got there, richard sleeping in the bar before going on stage, and a costume contest won by a man dressed as an unattractive woman. 

all in all this was a very successful halloween weekend.  a good mix of kid halloween and grown-up halloween.  a small successful housewarming party where lots of alcohol was consumed.  and possibly a few new traditions were formed.