Halloween 2015

We had a pretty busy and fun Halloween weekend this year! It kind of sneaked (snuck?) up on us but we ended up having a blast. First, on October 25th, the infamous Dup turned four years old. She celebrated with a day at the beach with Ryan and a candle lit cookie that night. The candle freaked her out a bit so we made sure to sing really fast!

The Dup turns 4!

Then we got on to Halloween weekend! On Mischief Night Ryan, my best friend Donna, and I all went to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show on base. I had seen bits and pieces before but never the entire thing. So when the base theatre had a free screening, with props encouraged, we couldn't resist! Especially since it is the 40th Anniversary. We had an absolute blast.

I loved the audience partici-(SAY IT!)-pation. We brought along most of the props allowed, including rice, toast, confetti, noise makers, flash lights, party hats (obviously), and toilet paper. At the very beginning when the rice started flying it went EVERYWHERE. When we got home that night we had rice falling out of our shoes, jeans, hair... it was nuts.

I only took one picture during the chaos, during the flashlight use.

Halloween itself I woke up early not feeling very well, but after lounging around for a few hours watching the marathon of The Librarians on TNT I started to bounce back. We went last minute shopping for costumes and I saw a bad wig that I showed Ryan. I jokingly told him he should be Donald Trump for Halloween and he instantly went with it. I decided to just buy some face paint and wrist bands and wore my good ol' Eli Manning jersey and was a football player.

 

It is kind of scary actually how good of a Donald Trump my husband was. It freaked some people out! Especially when he threw out some catch phrases like, "Make America great again!" and talked about building a wall... scary indeed.

 

Our first stop of the evening was at my co-worker's house where we watched scary movies, ate delicious homemade pizza and played Cards Against Humanity. Jennie made some delicious food and I was bummed we couldn't stay longer than we did. Ryan made plans to meet up with a friend of his so we had to bounce out earlier than I was happy with. We met up with his buddy and girlfriend and went to stop number two, the house of another friend of his. We played cornhole and had some more delicious food before making our way to my friends' house for stop number three. My friends were from the plays we did and they always have something crazy going on and it was a lot of fun. Ryan and his friend Derek tied for funniest Halloween costume too!

A full sized Donald and Eli.

Derek and Ryan ended up having to Rock Paper Scissors battle for the win of funniest costume and they had to duke it out about ten times because they kept throwing the same things!

Finally Derek won and got the fun prizes of a blow up girlfriend and a small beaker from Breaking Bad. Donna met us there too so we all had a great Halloween for sure! 

Even though we bounced around a lot it was still a blast. The extra hour of sleep definitely helped me out when the clocks went back an hour. Sunday we just did some chores and watched movies. We listened to the Giants game since it wasn't on our local channels (GOD what a game. Horrible loss.) and had Buffalo Wild Wings to go. We then watched Toy Story 3 since we've never seen it and I was a crying mess. Really Disney? An incinerator!? Come on! I know I am late on this but geeze, my poor heart.

 



Halloween 2012

This year is our first Halloween in our new house. In Alexandria we had a locked apartment and never received trick-or-treaters. Most kids in the city went down to King Street anyway, but having a small brick building of four apartments with a locked front door meant no candy searchers. Ryan and I were so excited to have trick-or-treaters but alas our hopes were dashed. We had three groups come by the entire night and maybe seven kids total. Bust. We were in our costumes and everything!

I made a nice roast for dinner and we had hard apple cider in our Halloween glasses and themed music playing with our light up Jack-o-lanterns. I hope the seven kids we had enjoyed it! We should have shoveled out the candy as we now have a ridiculous amount of jolly ranchers and twizzlers left. The Reeses Peanutbutter Cups alas did not survive the week.

This was our spread on a small table outside. We had a small lantern as well. We had set up two chairs and music and everything. Sadly it was in vain. We sat out there for maybe two groups of kids then got cold and just gave up and went inside. Luckily we did as no one else came!

 The Dup joined our Alice and Wonderland theme by being the White Rabbit. She hated her ears and we literally had to bribe her to even sit still for a picture. Once that was done she ripped them off and tried to eat them. Sigh.

 Alice and the Mad Hatter, year two. We are cheap and reuse our costumes and probably will for a few more years. At least it is Alice, I can totally handle that. She was my dream job in Disney :(

 Family photo with a self timer, not our best!

Moooom I don't wanna wear the bunny ears! Wait, is that a Beggin Strip!? Ok, I'll stay for one minute.
Our friends Ben and Chelsea came over that evening to hang out and we all sipped on some beer and watched one of the best episodes of Doctor Who called Blink. It is with the weeping angels (AMAZING) and you don't even have to watch the tv show to follow the episode. It is creepy (but not too creepy for even me, the whimp, to handle) and perfect for Halloween. Even if you do not watch Doctor Who (and you SHOULD) got on Netflix into season two and find the episode Blink. Watch it. You'll become a Whovian before you know it.

So the night wasn't a complete bust, but it would have been nice to have trick-or-treaters! It must be our neighborhood because Ben and Chelsea said they were practically mobbed and Ben had to go on another candy run. We have kids in the neighborhood, I see them playing outside all the time, but I guess they went and got their loot elsewhere....



PS - Don't forget to enter my current give away!

Leave - 2 Weeks

Before being married to someone in the military I never imagined I would like the word Leave. It usually means someone is going away, saying good bye... but in the military it is an awesome thing. It means my husband is home and not just home, but home for more than 48 hours! I had two whole weeks of having Ryan home. Man did I get spoiled!

Not only did I have my husband home, but he did so much around the house so when I came home from work we could just spend time together. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, dry cleaning, grocery shopping... see? Spoiled! We went out to dinner to some of our favorite restaurants, we played Monopoly at McDonalds (anyone got a Boardwalk? :P), watched Netflix and movies, watched the Gamecocks, went shooting, hiking... we had a busy two weeks! A lot of weekdays were low key as I did have work the next day but coming home to snuggle on the couch with Ryan and a glass of wine made my days worthwhile.

Of course Ryan flew into BWI, 45 minutes away, and his flight was due to land at 12:45 am. Yea. And it was delayed. So I didn't get him until almost 2am! It was so wonderful to see him again, I amy have jumped on him in the airport. It is becoming a trend.

We kept it low key Saturday but Sunday we went to the Renaissance Festival!



I wait all year for Cheesecake on a Stick. AMAZING



I am convinced the food makes it. Macaroni and Cheese on a Stick, Scotch Eggs... oh no I am getting hungry!



The Hubby enjoys Mac N Cheese on a Stick too!



Then we went to juggling school. Ryan was pretty good.



I on the otherhand look terrified of the tennis balls.



But my concentration was totally there!!!



Then Mr. Show Off did it one handed :P



Jousting!



Kyndra, Tim and Boyfriend Bentlee joined us too. Check out those eyes! He is such an adorable baby!



Husband and Boyfriend bonded a bit. The last time Ryan saw Bentlee he was only a few weeks old!



We're dorks and had a blast. We have gone the last two years now, and I hope wherever we PCS next has one close by! I need my Renn Fest fix, if nothing else then for the food!!!



I think Tim and Kyndra had fun too (:

Sadly I did have to work during the week when Ryan was home. We need to save my time off for the ball and holidays, so Ryan enjoyed sleeping til noon and running errands and watching Mad Men until I got off of work! We'd go out to eat or shopping (many shoes were involved in the process!) and then try and go out for definite on the weekends.

Like to Great Falls. It is a special place for us and we go every fall. It was here Ryan first told me that he loved me, so it is definitel uber special.



Plus with the leaves changing it was gorgeous. We grabbed some Subway sandwiches and made our way out to the park and enjoyed lunch on a giant rock in the ravine.



A lot of these are sort of dark, the sun was setting and on my camera display these looked a lot lighter than when I uploaded them :( One day I will know how to take pretty pictures darnit.



Ryan had to give me a heart attack and climb sheer rock cliff faces. No rope, no gear... just him. High in the air above the churning river. He went camping out in Joshua Tree Park while he was in school and climbed one big boulder so now he is an expert.

Oy.



Some perspective... the kayaker in the water, then Ryan, then me zoomed in way up top taking the darn picture.



But he made it. Thankfully!



I made him have to sit for a picture with me after scaring the bejeezus out of me on the cliffs! Self timers are a wonderful thing sometimes!


Insert another work week here. Then Halloween! (Well, a party Friday before) I used Color Oops to take the red out of my hair (sigh, I miss it) for Halloween and the Ball. My red hair just did not work with the dress I have so I knew I'd be stripping it anyway. The Color Oops got most of the red out, but it is definitely strawberry blonde ish more than straight blonde. I think it will get there though. I mean, I used washable dye in the first place!

What were our Halloween Costumes?



Alice and the Mad Hatter!!!



Alice is my favorite costume, this is the third year I have been it! Once I was about 5, then in college, and now. And probably next year. We actually spent money for costumes this year, they will be worn again!

Sunday we went to the shooting range. Because that is how we roll!



I did better this time! Even some bullseyes!



Of course Mr. Marine blew me out of the water. As it should be! There would be a problem if I could shoot better than a former infantryman!



I did ok though.



We also got a fun card game target and tried to get high scores... I just tried to hit the darn things!



After shooting we went to church and then to our favorite Italian place, Trattoria Franco. It was the same place we ate the last time he left... but we do love it. That cannoli was awesome. We also had calamari, veal, and wine. We even got to meet Franco briefly.

As we got home we realized it was Mischief Night and decided we wanted to cause some Mischief.

"What should we do?"

".... Tape Adam into his apartment?"

Genius. I surprise myself sometimes!

We had some painters tape/masking tape stuff that has sat in our closet for over a year, so we used that. Ryan cleaned the gun and I made long strips of tape to hang from our doorway and bookcase. Once we used up the roll we carried them upstairs. Sure some got tangled and we were whisper fighting up the stairs trying to be stealthy, but we did it! Adam said later he thought he heard something, but we didn't alert him or his neighbors dog!



Adjusting the first layer.



We ran out of tape so we thought we could use something more...



Paper towels and duct tape it is!!! Job well done!



Adam was a little surprised when he got Ryan's text asking him to come outside and smoke! We just heard "What the ****?" And saw him slowly punch his way out!


Saying goodbye was hard as usual, but at least we don't have to go too long. I go out to 20 Palms on the 17th for the ball. Cannot wait!

OH! We got IPHONES! No more flip phone for this girl! I am so addicted... and Tango is the best app ever, it is like facetime/video chat but it can use 3G or wifi, best ever!

Sorry for the picture heavy post, I had some ground to make up!

Halloween

Halloween was a lot more low key this year than it has been for me in the past. I had shows all weekend and Ryan and I had no plans, so we didn't want to spend a lot of money on costumes to wear once (boo). During the day Ryan and I went shopping for stuff to have people over for a Halloween dinner and we carved a pumpkin! Saturday night I had a show but my friends from college invited me to the Drama Department Halloween Party after. Ryan said he was going out so I decided to stop by. I didn't have a costume and did not want to pay a cover charge so I made one in the tech shop. My friend Kim gets 100% credit for it and I blatantly stole it (ok I texted her permission and she said I could) but basically I carried a picket sign that said, "Nudist on Strike".

Think about it... I can wait.

Hey I thought it was funny!

Anyway, I went with Jay (my friend and the opera director) over there and let me tell ya the drama dept has gotten a lot more risque since my time!!! So much cleavage... I had no idea where to look without turning red for them! Four Freudian Slips... wearing slips naturally, two belly dancers, vampires and lingerie models (I am guessing because that is all they had the fabric for? Maybe they were supposed to be a slutty story book character but I digress) and I felt very out of place wearing pants and a tshirt! Ok maybe my old married self is a bit bitter (... yea that's it) but we definitely were not like that back in my day!

It was still nice to see some of the people I knew from school. The seniors now were sophomores when I was there, so most of the kids at the party I had never even seen before. If I heard, "OHMYGAWD You're married?! You're like, an adult!" one more time I may have had to crack and break my one beer and driving later rule and start chugging. But after an hour or so I said my goodbyes and went to pick up my husband.

I thought he was going out with friends from work, but they couldn't line up plans so apparently he walked himself to King St and went to the bar. Yes, by himself. And he makes fun of me for ONE TIME going to the movies alone because I wanted to see The Proposal and no one else did! So I find my very very drunk husband talking to a cop on a bike, as in bicycle, and somehow get him to the car. Man oh MAN he was completely and totally smashed. I don't think I have seen him that drunk in a looooong time. Insane. I somehow get him home and to bed, but get gets up insisting he has to clean the Navy Seal vomit off of his shoes.

That is when I decide I am better off not asking questions.

Sunday I get up and go to my matinee and finish the show! Yippee no more rehearsal/shows til midnight! I get home and Ryan was awake, sober, cleaned, AND cooked! We had three of his friends over and one of them brought their wife Lauren. I was a bit worried because the last time I met one of Ryan's friend's wives it did not go over too well... but Lauren was great! It was nice to have someone female AND sober to talk to! We're going to get our hair done together for the ball Saturday and I just may have a date to see Harry Potter 7!



Our decorations included this spooky black lightbulb in the hallway.
We made witches brew with diet 7UP, orange juice, pineapple juice, rum and vodka. We also got those fun cups at CVS! Josh and Jack brought the pies with them.
I found this recipe on another blog and I cannot remember where now! If you know remind me, but it is basically a beef, rice, veggie dish cooked IN a pumpkin. It was amazing!!!! Ryan may have left it in too long, it said 1.5-2 hours and we did the whole 2, and our pumpkin sort of fell apart and sprung a leak!
But it was still DELICIOUS. The pumpkin added a nice sweetness and it was just so yummy.
And this is Jack, our Jack O'Lantern. Ryan "scored" it, aka drew the lines lightly with a knife and I had to cut it out because I am "better at those sort of things." .... whatever that means!! But I think it is cute. Next year he promised we could do a crazy design one because I let him go traditional this year.


Also checkout this AMAZING giveaway by Mrs S (and Mrs from Mr Mrs and a Little Miss!) that I am dying to win (: