Trick or Treat

Halloween was Sunday dinner at my parents' house. We went for a brief walk and called it trick-or-treating.

Lily was a ladybug.

All three of us.

(I apologize for my appearance. I probably should keep my mouth shut and stop seeing things that no one else does, but I find it hard to believe that I'm that fat. The sweater and pants are both way too big, so let's blame the clothes. I keep meaning to shop for myself, and it keeps not happening.)

Alice! This kid is a champion smiler.

The three cousins. Alayna actually was trick-or-treating.

My cousin, Nathan, wife Anna, and baby Jacob were there! Jacob was the cutest pumpkin ever.

Addenda

1. I left one item off the nickname list: Chica Girl. Also, Erich prefers the spelling "Lilo-zeen," à la Strong Bad.

2. Tonight, we are not Cheap and Boring. We went to a Japanese steakhouse, didn't worry about prices, ate till we were only semi-uncomfortably full, had good beer, sashimi and maki, hibachi, and generally had a very nice time. And Lily even ate salad, stir-fried veggies and rice! Then Erich made a Meijer run and got Lily a Halloween costume on clearance. Yay!

3. I have to step it up for NaBloPoMo, as I'm not going to get this posted before midnight. I'm going to cheat so it looks like I did, though, and I won't feel bad about it NEETHER. (The beer was good, remember.)

4. Sleep is much better during the day now, but Lilla-Miss Teeny Tiny Loysel Toysel Chica Girl takes FOREVER to go to bed for the night. I don't like letting her cry, but I'd read/listen to any wisdom or advice anyone can offer on that one.

5. Just saw a commercial for an SNL special. WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED TO CHERI OTERI'S FACE??????

It was horrifying. ...Happy Halloween?

Cheap and Boring

I didn't go to my high school prom. I wasn't asked by anyone (not even an uggo! how pathetic!), and I didn't see the point in spending a ton of money to try to go with a girlfriend or something. I still don't regret this.

***

Erich and I still have done nothing to celebrate our third anniversary, which was over a month ago. We meant to do something special, but we just never got around to it. C'est la vie!

***

It would be really difficult for us to spend any less money on clothing than we already do. Even though almost nothing fits, I would rather keep washing what does fit than go shopping and spend money (two loathsome activities).

***

We have no plans for Halloween. Therefore, and quite naturally, given the above, I couldn't bring myself to buy a costume for Lily. It just seems like so much to spend for a near-non-event. However, cuteness will be missed. It is her first Halloween and all. But it may be moot by now anyway: there's only two more shopping days till the day, and I'm sure there are no good costumes left.

And that is how I succeed so well at being cheap and boring: I just drag my heels, not wanting to spend money, until it's too late to do so anyway.

The end.

Halloween Party Addendum

I got a valid question in a comment on my last post. What did Erich and I dress up as?

I found some facebook pictures:

I wore the same queen costume that I wore for my piano recital. I labeled my orange solo cup "Susie Queen," saying, "Now we know what the Q stands for!" yuk yuk yuk. I have no idea what I'm doing here, btw. But I am standing behind Matt, aka Joe the Plumber and facing Erin the Native American. Paul the wizard is getting some food.

Erich is not a king. He's Brian Urlacher with cheap Target jersey and black lipstick under his eyes. He's talking to the graduated cylinder, Sigmund Freud, and Dan the 50s guy.

Fun times!

Halloween Party

Last year, I had this crazy idea to host a Halloween party as a personal incentive to get my house organized and decorated after the craziness of moving, the wedding, and the honeymoon. This was a craaaazy idea. Needless to say, it did not happen, but we did get to go to a great Halloween party put on by my friend and former roommate, Melissa, at my former place of residence.

This year, however, it totally worked out. Since I was planning the Halloween recital, I was already in the planning mode, and our place is finally to a point where I don't mind showing it off. And anyway, besides some food, all you really need is RockBand 2 (check), Beirut in the basement (check) and really, really awesome friends (check and check!)!

Sadly, I did not get photos of everyone in costume, but here's a sampling:

Anne and Jed as frontier folk

Tim and Erin, self-explanatory :)

My dad, aka "Wade"

Sarah and Chris as a flapper and Tequila Joe

George as Indiana Jones

Niki and Cory as Sigmund Freud and a graduated cylinder (get it?? :)

We had many other friends attend, but sadly these are all the pictures I got. Though I say so myself, this party really rocked. I can't wait to host more parties in the future!

Halloween

It's almost Thanksgiving, so I want to make a quick post about Halloween. It was fun! Melissa had a party the Saturday before at her home/my former place of residence. I decided to go as Marilyn Monroe and Erich was a redneck. Here we are, posing at the plex:




And one at the party:

On Halloween day, I met Tim, Erin, and Alayna at my parents' house where Alayna went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. She looked adorable in her dinosaur costume (though she refused to wear the headpiece), and I decided to go along and take pictures.

I'm pretty sure she's making a dinosaur noise here.

First house! Practicing saying "Trick or treat!" (which sounded more like "go-ko deet!")

"They're giving out candy! Finally my cuteness pays off!"

A ghostly encounter

I also had an opportunity to take nice pictures of the beautiful fall foliage. Most of it has finally blown off the trees by now.

Happy Autumn, everyone!