Pumpkin and Spice

The Halloween party on Saturday was a smashing success! Everyone had such creative costumes- one of Kyle's friends and her boyfriend came as Medusa and Zeus! Check out her makeup job- she said it took her two hours!

Friday night, Kyle and I started putting up decorations- mostly crepe paper and decorations from previous years. Our Halloween night tradition is to watch scary movies while waiting for trick-or-treaters. This year we watched a tried-and-true fave, the original "Halloween", and a movie Kyle loves but I'd never seen, "Terminator". (I know, I'm about twenty years late on that one!) Oddly enough, we didn't get a single trick-or-treater, which was strange, as there are lots of kids in our apartment complex, and it's a pretty friendly community. Oh, well... More candy for me!

Saturday morning, we woke up bright 'n' early and hit Target, where we loaded our cart with candy and treats for the party (at half price!), then to the Halloween store and the party store for half price decorations! The half price stuff was great because it really helped stretch our dollars, and meant we could get more stuff! We weren't the only ones with that idea- there were lots of people buying for Saturday night parties. We went home and finished decorating, and right before the party, Kyle ran out to pick up the food. I used to make food for the Halloween party, but with decorating and baking, I'd get soooo stressed, so I've started ordering food for the party. Much easier on my sanity. This year, we got sushi, bourbon chicken wraps and crab puffs. I do always make a Halloween themed dessert- this year was eyeball cupcakes! We also had sodas, Vampire Vineyards Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and a selection of beers (Samuel Adams Octoberfest, Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale, Harvest Moon, Kona Brewing Co. Pale Ale and for those who didn't care for beer, Bacardi Mojitos.)

During the party, we played a homemade version of twenty questions with cards featuring Halloween-y themed people (Dracula, Jack the Ripper, Tim Burton, Edgar Allen Poe, &c.) And, since we had just gotten it, we set up Guitar Hero World Tour (the version with drums, bass, guitar and vocals) in the guest room for people to rock out to!

Usually at our parties, we give out a treat bag, but everyone always dumps it out to trade candies, so this year, I set up a trick or treat buffet with bowlfuls of all kinds of Halloween candies, as well as cute little 8oz cans of Jones Soda's Halloween flavors- Candy Corn, Lemon Drop Dead, Spookiwi and Blood Pomagranete. There were treat bags set up so everyone could raid the candy and get their favorites! It was a big hit!

This year, Kyle was billionare playboy Tony Stark (who moonlights as the super-hero Iron Man) and I was his personal assistant Pepper Pots. We went with Tony and Pepper from this summer's film version of Iron Man. (So, he's Robert Downey Jr and I'm Gwyneth Paltrow.) What do you all think?

About 1:30a the last guest headed out and we cleaned up the food and hit the sack. Since Saturday had been so run-around hectic, we took Sunday as a lazy day, relaxing, cleaning a bit, and eating dinner at our favorite local Italian restaurant.

With the party over, and being done with work (Thursday was my last day), Monday I was forced to face the task of starting to pack my bags for my externship. How do you fit six months worth of clothes, shoes and bedding into two suitcases and a carry-on bag? Selectiveness and lots of those space bags! Yesterday I got one bag packed- sheets, pillows, blankets, towels and my knife kit!

I also cooked dinner- My dad's beer cheese soup (recipe coming soon!) and a pie... A pie of DOOM! No, seriously. When I bent over to pull the pie out of the oven, I bent wrong, and my whole back seized up and I could barely stand up straight again! Last night, I barely slept, as no matter how I laid, my back sent stabbing pains through my whole body. The rare moments I did fall asleep were interupted when my back and ab muscles would spasm, waking me up.

This morning I felt like total hell- dizzy, nauseous and no matter how I sat, stood or moved my back hurt. I was bound and determined to vote, though, so Kyle and I went and voted, though I felt too crappy to go out to breakfast afterwards, which had been the original plan. Instead, Kyle took me home, and I went to the doctor. (He offered to call in to work and take me, but I told him I could do it. I didn't want him to miss work.) The doctor said I had thrown my back out, and prescribed me some painkillers, an anti-inflamatory and a muscle relaxant. On my way home I stopped at Planet Smoothie to get my favorite smoothie, The Grape Ape, since that was about all that sounded good. (Also got a dollar off, since I had my voting sticker!)Once I got home, I took my pills and drank my smoothie and took the best nap ever! About three hours later, I woke up feeling like a totally different Pumpkin! Hooray for painkillers!

I do, of course, see the humor in the fact that unlike most people, who throw out their backs movin' heavy things, or workin' out, I threw my back out making a pie. I may have to lie and tell people it happened in a ninja death match or something. I have to "take it easy" for the next few days, which bums me out, because I've been starting back up with my running. The doctor nixed that for at least a week or two, though he did say it would be okay for me to walk and stretch as long as it wasn't too vigorous.