Things! Also Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!!! I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted...so just to get up to speed, here is a random list of what we've been up to for the last few weeks:


1. TWIN CITIES 10 MILE
If you'd have told me two years ago that I would one day run 10 miles in a race, I would have laughed in your face. Actually a year and a half ago, I probably would have still laughed in your face. Until recently I was convinced that I hated running...then some coworkers talked me into running the Warrior Dash and the rest is history. Anyway, here's a photo of Ben and I before the race (hopefully I will not get sued for snagging this proof...it does have PROOF written all over it....)

Aaaand one from after the race (courtesy of Ben's dad) looking SUPER AWESOME and not at all tired or sweaty.

Unsurprisingly, Ben smoked me by about 10 minutes...I finished in 1:26, he finished in 1:16. Speed demon, that man. Anyway I spent most of the rest of the day eating, including a delightful feast of poutine, burger, and more fries at The Happy Gnome. "But wait," you say. "Isn't poutine also fries? Why did you order fries again after you already had them?" You know what...stop. Just be quiet.

I've also become a fan of the early morning run. Occasionally I'll drag myself out of bed at the ungodly hour of 5am and drive to Lake Calhoun or some other picturesque location to get in a few miles before work. The best parts of this are 1) the sunrise and 2) getting coffee afterward...plus occasionally some granola and yogurt from Rustica. 

Totally worth it

3. DYED MY HAIR

I've been blond for 12 years, but have been thinking about going darker for at least 4-5. The only problem is, I chicken out as soon as I get to the hairdresser but this time I DID NOT CHICKEN OUT. My stylist was nervous about making too drastic of a change right away though, so she took out most of the blond but otherwise pretty much left it alone. I love it. Next time I'm going all the way.

Plus, nobody can make blond jokes at me anymore.

4. YOGA AND LOTS OF IT

Desiree Rumbaugh was in town last weekend for a three-day workshop and it was amazeballs. One of the things I love about Desiree is that each of the three times I've studied with her, she focuses on one key principle that you can apply across your practice. The last two years it's been an evolving approach of integration before expansion (last year 'RIBS BACK' this year 'INFLATE THE SERRATUS') and it's been so helpful for me. I tend to get lower back stuff in certain backbends, and in standing crescent oddly enough...but not last weekend so now I have some additional tools to integrate into my practice. Super amazing. One of these days i'm going to go on a yoga nerd tangent on this blog...watch out. 

Lovely

4. FALL THINGS

Some leaves

Some more leaves

Carving pumpkins in Chicago with Kristin

PUMPKINS

5. HALLOWEEN
Ben had his costume planned the day we saw The World's End in the theatre. Or rather, I planned it for him as soon as I saw Simon Pegg's character. "Hey," I said. "You have a coat like that! And you have a scruffy beard like that! And you could slick your hair back and wear aviators!"

Gary King rides again

Ben as Gary, and our friend Chris as ...a G-man? I think?? Basically he went as himself but with a fedora.

I had no idea what I was going as until literally 10 minutes before walking out the door. All I had to go on was a blue wig spontaneously purchased at Target about 1 hour before the party, and...yeah that was pretty much it. So I decided to make our evening an homage to Edgar Wright and went as Ramona Flowers.

Not my real hair.

Ben and I at the party

I also did some karaoke to the Backstreet Boys, which Ben took a video of but I think I will spare you...


5. HAVE YOU BY ANY CHANCE SEEN...A LITTLE LEMON...?
If you are a decent human being, you have hopefully listened to Cabin Pressure by John Finnemore. If not, you are probably unfamiliar with the game Traveling Lemon. Basically, one player hides a lemon somewhere and the other person has to find it. When the second player locates the lemon, they re-hide it and the first player has to find it and then re-hide it. Ad infinitum.

One day, without warning I put a lemon in the shower, and sent Ben an email informing him that the lemon was in play. He thought I was joking...I wasn't. He found it pretty quickly, and re-hid it in a new location. One of the rules of Traveling Lemon is that the lemon has to be in plain sight (not in a drawer or cupboard or anything), and after a couple of days I grew suspicious that he was cheating because I had looked EVERYWHERE and had yet to find the lemon.

Well.

On Monday afternoon, my mom came over for tea. The first thing she said when she walked into the dining room was "Um...did you know there's a lemon on your chandelier?"

Well played, Benjamin. Well played.

I think that's all I have for now. Hope you're having a wonderful week and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

More Halloween!!

After college, my friend Tessa and I lived for 3 years in a condo in St. Paul. It was a pretty damn good party condo, a quality we took advantage of frequently. One of our favorite, and most consistent, yearly events was a decked-out, costumes-are-not-optional halloween party. We started throwing the party in 2006, and even though I moved out in 2009 for a place that was closer to school and the bus line, the party lives on. Presently my duties involve less hosting and more showing up and drinking, which is awesome in its own right except that now I have to drive home :(

Here's a blast from the past for you! You'll notice that Ben is in none of these - which is because he was in India from 2006-2007 and Bowling Green from 2009-2010...and we failed to get a picture together in 2008 because we were each trying realllly hard to pretend we did not have a crush on the other. Ah love.

2006: Me as a pirate and Tess as a vampire

2007: Tess as a belly dancer, me as an Eski-ho (with clubbed baby seal - I had a club but it is not pictured here), and Julianna as Helen Keller. I think we were going for "grossly offensive" that year...?

2008: Tess as a devil, me as a...gangster? The best part of that costume was my Pimp Cane - a black 8-ball-topped can that was for some inexplicable reason on sale at a medical supply store.

Here is a picture of the cane in my right hand, even though you can barely see it. It was bad ass....trust me.

2009: Me as a pirate again...and my friend Chris as Rorshach. His costume was creepy and amazing.

In 2010 I unfortunately missed the party because I was at a conference in Michigan so no pictures from that year. This year was a great time as always - good friends, good food, and somehow we even busted out King's Cup. We're 28 years old...I don't know, I can't even explain it. And yes, we had the ridiculous Little Green Man rule. Ah the olden days...

Brendan, Tessa's boyfriend, carving the pumpkin with their dog Merlin

Our college buddy Paul

Catie, me, Becky and Tessa

The Dread Pirate Roberts had to defend me from Rodents of Unusual Size through most of the party...my hero ;)

...and we watched this happen! The end of one of the best World Series to my memory (except for '91 obviously...)

Villain Tyler and Paul

hoo boy.

yep

I give the sideye to Ben's camera skills

On Saturday we went to my friend Jess's party - I met Jess through the Anusara yoga immersion, and it's unfortunate that I didn't get more pictures at her party because the decorations were amazing! Jess and her husband Brad's friends are fantastic and we had a great time.

Me with Jess/Miss Piggy

Last night we just took it easy at home - we only got about 10 trick-or-treaters, but Julianna came over to eat cookies and watch Community.

And...exciting announcement... my little sister is moving to Australia in the spring! Not permanently, thankfully - just for a few months to do some psych research. So excited for her! I know she won't leave until February but I'm already planning to throw her an awesome party.

Well... I am pooped from my hot yoga class tonight, so I'm gonna read on the couch and possibly fall asleep....and apparently watch the cat fall off the table while attempting to collate Ben's students' papers. I wish I was kidding but this literally just happened as I was writing.

Happy Tuesday!

Happy Halloween!

I can't believe it's been 20 years since the infamous Halloween Blizzard of 1991. I was 8 years old and dressed up as a vending machine (yep - weirdo), which actually turned out to be perfect because if I tucked my arms inside the black-painted cardboard box of my costume, I was completely protected from the elements.

I've never been one to go all-out with the Halloween decorations (Christmas is another story though...) but that doesn't mean we haven't been preparing for this spookiest of days.

Dining Room table, spookified


Reading some scary stories...

Even Sid and Mini are getting into the Halloween spirit. They've been practicing their sneak attacks, although I think both of them could work on subtlety. I think Mini truly believes that letting you know exactly where she's hiding is a great scare tactic, and Sid just doesn't get it at all. But hey, at least they're trying.

Hee hee


Vampire kitteh will eat your face


Boo?

We've also been enjoying lots of Halloween parties and fun times with family - to be recapped later, but for now it's time to get to work so I can get home in time to prep for trick or treaters! Stop by our place - we'll be the ones handing out freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies :) Or, if you have some crazy fear of your children accepting homemade goods from total strangers, we also have Snickers.

OoooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooo....
(That was my best attempt at ghost noises. Deal.)