A Halloween Travel Nightmare

Several of you have been total sweethearts and have checked in on my whereabouts and safety due to Hurricane Sandy hitting smack-dab in the middle of my scheduled trip back to the East Coast. It was really quite frustrating to be in the midst of blue sky, 80 degree weather, palm trees, and the ocean and to still be thinking about/figuring out travel arrangements back to the area about to be hit by this "Frankenstorm." I figured I'd be stuck in California until the end of the week since my Tuesday evening arrival in DC wasn't looking too promising.

Thanks to Southwest being AMAZING and offering all those whose flights would be affected by the hurricane to reschedule their flights at no charge at all, I was able to fly in late Sunday night. We were told it was THE last flight into Dulles Airport. If I had taken any later flight, I would be stuck in no man's land. God was sure looking out for me on that one.

And the travel gods were surely looking out for me that day as well. I made it from my hotel, to the rental car office, on the shuttle to the airport, dropped off my luggage, went through security, and was sitting at my gate in twenty minutes. Twenty! 

It was a crazy hectic day to be traveling that day. We had a layover in Chicago without a change in planes. As we landed there, the pilot said, "Well, those of you traveling on to DC... your fight has not been cancelled yet." Nice. So, those of us continuing on, stayed on the plane and all huddled together to talk about what we had heard about the storm/travel. Way to go, team!

I am sure after reading this post on my crazy flying rituals, you all can only imagine how thrilled I was to fly through the air while "the storm of a lifetime" was about to hit. The countless warnings from the pilot about "keeping the fasten seatbelt sign on" did not make me feel any more assured. Nor did the announcement that the flight attendants needed to collect trash early and return to their seats. I prepared for the worst. And took pictures to distract myself.

Oh, did I mention how a guy decided to chat me up while standing in line to board the plane in San Diego? During our layover in Chicago, he made it a point to come sit next to me on the plane and continue to chat me up. This did not go over well when my flying rituals began.  I mean, seriously... can't you see that I am trying to pray here?! Back off, homeboy. And then I got made fun of for burying my head in my hand during take-off. AND he used MY tray table because he was busy watching a movie on his laptop... which he invited me to watch along with him. I declined.

And when the turbulence got unbearable and I really buried my head in my hand, not only did he tell me I shouldn't do that because it would only make me more dizzy [thanks, dude, but I think I know what works for me] he put his hand on my knee and said, "It'll be okay." I beg your pardon?! 

That plane could not have landed soon enough.

I landed. Then got hit by the hurricane. Then lost power for 36 hours. Why did I leave California early again? What's one of your travel nightmares?

Oh, and Happy Halloween :) Michael Myers [my biggest fear] comes out tonight...

Halloweekend Part Two

Happy November! What the heck, right? If you’re reading this, it means I did escape/survive Michael Myers! Whew! By the way, I was SO glad to find out I’m not the only one who’s terrified of him.

This past Saturday was the “Air and Scare” event held at the newish Air and Space Museum in Northern Virginia. It was an opportunity for the little ones to do some indoor trick or treating while also exploring some of the world’s most famous and fascinating aviation exhibits. We’re talking spaceships, missiles, fighter jets, commercial airplanes, etc. They had tons of fun activities, science experiments, and photo ops for the older kids too.

The place. was. packed.
Kids, strollers, moms dressed up like they are still twenty-one {but hey, I’m not judging}, and many people speaking languages other than English. It was quite an experience really :)

Most importantly, my little niece Aubrey had a BLAST! She’s just over a year old and could only comprehend so much but, boy did she LOVE “walking” around and pointing at everything!

Let me start off by saying that it was snowing, windy, and COLD. While I’m used to it after living in Salt Lake City for a while, it just didn’t work for my hair. Sooo just ignore my hair in any pictures :)

Isn’t she a cute, little witch?

Who you gonna call?

 
F-14 Tomcat! Saw these a lot in Virginia Beach growing up :)

 
Shoutout to Oceana!

 
The SR-71 Blackbird – the world’s fastest jet. It almost reminds me of some sort of alien aircraft…

Helping my niecey trot around with her pink pumpkin! She only needs one hand to help her now!

It was pretty dang cool to stand next to the space shuttle!

 
The Apollo 11 Command Module that landed in the ocean carrying all the astronauts after landing on the Moon :)

Oh, and Chewbacca made an appearance!

 
A whole lotta Nazi Germany aircraft

The nose of the Enola Gay – the bomber that dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima…

Me and Aubrey having a blast with all the fun things to look at! :)

The Concord! It was pretty tough to get a good picture of it because of its size. The windows were SO small!

 
Can you believe this little “Airphibia” doubled as a plane and a car? The front part could detach and drive on the road!

We were all wiped out after hours of walking around and headed out for some delicious dinner at a place called Willard’s. Of course, I was too hungry to think about taking pictures of dinner at that point :(

HOWEVER, I did take pictures of some tasty HALLOWEEN treats I baked up!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Prior to cutting! These were so yum. Perfect with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee! Even my brother enjoyed them {and he doesn’t even like anything cheese-related!}
You can find the recipe here. I followed it exactly and they turned out fabulous :)

This weekend I also made some DIRT and WORMS!

I couldn’t help it, really. I remember being a child and being allowed to order this as a dessert off the kids’ menu every so often and I would always gobble it right up {mainly because it’s so chocolatey and I can’t say “no” to chocolate} It was perfect for Halloween!

This one is so easy you don’t really even need a recipe!

Just buy a box of instant chocolate pudding, prepare. Crush Oreos depending on how much dirt you want {I put a bunch of Oreos in a Ziploc bag and crushed them with a meat mallet.} Then, place the pudding in a serving dish, cover with the “dirt,” and garnish with worms!
Cheers!

 

So, that was my Halloween, friends! Watched some more of the Halloween movies, a little of the Ghost Hunters Live special, saw some cute trick-or-treaters, and ate dirt and worms! If you made it through this whole picture-heavy post, thank you!

How did you spend your Halloween? If you fought the urge to eat any leftover candy, I commend you. Wish I could say the same!

Halloweekend

Happy Halloween, everyone! I’m about to let you in on a little secret. One that will make me quite vulnerable and susceptible to many a prank joke. But hey, in the spirit of Halloween {no pun intended} I shall let you in on one of my biggest fears. However, not yet!

First we need to talk about COSTUMES! In case you didn’t guess it last week, I dressed up as…

POCAHONTAS!

I never find the costume, the costume finds me and that was certainly the case this year! The entire costume {minus the boots and necklaces} cost me under $25!

The costumes we wore this weekend sure made for awesome conversation and quotes all night.

We had to find creative ways to try and cover up my friend’s reflective tape, haha!

From me being tempted to go barefoot the classic Pocahontas way {don’t worry I didn’t} to everyone yelling “CABS ARE HEEEEERE” in their Jersey Rhode Island accent all night – it was hilarious!

Once we got to the party, a guy even said to me, “Oh, Pocahontas! I like your costume… because I’m a Redskins fan.” My response? “Oh. Me too!”

These ladies were tweeting all the funny things going on throughout the night so I had to catch them in action. They totally need to become bloggers! ;)

Everyone loves Pauly D!

And just in case you’re wondering, I only sang a small part of “Just Around the Riverbend” :) The Pocahontas soundtrack is amazing.

It was a great night {minus the political debate that I somehow got sucked into thanks to Pauly} Never talking politics again. Aside from that though, I wish every weekend could be Halloweekend! Dressing up as Pocahontas was a blast. I think it’s my favorite costume to date! {Probably because she’s a fellow Virginia girl, ha} But, just for fun, here’s what I may have looked like in past years:

So, now I get to tell you about that big fear of mine. Yes, I’m a huge scaredy-cat and many things like take-off in a plane and lightning scare me. However, there are only a few things that haunt my dreams and hinder my actions at certain points. Tornadoes, spiders, and… Michael Myers.

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I’ve seen so many scary movies it’s not even funny. Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th… those movies are “eh.” I spend more time laughing at the special effects. But Halloween? I can’t handle those movies, all because of Michael. His height, that white face, the hair, the creepy way he just randomly appears and tilts his head to the side. No can do.

Here’s what I mean:

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Seriously, you guys. This is what happens in my dreams. He appears, I fight to kill him, and then he secretly rises up like the above picture, ready to slay me. So, what do I do? Something like this:

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And I end up letting him kill me.

Anyway, today is Halloween. That means Michael comes out tonight. Fingers crossed that I make it out alive and I’m back tomorrow to blog. Hopefully I do because I have the rest of my Halloweekend to share with you!! Air and Scare was a blast and I’ll show you the Halloween goodies I made, so be sure to check back tomorrow for Part Two :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

P.S. I’m listening to Christmas music right now.

A Fancy Halloween

It’s Halloweekend, all! Again, I’m blaming all my acting/theatre/drama days for my love of Halloween and dressing up. Okay, so I played dress-up pretty much every day of my life until I was thirteen ten years old. And when I wasn’t playing dress-up, I was in a dance competition or play in some elaborate costume. True story. So, you must understand that walking around in non-costume clothing is just too boring for this lass. I promise I’m normal.

ANYWAY.

{av} over at {long distance loving} has given us the chance to design the costume we’d wear if we could wear ANYTHING at all. So, of course I assumed I’d have a never-ending budget and be going to some fancy-schmancy NYC costume event. I’ve always wanted to go to a masquerade ball. There’s something about the mystery and intrigue of those masks and the glamour of the dresses. {Clearly this didn’t work out for Jeff in The Bachelorette, eh?}

But, it would work for me. Or so I’d like to imagine :)

 

I wish I could be a masquerading princess everyday of my life, wearing glorious whites and golds like above. However, I’m sure I’d get a few odd glares.

 

So, because my budget is NOT limitless, I stepped my real-life costume down a notch or two or ten.
I’ll give you a hint…
This guy may or may not be my “boyfriend”

 

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I can’t believe how little I had to spend on my homemade costume! The Bargain Blonde would be proud ;)

 

I’ll be back in DC on Saturday to go with my baby niece to the Air and Scare event at the Air and Space Museum. Gosh, I hope none of those ghouls sneak up on me. I know they can smell my fear. They always do. I have stories. Keep your fingers crossed for me, will ya?

 

What are YOUR Halloweekend plans?

Halloween Brainstorming Season

Every couple of years, I become “too cool” to dress up for Halloween. Last year was one of those years. I’m sure age 14 was as well. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE dressing up for special occasions. However, I have to be in the right place at the right time to dress up for Halloween. So, no… last year I didn’t go all out when we had the chance to wear a costume to work.

This year, on the other hand, I don’t even have set Halloween plans but I already have a potential costume picked out. Basically I was browsing the racks and BAM – there it was. My mind started visualizing that with the perfect accessories, I’d be one adorable ______! You’ll have to wait to find out what I might potentially be!

I say “potentially” because, well, a girl’s got to have options! Something else might turn up. As I was Googling similar costumes for accessory inspiration, I started to come across some amazing costumes. I knew I just had to share these. Have you ever seen a costume and been like, “If I could get away with ANYTHING, I would SO wear that!” Because, let’s be honest – you can’t just wear ANY costume. There are rules. Anyway, I also found some other costumes I just had to share. Here we go!

If I could be anything and totally get away with it…

 

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Beautiful Buccaneer. Seriously, I’d feel like I had stepped right off a movie set.

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The classic horror film girl in me would have to do it. Don’t know how I feel about the Jason mask “purse” though.

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A legit astronaut. Too bad they don’t have the helmet.

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Listen, if you knew how much I thoroughly enjoy “walking like an Egyptian” you’d understand and agree. How many times in your life can you say you dressed up like an Egyptian???

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I love my Viking Princess. Horns and all.

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I think this costume is gorgeous!

Okay, then there are the…

“Absolutely NOT-never would I wear these-but they’re still hilarious” costumes:

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If you plan on wearing this costume, I’m sorry I’m not sorry. At least be Mystique. Come on ;)

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Daria. HAHAHAHA.

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Get out of town right now. This is horrible. Horrible is not even the right word.

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The yellow Angry Bird is my favorite. This is actually hilarious.

And last…

If I were a boy…

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Vintage Ken Doll. This is so perfect that I literally had to triple check that this was, in fact, a costume for a human and not an actual DOLL.

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Yup. Pee Wee Herman. Because I love him.

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World War II Private. Studly.

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Top Gun. If I wanted to take the simple approach.

I could probably go on and on. Looking at costumes is too much fun!

It’s time to let me know what you think. Would you wear any from the first category if you could get away with wearing anything? Or am I crazy? What would you dress up as if you were a guy {or if you’re a guy reading this – what would you be if you were a lady?} Oh, and if you DO have the guts and plan on wearing any of these this year, let me know puh-lease! :)

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays for some reason. {Okay, so maybe all holidays are my favorite} But, I just love the idea of becoming someone else for one night. Even if I take the year off and just hand out candy, it’s fun to see all the little youngsters dressed up! I’m excited for the Halloween-brainstorming season to now be here :)