Recap: My Birthday Weekend

I had the best weekend ever!!!!! 

Friday night wasn't anything super exciting. When I got home from work, I helped Nick prepare for his poker night.  Once all of his friends arrived, I headed upstairs to the office with my work laptop to do some work for a few hours.  Exciting, I know.  Sure, I'd have loved to celebrated my birthday that night with Nick, but I knew he really wanted a poker night so what would it matter?  I mean, realistically I was getting him the rest of the weekend so what was one night?  And they all had a lot of fun so it was worth it (And Nick won so I guess that is a positive too!)  Plus, I scored a bottle of wine (in a fancy, glittery bag) out of the deal because one of Nick's friends (whom I had only met once before) heard it was my birthday and brought me wine.  Good man.  Good man.

Saturday morning we lounged around in bed for a long time.  It's one of our favorite things to do. No rush, no need to be up.  Just laying there, cuddling, talking, and laughing (yuck, I know).  We eventually got our butts out of bed, got ready, and headed to the Jacksonville Zoo!!!!!!  Maybe that sounds lame to you, but I'm a giant kid at heart and this kind of thing is the perfect date for me.

Sadly, the zoo was a little bit of a letdown.  Don't get me wrong, Nick and I had a lot of fun, but I was expecting more.  I never really realized how awesome the St. Louis Zoo is.  How large it is, the number of animals they have, the look and feel of the Zoo itself, plus the habitats and exhibits.  I know it's rated #3 in the country and Jax Zoo isn't rated at all, but I was just expecting more.  I mean, they don't even have tigers!!!!!!  What is that crap?!  I also was not used to paying.  St. Louis Zoo is 100% free.  We paid $15 each for this zoo.  Lame sauce!

But like I said, despite being a little let down, we had a great time.  They didn't have tigers, but they did have a baby jaguar that was so incredibly playful.  We stood there watching them for a good 20-30 minutes.

We also got to pet stingrays.  I have never pet one (although one came swimming right by us in Pensacola Beach but that wasn't so fun considering it's stinger was very much in tact) and it was really weird.  They're soft and slimy. I knew they weren't going to hurt me, but every time I saw more than one swimming towards my hand, I kinda freaked a little.

We also got the pleasure of seeing two lions doing it.  Don't worry, I took a video :)  (The ant eaters were also going at it but who wants to see such a hideous animal having sex?  I opted out of capturing that one.  You're welcome.)  Please take note of the male lion roaring/moaning as he's getting it.

After the zoo, we headed to play some indoor, black light miniature golf.  I love mini-golf and since it started raining, our plan worked out perfectly!!!  Of course, I lost, but I was the only one to get a hole in one!

After golf, we ran home, changed clothes, grabbed some food and wine and headed over to Jenny and Matt's house.  She was hosting a small get together for my birthday.

(she makes the best cake pops!)

  I remember a while ago, Jenny had mentioned to Nick that she had an idea for my birthday and wanted to talk to him about it.  I figured this gathering was that idea.  But what she really talked to him about was much more awesome!  While sitting and talking, she asked if I wanted my present. I didn't know I had a present waiting for me, so she had Matt get it.  He set this giant box on the table and handed me a knife to cut it open.  When I lifted the top of the box, it's like unicorns and fairies came flying out to the sound of angels singing as this was staring at me

I have been wanting one of these for soooooooo long!  Nick has always said no because he said it's not a necessity and he thinks it's stupid expensive.  He is obsessed with bread so I tried telling him how much awesomeness I could make to fill his bread loving belly.   No dice.  Didn't work.  

Attempt number two: Jenny makes delicious pretzels that he loves and I told him that if I had a KitchenAid mixer, I could make those pretzels.  He said he'd just settle for eating them whenever Jenny made them. So the next step was to demand Jenny stop telling him when she makes them, sending him home with some, etc.

Jenny has even tried to help me convince Nick of all the reasons we needed one.  And it finally worked!  She presented the idea of going in on it with him for my birthday and he agreed.  So now I'm a proud owner of this beauty.  I told Nick has a thank you, the first thing I will make are Jenny' pretzels.  (Yes, I know I can make it without a mixer, but who the heck wants to knead dough?  Not I!)

So can you say best husband and friend ever?!  I have to find some major way to make this up to to Jenny.  (And now I understand why when we were in TJ Maxx's check out line, Nick pointed to one of these, a red one, and said "Don't they have that in a lot of colors.  What color would you want?"  I didn't think anything of it (since he's so against owning one) as I explained silver of course, to match all our stainless steel appliances and other gadgets).

After the present, we made our way to the dining room for the most fun of the night.  Loaded Questions.  If you're easily offended, a prude, or not mildly inappropriate, it's best to not play with us.  The game gets pretty vulgar and ridiculous. But that's what makes it the most fun!!!  My face and abs hurt so badly by the time we packed up and headed home at 1:45am.  It was seriously the best part of the night. I am so thankful for such amazing friends.  Not because they gathered together for my birthday, but because we're all so alike, have way too many laughs, and we all love the same wine ;) (which we consumed quite a few bottles of) I am already looking forward to our Christmas party (or next gathering) to play the game again!!!!!!

I don't even know why we bother with the board.  I don't think we play correctly and even after someone "wins", we continue to draw cards and play.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day.  I headed out to spend my birthday money on a few small items needed for work and when I returned, we got to work on the house.  Nick wanted to organize the garage so we could pull the Accord in while we were out of town for Thanksgiving.  He did a pretty good job considering in about one hours time, the garage went from this to this:

(excuse the crappy iPad quality photos)

Sadly, my dining room now looks like this because he brought in a bunch of boxes that need to be organized and unpacked in the house :(

The other things I wanted for my birthday were to get the curtains hung on the patio door (so the boogeyman can't see me at night and so that I can walk around in my undies) and get some photos hung.  However, stupid me decided to wash our curtains because they kinda smelled like dog and dust....and they shrank :(  I had been wanting new ones because puppy Yadi and Vino have put tiny holes and runs in them when they were little so I guess now I have a legit excuse to buy new ones.  But for now, these will do. 

After the hanging of things (by Nick, of course, because I don't have the patience to measure.  I just slap things up and keep putting in new holes until the space looks even) and dinner (and some arguing, dirty looks, and eye rolls), we grabbed a bottle of wine and took ourselves a nice bubble bath.  I've always been a bath-hater and haven't taken one in over 10 years.  But that's a story for another post.  Anyway, we filled the tub with bubbles, settled in, poured some wine, and enjoyed the rest of our night (with a ridiculous Weim that can't ever not be involved in something.  This night, it was watching us, confused (because we don't take baths) and eating our bubbles.)

And that's my awesome birthday weekend with an awesome husband and awesome friends.

It seems everyone else had a great weekend that same weekend.  I saw lots of statuses and tweets about holiday decorating.  I'm being good and will hold off until after Thanksgiving.  But it's been hard.  And I'm way jealous of you all who got to sit on your couches and enjoy views of lit Christmas trees and decorations before Thanksgiving.  I joined you all this week.  Kind of.  My tree is up and lit.  But there's no ornaments, no tree skirt.  No decorations.  OH! I do have my new fabulous Christmas scent.  Y'all, it's the best Christmas scent ever!!  Head out to Wal-Mart and buy it.  Yes, I said Wal-Mart.  It's worth it.  It's the perfect blend of spiced apple and pine scents.  I have it burning in my Scentsy's throughout the house.  I plan to go back and buy many, many more.  Just in case they don't bring this scent back next year.

My 29th Birthday

As I mentioned yesterday, I was looking forward to my birthday.  Embracing this 29^th year. 

My employer actually gives you off on your birthday (it's a paid holiday for you!) Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to take mine off.  One, because I am only in my second week here.  Two, because I’m taking off next week for Thanksgiving and also an entire week at Christmas (for the holidays but also all my yearly scans and oncology-related appointments).  And three, because it was Staff Development Day and we had a meeting with our big boss from 9:30am until about 2:30pm.  I told Nick about this all day meeting.  And we agreed to celebrate that weekend (and I’m an awesome wife and pushed it back even further because Nick really wanted to host a poker night on Friday night with all of his buddies).

Anyway, I told Nick about this meeting.  Clearly, he’s your typical guy and forgot.  As I’m sitting in the board room, I see my phone light up. Nick is calling and texting.  “Call me”.  I discreetly text back “Can’t.”  He asks why.  I just ignore it because I can’t be that newbie in the meeting, texting away on her phone. 

About two minutes later I happen to glance towards the door and through the glass, I see another woman I work with motioning me out the door.  I wasn’t sure if she was pointing to me and if I was allowed to just leave, but when I pointed to myself and mouthed “me?” she shook her head yes.  I figured she’s been here a while and if she’s telling me to come out of the meeting, it’s okay.  

I walk out and Nick is standing there, holding a bouquet of beautiful flowers, a gift bag, and balloons.  The poor guy was surprising me to take me out to lunch because he suddenly had the day free.  I felt AWFUL.  We were having a working lunch catered in for our meeting.  He was so disappointed, as was I. 

I led him back to my office (as we passed another meeting room full of about 6 other women, they all erupted with clapping and poor Nicholas was beat red embarrassed.)

When we got to my office, I set the flowers and balloons down and opened his gift.  

I first read the card and was a little confused

But then I pulled out this.  And I was ecstatic!!!!!

I’ve been wanting an iPad Mini in the past three or so months.  Then the new mini’s with retina display came out and Nick bought one for work.  I fell in love even more and really wanted one.  Sure, it’d help me with my job but it’s not necessary.  It was certainly just a want, not a need.  So I was completely shocked to see that Nick actually splurged and got me one!!!! Now I felt even more awful that he gave me this awesome gift, came to work to surprise me, had the day free, and was just going to go home.  I couldn’t even spend time with him because I had to get back to the meeting.  So I said my goodbye, feeling so badly, and went back to my meeting.

We took a break about 10 minutes later and my boss caught wind that Nick showed up.  She told me to bring him back and he could eat lunch with us.  But I’m sure he was already on the highway.  Not to mention, he wouldn’t have wanted to do that.  Had I brought him into the meeting, (like she said I should have done when he showed up), he would have been tomato red and so embarrassed.  {He’s very much my opposite.}  She was disappointed but then demanded I bring my flowers in the board room so we could all enjoy them as we also enjoyed some birthday cake they got for me!  (Have I mentioned I just love the people I work with?!)

That was pretty much the extent of my celebrating for my actual day of birth.  I had to work until 5pm in the office, then I shot across downtown for a work event I was shadowing as part of my training.  However, the other Specialist I was shadowing needed some help.  They didn’t have a Survivor to speak at the event, and she asked if I’d be willing to do it.  I happily agreed.  I felt awful she was in a bind and would hope someone would help me out if I’m ever in that situation. But I also agreed because I love sharing my story and reason for fighting back.  I’ve spoke about this at many other events and I don’t mind public speaking at all. The only thing I was nervous about is the fact that I decided to wing it.  Which usually isn’t a big deal until two of your bosses (the one being that "big boss" that was in town facilitating our huge meeting today) decide to come to the event and you’re suddenly nervous about making sure they’re happy they hired you once you’re finished speaking.  Thankfully after my speech, that boss approached me, telling me my speech was really powerful, exactly on point for why fighting back is so important, and that he’s so happy I’m on staff with them.  *Phew*

Due to the meeting, I didn’t get home until about 8pm.  I called Nick earlier in the day and said that for dinner, I just wanted some greasy pizza.  And he made it happen.  He even took one for the team and got stuffed crust! (He’s not a huge cheese fan so this is a big deal!!!)  I never suggest stuffed crust because I know his answer will always be no.  But today he did it without me suggesting it. Hashtag winning.  Following dinner we cut the birthday cake he got me.  He got it out of the fridge and said “I know you like chocolate, but I saw this and thought it was really fun and birthday appropriate.”  And he was right.  It’s definitely my personality.  Not to mention, I had had chocolate cake earlier at work so it all worked out. 

And that was it.  Simple, yet meaningful and fun.  I’m so appreciative of Nick surprising me at work with the flowers and balloons.  I wish our lunch date could have worked out.  He was so sad when he said “I’ve always wanted to show up at your work and take you out to lunch but that’s never been possible with your old  jobs.  Now it was, I had the day off, and it was your birthday.  It seemed like the perfect opportunity.”  Poor guy.  We’ll have to do a raincheck.  It’s truly the thought that counts though.  He made my birthday more special than I thought it was going to be for spending it at work all day.

Thank you to everyone else as well!  The amount of Facebook posts/messages, Facebook gifts,  Tweets, emails, texts, and phone calls were overwhelming.  I’m so blessed to have such amazing people in my life.  So much so that from the time I got home at 8pm until well past Nick went to bed, my phone was ringing off the hook!!!!  I’m sorry to those of you I didn’t get a chance to answer the call or call you back.  But it’s almost midnight and I don’t think you’d like a call now.  But I truly appreciate it :)

7th Lifeaversary

Today is bitter sweet.  It would have been my grandparents 59th wedding anniversary.  It breaks my heart that Grandpa is gone, and it breaks my heart even more to think about my Grandma, alone.  But today also marks my seven year mark of being cancer free.  At first I felt badly being happy today, but I know Grandpa is celebrating.  He was one of my biggest supporters and helped me fight the disease.  I wish he could be beside me as a survivor, but unfortunately God had other plans.  I feel guilty being happy over my milestone knowing that Grandma is hurting today because her own husband lost his cancer battle, but someone said to me, "You should be happy and embrace the celebration, because it means your family didn't lose two of you to cancer."  

And they're right.  So I'm embracing my happiness.  Working at the "Dream Job" has opened my eyes even more to just how amazing of an accomplishment it truly is.  I know this anniversary is worth a celebration.  Tomorrow marks my 29th birthday.  And birthdays are a huge deal to cancer survivors.  Take a look at the American Cancer Society.  They are the official sponsor of birthdays, because they know how huge it is.  We see the birthday song as a victory song.  Birthdays, to a cancer survivor, symbolize a fight won.  

A lot of people dread getting older.  And while I'm sad that it seems time goes by faster the older I get, I am not one of those people who hates their birthday.  Yes, 29 feels old, but I'm happy to be turning 29 years old.  It means I've made it another year without cancer rearing it's ugly head and taking my life.  A lot of people didn't get the chance to turn 29 because of cancer.  My life could have been cut short at 21 years old.  I remember going in for my scan on November 20, 2006, just one month after finishing my last treatment.  I knew the severity of my disease.  I knew our only hope was the past seven months of treatment.  That if that scan showed evidence of disease, it was pretty much a death sentence.  It's just the nature of Leiomyosarcoma.  I sat in the waiting room on that November 20th, scared out of my mind.  I was far from excited about my birthday the next day.  I found myself wondering if it would be my last.  

I'm happy to say that wasn't the case.  I'm elated to say I've now had seven birthdays since that scan in 2006, and I'm about to celebrate one more tomorrow.  I embrace 29.  I celebrate seven years of being cancer free.  I celebrate my Lifeaversary.  It's the day I realized my battle had been won, my life would not be ending anytime soon, and as we cancer survivors see it, we are given a second chance at life.  A new life we call 'life after cancer'.  A life where everything is different, sometimes harder, but most certainly more beautiful.  

I know this celebration and importance might be hard for some to understand.  And I don't expect others to.  I know there are some reading this, rolling their eyes.  And it's okay.  I don't mind.  It's hard to understand unless a doctor has told you that they didn't expect you to make it.  It's hard to understand unless you knew the odds were strongly against you.  There are certainly situations I do not understand, because I simply do not know what it's like.  During this time, I lean on my cancer buddies.  The friends I've made through this wonderful blogland, cancer forums, support groups, Facebook groups, and of course my family and friends.  You all understand me.  And I'm so grateful for that.  

I celebrate because I realize, sadly, not everyone is as lucky as I am.  Like my dear Grandpa.  I beat the odds and I survived.  But unfortunately, that's not how every cancer patient's story ends.  I lived a life of pure hell.  I still deal with numerous complications.  But this day, seven years ago, I learned that cancer was no longer in control of my body.  No longer shutting me down.  I had won.  I was going to live to see my 23rd birthday and many more after.  I could finally begin to adjust to life after cancer; to my new normal.  I could finally celebrate. 

And so today, and every November 20th, I celebrate.  

How?  Nothing extravagant.  My celebration is really just me high-fiving myself.  It's the time I feel really great about myself.  I reflect on where I was, what I endured, how far I've come, and what I still deal with.  I'm truly proud of myself and the strength I had to make it through it all.  The determination to endure surgery, recovery, radiation, more recovery, chemotherapy, and all the side effects.  Add in continuing to go to school and work part-time as a preschool teacher, while traveling back and forth from CoMO to St. Louis.  It was so hard but I did it.  And I am damn proud of myself.

And because I don't want you all to think I'm beyond pathetic and celebrated by myself with just a self high-five,  Nick did celebrate with me.  Per his usual tradition on this date, I received white roses, symbolizing purity and cleanliness. 

Nicholas also took me out for dinner to celebrate.  

{I'm always so fascinated by the fire and of course the volcano onion, that suddenly becomes a "choo-choo" train chugging along across the grill.  What can I say, I'm a child at heart.}

So.Much.Food.  Does anyone ever really finish all their soup (that Nick and I determined had little sperm floating in it.  Don't worry, I included that picture for you), the salad, the rice, vegetables, and meat?!

Of course no celebration is complete without wine!  (But if we're being honest, no day in general is complete without a glass of wine.)

Dinner was delicious and we left with full bellies.  Despite the fullness, we made a stop at the grocery store because I was craving some chocolate donuts.  (That I ended up eating in bed).

And my five year old child of a husband spent a good 15 minutes debating what type of fruit snacks he wanted.

And that's all we bought.  No shame.

It was a wonderful day.  Thank you to all my friends and family that sent me cards, messages, texts, and phone calls.  It truly means so much to me to wake up in the morning and see my inbox and Facebook wall flooded with love and support.  I truly am blessed for all the amazing people in my life.  

{Dog} Swim Party

We've loved our neighborhood since before we even put an offer on our house.  It's one of the reasons we looked at so many houses for sale in this neighborhood.  But we loved it for us as humans.

And now I love it even more because it's dog friendly.  We have a few lakes throughout the neighborhood and they have doggie poop bag stations around them (technical terms there).  So they can't hate dogs, right?

Then I got an email from our HOA announcing the last day the pool would be open.  Following the pool closing, they announced the next day would be the annual dog swim.  Say whaaaaa?!  Apparently, every year, after the pool is closed to the humans, the next day they have a doggie swimming party!  All the neighborhood dogs are invited to come romp around the pool. How awesome!!! 

Seeing as my dogs love swimming, we knew we'd go.  Unfortunately, while Vino loves the ocean, lakes, and her own kiddie pool, she is not a fan of large swimming pools.  Yadi, however, will go anywhere for a ball.  We attempted to coax her in.  Fail.  Eventually Nick just threw her ass in and that was it.  From then on, if you threw her ball in, she'd go after.  

Nick, after traumatizing Vino by pushing her in while she was walking along the edge and then tossing her in another time (a game she LOVES at the lake), he carried her in to try to regain some trust (which was a big fat fail.)  Yadi was sooooo concerned by Nick holding her and carrying her, that she began frantically crying and dove in after her sister to save her!

I mean, just look at how scared poor Vino Bear appears.

And because Yadi is...well, Yadi, I'll share this gem with you all.  Talk about an ugly photo.

The girls had a blast.  Yadi enjoyed diving in for her ball and swimming around.  Vino enjoyed running around the edge of the pool and socializing with the other dogs and humans.

And now I love my neighborhood even more for being so dog friendly!  They even provided lots of tennis balls, toys, and bowls of non-chlorinated water.

Do you live in a super friendly dog neighborhood?  In what ways do the love your pups?

Halloween Recap

I blogged on Halloween, but it wasn't about the actual day of Halloween.  {It was actually a fun link up party about the Seven Deadly Sins!}

So what did we do??

The day started out like a normal day.  We ran lots of errands, but we did so in black and orange attire.  Because we're festive like that.

Oh Home Depot and Lowe's.  I swear we make a trip to one of these stores at least every other day.  Welcome to homeownership!!!!  Sometimes I think we should just wire our paychecks straight to them.  

Nick spent a good 30 minutes debating the brand and type of garage sealer he'll be buying (probably not for another month or two).

We spent a few hundred dollars on blinds...and still have half the house to go.  We also picked up a two ceiling fans; one for the living room and...well we haven't decided what other room yet.  A fan we really liked was marked incorrectly.  It should have been $170 and it was marked as clearance at $40.  Of course we snatched it up.  Now it's just deciding what room will get it.  

And as no surprise, I made sure we made a stop at TJ Maxx.  I just absolutely love that store.  It's a new homes best friend!

Then we hit up the grocery store for Halloween candy.  I kid you not, Nick spent 20 minutes debating what candy "the kids" needed.  He came back to the cart with SIX bags of candy.  (Well really, nine but I made him put three back immediately).  And it was all candy he is obsessed with.  I tried reasoning with him that we did not need that much candy.  He kept insisting we did, but I know it was just because he's hoping to have a lot of each bag left over.  When I said we should go for the cheaper candy (because I'm a cheap ass), he looks at me, the most offended I've ever seen, and says, in 100% seriousness, "We're new to the 'hood.  We need to establish street cred."  I couldn't believe he was serious but I gave in and $40 later, we walked out with six bags of Halloween candy.  

Our neighborhood has designated trick-or-treating hours (6:30pm-8:30pm...after that, cops patrol the neighborhood and send the hooligans home).  We put the girls costumes on and sat outside awaiting the trick-or-treaters. 

Kids slowly started coming by.  But one of our first guests was this family.  The cooler scooter family.  They had two coolers, filled with water and beer, on motorized scooters!  They'd fly down the street (not kidding, this thing went fast!), their two kids jumped off, ran up to get their candy, hopped back on, and rode off to the next house!  Nick and I decided we're totally stealing this idea if we're still here for our shore tour.  With a neighborhood as big as ours, you need something like this to hit even half the houses!

For the first time, living in a cul de sac was not in our favor.  We were the only house in our cul de sac handing out candy.  As people would come down the adjacent street, they'd look down our street and just pass us by.  It wasn't worth walking all the way down the street, for just one house.  And I don't blame them.  We had some sad, lonely pups.  And a really sad husband as well.  I mean, how can we establish street cred if no one comes down the street?!

Thankfully, Jenny text us saying how crazy it was and that she was almost out of candy.  We told her it sucked in our cul de sac and she told us to come over.  We turned off our lights, locked up the house, and walked the .8 miles to her house.  But it took much longer than normal.  Our neighborhood was INSANE!  You see, we live in the very back of the neighborhood.  Once we made it to one of the main roads....HOLY.CRAP.   The streets were PACKED!  I felt like I was walking through the streets of Six Flags or Disney World.  No joke.  I'd always seen packed streets of trick-or-treaters in movies and thought, "That's so fake!  No neighborhood really looks like that on Halloween." I was wrong.  Ours looks like that.  

We finally made it to Jenny's with our massive amounts of candy.  We stood in the driveway because NO ONE stands at their door.  The kids are just a constant stream so there's no point.  I gave out ONE piece of candy to each kid and within TEN MINUTES, I was completely out.  IN-SANE!  I am not exaggerating when I say there were probably over 400 children out trick-or-treating.  It's as if all of Northside Jax came to our neighborhood!

And I loved it!  I was shocked at how many houses go all out with Halloween decorations at the beginning of October.  I've never seen a neighborhood get so into the Halloween spirit.  And I know I realize why.  

Despite the ginormous crowds consisting of this day and age of kids, I was shocked by the politeness.  When I would offer the bowl of candy instead of handing it out myself, kids took one piece (without me saying to do so).  Never asking for more and never taking more.  And each kid (even the ones too old to be trick-or-treating or the ones to little to fully understand the holiday), said, with eye contact, "Thank you ma'am".  I love the south!!!!

They also would walk up to Nick and the dogs, and ask "May I please pet your dogs?" before just rushing up and petting them.  Granted, my dogs love people, especially children and have never growled at a human, so it wouldn't matter if they did.  But I just love that their parents have obviously taught them the proper way to approach a dog and that you don't just assume all dogs are nice and can be pet.

Since we were out of candy early, we just went inside and drank while the girls played with their boyfriends.  We made a plan for next year.  During our walk, we saw a few family's combined their Halloweens.  They set up a table and all sat there, drinking the evening away.  That's what we're doing next year.  Posting up at a table in the driveway, cold beer in the cooler, candy for dinner.  Plus, with our two candy stashes combined (and any other friends that might join us), we'll have enough to last the entire two hour time frame!

I would also like to note I love Halloween in the south.  You don't have to worry about bundling up!  Sure, some years in Missouri we'd get lucky and it wouldn't be teeth chattering cold.  But in the south, it's always warm.  I'm talking tank top warm at night.  It was great!!!
Although, I cannot imagine college parties in the south.  Girls barely cover their nipples and asses when it's below freezing temps, so I can only imagine what girls do in warm weather.

However, I don't see these "Slutty _____" costumes anymore {thank goodness}.  My News Feed has transitioned from whores in costumes to babies in costumes.  It's now nothing but adorable children in even more adorable costumes.  Definitely another perk of growing up!  I can't get enough of kids in costumes!!!!!  It makes me ovaries ache for my little Disney Princess or Batman!

Although, the insane crowds made it impossible for me to really take a look at the costumes, which makes me sad.  I love finding my favorites.  This year, I can't remember many of them.  What were your favorite costumes you saw?  Any family-themed costumes?  We saw Batman (Dad), Cat Woman (Mom), and Robin (small toddler).  What was the most creative or unique costume you saw??


 I hope you all had a great Halloween!  I'm already looking forward to decorating my house and yard next year.  And our handing out of candy, beer in hand with friends next year!