Halloween Decorations

I'm a very festive person. My Birthday is the most important holiday of the year, but Christmas, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Halloween are not bad either.

Kidding, of course. Kind of.

Anyway, so Halloween is coming up, and since it's now officially Fall I've been trying to do some Fall-like things, for and with friends and L. This doesn't seem to be going as planned.

My mum is on the bandwagon, however: last week she sent me a package containing the following glorious items: Apple Cider donuts, Apple Bread, Pumpkin Bread and fresh-picked Apples from Mack's Apples, my favorite apple orchard of all time back home in New Hampshire. This place is heaven. They have homemade ice cream in the summer, and the aforementioned delicious items in the fall. Not to mention a pond with a dock, a tire swing, pumpkin patches...very quintessential New Hampshire.

So my mum knows that I miss it when I'm away at school, so that package came (also containing a little pre-decorated pumpkin and a gorgeous fall scarf), and I knew it was time to start doing some Fall preparations of my own. So last week L. and I headed down to Wal-Mart to get some essentials.

The only problem is, we differ on what "Fall essentials" are.

We arrive at Wal-Mart. We both stop at the Halloween baking aisle, with orange and black frosting, little sugar pumpkins, etc. We look at each other.

"Absolutely not," I say, and continue.

We arrive in the Halloween aisles. L. heads straight for the costumes. He begins showing me the costumes.

Me: But we don't need costumes. We're going to be Jim and Pam for Halloween, remember?
L.: But look at "insert costume here"! This is awesome.
Me: But we don't need it.

Next Halloween aisle contains those little plastic pumpkin buckets that you use to go trick-or-treating. L. picks one up.
L.: We totally need this.
Me: For what?
L.: We can put things in it and eat them out of it!

I don't know what to say to this.

L.: Which color should I get? (They have blue, orange, green, maybe pink?) He is holding a blue one.
Me: If you're going to get one at all, you should really get an orange one. You know, for authenticity.

It goes into the cart.

I walk into the next aisle. I am promptly stabbed with a sword.
L. (holding sword): I totally need to get this.
Me: Why?
L.: Because it's awesome.

Right.

He then finds a plastic knife/dagger thing that has red-colored liquid inside of it that fills it up when you point it downward, to make it look like you actually stabbed somebody. L. stabs me.

Me: That's disgusting.

I ask L. if we can get window clings to put on the window.
Me: L., can we get window clings?
L.: No.

Oh, those would be unnecessary.

I finally find some Halloween garland. I show L. He remains uninterested, because it's a decoration, and he only wants to get fake weapons and plastic buckets shaped like pumpkins. I put the garland in the cart. (It's now up on the wall and looks fabulous, btw.)

Finally, L. and I can agree on one awesome thing: Halloween masks. We try them on and giggle at each other, and get scowls from five-year-olds.

We're ready to leave, but I still have to get pumpkin carving kits.

Me: Do you think these [the knives and "saws" in the kit] will be big enough to carve a pumpkin?
L.: No way.

I get them anyway. We'll see if they're big enough or not probably the weekend after next, when L and Michelle Take a Trip to Apple Barn to Pick Pumpkins.

This weekend, we have Monday and Tuesday off for Reading Period, so we're going down to Boston to see Couple Friend Guy. He and C. have since broken up, so he'll have to have a new name. Probably Dan Humphrey, since he's the real-life version of him.

Expect lots of pictures from our fun weekend!

[Image from Flickr]

My Growing Clothing Collection

Well, another short-lived burst of packing momentum has ended, so here I am in need of a distraction. This is better than the last burst, which began at approximately 8 o' clock pm and ended at approximately 8:07 pm, at which point I decided to curl up on the couch and watch about seven episodes of How I Met Your Mother.

This second burst lasted for a good half-hour or so; a solid attempt, if I do say so myself. But I noticed something funny when I was packing. Somehow, I've managed to obtain about half of L.'s wardrobe.

It started like this. I went to pack up my Workout Clothes and PJs drawer, and found L.'s white t-shirt that he sent me because it smells like him and I like to sleep in it. I also have L.'s Orange J. Crew Graphic Tee, which is the softest and most wonderfully faded salmon-y orange shirt I have ever had the pleasure of stealing.

Next, I removed L.'s J. Crew Sherpa Fleece Hoodie in Faded Green, to which I alluded in an earlier post, from the back of my chair, and found hanging underneath it L.'s red tie. It's actually not my fault; C. wore the tie to a Corporate Hos and CEOs party that Couple Friend Guy and his friends threw, but now I have been given the task of caretaking and ensuring it reaches its home in L.'s tie collection. By the way, I've only ever actually seen him wear approximately 1/8 of the selection. I guess it's better than a guy with a penchant for silly ties.

Time to unpack the Warm Things drawer! And what do I discover here, but L.'s Navy Blue Fleece Private School Sweatpants with Said Private School's Monogram Emblazoned on Them. These I stole deliberately, as they are big, comfy and cozy for chilly winter study sessions. Plus, there's a sort of Victorian thrill of walking around wearing something clearly associated with your boyfriend. It goes back to the pin-giving days of the 50s. There was probably a custom in prehistoric times when a woman would wear the skins of her boyfriend's newly slain mammoth. Who am I to judge? Also in this drawer I discovered L.'s Green Golf Polo, which also carries with it a certain thrill of wearing conspicuously male clothing.

Unpacking my underwear drawer, I came across one of L.'s Lonely Socks. It, like me, has been without its mate all summer. How meta. I also have a pair of L.'s Comfy Boxers in here, which I love to sleep in.

Not a bad collection. Unfortunately it's taking up some much-needed space in my suitcase. Time to go sort it all out...