10.31.10 - Halloween 2010

Last year we had a ridiculously huge Halloween Party, and we are still tired from it.  This year we decided to take it easy.  Jack and I spent most of the day studying.  In the evening we dressed up and along with Neil and Ellen we walked down to Chestnut St and gave lots of candy to the many little kids in adorable costumes.  Tons of princesses, Buzz Lightyears, and so forth, but my favorites were:

1) A 2-year-old girl as Snow White and her mother as the Evil Queen.

2) A little boy with a Scream mask that actually had dripping blood *inside* it.  Very gross.

3) A solved Rubik's cube.

Most of the kids were cute and shy and excited or confused.  One Snow White had never trick-or-treated before and we were her first piece of candy.  We made a point of buying good candy--Snickers, Reece's, Skittles--instead of tootsie rolls!  Always tootsie rolls!

Anyway it was fun.  I was a militant witch: pointed hat, shredded black shirt with a studded belt, flowing camoflage skirt, combat boots.  Neil was Elwood Blues.  Jack was a banana.  The kids liked him the most.

When we were almost out of candy we decided to go so we could finish it ourselves while we watched Nightmare Before Christmas.  I haven't seen that movie all the way through for about 5 years, and it was great.

10.30.10 - Life is good.

I got a 170 on my LSAT.  About 2.5 years ago I set a weight goal for myself that I just finally officially achieved this weekend. My apartment is colorful and very clean.  My boyfriend actively enjoys working hard.  I have a phone interview Monday morning for a job I'm excited about (cross your fingers for me!)  Tomorrow I'm going to give candy out to little kids.  In a few weeks all of my siblings are going to be in town for Thanksgiving, and we are going to see HP7!!

And now, here are some amazing Jack-o-Lanterns:

Happy Halloween. :)

10.2.10 - Jack is now in his Late Twenties.

26 is still mid-twenties, but there's no escaping 27.  Hopefully.

This morning I went to *my* old Starbucks and sat in the back and worked on my project proposal for about 4-4.5 hours.  It was helpful, though I still have a lot to do.  I got to hang out with Ellen on her lunch, and later visit with Liz on *her* lunch, so that was really nice.  Such a good crew at that Starbucks, such a good job.  I kind of miss it.

I came back to Dad's and worked more on the paper, trying not to nod off.  This entire time Jack was earning some extra cash cleaning out Dad's garage.  I felt bad that he was working on his birthday but he seemed pleased with the opportunity to make money while not having to deal with ornery or scamming customers.  I can see that.

Anyway early in the evening we got ready and went out to his birthday dinner.  I wanted to take him to The Tipsy Pig because it had gotten a lot of good reviews and the online pictures made the ambiance look great.  But when we walked in, a) it was louder and much more crowded than we'd expected and b) there were TVs.  Many of them.  So we left.

We wandered down the street glancing in at other restaurants.  There are at least two on Chestnut St that we've gone to a few times and know we like, but we were hoping to try something new tonight.  And then we found Mezes, a Greek restaurant tucked away at the end of the business part of Chestnut.  No TVs.

We were seated immediately by a very friendly waitress.  We ordered food we couldn't pronounce, including Kolokithokeftedes, Mythia, and Kalamaria--zucchini cakes with a dill cucumber sauce, mussels stewed in a creamy sauce with ouzo and herbes, and calamari stuffed with feta cheese and covered in what seemed to be some kind of pesto.  It was delicious, and new enough to me to make me very happy about it.  We also got glasses of Kourtakis Retsina and a Sauvignon Blanc; the latter, Jack's, was described as having a hint of melon, and all night he insisted it also had a green tint to it, like some melons.  It looked about as golden as my wine to me, but whatever.

There were many great photo opportunities, but I don't have a camera up to the task.
Here's a blurry one of an angle I would've liked.

We had great talks about many things, including mechanisms of DNA repair.  Have I mentioned how much I love that he's in school now?  It's great to have someone to geek out with on a date!

The woman at the table next to us was kind enough to offer to take our picture.

We enjoyed the evening air on the walk home, and got back to a semi-surprise birthday cake that Ellen and mostly Dad had put together for Jack.  It's an orange sherbet cake, and it tasted orangy, though I don't know about sherbety.  I gave him my gift of a German English dictionary, which he used immediately to look up anatomy terms.  Haha.

All in all it was a really nice day, and I am really full.  Good night.