Weekend Wrap Up: Halloweekend Edition

I LOVE Halloween! I mean, I looooooove Halloween. After a brisk Pancake Run on Friday morning, I saddled up to my coffee table to give myself a Halloween manicure while watching A Nightmare on Elm Street. "One, two, Freddy's coming for you..."

Once my nails were dry-ish, I went upstairs to evaluate my makeup situation and decide what, if anything, I needed to run out and buy for my costume. I went ahead and did my full makeup with stuff I already owned. I thought this looked too dark, so I ended up buying brighter eyeshadow.

Who wants cream cheese? When I was standing in Publix reading all of my recipes for the party, I was like, there's no way I need this much cream cheese. My math must be wrong. But no. Y'all, I used all of this cream cheese. All of it!

I love how every weekend, I'm like, oh, that's right, I'm training for a half marathon. I'm continuously surprised when the long run alert pops up on my phone. I needed to run 9 miles this weekend. This was a busy weekend for everyone, so I got up on Saturday and ran my 9 miles sans lady gang.

On Saturday night, we hosted our 6th annual Halloween party. John was Klaus Nomi. I was Pharaoh Williams. Don't know who Klaus Nomi is? Join the club. A Google image search should keep you occupied for awhile. I was a cross between Pharrell Williams and Cleopatra, which almost ended our marriage as apparently there's a 5,000 year difference between a pharaoh and Cleopatra. APPARENTLY.

Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday night! Thank you for dressing up, thank you for eating all of that cream cheese, and thank you for appreciating the craftsmanship of John's costume despite having no idea who he was supposed to be.

Full Halloween Party photostream here.

Weekend Wrap Up: Hey Girl Fitness Pal Edition

I never drink anymore, so after 1.5 beers at my friend's going away party on Friday night, I was craft-beer-drunk and convinced that I made up the best MyFitnessPal deviation yet:  Hey Girl Fitness Pal.

It all started when I couldn't quit eating the chocolate cake at the party. I made a quip about not logging that into MyFitnessPal and then I said I wish MFP had a 'Hey Girl' function, like 'Hey girl, it's okay you ate all that cake. Didn't you run 2.8 miles this morning?' I thought it was the funniest thing I've ever said.

My friend Chatty is moving to Belgium. We gathered at Fat Bottom Brewery on Friday night to say our goodbyes. This pictures is terrible, but it's Lana, Mary Katherine, Chatty, me and Marne. I'm smiling because I'm high on chocolate cake and my own sense of humor.

Sanctuary Yoga celebrated their 10-year anniversary on Saturday with free classes, so I jumped on that. Hey girl, that chocolate cake isn't going to work itself off. After a great 90-minute class, I drove to Performance Studios for Halloween miscellanea. Behold, the wall of animal masks, the scariest part of Performance.

After a few more errands, I was STARVING, so I called my friend Carolyn and we met for pizza at The Farmers' Market. This is the margherita pizza at Bella Nashville. I like to add a farm egg and chili oil. It's kind of my favorite thing to eat in Nashville.

My homegirl Freya had a show on Saturday night via Music City Burlesque. It was their big BOO-lesque Halloween show. Initially, a group of us were going, but it sold out before everyone bought their ticket, so Lana and I went and had a blast. We had thai food beforehand because, 'Hey girl, aren't you doing a long run in the morning? Get the egg rolls.'

I needed to run 7 miles on Sunday, so Lana offered to run with me. Because I can't do math or create routes, I accidentally took us on an almost 9-mile run. Whoops! But we did see some awesome Halloween decor. Richland Park's Halloween game is on point!

Sunday was Baldwin Costume Day. OBVIOUSLY, we fueled up at Secret Bellevue Cheesesteak. Obviously. Then we went to every store that exists to get the materials for John's costume. Because once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout.

This went on for a long time, like probably 10 hours, but it's mostly done. I kept teasing John, asking how many Boy Scouts badges he earned for Halloween costume construction. I hope you're all prepared to see the insanity that will be John Baldwin's Halloween costume.

Weekend Wrap Up: Halloween Party Edition

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  For the five years that John & I have lived in this house, we've hosted a Halloween party.  I took Friday off to clean & prep.  That included going to Performance Studios for last minute costume accessories & going to Publix for party food.  I was going to cook all the food on Friday, but that didn't happen.  Because I got a flat tire & my radiator exploded.  Thanks for nothing, car.

 

So I got up early on Saturday & made all the food before we had to leave for Sarah & Adam's wedding at noon.  It was a marathon cooking & baking session.  I made:

Crockpot meat cheese dip

Hot corn dip

Jalapeno popper cheese ball

Pumpkin pie dip

Peanut butter pretzel chocolate chip cookie bites

John & I got our costumes ready, poured ourselves drinks & started welcoming the first of our guests.  Every year, I'm worried no one is going to come, but this year I was particularly worried because so many people couldn't come.  Yeah, I totally shouldn't have worried.  We had a house full of people.  It was awesome.  Thanks to everyone who came & HUGE thanks to everyone who brought food & drink.  Alexis, Katie, April, Mike & Amanda -- thank you!!

I loved everyone's costumes this year.  Good job, friends!  I was celebrity baby North "Nori" West - Kim & Kanye's baby.  And John was Teenage John.  John's costume was funnier in person because he had on jean shorts & socks & boots.  When he put it on, he turned to me & very seriously said, "Kim, I'm pretty sure I wore this exact same outfit on my first date, except maybe with black jeans."

P.S. I used this Pixiwoo makeup tutorial for my Kim Kardashian makeup.  I forgot, I threw my bronzer away recently because it was 100 years old, so I had to use brown eye shadow as bronzer.  You know, just like Kim Kardashian probably does.  Also, I darkened my eyebrows A LOT.

Full Halloween Party photostream here.

Weekend Wrap Up: I'm Still Shopping Edition

This weekend was low-key.  On Friday night, I stayed in & finished my library book, Inferno by Dan Brown.  I don't even remember requesting this book, but apparently I did.  At first, I thought, I'm not going to read this, why did I even request this, but then I started reading it & got sucked in.  It's not amazing, but if you're into Dan Brown, you won't be disappointed.

On Saturday, I had good intentions of getting up & going to yoga, but then someone emailed me a 50% off Old Navy coupon, so I went shopping instead.  Namaste.  I recently cleaned out my closets & officially own basically nothing anymore.  None of my clothes fit.  Over the past few years, I've tried to cut back on how much I buy at Target & Old Navy because the quality is SO BAD, but I need stuff that fits now & that I won't mind getting rid of later if I get smaller.  So I applied my 50% off coupon towards a pair of skinny army pants & a graphic tee to wear with my Madewell pleated skirt & leather jacket, a la this.

Back at home, where I can't buy anything, I unpacked the Halloween box John got out of the attic for me & commenced Halloween-ing up the place.  I still need to Halloween up the front porch, but this weekend's weather wasn't conducive to gardening, so the mums & pumpkins will come later.

In every marriage, there are instances where you don't see eye to eye.  Our top two are vegetarian meals & holiday decor.  John doesn't understand why either exist.  Having spent the day covering every surface in our house with pumpkins & skulls, I was operating at a surplus in the marital ledger of power.  John decided to balance things out by taking us to see a movie about space.  In 3D, which I can't see.  I don't do Opry Mills on a Saturday night, so we went to our favorite secret Bellevue theater & saw Gravity in "real D", whatever that means.  The movie was fun-ish; balance was restored; the Baldwins live to fight another holiday.

P.S. If you've seen Gravity, you have to read Neil deGrasee Tyson's #Gravity tweets.

My morning run got rained out yesterday, so I caught up on the important business of magazine reading & DVR watching.  Then I made two soups - one for us & one for my friend Katie who just had a baby.  After delivering the soup & running some errands, we settled in at home with bowls of chili & Derek on Netflix.  We started watching it last weekend & finished it last night.  I cried at the end of the series, which kind of surprised me.  That damn Coldplay song got me.  Anyway, it's a really good show & with only seven 24-minute episodes, it's not a huge time commitment.  I recommend it.

Halloween Party Pictures!

Garthe Knight & Material Ghoul

East Nasty besties:  Lana & Heidi

ENFL!

Turtle Hunter v. Donatello

Hunter & Crazy Cat Lady

Roger & Joan

Cory & Sarah

Andrews Halloween sisters

Krampf Halloween sisters

Tippi Hedren & Seymour Krelborn

Y'all, that's Notorious B.I.G. Bird!!!

Here come the brides...

Wes Anderson, represent!

Moonrise Kingdom, ftw!

Pancake Girls!

June Carter Cash & The Man In Black

End of night group shot

Alexis - hahahaha!

Alexis, me, Katie, Courtney & Rita

Mulder & Scully

Thank you soooo much, Brian Risse!!!

Full Flickr photostream here.

Weekend Wrap Up: Halloweekend Edition

I have a few Halloween traditions & one of them is watching my special anniversary edition DVD of Halloween.  1978 Jamie Lee Curtis, I love you so much.

Another Halloween tradition ("tradition") is throwing a Halloween party.  This year was our fourth party.  I spent too long cleaning, cooking & obsessively re-arranging furniture, so I was still getting dressed when our friends started arriving.  Oops!  Luckily, Jenn & Rogers were some of our first guests & Jenn jumped in & made one of my dips while I finished getting ready.  Thanks, gurl!

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This year, I decided to dress up as Material Ghoul, aka a scary version of Madonna's "Material Girl".  I finally found a pink dress, albeit one with a halter top, & my awesome friend Natalie cut that halter top off & hemmed it.  Voila!  A pink strapless dress!  Thanks, Natalie!

This picture above was my Pinterest Halloween makeup inspiration.  Seems do-able, right?  Right...

Makeup FAIL.  Well, I tried.  I needed better makeup.  Next year.  Luckily, no one else had seen the Pinterest picture, so everyone thought I looked terrifying.  I especially freaked out a couple East Nasty friends who have only seen me in running gear.  Ha!

This year's party was AWESOME!  Thank you all so much for coming.  I know I say this every time, but I swear, this was the most people we've ever had in our house.  And you all dressed up!  OMG, your costumes were so good.  I'm looking at you, Mary Katherine & Marshall.  My friend Brian took pictures & I'll post them as soon as he gets them all uploaded.  Stay tuned!

A lot of my friends brought food, which helped a lot.  Owl Katie:  thank you for the vegetarian chili!  June Carter Cash Katie:  thank you for the pumpkin dip!  I ate it all day Sunday!

Aside from eating leftover pumpkin dip, the only things I did on Sunday were watch AMC's Fear Fest & read the latest People magazine.  This in-depth investigation they did on girls who date guys who look like their dad is especially hard-hitting.  I suggest you all go out & get a copy.  Life changing.

Linda didn't do a lot on Sunday either.  Running around & getting petted all night at the party is probably the most exercise she's had all year.  She woke up & watched Cujo (Cujo!) with me, but other than that, she slept all day.  Bless her...

Happy Almost Halloween!

Weekend Wrap Up: Giles County Edition

On Friday night, I got out my Halloween box & started going through all of our old costumes & masks.  Naturally, this happened.

From left to right:  Allison, Heidi, me, Melanie, Jenn & Mary Katherine.

At 6:00am on Saturday, these girls arrived at my house & I drove them to Lynnville for the Giles County Run For Others race.  It was a 5K & a 10K, but we all ran the 10K.  The race was put on by the Giles County Sheriff's Department & the proceeds go towards buying Christmas presents for kids.

This is me with Giles County Sheriff, Kyle Helton.  For those of you who have never seen me in person, I am not a midget.  Kyle is just 100 feet tall.  Sheriff Helton is a runner & when he found out I am also a runner, he asked me to come run this race, & to bring friends.

It was great!  We ran 6.3 hilly miles through the Lynnville countryside.  We got mooed at by cows, scarily stared at by bulls & inquisitively watched by horses.  I heard sounds I have never heard before.  I'm talking to you, cows.

When we got there, I teased Mary Katherine that she was going to win this race.  She looked around & insisted she would not.  Yeah, she totally won the race.  These are her amazing prizes:  glass commemorative plate, Sun Drop medal & Breast Cancer Awareness basket of goodies.  Mary Katherine winning the race made the 3 hour roundtrip drive soooo worth it.

At this point, we had all been up for 5+ hours, had run 6.3 miles & were STARVING.  So we stopped in Columbia at Cracker Barrel, like you do.  It may have been the best breakfast I've ever had.

On Saturday night, John & I headed east for the first bonfire of the season at Camp Mossy Wilson.  Heidi made Texas chili & beer cheese soup, of which I had a bowl of both, like you do.

And of course no bonfire is complete without s'mores.  I probably had a million of these.  Yum!

Yesterday we made our annual Halloween pilgrimage to Performance Studios.  Smartly, we fueled up at Thai Kitchen first.  I snapped this shot of the 12 Oaks Motel as we crossed the street for lunch.  Halloween costume shopping complete, we spent the rest of the day doing house stuff.  You know, fun stuff like painting chairs & going into the crawl space to snake out clogged pipes.