Halloween Shenanigans

OMSI After Dark

I started off my Halloween celebrations by attending OMSI After Dark. It's a monthly 21+ mixer at the science museum and this one was Halloween themed. The first thing I did was get my face painted! The guy used an airbrush, which was a weird experience. It reminded me of the puff test at the eye doctor. Every time he moved to a new section of my face and started the airbrush, I'd jump. I wore my bat costume (made from a hoodie with an umbrella I sewed under the arms). I decided to continue the theme with bat face paint as well.

Along with the Halloween theme, they offered spirits throughout the museum. My friend participated and got the sweet shot glass pictured. She shared some of the drinks with me as we walked around the museum. and we had fun playing in the exhibits. Eventually, it got very crowded and it was difficult to walk around.

Bat costume when I made in in 2013.

Face paint!

We hid in the exhibits to avoid the long lines and enjoyed playing around. We sat and did some weaving for a while and it was more difficult than I thought it would be. I continuously mixed up which thread went where so I moved to an easier pattern.

I found out that this was their most popular After Dark. It was almost double their normal attendance. Knowing that, I may go back for another. I plan to volunteer for OMSI events in the future so I may even be working a few.

Halloween Potluck

Conference room

The next day was our staff Halloween potluck at work. We decorated the front desk and the conference room early in the month. I'm proud of our work! (pictured to the left) Traditionally there was a costume contest and office decoration contest. They also carved Jack-O-Lanterns but this year, we decided to decorate sugar skulls instead. There were just two of us on the committee so we tried to keep it a little more simple and much less messy.

My office

My coworker got sugar skull molds and we made them ourselves. It was quite easy with just sugar, meringue, and water packed into a mold. A few people were sad about the lack of carving but after we started decorating, we all had fun.

Our Marketing Director passed away suddenly in early October. He was a fan of Halloween so we decided to have an 80s themed costume contest this year. Why 80s? Because he was the radio guy in the movie Howard the Duck. I haven't seen it but I'm told his part was a small one. We all miss him dearly and this was a fun way to celebrate his life.

Where's Waldo?

The 80s are back!

Elliot from ET and Mork

My spiderweb dessert

Sugar skulls!

Finally: Halloween!

Halloween was just a few days later and I went all out this year! Brandt and I were going to go as Kevin and Russel from UP (the bird and the boy). I cut out feathers from fabric and sewed them to a pair of spandex. I mixed the colors in a similar fashion to Kevin's feathers. Then I added some teal feathers as sleeves. I was going to make Brandt's costume but ran out of time. He isn't a big fan of parties so wasn't upset that he didn't have a costume to wear.

I really wanted to paint my face this year and I found a great YouTube video to show me how. It took much longer than I thought but I'm happy with how it turned out. I also painted whiskers and a nose on my friend's face before we left for our first party. We went up to Vancouver and enjoyed drinks, food, and a trivia game with friends. We also went to a party with some of our Target coworkers afterward. The costumes that night were fairly impressive. Others had face paint, there was a great Cruella DeVille, and my favorite was Meg from Family Guy.

My finished face paint

One of the best drinks ever!
Plus, it's candy corn colored.

Full costume

Had to add a photo of Dave being creepy

Hello October!

October is finally here! We started the month off by supporting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. A few friends, Cedric, and I walked about three miles in support of raising awareness of suicide. It is an epidemic in Oregon and part of the mission of Lines for Life, where I work. Cedric did well and loved everyone he saw. He didn't even act tired after all that walking.

That night, we went out to celebrate a friend's birthday and my birthday. We went to Ground Kontrol: a sweet bar in downtown Portland with vintage video games. Plus, the entire second floor has pinball games. We collected all the quarters in our apartment and headed our for a night of fun. We played four person Pacman, raced in an arcade version of Mario Kart, and played crazy versions of pinball. The tables were all lit from within and a little trippy. One of my favorite parts was the bathroom; crazy, I know. The floor is tiled Pacman and it's lit only with black lights surrounding the sink. There are some pictures below that I've borrowed from the internet. None of the pictures I took turned out share-worthy.

We had a small celebration at home on my actual birthday. I opened presents from family and Brandt. He got me a new bag that I absolutely love. The white Yoshi bag he gave me when we started dating is looking pretty sad from five years of use. Now I have a nice dark bag that can withstand the travels to and from work.

After starting off the month that way, we've been taking it easy. I've spent most of my spare time making my Halloween costume. If you know me, or have been reading this blog since at least last October, you know I love Halloween. There will be a very picture heavy post after Halloween!

The only other interesting thing to happen so far this month happened while I was working at Target. I had an 8 a.m. shift and was only semi-conscious most of the day. I was working in Seasonal with all of my favorite Halloween things. As I was putting away abandoned items, I saw a Toothless dragon doll on the floor. I didn't pick it up and figured I'd get it on my next round of pickups. I had completely forgotten about it when I was at the service desk sorting items until a lady and her two boys approached. The six year old had lost his Toothless doll. I told them where I saw it and they were going to look for it. I was still re-tagging items when they returned without the toy. I felt terrible for not picking up the you and went back to help them look. The poor thing was nowhere to be seen. I got her name and number to put in the lost and found book.

Just a few minutes before my shift ended, I was walking past a shelf and saw the small black dragon. It was nowhere near where I'd seen it but I was excited I found it! I called the mom and she was thrilled the toy had been located. I left a little note on the toy, as a little way to make up for not rescuing the dragon in the first place.

Celebrating Love

My trip to Kansas City was instigated my by lovely friend, Sarah, getting married. After sleeping in to recover from family day, I went downstairs to hang out with the bride and my other friends while they were getting ready. It was wonderful to see my friends from college! It doesn't matter how far away we live or how long we go between talking, we pick up right where we left off.

The wedding was beautiful and the reception was a blast. I was at the table with my bridesmaids friends and their significant others, as well a few other college friends. The new couple was gorgeous! We had Joe's BBQ, which was amazing since my sandwich from the day before was inedible.

My friend's husband is in the Air Force, stationed in Japan. It was fun to see my married friends try to play wing man for my single friends. I'm not a talented dancer so I abstained but my friend's husband eventually dragged me onto the dance floor. There was a photo booth and the shenanigans were only increased because of it.

Less than a day with my college friends was tough. I wish I could have seen them longer and had more time to talk, with the bride especially. The new couple will be living in Japan for the next year and I hope to go visit.

Home Again

Over Labor Day weekend, I made a quick excursion back to Kansas/Missouri for a good friend's wedding and to see my family. I spent the first day enjoying Kansas City with my family. We met up at the Crown Center for lunch. While waiting for everyone to arrive we listened to Irish music for the KC Irish Festival. We didn't go in but I loved that they dyed the fountain green.

We went to an adorable place that served our lunch from trains running around the room, near the ceiling.

Part of the family.

The rest of the family, minus my oldest brother.

After lunch at Fritz's we went to the Kansas City Puppetry Institute. I found them through Googling fun family activities in Kansas City. I was trying to find something beyond the obvious for us to do. The kids have been to the zoo, Legoland, and all of the other obvious places. Plus I was excited to do something crafty and that we could all enjoy.

My oldest brother and his lovely family with their puppets.

We were given a tour and then the painting began! Everyone but my youngest nephew, who was napping, and my sister-in-law, who was with him, made a puppet. It was fun to see the little ones being creative and the "big kids" had a blast too. After we painted, they sewed on the bodies, and the kids put on a puppet show. Even my sister, two bothers, and I put on a show!

Siblings!

My sister and I with two of our nephews.
One is the master of the photo bomb.

The kids had so much fun putting on plays.

At one point my niece may have been a little "over it."

I mentioned how much I miss BBQ so our next stop was back on the Kansas side of KC to Joe's. It's an amazing BBQ place in a gas station. As Brandt described it, some of the best BBQ places are in odd spots. The line went out the door and half way around the first side of the building but we opted to wait any way. At times, the line can literally wrap around the building, so it really wasn't all that long. We took the opportunity to chat, play with the kids, and crave a delicious meal.

We were able to fit almost everyone at a table and chowed down. It was everything I dreamed it could be and more. I only ate half my sandwich and took the rest back to my room in the Hilton President. Turns out, even though it's an expensive hotel, they don't have a fridge or microwave. I was none too pleased.

After we finished eating we let the kids run back and forth in the back of the parking lot. We kept them out of traffic through the rule of staying in the no parking stripes. My youngest nephew loves to dance and we played some tunes for him. He was hilarious. The older kids raced and the grown ups chatted. It was an absolutely wonderful day with my family.

Out of the Darkness

Suicide is an epidemic that no one talks about. The number of suicides in Oregon is almost double the number of homicides and car accident fatalities. These statistics continue to baffle me. I knew the suicide rate in Oregon was above the national average but numbers this high need to be addressed. People are scared to talk about suicide. They avoid talking about mental health at all costs. These numbers reflect what happens when you ignore a problem because it's unpleasant to think about.

The mission of Lines for Life (the organization I work for) is to prevent suicide and substance abuse. In the last four months I have heard people with no hope who are ready to end their lives, call desperate for help. I've heard stories from people whose lives were saved. I've seen the ramifications reverberate through family and friends after a desperate person ends his/her own life. This is my first step to actively make a difference.

On October 3rd, I will be participating in the Out of the Darkness Walk to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. They are "the leading national not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to understanding and preventing suicide through research, education and advocacy, and to reaching out to people with mental disorders and those impacted by suicide." You can read more about the Lines for Life team and donate here.

This is the first walk I have participated in and it's something I care about deeply. I would appreciate any donation, even just $5. What I'd like more than donations would be for people to seek help and learn about mental health.

Suffering from mental illness can be literally debilitating. Without physical symptoms, it's often shunned or people are told to "man up." It's my hope that reading this post will cause some of you to look into how mental health affects all of us. Postpartum depression, alcoholism, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, and more are often hidden from others due to the stigma associated with mental illness. By learning more and accepting these illnesses for what they are, an actual illness like cancer or the flu, we can make a difference. Who knows, maybe you could even save a life when you reach out and accept those around you with mental illnesses.

My New Office

My first job out of college came with an office! It was a decent size, had a door and a desk, but didn't have a ceiling. It made for easy talking to the President and Education Manager. I even had a name plate!

I had two offices at my next job. My first was huge (meant for two people, really). It also didn't have a ceiling but the ceiling was another floor above. It could be quite dark and lonely but also loud from all of the kids having fun. My coworkers were great and would pop in to make sure I was still alive!

I eventually moved upstairs to be closer to my boss and made a cubicle my new home. It was also loud but I loved listening to the educators spout random science facts or plan camps about blowing things up. I guess I didn't really have a ceiling there either...

Now my new office is all my own and has a ceiling! I have the only office with no windows but that's OK because it can actually be very sunny in Oregon.

The view when entering my office.

Here's the view to the right.

And the view from my desk.

I'm loving my dual screen monitor. Of course I have had several sweet backgrounds. If you couldn't see in the pictures above here's my current background:

Zoom! Zoom!

After driving the same car for almost 11 years, I am the happy new owner of a 2012 Ford Focus Hatchback!

My new toy!

My Honda

I got my 2005 Honda Civic new in October 2004. It was a huge upgrade from my first car, which often had pieces fall off and smelled like mold when I ran the defrost. Oh, and I had to run the defrost all the time because the windows always fogged. My first car was also a manual. No fun to drive in a small town!

When I got my Honda, I requested that it be an automatic, have electric windows, and a clicker (to unlock/lock from a distance). I got all three! I loved my Honda and took very good care of it. It was coming up on 100,000 miles and needed too much work to keep it running well.

This crab was in my Honda from the day I got it.
So of course, it's new home is the Ford.

I found these in my central console when cleaning it out.

Car Shopping

This was my first time actually car shopping (last time I just tagged along with my parents). Brandt was immensely helpful and I couldn't have done it without him. I felt overwhelmed with what kind of car to get and how to judge which was the right one for me. He made two lists of 10: crossovers and sedans/hatchbacks. I couldn't afford a crossover that didn't have 150,000+ miles on it and I was not about to trade in a car for one with more miles! I settled for the second list.

A hatchback?? Ugh!

Brandt assured me that I'd love a hatchback. I thought of those cars from the 90s with wood paneling. It wasn't until I saw one in person that I knew he was right. He's often right! I loved the hatchbacks I drove and I'm excited to take the pups for a ride with the back seats down.

My Beauty!

Now time for pictures! Old vs new. I'm in love!

 Goodbye little Honda!

My new dash is electronic and has blue tooth. Oh and the seats are heated :)

So much room for puppy activities! The back seats fold down for more storage and for the dogs. 

To thank Brandt for the all of the help, we went to Firehouse Subs. We love their sandwiches but they're too expensive to eat there all the time. I also bought him some of their fire sauce that he loves.