Allah Akbar & Happy Halloween!

Choosing a costume this year turned out to be a wee bit of an ordeal. Dan stipulated that his costume  must not involve tights. And as we all know, every good couple's costume must involve tights (Poision Ivy + Batman, Tinkerbell + Peter Pan, etc. etc). I finally decided that I should be "I dream of Genie" with Dan as the Airforce Master.

It was perfect, all he'd have to do is borrow an Airmen friend's Class As. Dan "spoil sport" Mealy refused to even masquered as a member of the "Chair Force" ( I think he's jealous of them, I know I am, they have nice things.).

So we compromised, I kept my Genie Idea, he got some use out of the Man Dress I bought him in Egypt, and we were a Sheik and a Harem Girl.
 Or, Princess Jasmine and Aladdin's Uncle, in Sunbeam terms. Speaking of Sunbeams, I got to see a few of my little friends at Trunk or Treat:

A darling Scuba Diver - love the creativity and homemade costume.

My Cuddliest Sunbeam, as a Darling Cinderella.

My favorite little buddy who likes to tell me "secrets", as Princess Jasmine.

You know you have a good costume when you and a 4 year old match.

We kept our trunk Decor pretty simple for Trunk OR Treat (which was pretty lame this year).

After Dan made a costume change into the much less PC role of Jihadi Terrorist (I opted in favor of keeping my costume as least offensive as possible) we headed to the real event: THE MONSON ANNUAL HALLOWEEN PARTY. There were some good costumes there....

Rick as Chuck & Sue, the Fairy!

The Bills (the slingshot monkey was a big hit)

The Buchanans (Tobias Funke from Arrested Development. Classic!)

The fabulous Party Throwers, Bonni & Pete, from Iron Man 2

(note: there were lots of other people there in cool costumes, but I felt weird asking people I didn't know to pose for a picture, for my blog.)

One of the reasons Halloween is my favorite holiday: fun and delicious food (way better than Thanksgiving FYI)

I made Spiderweb Sugar Cookies (and found a roll-out recipe that actually tastes good!) and Lion House Rolls (dyed to look like pumpkins, partially worked)

Pumpkin Rolls, Popcorn Balls, Skeleton Chip dip, Homemade Root Beer, Pumpkin Chili, and my personal favorite: Kitty Litter Cake! Mad props to Bonni & Sue.

There was a "Catwalk Costume Contest." It was funny because "Link from Zelda" (I thought he was Robin Hood) and Dan were they only ones who recieved votes on the secret ballots. They were neck and neck for the win....

But Dan won by one vote! I'm pretty sure it was his performance on the catwalk that put him over the top...his shooting (the airsoft) gun in the air and yelling "Allah Akbar" was a nice touch.

There was also "Gourd Bowling"

And a Mummy piñata! 

The Monson's went all out with decor too. It was a KA party. And a KA Halloween. 
Allahu Akbar. 

Sometimes you have to Boo Yourself

In the Holy State of Utah, generally in mid October, people bake delicious delights, package them with a paper ghost, and abandon them on your doorstep. It is known as "BOO-ing" someone.

Dan advised me against starting the tradition in a non-Utah non-Mormon area. He explained that doorbell ditching anything on someone's doorstop in Los Angeles would be sufficient provocation for a gun fight, EVEN if one was doorbell ditching GINGERSNAPS. 

Still I held out hope that Monterey would emerge from being the most awful place on planet earth, and someone would "Boo" us. Today I gave up and decided to "Boo" myself. What started out as an innocent baking session escalated into chaos when our Landlord asked me if I could please not leave the house all day while workers of Hispanic origin re-painted the stairs to our apartment (how convient). I was trapped in a  candy filled apartment. And what resulted was not healthy.

I made 3 varieties of cookies. Gingersnaps, Chocolate Chip, and Peanut Butter Cup to be exact. Don't worry, I packaged a few up and shared the boo-ing bounty with others.

 But not before I ate myself into a cookie coma. 

Also significant this month: "Spend Free October" went well... Kind of. I learned a few things, like that a family of 2 has no business with a Costco membership. Especially when only one of those persons likes the food bought there. I just threw away a giant thing of pesto, mango salsa, and baby spinach - all of which seemed like awesome ideas at the time. "I can totally eat a quart sized jar of pesto. In a month. By myself!" Wrong.

this stuff is like whole foods crack. i've tried shooting directly into my veins.
The grocery budget is the hardest part for me. I have suffered far more than Dan. His beloved $3 triscut pizzas fit a lot better into the budget than my $9 a jar maple almond butter & $12 local organic green plums... I have a fetish for fancy cat food. Sue me.

you don't want to open and envelope like this
We were doing so well and saving so much money, we decided to go ahead and splurge and buy plane tickets to STG for Thanksgiving! I was overjoyed. Then, the day after said tickets were purchased, the registration on the car was up ($160), when printing the form our 6 yr old printer bit the dust ($100), and the IRS sent us a letter demanding money to be paid on a bonus Dan got last year ($600). Yeah, not as much in the surplus fund division as anticipated. 

french is hard, but he's "hanging in there"! hahaha
Dan lost his Young Men's Job. He was the Priest Advisor, but our last 18 year old went off to college, leaving our ward Preist-less. Don't worry, he already has a new calling: Gospel Doctrine Teacher. Guess we better find the Gospel Doctrine Manual in French - double studying. His French Program is moving lightening fast - as fluency is expected in just 6 months. I'm proud of Dan and how hard he is working in this class. Even if I get a teensy tiny bit annoyed when I realize that on date night, whilst pretending to listen to my really important story about a blog I read, he is secretly doing vocab flashcards under the table....

As for me, I continue to help alleviate the ever growing problem of facial wrinkles in the affluent Pebble Beach population. Outside of my job, I'm still loving my spinning classes and forcing myself to run. My Spin Teacher has promised Halloween music on Friday. And sadly enough, I'm super excited. The thought of doing jump drills to Thriller has me more excited than the average 4 year old is for Disneyland. Couple that with excitement at the knowledge that I have Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins hidden away for my personal consumption this weekend... Oh man,  I just I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight.

BIG SUR XXX

No, it wasn't an Adult Entertainment Convention (my first thought).

Or a Straight Edge Meeting (Dan's first thought).

Rather, it was the 30th presentation of the Big Sur River Run 10k - Dan and I's first race post the infamous artichoke run. First off, the shirts were nowhere near as cool as sunglasses clad artichokes w/ legs, but still somewhat crazy looking.

But I seriously loved this race, it was beautiful. It ran through the campgrounds of Pfiffer Park, right along the river. 

(this is the ultra marathoner dude who won. he can run 100 miles. I hate him.)

Campers came out and cheered an banged on pans, there were two bands playing along the course, and it was actually sunny (of course it was raining and cold back on Gloom Mountain). 

(Dan and the Navy Seal, enjoying post-race Popsicles, courtesy of my beloved Whole Foods)

The Navy Seal in our ward actually lapped me and had enough energy to cheer me on while doing so (the course was made of a few loops). I felt bad as I was exerting myself at full force when I realized he was running 5 minute miles. Dang Navy Seals.

(with such a sweet bib number, how could I not get a PR?)

Also, let it be known that L. Mealy finished in front of D. Mealy - the Artichoke Champion has been dethroned!!! But he did have a handicap. The race started at 10 am, we usually do our runs at 6 am, and never eat before. Dan totally ate breakfast because this race was so late. And he totally ended up throwing it up. 

(she looked like Coach Bieste from Glee)
This big bodybuilder woman was impressed with his hard coreness and congratulated him on his vomit, hahaha. 

Our running efforts will culminate in a few weeks at the Big Sur Half Marathon. Then I can finally start my Ultra Marathon Training. Or go back to eating Croissants full-time. It's still TBD.

Turns Out, I don't really like pumpkin...

There's a few foods I've spent my life believing I don't like, without ever really trying them. Pumpkin is one such food. But I decided this year to give it a fair shake... Even going as far as attending "PUMPKIN FEST" in Half Moon Bay. 

On the eve of "PUMPKIN FEST", I baked and ate my first pumpkin cookie. Can't say i'm a fan - too cakey, and pumpkiney. Why waste calories on those, when there's chocolate chip cookies to be had?

"PUMPKIN FEST" was awesome, though Dan wasn't too amped on the idea... In the end he gave in, we went with Monsons and Sue, and a good time was had by all!

It began with a costume contest, some highlights included:

A Great Dane dressed as a sheep!, A Princess Leia with Real Cinnamon Buns, and Lady Gaga

And Everyone's Favorite: UP!

Classic small town parade: firemen, karate kids, and anyone with a 4-wheeler throwing candy.

And because I'm a bad person, my favorite part of the parade: a random one legged fat man on a float w/ a 1,500 lb pumpkin. And then the float bottomed out in a ditch. It doesn't get better. 

And the real reason for going to "PUMPKIN FEST" = Food. Pumpkin rolls, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin churros, pumpkin pies, even pumpkin sausages! And there I discovered that pumpkin is not a flavor like say, Bananas, that makes everything better. Turns out, I was actually justified in avoiding pumpkins all these years - not good.

There was also a dude carving pumpkins. I really want to go see this movie when it comes out.

And we capped off torturing Dan by stopping by a pumpkin patch on the way home. Because we hadn't gotten our pumpkin fill yet. I fear an inevitable future retalition from Dan... Look for me at "GUN FEST" 2011. 

The things I will do for Sun

Let's just say that I'm not really a heights person (as evidenced by my reaction to zip lining). But I am really a sun person. Thus Dan was able to lure me on a Columbus Day rock climbing adventure, under the pretense that I could just watch and soak up the blazing 95 degree sun. Once there however, it became clear that I would have defend my honor, put my cute purple harness to use, and climb. 

I was a wee bit worried I wouldn't be able to do it, being that my upper body strength is comparable to a newborn kitten's. But I surprised myself, and probably everyone else, when I made it to the top. It was actually a semi-enjoyable experience. 

Dan loves Rapelling, and pulling goofy faces.

Dan belayed almost the whole time, so I kept him company, and got my Vitamin D fix. It was lovely. 

(one of my veteran sunbeams, last halloween)
Sunbeam Story of the Week:

We recently acquired a new little friend in our primary class. He's an extremely intelligent little guy who happens to prefer to be addressed as J-Horse, rather than his normal given name. On Sunday I had the pleasure of accompanying J-Horse to the bathroom. He entered the Men's Restroom and promptly came back out, "I can't use the bathroom when other people are in there." As a bashful bathroom user myself, I understood the aversion and we patiently waited for the bathroom to become vacant. J-Horse finally got the bathroom solitude he needed, but this time he exited nearly in tears, "I accidently got pee on my shirt! I was worried something like this would happen..." I kept from laughing long enough to get him to calm down and consent to return to the remaining 5 minutes of class till his mom could come to get him. We were outside the classroom door when he paused, turned to me, and said: "You must promise me that you will never tell anyone about this."

This is me, not keeping my word, for the good of my blog.

J-horse is new, but he will soon learn what the other beamers already know:

Sister Mealy cannot be trusted.