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.

October has begun, Oh let us Rejoice

1) Dan (finally!) starts French

After a quick 9 month wait (sufficient time to have a baby or something equally horrendous) Dan finally starts his French Class this week. Hallelujah.

(my first baking endeavor in over a month : bundt cake for cafe rio night at maloys)
2) The End Of Sweet Free September

So, Dan and I set a goal to not eat sweets (candies, cookies, cakes, soda, syrup, banana bread!, etc) for the month of September. Dan made it 14 days, till the Oreos in Yosemite incident. I held strong, save for one cheat: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread. I was assigned to make it for a RS Activity, and fully intended on holding strong and baking but not tasting... But it pulled me in like a baked good siren to a calorie filled sea. I'd never tasted it before, and I'd heard nothing but wondrous things about it from my family and my cousin Annie (its my Aunt Amy's recipe.) It was so worth it. Every. last. bite.
But I do feel a bit like a goal flunky. But then again, it was SOOOO worth it. 

3) The Beginning of "We Have a Budget October!"

The RS activity for which I made that devil bread was one on "Goal Setting". It was hard to choose a goal for the activity, being that I'm perfect and all... But I decided on setting a budget. It's not that we're bad with money - but I know we could be squirreling away a lot more into savings instead of into Red Robin... Which will come in handy come April, when we are paying money to go to school - instead of having Army paying us! Part of the goal setting criterea of the activity was to make your goal known to others - so someone holds you accountable. Now you know. Wish us, and our Dave Ramsey-esque envelopes good luck.

4) General Conference

I know I sound like a true Cougar (which I must completely renounce after that catastrophic loss to none other than Utah State), but I love General Conference. The word "prophet" is synonymous with "Gordon B. Hinkley" in my mind, as he was the only one I ever remember. I have nothing against President Monson, it's just that I really loved the cute, sweet, funny, President Hinkley. This conference was a bit of a turning point for me personally: I really saw another side of President Monson, and warmed up to him immensely. He gave an awesome talk during the RS Session on not judging others - and being charitable towards their actions. And best of all, he showed so much personality in all the sessions! There were a few talks that spoke strongly to me, namely Elder Eyering's on Sunday Afternoon on trusting in God, and his messengers. I came back to my notes on this talk after hearing President Packer's talk... The Church and Homosexuality is an issue I have trouble reconciling - so Elder Eyering's talk serves as a good reminder to me on trusting the General Authorities, even if my intellect would disagree. 

5) The Eminence of the Best Holiday of All

Yes, I bought Halloween lights. Yes, it came out of my newly alloted allowance. Yes, it was totally worth every penny. 

It is October. 
6 months till we become Utahans again. 
I am full on rejoicing. 

Baby Showering

Blogs can be dangerous. They inspire you to do things you shouldn't (see dresser re-finishing, etc). In this case it was throwing a baby shower. I love the blog Hostess with the Mostess. It basically highlights parties with themes incorporated in to every last water bottle wrapper. They are so cute that it physically hurts. What it doesn't highlight is the Hostess passed out after taking one too many Adovan due to the stress of competing with said parties. I felt this competitive edge as I was competing not with the entire blogging world but with ANOTHER ward baby shower held the same day. All that mattered was that mine was better, or I'd die trying. Kidding. Kind of... Anyway, Christina and I put together a little party for Rebecca who is having her first girl (girls are sooooo much funner than boys, fyi). Behold:

The truly interesting thing about this picture: the sun is shinning! The shower was held on the ONE hot day this year. Like we had a fan going and people were still sweating. Awesome.

Theme = pink and brown and elephants. Why? Rebecca likes Pink and Brown. And because I like elephants. The end. 

I pretty much believe it was divine intervention that lead me to finding pink/brown/elephant baby shower tablewear. Also, the tissue paper balls = really hard to make look like Martha's. And don't hang them the night before, they will fall, and they will get smooshed on one side. 

Food = Lion House rolls, yummy mozzarella skewers, Homemade Mac N Cheese, Salad

Plus Christina made S'more cupcakes and the pink cake in the background!

Party games = a form of torture, in my humble opinion. I came up with a few though, such as this baby animal quiz. Much to my delight, people chit chatted the whole time and the games did not need to be implemented. 

Favors= pink animal cracker cookies. There may or may not have been previous prototypes of more extravagant favors. I may or may not have called my mother in tears over failed prototypes... 

Presents! Including this adorable hand knit bib from Sis. Robbins. I wanted to steal it.... 

This is Christina, my co-consipirator. She has the cutest little girl I've ever met, Amélie. See? Even her name is adorable. 

Where was Dan while this was all going on? Why, Rock climbing in Pinnacles of course!

 He even got my passport stamped for me:

Dan also picked up a harness for me. Perhaps he wants climbing to be a new couple's hobby. Or perhaps,  as I suspect, he worries that I'm already plotting my next shower and doesn't want the house turned into party central again. Its safer for everyone to have me jumping off rocks rather than trying to be a hostess with the mostess. But I still have a lot of tissue paper left! And you can't let that stuff go to waste. You just can't.