This Is Halloween!

Now that I've got that stuck in your head...

Every year (meaning last year and the year before), Blue and I throw a Halloween party. This year we went with Game of Thrones, or "Medieval." As we've done in years past, there was a photo wall for pictures, goody bags for every guest, and a costume contest where everyone votes on a winner or couple's costumes and the winner wins a bottle, this year we chose vodka. Luckily we had a non-alcoholic prize too (a pumpkin carving kit and TJ's pumpkin muffin mix) because our winner was our youngest guest, my friend's 12 yr old niece. (This is an adults-only party, but she's always around and she's pretty awesome.) All of the decorations are from the Dollar Store and Amazon. We usually have about 20 guests, there's lots of snacks and dancing, and though we do have beer and wine, our only request is that you bring what you're drinking.  Anyway, enough chatter. I'm going to let the pics do the talking!

The Invite:

"Halloween is coming,
prepare to raise your glasses,
Because this year we're going medieval on your asses!

Be a king or a queen or a knight or a wench,
But any costume is fine if you're still on the fence.

We'll have plenty of food and treats if that's what you're thinking,
our only request is that you bring what you're drinking!

We hope you can come, we'll see you at seven, but our Kingdom requires we shut down at 11!" (written by Blue)
The Decorations: 

Castle photo wall, banners, and a 6 ft. "Mountain"/Knight

knights and banners- party prep time

goody bags

The Menu: 

Chicken "Littlefingers"
Theon Greyjoys in a Blanket
Bagel Bites
(meatless) Baked Ziti
allthechipsndips
Halloween cookies
Oreo Pumpkin Cheesecakes
Red Wedding Punch (with a giant brain shaped ice cube)

The Costumes: 

"The Dude" The Big Lebowski

Our 1st place winner- Thing 1

Game of Thrones- 2 Melisandres, Dany, her dragon, and The Night King

Dead Construction Worker

Hot Mess Express

Unicorn

Our "true" winners- Belle and the Beast

Dana Barrett and Louis Scully from Ghostbusters

Yours truly- Daenerys Targaryen and her dragon

The Mountain Mamas group shot

Do you celebrate Halloween? 

What's been your favorite costume this year? 

Weekending: The Snowed In Edition

Hey hey! Happy Monday! Or maybe happy for me because thanks to Winter Storm Jonas, my job is closed today, so I get an extra snow day! Woot woot! This weekend I was camped out at Blue's apartment, but today I'm back home and ready to get alllll the organizing and purging and cleaning done. Or at east that's the plan,.. we'll see how much of that actually  gets done. Anyway, here are some other things from the weekend!

On Thursday, Blue and I headed out to Caroline's in NYC to see Whitney Cummings. She is my favorite comedian, and I was absolutely thrilled to get the opportunity to see her, and at such a popular and well-established venue. Though I will say that it was CROWDED. We had to get there an hour early to get our will-call tickets, and they called out groups in the order you picked up your tickets. I was really happy to get a booth, but there was a table of 6 in front of us, and we spent at least half the night alternating between wanting to kill the couple closest to us and laughing at their awkwardness. They were definitely on a date, and the guy's laugh was over the top and annoying, and the canoodling was gross. #getaroom  Oh, and the waitress forgot to charge us for food, which was just as well since it was nasty. Cold chicken and onion rings that were more breading dripping in oil than anything. Ick. But Whitney was awesome, even though she was under the weather.

On Friday night, Blue and I met my friends Marissa and Deep to get our Star Wars movies back at an awesome speakeasy in the city. The place, The Ship NYC, had no sign, and was located down a flight of stairs on a really quiet street near Chinatown. It was small and intimate, and the drinks were perfectly mixed, though a tad pricey. But it was so worth it. I got the Baker's Dozen (or three), a cocktail with Bourbon, tawny port wine, brown sugar, chocolate bitters, stirred, served on the rocks. Amazeballs. But I'm not kidding when I say small- we got there at 6, and there was no seating by 7:05. We followed drinks up with a vegan dimsum place nearby. It was the perfect follow-up. 4 of us were completely full for only $40! 

Oh and Marissa forgot that they had already gotten me a birthday present, so I got more goodies! A catchall and a coaster with witty sayings, and a "can-dom" that rolls up to keep your can of beer cold. She knows me so well :)

As you may have have heard, the Northeast got ROCKED by Winter Storm Jonas. The flakes started snowing late on Friday night, and continued mercilessly for 24 hours. The below pic was taken around 10AM. In total, we got around 2 feet of snow. We were prepared though- we were fully stocked with coffee, frozen pizza, wine, and snacks. And what does one do when living in an apartment complex in a snow storm? Throw a party, natch. Blue's neighbors came over around 7 and we played Jerseyopoly (Jersey-centric Monopoly), and drank. A lot. And then someone got the bright idea to open the patio door and start making boob prints in the snow. I'm not kidding. FB post from Blue: "That awkward moment when the neighbors decide to press their boobs in the snow on your deck and a monstrous snowball fight ensues in your living room ‪#‎soggysocks‬ ‪#‎yourecutoff‬ ‪#‎savetheboobies‬"

Of course we forgot to get the shovel... which was on the other side of the deck

drinks, games, debauchery

That part about the indoor snowball fight was also true. I hid in the back room, because I hate being cold and wet. Blue was sooo mad. But then they shoveled her living room, and she threw the one who started it in the snow. There's a video, but I can't figure out how to upload it from FB, so pics will have to do. Just trust me that it was absolutely hilarious.

Blue assessing the damage from the indoor snowball fight

Sunday started with brunch at another neighbor's place with mimosas (hair of the dog), shoveling, cleaning, eating my weight in carbs, and watching Grey's Anatomy (from the beginning- I never watched it!) in my Paul Frank onesie with wine. And then around 8 I got the text about work being closed today. It was the perfect ending to the weekend. 

wine damage (6, 1/2 bottle of bourbon, and 1/2 bottle of vodka/
onesie and wine/ cat cuddles

Did your area get smacked down by Jonas? How was your weekend? Linking up with the lovely Biana! 

That Time I Got Kicked Off A Beach and Other Shenanigans

What a whirlwind weekend! I feel like it has been non-stop since Friday, not that I'm complaining! Friday night I hit up happy hour(s) with Blue for her birthday, and met a bunch of other cool people. The bar we went to was pretty low-key and not overly crowded, which was a welcome surprise for a Friday night.

blurry pics not taken by me...apologies

Saturday morning I was up and out early for Bloggers Beach Day. I was so excited to finally meet Alyssa, Michael, and Jenn (links throughout this post)! I should mention that I'm a Jersey Shore native; I've been going there my entire life, and Pt. Pleasant is one of my favorites, especially since they have a boardwalk. We hadn't decided exactly where on the beach we were going, so I brought along a cooler with some beers and snacks for us. Jenn arrived first, and found Martell's Tiki Bar, which seemed like a pretty good place to meet up, and she had even secured enough room for us on the beach- score!

Now, I realize that you can't BYOB to a bar. However they checked my bag, didn't notice it, and let me in. (They also let Michael in with a steak knife which neither of us could understand.) Things they confiscated? Alyssa's water from her water bottle (made me empty it) and Michael's sealed bag of chips. Ooooookay then. So we order some drinks, lay out, chat, share some laughs, the other girls go in the water (since I've mentioned that I'm afraid of sharks and man-o-wars and other things found in Jersey waters recently), take some pics (obvi)... and all seems right with the world.

UNTIL.

I mentioned that we ordered drinks from the bar, which we did. But in between, some of us indulged in the beers that I brought, mostly because well, they were there. I had koozies that I placed the beers in, so that you could only see the very tops of the cans. Apparently, that was enough. On Round 1, I was diligent about putting the empties in my (zipped) canvas bag. However, not seeing any security whatsoever, I got a little careless. There was ONE empty beer can in a koozie when security guards approached us. "We don't serve Miller Lite here. You have two options. You can either hand over all of your bags and dump anything else you have and be "cut off" (our wrist bands, for buying drinks from the bar), or we can escort you off of the beach right now." BUSTED. We readily provided our bags and our wrists without argument. (An afterthought: I would have played dumb and said that "Security" checked out bags when we entered and didn't say anything, but we all know that hindsight in 20/20...le sigh). Meanwhile, our waitress was standing next to us with our next round. The security guards left. I drank my drink while the other girls went into the water. As soon as they came back, I went to use the bathroom. Only, the guards at the deck stopped me. "Your wristband has been cut off. You'll need to be escorted to the bathroom by one of our guards."

EXCUSE ME???!!!

He wasn't joking. He called over a female guard to "escort me" to the ladies' room line. Cue my udder (get it? Get it??!!) I was like, "Um, I really just have to pee. You don't have to stand here." She was like "OK, but you can;t go back in." I was beyond confused. "I can't buy drinks anyway. Why can't I go back to my friends?" "You've been cut off. They'll have to meet you outside." Awesome. Luckily I had my phone on me, so finding me wasn't an issue. Meanwhile back on the beach, the girls were being told that 1) I wasn't allowed back in and 2) they had to leave. It was a "courtesy" that they got to finish their drinks. They found me outside- steaming- but we got something to eat and walked the boardwalk before heading home. And yes, we ALL agreed that the security guards were completely douchey. They were loud as hell about calling us out, meanwhile there were tons of clearly drunk people falling all over the damn place that no one said shit about. Whatevs. All in all, it was a great time and hey-- makes for a great blog post!

clearly rowdy ass bitches

Take-aways:

Bringing in a knife with which you could legit shank someone with: A-okay. 

Falling all over the place with your drunken self: Also A-okay. 

Quietly chilling with your friends= rowdy ass bitches that gots to go. 

Sunday I was up and out and in NYC to meet with my mom. She works at TJ Maxx and had 20% off friends/family discount, along with a gift card that she wanted me to use since she doesn't shop there. I decided to get a big pasta pot since I didn't have one. We had brunch, and then I headed back to Jersey to meet up with Blue and her family for dinner. They were originally celebrating her cousin-in-law (is that a thing?)'s birthday, but since her bday was in two days, we sang for her too. Her family always makes/has sooo much food. It was great seeing them and hanging out for the afternoon.

I took off on Monday and Tuesday since her birthday was on Tuesday was on Tuesday annnnnnd... well, why got to work for one day and then take off amiright? On Monday we woke up late and went to see Trainwreck. Honestly, it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I thought I'd be LOL'ing the whole time and I actually teared up a little! After all the movie snacks we weren't really hungry, so we went home for "Bourbon Day." 

Blue and I really, really like bourbon. Being that it was her birthday, and neither of us had ever had it before, I had decided a few months ago that we needed to try a Moscow Mule. What made it even better was that just a few weeks ago I saw Bourbon and Lipstick's recipe for a "Kentucky Mule." It's basically the same thing as a Moscow Mule (traditionally made with vodka), but with bourbon. One of the key "ingredients" to these are official "Moscow Mule mugs" which are made out of copper. I will be the first to tell you that I don't really care about what I'm drinking out of, as long as the drink is good. However, I've been proven wrong for sure. The mug makes a HUGE difference, and it was absolutely delicious!! The mugs were so COLD! We added ice and it stayed cooler way longer than it should have, even outside. Like, legit condensation. I'll never doubt proper drink ware again. It was the perfect ending to the day. 

Tuesday was Blue's actual birthday. We decided to have an easy day-- we headed to Bradley Beach for a few hours, and then 10 min over to Belmar Beach for Surf Taco. I cannot stress my love for Surf Taco enough. It's basically a summer staple for me. Anytime I can get it, I will. Basically, it's like a fresher, more authentic Chipotle that I associate with solely with summer, since it's really only located down the shore. This time I tried their one of their Mahi tacos and was completely blown away. I'm usually a burrito type of girl, but I would totally put a few of those Mahi tacos away. Obviously it was gone by the time I thought to take a pic. I thought if taking one of the burrito, but they all pretty much look the same, no? So you get a sky pic from the day. 

Sorry for being MIA all week! Want to see the other reviews of Blogger Beach Day? Check then out here:

Michael @ CrazyTragicAlmostMagic

Jenn @ OptimizationActually

Alyssa @ AlyssaGoesBang

If you're in the area and interested in participating in the next one, please let one of us know! We're already planning something for Fall! 

Cali Confessions

on Wednesdays, we confess. So let's just get to it:

I buy more souvenirs for myself than I do for other people. I have collections- ornaments, magnets, shotglasses, and most recently mugs. I don't buy all these things for myself on each trip, but I try to get at least 2.

I almost raged out during our trip to Hollywood. We went to a souvenir shop and I got most of my souvenirs there, and then we walked down the road less than a block and saw all the same stuff for $5. So my $65 bill could have been about $25. Again, rage.

I normally don't buy myself clothes as souvenirs, but I was literally sweating through my shirt (tmi?), so I got one. And I wore it out of the store. And it's super cute and I love it.

my shirt, along with a very anorexic Marilyn Monroe

I almost missed my flight- twice. The first time was due to train delays (I took the train to the airport). The second was due to my scattered brain. I though my flight home was at 5pm, so I woke up at 10:30a preparing for a relaxing day by the pool. I checked my flight on my phone and flipped out when I realized that my flight was actually at 11:40a, and (they said) it took 40 minutes to get from the hotel to the airport. However it only took 20 minutes (and $50... ugh) and I made it!

I don't check my voicemails until I have like 10 and can't stand the stupid notification any longer. As I was checking them last night after I got home, there was one from my friend (we'll call her Lisa) saying that she WASN'T going to be able to do the Cali trip at all. She left the vm literally a week before I flew out there (obviously after I purchased my plane ticket). I'm glad that I didn't hear the message until after I got back, and she changed her mind, otherwise we might have been friends any longer.

My favorite night of the trip was the one where we ate dinner on Sunset Blvd but instead of hitting a nightclub afterward, we went to the liquor store. I picked up a 40 of Corona and she picked up a bottle of wine, we hailed a cab and went back, changed into loungewear, and sat drinking straight out of the bottles (classy broads) on the poolside lounge chairs talking for hours. Security had to come over and tell us that #1, we weren't suppose to be there but #2 he'd let us stay if we kept our voices down because they could hear us across the patio. Oops.

The vacation curse is alive and well. While it sucks, I'm still grateful to, ya know, not be pregnant. 

The most random fun night was Sunday. We were originally planning to go to Ink, Michael Voltaggio's restaurant (he won Top Chef), but we weren't hungry around dinnertime, and not very interested in his menu. C sent me a link to a comedy show starting at 9pm. The show was only $15, but we found a Groupon (I really love that site) that we purchased through Ebates (apps are the best) and got tickets for $10. The show was at The Comedy Store (owned by Pauly Shore's mom), and had about 15 different performers, one of womch is my absolute favorite, Whitney Cummings. I didn't know much about her before her show, but I adored the show and her ever since. I wish we could be like BFF's, but I think she's too badass for me. I may have tried to find her after her set but she rushed into a waiting car. Anyway, the venue was small and we got front row seats! They also made fun of Lisa and I- which I loved. 

Other than Whitney we saw several other famous people, though I don't know who any of them were. As we stalked the Beverly Wilshire Hotel (yes, we're those people), we spotted a young couple getting out of a black sedan, and literally running inside, and another black sedan pulled up and waited for an older woman to be escorted by a guard into the car. Neither our camera nor eyes were fast enough to figure out who they were. Also, while we were walking on The Promenade in Santa Monica, we noticed a group of young girls surrounded some poor male. He was signing autographs, but was pinned against one of the storefronts. I felt kind of bad for him. I approached the group and was like "Uh, who's that?" She breathlessly informed me that it was blah blah from Pretty little Liars. Obvi, I didn't catch the name, and I don't watch the show. But I did get this pic before walking away. 

anyone know who this is?

I made an ass of myself in front of the Southwest ticket people. When I was boarding, I handed the guy my boarding pass and he took it. I was confused. I was like, "Um I need that. It has my seat number on it doesn't it?" He gently told me no, it's open seating. "What does that mean?" "It means you don't have assigned seats. You find one where you find one." Oh, okay then. I wound up sitting in a middle seat, but both young ladies were great- one slept the entire time (against the window), and the other was so into her book she hardly noticed my presence at all, except when I crossed my legs so it would no longer be pressed up against hers. And no one had to go to the bathroom so win!

Have something you wanna get off your chest? Confess it with Kathy!

Weekend Update- A Luau and The NY Renaissance Faire

Oh hey. I meant to post this like 3 days ago, but guess I forgot to hit publish. Ooops. Anyway, last weekend was awesome. Saturday was spent running errands, followed by a friend's tiki-themed party. I love a good theme party.

special appearance

shenanigans

ladies, bffs, and drunk selfie

Then on Sunday me, RJ, and my coworker/friend and her daughter headed to upstate NY for the NY Rennaissance Faire. Thank you Goldstar for the discounted tickets! It was fun, but it was HOT. Like, unnaturally hot. Probably the hottest day this summer, or at least it felt that way. And it was SUPER crowded. If you're not into crowds, this may not be the place for you. Or maybe go later in the season, because this was only the second weekend it was open, and they are only open on weekends. But still, it was a great time. I did not have a turkey leg (the sausage and pepper sandwich cost the same and was much more beneficial for my hungover self), but the Mead was delicious. Always get Mead when available.

I wonder how many pictures this guy was in

Queen's Parade

Our knight was hilarious

Jousting, and of course a selfie

I've been enjoying this week off (minus Monday- meh), and going on a mini vacation starting tomorrow- hurray! Hope you're all having a great week!

Weekend Shenanigans

The only thing I dislike about great weekends is that they are always over too fast! 

My "weekend" actually started on Wednesday night, since I took off Thursday and Friday.

[Fun Fact: I'm only working 7 days this month due to some overdue vacation time- holla!]

I started my weekend off right with a lovely free Janelle Monae concert in Prospect Park, BK. The gates opened at 6:30, but the lines were absolutely ridiculous, so my friend and I decided to skip that and just find a spot on the grass right outside the gates. It's a good thing we decided to do that as soon as we got there, because that area filled up quickly too! I sent my friend off to get food and drinks before the show started so we were completely settled and munching away as we waited. Of course she started late, but I was shocked that we could actually see her performance from the lawn! Of course, I didn't take any pics because I was too far away- but it was an awesome night!

Thursday was spent doing absolutely nothing all day. I slept in, made a giant to do list as I tried to get motivated to accomplish things, then said screw it and caught up on my DVR before heading out to Happy Hour in Hoboken with my friend who I haven't seen since December. It was gorgeous weather, so we lounged outside people watching and catching up. 

Friday I remembered that I should actually take pics. The day was just spent cooking and cleaning/ straightening up, and laundry. Womp. At night RJ came over and we went out with his sister, her bf, and our friend G. 

I really don't know why RJ is always trying to lick his sister's bf, but it happens almost every time. 

I thought Saturday was going to be a chill day. Ha. Ha. We went to brunch, came back and took a nap, and then RJ was in my face waking me up and telling me we were going to Newark. Um whaaaa? I think I actually grumbled and tried to go back to sleep, which was not happening. "We're going to Chop Fest," he said. "It'll be fun," he said. 

I've never been to or heard of this festival before. Apparently it's "Portugal Day" in Newark and they block off the streets and all these restaurants (specifically one called Iberia) get together, feed you delicious BBQ and tons of sangria served in what appeared to be those med/large Chinese restaurant soup containers (red, white, green, blue- you name it) and there's a huge DJ/stage set up and great music and dancing and... pretty much it's my new happy place. 

Ok- I'm awake

What I thought was aftermath (way too early), our king size sangrias, and daring RJ to chug the giant sangria in 20 seconds... leading to a huge brain freeze

After a few many sangrias/eating/dancing, the guys thought it would be a great idea to create this:

"The Great Sangria Wall of Iberia"

Please note: we did not drink all of these. As we were building, people took notice and started taking pictures and contributing... but then some drunk idiot knocked it down... 

So we rebuilt it! 8 rows in total!

Sunday we were supposed to head to The Big Apple BBQ, but after the surprise festival on Saturday, we decided to just relax. Actually, I'm glad we did because I heard that people were waiting 3 hours in the heat for like, 3 ribs and some beans, and then couldn't even find a spot to sit and eat- no bueno!

How was your weekend?