Tricks are for Kids?

There has been a lot of talk this year on how "adult" Halloween has become. I can probably vouch for this based on the fact I celebrated Halloween twice over the weekend and have at least one hundred pictures to show for it. My nieces and nephews, on the other hand, got a few snapshots taken before going off to trick or treat for a few hours. While I can't speak for all kids, I think I was more excited to go out to Halloween parties in costume with my friends than some kids probably were about going out trick or treating. It seems that Halloween has become more sexy than scary and more about cocktails than it is about candy. At least from my perspective, I saw a lot more mermaids and cowboys drinking martinis this year than ghosts and goblins with pillow cases full of peanut butter cups.

Dancing the night away among girls dressed as naughty nurses, kissing bandits, and sexy sailors, I couldn't bring myself to wear a Winnie the Pooh costume, yet I wasn't quite ready to break out my bikini top and wrap my legs in cellophane. I figured I could find a costume that would, at the very least, be cute. After scrounging through some old boxes, I found an authentic band jacket, which my 10 year old nephew wore a few years ago for Halloween. While he wore it with formal black slacks and the big Major cap, I sassed it up with a white mini skirt, sequin tube top and opted for the cute ponytail over the hat. And I even got the baton stick to boot! I was a Majorette. But as far as energy and creativity put into my costume, I was definitely on the low end among my peers.

Some costumes spotted were: A male body builder dressed as a Packers cheerleader, a couple dressed as a "Brick House" and a "Brick layer", a well endowed blonde woman with a tool belt and an apron that read "Home Wrecker", a man with a huge foam horseshoe wrapped around his head with baby chicks stuck to the end (chick magnet), two men each dressed as a boob, a stewardess arm-and-arm with a pilot who had lipstick kisses all over his face and a ruffled shirt and tie, Elmo, pirates in full face paint, Steve Irwin, and the list goes on... Show me some kids with costumes that elaborate!

Last night, still in my Halloween spirit, I went to visit my nieces and nephews. Halloween is a kids' holiday after all, right? Since I couldn't recruit them to trick-or-treat at my place, I went to them. The younger kids, all dressed up by their parents, looked adorable. Who can resist Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion? Or Cookie Monster and a Bear? Or the 7 year old American Idol with press-on nails? The older kids, however, are getting to that stage where they find one item in their closet and make that their costume. When I held out the treats I brought over and asked them to say, "trick or treat" the little ones sang in unison, while the older ones kind of shrugged their shoulders and said, "no thanks." The fact that they were "100 calorie packs of cookies" from Trader Joe's is beside the point. Treats are treats!












There must be a lull in the life cycle in terms of Halloween enthusiasm. I think there is that awkward age when you are getting too old to trick or treat and start to care less about the costume, as illustrated by my 12 year old nephew, who was dressed as Santa Claus and his friend (no picture) who was a Paper Bag. Yep, Santa and a Paper Bag...classic costumes. Can't you see it? Didn't your Santa wear a black face mask and a red polo sweatshirt? We'll cut him some slack considering his mom is 8 months pregnant with twins.


My conclusion is that, yes, Halloween is becoming more adult. I think the times you enjoy playing dress-up and getting treats the most are when you are 10 and under...and even more so when you are 21 and older.

Twenty-Seven Things

On Saturday I turned twenty-seven. Remember a mere six months ago when I was celebrating my 26 1/2 birthday? It's now official...I am in my late twenties! I feel good about 27 though. It's a good number and I think it will be a good year.

Last year, a friend and I went out on a Tuesday night to celebrate our birthdays, since hers is a few days before mine. We were sitting up at the bar at Chino Latino chatting with the bartender, when my friend pulled out two pens and said, "Ash, we're going to make our birthday lists."

"Birthday lists? What are we? Twelve?"

"No, we are each going to make a list of things we need to do or accomplish this year. You'll make a list of 26 things, and I will make a list of 27 things." (she is one year older)

So, we sat sipping wine and writing out our lists of personal development on cocktail napkins. Looking back, I did pretty well checking things off the list. Among some items on my list were:

Take a new aerobics class (belly dancing AND cardio-kickboxing-check!)
Throw a housewarming party (last December-check!)
Go to Washington, DC (went in August-check!)
Run around Lake Calhoun with ease (I ran it all the way around, "with ease" is questionable)
Find a church to go to (Wooddale-check!)
Buy art for my walls (got a mirror, but that's it)
Read more (joined a book club-check!)
Publish at least two writing clips (I'm not sure where I was going with this at the time, but do 35 self-published blog posts count?)
Learn to rotate my rollerblade wheels (reference "handyman" blog post-check!)
Learn to use chopsticks well (I tried-but I'm still pretty hopeless!)
Be more patient with my mom (no comment-this will probably be on my list again)

Okay, so you get the idea. This year I did it again, adding one more item to that list. I'm not going to post my entire list of 27 things "to-do" while I'm 27...some have to remain private, right? But I will share a couple with you. I figure if I actually make some of them public, I'm more likely to get them done!

Drop a ski waterskiing (I've never done this before and want to do it before I get too old!)
Milk a cow
Get a nice new comfy down pillow
Visit one of the following places: wine country, Denver, Arizona, or Vegas
Learn more about finance and investing
Cook one new recipe a month
Print all my digital pictures from the past two years and organize
Use the word "like" less often
Incorporate new words into my vocabulary
Take a different kind of dance class (salsa, line-dancing, hula)
Get back my six-pack (stomach, not beer)
Attempt to read more non-fiction books
Strengthen my queasy stomach and see BodyWorlds at the Science Museum

Give you a little taste? We'll see how I do this year.

Prost to Oktoberfest!

I think now would be a good time to recap what the last three weeks have been like for me and what the next three weeks look like for me.

Saturday, September 23:
Event: "Beer Olympics 2006" party at some friend's house. Played drinking games such as beer pong, flippy cup, dice, quarters, and cards
Length: 4pm-midnight
Drink: Keg Beer
Result: I lost every single one of the above mentioned games....need I say more?

Saturday, September 30:
Event: Iowa vs. Ohio State Football game in Iowa City. Jumped around between four different tailgates
Length: Started tailgating at 11 am.....and the night ended about 1am
Drink: Bloody Marys and Keg Beer
Result: Solid buzz for about 12 hours

Saturday, October 7th:
Event: Oktoberfest at Gasthof's in Minneapolis. Celebrated the German tradition with some girlfriends and cute guys in lederhosen.
Length: 8pm-2:30am
Drink: Paulaner Hefeweizen (German Wheat Beer)
Result: Pictures speak louder than words...












Upcoming events:

Saturday, October 14th:
Event: Several friends celebrating birthdays...starting at a bar downtown, then making my to uptown for another Oktoberfest themed birthday.
Expected Result: What kind of friend would I be if I didn't "cheers" a few beers to my friends' birthdays?

Saturday, October 21st:
Event: My 27th birthday...and the first birthday I will have celebrated without a boyfriend in 12 years.
Expected Result: Lots of cute single men buying me drinks.

Saturday, October 28th:
Event: Halloween observed...various costume parties.
Expected Result: Probably dressing up as a pirate...and pirates know how to party.

Maybe November will be more mellow...

Who's on First?

My dad and I just had a date to the Twins game. Second game in the playoffs. We've always had a special bond over baseball. Starting in 1987 when we went to the airport to greet the Twins after they had won the American League title on the road (he'll be able to tell you who they beat and in how many games). The airport was filled with fans, so I sat up on his shoulders while Dad pointed out all the players to me. As he did, I shouted out what their numbers were. Kent Hrbek #14! Tom Brunanski #24! Dan Gladden #32! Greg Gagne #7!

Two years later we performed a variation of Abbott and Costello's skit, "Who's on First?" for my 4th grade talent show. Dad, a college theater major, really acted the part, while I, a bit of a "too cool" 10 year-old, was slightly embarassed to be doing a theater skit in front of my entire school. In hindsight, I think it is awesome that we did it though. And hey, what's not cool about a girl doing a baseball schtick with her dad, who owned the bowling alley?

As a fastpitch softball pitcher in high school, I practiced throwing my fastball and change-up to my dad every day after school. He probably chased thousands of balls down our street and never complained of swollen thumbs or a sore back, even if he did have them. And when I had two strikes on a batter in a game, I'd hear my dad in the stands muttering,"change-up, change-up."

So, when I scored some Twins tickets, I figured Dad and I were due for a baseball game together. And even though the Twins lost, we had fun. We got Dome dogs with the works on them and sat up so high we could almost touch the roof of the Dome.

I love baseball, and I think I know it pretty well. But watching it with my dad is like a whole other world and I start to see the game in the detailed way he sees it.

Here are some comments we each made throughout the game...not in conversational order.

Dad: "Ewwww...Cuddyer's got two strikes. He doesn't do well on an 0-2 count."
Me: "I read in the Star Trib that Cuddyer is getting married. Guess his fiance didn't even know what a full count was when they met."

Dad: "Notice how the umps are throwing out a bunch of balls. If there is even a smudge of dirt on there, they throw it out because they don't want ANY questions on if the pitcher is doctoring the ball."
Me: "Boof is a cool name. Maybe we could suggest that Mamadala name one of her twin babies "Boof"?"

Dad: "Mauer's up...he bats around .400 when there are players in scoring position with two outs. This is good."
Me: "Joe Mauer went to the same high school as my friend, Melissa. Cretin."

Dad: "White has struck out three times today. He's looked at the third strike every time!"
Me: "Hey...the pitcher is wearing black socks. Scott Erickson wore black socks like that too."

Dad: "Look how the outfield is playing...they're playing to the right, even though Cuddyer is a right handed batter and the pitcher isn't that fast. There must be a stat that he doesn't drive up the left hand side."
Me: "Did the metrodome get new astroturf? It looks more like real grass than it used to."

Me: "Hey, Jason Bartlett is the same age as me! Only nine days younger. He's kind of cute...wonder if he's single."
Dad: "Did you know Jason Bartlett came up from the minors, but got sent back down for a few months because Gardy wanted him to be more of a leader on the team. Now he's doing great...not as passive as he was before. Punto's a good leader too."

Dad: "Oh! Hunter shouldn't have gone for the catch on that one..there was no one there to back him up! He should've let it drop, let the guy get a single and gone for the out at second. He let his reputation as a spectatcular catcher get in the way of him making the right play."
Me: "Excuse me, miss. Would you mind taking a picture of my dad and me? Can you get the field in the back ground? Thanks so much!"

Dad: "Watch Mauer's batting routine. Every time...left foot in the batter's box...then the right foot...tap the back of home plate with his bat...one full swing...and a couple small ones. That's how he keeps the pitcher in his control so he's not speeding him along."
Me: "Let's go JOE! OW, OW, OW!!! Did you know Joe has a myspace profile? He says he likes to log-on before games and people leave him comments and stuff. Morneau too"

I love baseball...I really do! I love the strategy, I love the fans, I love the tradition. And I learn something new about the game every time I watch with my Dad...

But I'm still such a girl. I'm afraid I haven't changed much from when I was 8 and wanted to grow up to be a baseball player, but still have long hair, JUST so I could hog pile after winning the World Series. I'm still such a girl.
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Oh, and coincidentally, this is my 34th post. Kirby Puckett #34

My Cereal Story

Hello. My name is Ashley...and I'm a Cerealholic. Phew. There, I said it. I'm addicted to cereal. I didn't really see it coming...being that I've been a cereal eater my entire life. It started with just breakfast when I was young. Just a bowl or two in the morning. Corn chex, Cheerios, Wheaties. The basics. A healthy way to start the day.

In college I rebelled and realized that cereal wasn't just for breakfast anymore. When I lived in the sorority house, cereal was the only "pantry food" readily available since we had a cook for most meals. That's when I learned that cereal tastes really good at about 2am after a night out. My roommates laughed at me in the mornings when my alarm went off, because I would slam it off so fast, jump out of bed and still be half awake walking down to the kitchen to get my cereal. It was the first thing I would think about in the morning...hardly giving myself a chance to wipe the sleep out of my eyes before I poured milk into that sweet crunchy cereal.

After college, it got a little better. I had to learn how to live in Manhattan on my entry level salary, which meant buying the generic cereal. At $7 a pop for a measly small box of Cheerios, I had no choice but to go with Toasted Os. It wasn't the same, but still did the trick. And I limited myself to one bowl and sometimes even substituted my cereal with peanut butter toast. But my addiction was too strong. After 6 months of no pay raise and much of my cereal money going to pay rent, I had to make a lifestyle change to feed my habit. I moved back to Minnesota where the cereal was more affordable and I could buy General Mills and Kelloggs products.

I kept it under control for a few years. I think I even hid my addiction from my sister while I lived with her for 6 months...blaming her daughter or husband for why the box of Total Raisin Bran was finished so fast. I would sneak a second or third bowl when her back was turned to me. She didn't have a clue.

It wasn't until I lived by myself, that I became aware of my problem. I'm just glad I've been lucid enough to see my cereal habit spin out of control. I was aware that every trip to the grocery store meant buying several boxes of cereal and a couple gallons of milk. But at certain points, there would be six or seven boxes of cereal in my cupboard...for me. Just me. And then they'd all be gone. Just like that. And there were so many kinds---Basic 4, MultiGrain Cheerios, Honey Bunches of Oats, Total with Strawberries...I could never decide which kind looked better. I felt like Brian Regan in the Donut shop when I was in the cereal aisle at the grocery store! All the regular flavors now have yogurt or strawberries or honey or peaches added! In the entire time I have lived in my condo, I've never had a morning where I have run out of milk or had less that two boxes of cereal in my cupboard.

I'd be sitting at home at night and I'd start thinking about all the yummy cereals in my cupboard just calling out my name. And I'd tell myself, "Just one little bowl, Ashley, just one bowl." But, then I'd open the cupboard and couldn't decide if I wanted Corn Chex or Grape Nuts...so that one bowl would turn into two. My will power was gone. It got to be that I couldn't go to bed without my stomach grumbling wondering when it was going to get its Cheerios fix. And if I ignored it, I'd be up at 3am pouring myself a bowl.

Things started happening to my body too...my nails grew long...longer than I have ever had my nails and my hair grew fast. I noticed I was going through two gallons of milk just for myself in about 10 days. When I lived with two roommates, we went through about a half gallon of milk in one week. That's when I knew I had a problem.

With no one else aware of my addiction, I had to intervene on myself and put myself in cereal rehab. My cereal cupboard has been emptied and replaced with oatmeal. I figured if it wasn't there taunting me, I might be able to go back to a normal life with a healthy mental state of mind. One where I'm not wondering when I'll be able to get my next hit of cereal. I had to go cold turkey. At least for now...but I'm hoping that someday, I'll be able to go back to having a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

I hope my story will help others become aware of the signs of Cerealism. If one of your loved ones is suffering from this disease, you can help them come clean and kick the "cereal not just for breakfast anymore" habit.