October, Halloween, and Costume Anxiety

It's October, and seriously, people are enamored of this month.

This quote was the very first thing I saw in my newsfeed on Facebook today, and while I think my good friend L.M. here might be a little bit aggressive in her love of the month, she reminds me just how very psyched I am to get this whole October thing going.

So far, so good, by the way. Today, I woke up, guzzled down a pumpkin coffee like a pro, and went to my improv class at the Upright Citizens Brigade. In the weeks that follow, I'll be celebrating my girl, Emily's, marriage, connecting with some well-missed friends in Texas, and running amidst the changing leaves in Prospect Park (oh, by the way, I'm running now).

But I have to say, for as much goodness as this month promises, when October strikes, I immediately regress to an eight-year-old girl, unabashedly PUMPED about candy, costumes, and watching the Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons.

Halloween is 30 days away, and you guys, this holiday is where it's at. This is true for a million reasons and yes, most of those reasons involve the movie Hocus Pocus.

Flawless.

While my family didn't really celebrate Halloween, it was an inescapable aspect of living in San Antonio (HELLO, Dia de los muertos, anyone?) and I grew so fond of the joy with which my town reveled in skulls and corn mazes. In my adult life, I go to great lengths to honor this day.

One of my favorite and least favorite things about Halloween is dressing up. It's my favorite because dressing up is always a win in my book. It's my least favorite because I have an undocumented condition referred to as Costume Anxiety. It's the reason that two years ago, I dressed up as a Cat Nurse Practitioner. 

You know...it's like a cat...but it's also a nurse practitioner...so I can land on my feet...and prescribe most medications...?

That, my friends, is the face of a woman who decided on her costume at the last minute. I bought a bunch of dress-up paraphernalia from Goodwill, all of which were pieces that had nothing to do with the other. After a mini-panic attack, I slapped on some kitty ears and called it a day.

Around this time every year, my sister usually sends me a text message telling me what she's going to be, and it's always amazing, and I'm always left wondering why I didn't think of that. I got the text over the weekend, and surprise surprise, she's crushing it again this Halloween. Seriously, how does she do it?

Well, I'd like to be similarly prepared this year with a cute, clever costume. Right now I have nothing, but here are some ideas from an off-the-cuff brainstorm session. You will notice they follow a similar theme...

1. Zooey Deschanel as a cat

It should surprise no one that this has already happened.

2. Martha Stewart as a cat

3. Hermione Granger: Post-Polyjuice Potion after mistakingly using cat fur instead of the hair of a Slytherin

4. Couples Costume: Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake in denim...buuuuut they should also be cats

5. The Chair from The Voice...with a cat...and CeeLo, I guess

Minus the cats, some of these might be good ideas. 

Feel free to weigh in on my costume selection. I'm fine making this decision by consensus. Also, what are you dressing as for Halloween?

An Announcement

Daniel and I have known for a while now, but we wanted to wait a little bit to go public with it. Like most couples in this time of life, we wanted to be far enough along before announcing it. First, of course, we told our families and then some of our very good friends. Now we are announcing this big life change to the rest of the world. I'm sure you know what I'm getting at, but in case you don't, the following picture basically says it all:

You guessed it!


WE ARE MOVING TO BROOKLYN!

To be explicitly clear, I am not pregnant, but we really are moving to New York. For the record, let me just say that I laughed and laughed and laughed while writing that intro. It took me like an hour to find the perfect picture to use though. It turns out when you google "baby in manhattan", you get this:

Scary as that she-demon might be, I guess she's pretty much me in a nutshell. I'm just a Manhattan Baby with a fiery lizard skull in my stomach ready to take on the world!

Only we won't be living in Manhattan. Like I said, Daniel and I will start off this adventure in Brooklyn, one of New York City's five boroughs. We hope to sublease an apartment in Ditmas Park, and we would use the summer to find a permanent residence. If we get this apartment, we will also be responsible for the tenant's three cats. I imagine they look something like this:

This story is already colorful!

It's a 40 minute commute to midtown, but that's better than my current commute to midtown which, according to google maps, is 1 day and 5 hours.

Anyway, why are we moving to New York City, the "concrete jungle where dreams are made...of"?

Ever since I lived in NYC in the fall of 2010, I have wanted to go back. At that time I was interning at The Martha Stewart Show in the Promotions department. I was sometimes responsible for making Martha say things like this:

I loved working in and around a live television set. I loved being challenged in the greatest ways by the people I was working with. And goodness knows I loved me some Martha. It was here that I decided that I would love to work in television.

I also loved almost everything about New York. I loved the smell of crisp air as I emerged from a rank subway station. I loved the way people walked up escalators. I loved how there were always street fairs and they always had the same weird booth that sold plush blankets with wolves on them. Most of all though, I loved the people. Truly, genuinely, I loved the people of New York.

Knowing my love for this great city, Daniel started looking for opportunities there. And wouldn't you know it...he got accepted into the New York City Teaching Fellows (give this boy a hand!), which means that in the fall, he will be a New York public school teacher. He will also be working towards his Masters. This basically makes him a superhero, right?

Daniel as Quail Man circa 2007

Anyway, we just recently found out about his acceptance. His classes start on May 30th, so we are BUSTING it to get everything ready before then. I'll write more about that process later, I'm sure. 

For now, I'm just happy to get the word out there. I'm sure you can understand that while I'm excited, I pretty much want to throw up all the time. That's just my personality. I'm a nervous wreck. Daniel is a calm pasture. Together, I think we will make it work.

....but prayers are appreciated.