Pumpkin Carving Party

Every Halloween my friend Rachel hosts a Pumpkin Carving Party.  This year, it was also a costume party.  Rachel knows me all too well - she knows I hate Halloween.  Who really likes being scared??  Since Rachel is awesome, she had a variety of costumes for me to wear (a girl loves options!) as well as a pumpkin for me to carve.  All I had to do was show up!  Now that's my kind of party :)

Me and Rachel

Rachel and Ben moved into their new house this summer, so the invite list drastically increased from previous years - Rachel's small apartment limited her to the number of guests she could have.  So not only was there a lot more people, Rachel's entire house was decked out with Halloween decorations.  I'm not talkin' about fall decorations.  I'm talkin' about straight up Halloween, spooky decorations.  Where was she storing all of this in her old apartment?? It's amazing how much stuff she had!  Her whole place looked awesome - very, very festive for the occasion.  

Belle, Sketchy Cop, and Flava Flav

Me and Rachel

My friend Maribeth was in town for the JMU/ODU football game, so she came to the party as well.  Rachel is the "hostess with the mostess" and handed MB a glass of spiced wine, and had the carving begin!  I don't know about you, but I don't like getting messy.  Who really wants to gut a pumpkin??  It's all ooey and gooey, and not in the good brownie batter kind of way.  So, I had Maribeth do it. :)  MB carved our standard "JMU" pumpkin.  Rachel also gave me stickers to put on my pumpkin since she knows I hate carving them - what a friend!!

Maribeth, me, and Ben

Rachel's Dad

Bacon and Eggs!

Easily the cutest costume

Me, my pumpkin, and Tyler

Each year, Rachel's party gets better and better!  I can't wait to see what she has in store for next year! That is, of course, if she has a costume and pumpkin for me :)

It was a great way to wrap up the weekend, especially before actual Halloween on Monday.  This was my very first Halloween in my new home, and I didn't want to disappoint the neighborhood kids.  I loved trick-or-treating growing up.  Of course, the Jude always made me wear my dance recital costume from the previous year as my Halloween costume so we didn't have to buy one.  Oh, and my winter coat over my costume.  I don't recall a ballerina wearing a jacket.  I remember going every year with my best friend Hannah, and we would use pillow cases as our bags.  I hated getting those white candy bags with the twist tie - you knew that was going to be crap candy.  So I was prepared with my name brand candy.  The kids starting coming around 5:30pm.  I am here to tell you folks, that I ran out of candy at exactly 6:30pm.  There were a ton of kids.  Needless to say, I was not prepared.  Some of the kids I didn't recognize, then I found out later, that it's popular in Richmond for parents to drive their kids to the "good candy" neighborhoods.  Parents are driving their kids around?  What a bunch of lazy kids!  We're giving you free candy!  Oh, and I had a few kids who just knocked on my door and stood there, staring at me.  I didn't get a "trick-or-treat" or nothin'!  Not even a "Happy Halloween!".  What's that about?  Do they think they can just hit the bag and hit the road?  I don't think so.  Then as they left my front stoop, they were trampling through my yard!  Now, I know my grass is mostly dead, but still!  Where are the manners?  I didn't say anything out of fear for my car parked out front, but I will be more prepared next year with tons of candy.

What did you dress up as on Halloween folks??

xo-A