Pumpkins & Witches & Dwarfs & Things

This last week has been so fun for Shawn and I! Shawn had the chance to go to Chicago for a four day Leadership Conference with his fellow dental school classmates. He learned a lot, saw a lot, and ate a lot haha! They were spoiled rotten at the conference, but also got to go out and experience some must-do Chicago things such as "Cloud Gate" (or as I call it "The Reflective Bean") the John Hancock building, and a "Chicago Dog". Last night on Halloween there was a social and each school did a group costume. Boston University was Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs. There costumes were simple but they turned out great! Although I was sad he wasn't here to celebrate Halloween with me, I'm glad he had a good time.

I know I keep saying this, but it really is true...fall in New England is AMAZING! The same can be said for Halloween in New England! Last weekend, my friend Brittney and I thought it would be fun to go check out the "Pumpkin Float" in Boston Commons. It was so great! She carved a pineapple...yeah, a pineapple! We didn't know if they'd let her float it, but we were hopeful! The guy thought it was awesome and agreed to let us float it. Britt was like a-kid-in-a-candy-store type happy (almost as happy as that time she got to ride a camel at Franklin Zoo haha!). We got some awesome pictures as we walked around The Frog Pond watching the pineapple bob along. We kept overhearing people say "Look there's a pineapple!" or "That's so creative!". At one point, Britt and I were standing next to some people looking out over the water and a girl said, "I can't believe someone carved a pineapple! That's genius!" I said, "Oh that's my friend's" and pointed at Britt. The girl replied, "I am honored to meet the pineapple artist!" We got a good laugh out of that! And of course we had to float a "Ute" pumpkin since there was a game that night! I loved the atmosphere there. It was so great and fall-ish!

Britt and I kept walking around until we saw kettle corn and hopped in line. We met a really nice lady in front of us in line. We ended up right in front of her in the line to ride the carousel. Her daughter wanted to go see the HUGE police horses that were walking by, so we saved their spot in line while they walked over there. She came back and we proceeded in line. When Britt and I got up to pay the lady said, "No, here I bought your tickets." We were totally caught off guard and pleasantly surprised. I love random acts of kindness!

 Since Shawn's buddy John went with him this weekend, Brittney and I decided we needed to do some partying of our own! You know what they say...when the boys are away, the girls will play! Britt came over to my place and we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, carved pumpkins, baked pumpkin seeds, watched Hocus Pocus, and "made" caramel apples (we'll talk more about the apples later). I could not believe that Britt had never seen Hocus Pocus, so I told her we had to watch it! I hadn't seen it in years! It's such a classic. Needless to say, she loved it!

Ok, let's talk about the caramel apples...they were officially my first "Pinterest Fail" and it was so sad! I definitely saw them turning out better in my head. The result was disappointing to say the least. However, they still tasted phenomenal and we got some laughs out of it!

Overall, it was a fabulous weekend! I got to do a lot of "Halloweeny" things without having to dress up and fight the crowds. I'm so thankful for a good friend who will party with me when Shawn is gone and humor my childish side. Cheers to another fun Halloween in the books!