A Non-Scary Halloween List

Irrational Things I'm Afraid Of

a list by Lauren Kay

ONE:  the dark. sometimes i still think there are wolves under my bed. i know, i know, i'm not seven anymore (or 12 or 15 or 18...) but i somehow always thought there were wolves under my bed as a kid. i used to have to place pillows along the base of the bed so the wolves couldn't come out. (and sometimes when i'm at my parent's house i feel the urge to run up the back stairs two at a time as fast as i can so they can't follow. because obviously wolves aren't able to climb stairs. 

TWO:  having not cute babies. this obviously shouldn't even be a thing because i'm no where near having babies so why would i be worried that my babies wouldn't be cute? i think it's because most of my friends from college are on baby two, three, four even. and there are pictures all over facebook and i can't help having not as nice thoughts as i should occasionally. NOTE: i'm sure i'm not talking about YOUR baby, YOUR baby is adorable. 

THREE: spiders in the shower. this morning there was a teeny tiny spider hanging from the bottom of my shampoo bottle. i lifted the shampoo in an effort to rid the space of the spider. then the spider dropped down the the edge of the tub. i proceeded to splash water on that itty bitty spider until it got caught in the stream of shower water to the drain. but as it floated towards the drain i had to do a little dance to make sure the drowning spider didn't inadvertently hit my foot. 

FOUR: my earring being ripped out of my ear. a few months ago my earring somehow got caught on my sweater at work. i was bringing a guest into the building for a meeting and somehow my earring was irreversibly stuck to my sweater. i couldn't get the earring out either because of the way it was stuck and all i could think at the time, while i tried to squelch my panic and remain calm in front of our guest, but what actually happened was my voice sqeeking out, "i'm stuck! will you unstick my earring???" i'm pretty sure my plea for help probably sounded more like, "OMG OMG OMG MY EAR IS ABOUT TO FALL OFF AND THE WORLD WILL END IF YOU, THE PERSON I MET NOT 90 SECONDS AGO, DON'T STOP SMALL TALKING WITH ME AND HELP UNHOOK THE EARRING FROM MY CARDIGAN!" yes. i'm dramatic. but i would hate to have my earring ripped out. i have equally scary moments when little babies get overly excited and grabby with their cute little chubby hands.

FIVE: the chainsaw guys at haunted things. i think i'm mostly afraid because i don't know how those work. i've decided to forgo traditional scary halloween things until i know exactly how they make those chain saws safe. until then, you can enjoy being scared without me.

Happy October! 

Halloween and all the candy I shouldn't eat are one week away!

England/Ireland Highlights: Post 2

One of my favorite things about going from England to Ireland was seeing the dramatic difference in the landscape. And because I hardly suffered from jet lag (miraculously really), I didn't take many car naps and got to enjoy it all. We took an overnight ferry from Wales to Ireland and proceeded to drive across the southern portion of the country to get to the south west peninsula known as the Dingle Peninsula, stopping along the way at cool castles and former monasteries and abbeys. And really, how could you not already love an area called Dingle? It's hilarious.

monastery that I thought was so cool but unfortunately cannot remember the name of

Rock of Cashel, seat of many Irish, medieval monarch, and now mostly just a cemetery, but really cool

the wall at the Rock of Cashel that overlooks the countryside and one of the cool monasteries that surrounds the hill/castle

on the drive around the Dingle Peninsula, unfortunately there was so much fog

Atlantic Ocean view (my cheerleading moves need work apparently...)

city of Dingle harbor, clearly the fog burned off

drive up the western coast of Ireland

cool castle just sitting there on the side of the road as we drove through the country

The saddest part of this trip was that we really wanted to go to the Cliffs of Moher but when we got to the site the fog had set in again and there was zero visibility. Unfortunately for us, everyone said this was the wettest summer in Ireland on record. We had lots of rain (not new for Oregonians) but that meant lots of fog and that was the saddest part. Also, we have zero pictures of Dublin, someone forgot the camera that day... But we took a tour of Trinity College, saw the Book of Kells.

Three Silly Things

(picture doesn't really have anything to do with the post...)

1. My roommate met a guy at a wedding, when she came home from the trip she told us about him, I pulled out my phone so we could see his picture on Facebook. Next thing I know, I've accidentally friended him! 30 seconds of panic ensued while I frantically tried to figure out how to rescind my request. Luckily I figured it out.
2. Sometimes I ride the bus to the metro, sometimes I walk. Last week I rode the bus and during the walk from the bus to the metro, I found myself walking the exact same speed as a little tiny Latino man. I sped up, he sped up, I slowed down, he slowed down. So I sped up again, walking like I couldn't WAIT to get to work. The guy slowed down and crossed behind me to turn into a building. But as he did it, he says very quietly in his Spanish accent, almost in my ear, "Seeeee youuuuu". I kept walking, slightly creeped out but laughing the entire way to the metro.
3. Last night was the Grey's Anatomy premiere. If you watched it you'll understand. If you haven't seen it yet, I'll avoid spoiling it. Basically I sobbed through the entire thing. And then I calmed down, went home, and started to tell my roommate all about it, only to start crying again. I'm so embarrassed. I had to remind myself that these people are not real. And it probably doesn't help that my old roommate Debbie and I used to call the characters "our friends". And I shouldn't be surprised when I know contracts haven't been resigned by actors. But it doesn't make it any less sad. 

England/Ireland Highlights: Post 1

Oh hey there! I'm blogging! Summer is over and I am back on my game.

Last month (ie. August) I went to England and Ireland. I never blogged about it because I was too lazy. So here I am, finally blogging about it and giving you five of my highlights. (Even though the entire trip was pretty awesome.)

Highlight 1: Visiting the Estates. We hit up Chatsworth (used as Pemberly in the 2005 P&P with Keira Knightly); Highclere Castle (better known as Downton Abbey); Haddon Hall (used as Thornfield Manor in three Jane Eyre adaptations); and a walk through the grounds of Lyme Park (used as Pemberly in the 1995 P&P with Colin Firth)

(Chatsworth. I think my favorite thing was that there were sheep all over. And once all the cars left for the day, the sheep moved in to take over their spot. And look at all our curly hair!)

(Highclere Castle. It was fun to hear about the real family that lived there and how they balance while living there and the show's filming.)

(Haddon Hall grounds, they were beautiful grounds. And the inside was so much older than the other estates we visited. And we liked thinking there was a crazy wife hiding in the attic.)

(Lyme Park grounds. It was a rainy rainy day. Lyme Park is barely seen at the end of the row.)

I think what I like most about visiting these places is that they're still kept up beautifully and it's fun to imagine people really living there, throwing parties there, and living how we see them in movies. I guess I haven't changed a whole lot from the squirmy seven year old who pretended with her grandma that they were princesses while walking around castles in Germany years ago. Now I just pretend to be an Elizabeth Bennett or Lady Mary. Should I be embarrassed?

Perhaps I'll start blogging again

The majority of my month of August was spent in England, Ireland and Utah. I came back to my new home in DC with only a week left of the month. I'm over my jet lag, wishing for a new job, and already aching to travel again. Perhaps I'll recap my trip sometime. Just the highlights. Definitely just the highlights.

Speaking of highlights from the trip, we went to Highclere Castle. It's where Downton Abbey is filmed. If you don't watch Downton Abbey, don't you even worry, season 3 starts January 6th. You have PLENTY of time to catch up. You won't regret it.

And Maggie Smith is magnificent. Here's a clip from the upcoming season:

Watch Downton Abbey, Season 3: A Scene from Episode 1 on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

More silly pictures to come, I'm sure. And now that it's past Labor Day, and I feel like the summer is over (though not quite officially) I can start to reminisce and wish I was still on vacation and wish it was summer all over again. Though, autumn in DC is my favorite time of the year.

Blog Neglect and Things I Wish for Today

It's been too long since I blogged. I'd like to pretend it's because I was having SO. MUCH. FUN. But sadly, that is not the case. Instead I've just neglected it. And I will continue to neglect until probably September. I'm pretty sure.

Things I Wish for Today:

1. That I drank coffee. I'm so tired. My eyes are kind of puffy, my tummy feels unsettled, and I just want to go back to bed. BUT, if I drank coffee, it'd perk me up. I feel equally adverse to any other stimulant for morning wakefulness, but I'm not opposed to an occasional Diet Coke when I might be staying up late.
2. That I was back in bed and that it was Saturday. Because like mentioned, I'm SO tired.
3. That it was Tuesday afternoon at 5:00 because I'd be hightailing it up to the airport ready to board a plane for London. Holla! Richey family vacay 2012: England (we're visiting Emma's mission)

Instead, I'm at work, at my desk, procrastinating updating our travel log by watching a remix of Bob Ross.

COLDPLAY

Last night I went to my second Coldplay concert. I hit up the Viva la Vida tour in 2008 with my lovely sisters Cami and Emma. Viva la Vida is my absolute favorite Coldplay album. I'm obsessed with every song. I don't love Mylo Xyloto as much BUT the concert was incredible.

Here are the couple pictures I snapped on my phone. You can hardly tell what anything is except pretty color. I'm still in love.

The crowd before the band came on. Totally full. Slash our seats were really high up...

Katie, me, Lisa. We were SO excited. It was hard to remain calm.

Opening number. The confetti they had blown into the crowd was amazing.

Changes of color in the opening song to highlight different parts of the song. Awesome.

The stage from our view. We were so high up but the colors were so cool it was fine

They played in red lights whenever a Viva La Vida song was played.

Here are my top three the reasons why I loved the concert:

1. They gave everyone in the audience light up wrist bands. These pulsed with the music when they played anything from the new album. Awesome.
2. Black lights, neon, color symphony galore. It was beautiful.
3. Chris Martin is hilarious. (He messed up while singing and apologized and made the band restart and it was kind of silly and endearing, even if he kept dropping the F-bomb, but a British accented F-bomb doesn't sound nearly offensive for some reason...)

BONUS Reason: They wore color coordinated jeans and t-shirts. Blacks, grays and muted pinky purple. The drummer wore purply pink jeans. And we had an excellent view of him rocking out. I kind of love the drummer a lot.