o hiking we will go

Last Sunday my parents, Mike, and I went hiking to burn off the Thanksgiving food in Caesar's Head Park to see Raven Falls.  It was a little cold, but fun.

Pale and Proud!

As winter comes closer and closer and summer goes farther and farther away, I am one of many whose skin goes from tan to ghost.  I especially notice it when Mike (who never goes ghost) and I stand next to each other in the mirror, or the inevitable wearing of shorts to the gym where I am surrounded of girls who keep that "healthy" glow throughout the year.  I try to convince myself of all the negative health and wallet effects of tanning beds, but I still long for that tan.  So, I did an internet search and came upon two articles, which made me proud to be pale and gave me reasons to add plenty of SPF during the summer.

Articles:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1022207/Who-fairest-all.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2056862/Proud-pale-Goodbye-creosote-look-Alabaster-skin-vogue.html


One article stated that the pale "trend started with Hollywood actresses such as Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore, and Gwyneth Paltrow, whose porcelain skin reflects their A-list status on the red carpet. Put simply, paleness equals class. And it's sexy."

"According to a recent report from the University of Toronto, men are more attracted to fairer-skinned women, as they appear innocent and pure."

So pale is the new tan! I subconscously knew it all along.  Now if only being heavier made you seem attractive and wealthy like way back when.

Movie time

This weekend was a bit laid back.  We went to see Immortals, which was fantastic if you love action movies and/or eye candy.  We suggest that you see it in 3D.  It is rated R, which you could tell by the intense squeamish looks on our faces for the last hour.

The rest of the weekend was compiled of watching other movies and football.  Our friends cooked a great meal, which included a smoked turkey (it smelled delicious, dang vegetarianism).

Costume Party

This past weekend Mike and I had a costume party with our friends at Muriel's house.  It was a blast consisting of games and a dance party, where everyone was the DJ.  Mike and I were Quailman and Patty Mayonnaise (people had a hard time guessing my costume without Mike).  Here are some of the costumes (I was in way too many of them):

Quailman and Patty Mayonnaise  (from Doug)

The Lion

Sexy Nerd

Cowgirl

The lion and the lamb (lamb growling and lion frightened)                    

Catter-A-Rue Who (loving the onesie)

Chris's Purdue costume (dancing to Soulja Boy)

Keith Stone

 Mad Scientist  (Mayhem behind him, he was with Flo from Progressive)                            

   - the dry ice made the party drinks fun                                                   

Samurai Banana

Halloween Weekend

This weekend Mike and I went to watch the Clemson game downtown, and decided to add some Halloween flare to the large orange and purple crowd.

DOUG

Something Scary (I had fun with face paint, it was hard to stop), I didn't want to make it too scary.

FROG (Our only other friend that dressed up)

Sunday consisted of me watching non-scary Halloween movies (Coraline) since Mike was working, while making delicious pumpkin cookies.  The pumpkin cookies ended up being a large part of my food intake on Sunday as well (it's ok they are only 120 calories per cookie...).

Pumpkin Carving

This week I decided to get my fall fix by forcing Mike to carve pumpkins with me.  Apparently, he has not carved pumpkins since being a kid, unlike me who thinks Halloween cannot arrive without creating a good old jack-o-lantern.  So we cranked the Halloween tunes and dug in (literally).  I decided to create a scary fanged pumpkin and Mike created a cute kitty cat.

We concluded the day by watching Dreamcatcher, a great Steven King movie with parasitic aliens (what more could you ask for).

I also attempted making pumpkin seeds for the first time ever this week, and they didn't turn out half bad.  This is the recipe I tried also following comments.  Mike and I tried them and realized we weren't really sure what pumpkin seeds were supposed to taste like.  Then we found out that I am a shell eater and he is a shell peeler/seed only eater.  The night concluded with a showing of American Psycho.  Personally, I like when Christian Bale plays the good guy better.

My next task for fall will be yummy pumpkin cookies!