We had so much fun over the Summer, we decided to keep it going in the Fall.
Our October activity was Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios.
I cannot believe how long it took me to go to this place. They have
nine haunted houses. Nine! The challenge is, how many can you make it to
between the hours of 5:30pm and 2:00am. The tickets actually weren't as
expensive as I thought they would be. We paid $112 + an extra $25 to
get in at 5:30 pm instead of 7:00 pm. We figured it would be worth the
money to get a jump on the lines and boy were we right. That extra 1.5
hours was crucial. We got an advantage on our
first two haunted houses Stranger Things and The Last of Us, waiting for
45 minutes and then an 1 hour for those, but all hell broke lose after
that once the general admission and Express folks were let in. The
Exorcist jumped to 240 minutes! We could not spend the rest of our night
in line so we had to skip it and hope it would
go down later.
If today is any indication, Fall has finally arrived in San Diego. Hold up, we hit 69, but didn't come close to that number on Halloween. During the day it was in the 80's and 90's and after the sun dipped it
was still in the 70's. The heat has been testing even my limit, but I
was glad so I wouldn't have to freeze my butt off that
night. I don't know how the sexy cops and the sexy nurses of the world survive in states that are actually cold.
Here we are on our throne
MJ booked us a room at the Hilton for the night. Smart thinking. We walked to a restaurant for a bite to eat before changing for the party. The party was basically a pit stop where we were invited to drink for free before the club. The streets of the Gaslamp were packed with people ready to party. Adults are just as into Halloween as kids, if not more. A lot of people dressed up at work. Some people are so creative and half the fun is checking out all the costumes. One of our friends was the Tinder app. She made it herself. It's not sold in stores so if that's what you want to be you have to get creative. I am not one of those people. I don't have a creative bone in my body so when we decided to play dress
up for Halloween this year we went straight to the costume store. We ended up at Buffalo Breath.
I always told myself that if I ever dress up for Halloween again that I
would be a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, but I think that ship has sailed. I found one DCC costume online. Two if you count the more modest grandmotherly version that came with a longish skirt. I think it was from the 1950's. Not an option. It was booty shorts or bust, but it was such poor quality that I didn't even want to spend my money on it. I suspect that even if I had found one I liked, I would
probably have been too self-conscious to wear it anyway. I saw one Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader that night and she looked really cute. He chose his outfit first. They had a female version, so I played copy cat, as he will gladly tell you even if you don't ask.
The entire night was a delightful blur. We ate tacos on the patio overlooking Petco Park. I don't know what time we got to the party or what time we left. I don't know how long we were at Blush or what time we left. All I know is that I danced, laughed a lot and enjoyed playing dress up with my hot date. I've never seen him in a dress before and I think he really pulled it off. When we were getting ready to walk out the door, it dawned on him that he had no pockets. Welcome to my world. According to MJ we were out until 1:30am. I believe it. We stopped for breakfast on the way home on Sunday and I was useless for the rest of the day. Not a dish or single item of laundry was washed for the entire weekend. I think that's a first.
We've been together for seven years and this is the first time either one of us have dressed up for Halloween. I can't even really remember the last time I did it. Maybe I was in college? Maybe I was a Devil? But not a sexy one.
I didn't get a chance to google this place before MJ bought the tickets. He surprised me with this outing, and it's a good thing because I might not have agreed to go. I claim I want to be scared, because I really really do, but when it comes down to it I don't want to be that scared. I don't want to get dirty, I don't want to be pushed around, I cannot tolerate bugs or slimy disgusting things. I don't want to be crying and curled up in a fetal position scared. Just regular Halloween fun and maybe just a little, extra scared.
The 17th Door, Tustin fit the bill pretty well, with the exception of one room that I was dreading when I finally did get around to reading the reviews in the car on the way up there. Once you buy tickets you are slotted into a specific hour in which you are supposed to arrive and groups of up to ten are sent in. Most of the rooms are fairly small, so you really can't have more than that. After signing our waiver we were ushered in pretty quickly. We started out in a creepy classroom unlike any I remember from college. A really mean teacher barked at us to sit down and I realized I haven't sat in one of those all in one chairs with the desk attached in a long time. We were instructed to turn in our assignments; which in this case was our signed waivers. A rouge student barged in gun blazing. Shots were fired, and then we were sent into our next room.
Oh how I wish there was a Haunted House to visit with crooked shutters,
creaky stairs, and dark hallways, and no spider webs that looks just
like the one in this spooky picture.
Most of the rooms in 17th Door have a small, dark, cramped hallway/foyer area. There, we waited until the red light above the door turned green to signal that we should enter. The group we were with didn't want to go first, so MJ and I ended up at the front for most of the tour. Each room has a different theme. I was always scared to open the door, because you never know what's waiting for you inside. The first thing I did every time was look all around me because there are monsters jumping and grabbing at you the entire time. I wanted to see them first if I could. One room was set up like a large walk in refrigerator/butcher shop with carcasses hanging from the ceiling by chains. I was able to dodge every single one without them touching me. When the lights came on MJ had a pig head in his hands. He says he doesn't know where it came from.
The journey follows hopeful and excited college freshman Paula. Violent and/or disturbing scenes are portrayed by live actors to tell the story of her downward spiral into depression, drugs and eating disorders. Sometimes it is hot, sometimes it is cold, but each room is definitely creepier than the next. It is always dark and sometimes it is pitch black. Total darkness. I hung onto MJ's arm a lot and tried to disappear into his chest, but it never worked. And twice, I had to go alone into complete darkness. A dark closet with no handle and no lock and a long dark hallway. My go to was to shut my eyes tight, and scream at the top of my lungs. I couldn't see. I couldn't hear. Somehow that helped. It's very clear that I would be dead in two seconds on The Walking Dead.
I didn't find out about the roaches until it was too late and when I saw the door with a giant lit up roach over it my heart dropped. Here it comes. Yes, they are real roaches. Dried and dead. The room was full of them. There was a demented doctor with a lab coat holding a tray of them and I was so terrified that I ran to the back of the group (and away from MJ) to get away from him and then really freaked out when the lights went out and I had no one to hang onto to. It was pitch black. I didn't know where the guy with the roach tray was and then we were being pelted with mysterious objects that felt like roaches. I kept asking MJ to check my shirt, because it felt like I was crawling with them. That was the absolute worst part. The safe word is Mercy. If you yell that at any time they have to let you out. Had the roaches been alive I would have yelled "Mercy" in half a second and that would have been the end of it.
In all, there are 17 doors and it takes about 30 minutes to get through all of them. It didn't go by quick at all. It was a warm night, but I think the roach room did me in. I was hot and sweaty when we left. I just really wanted to shower and to get out of those haunted clothes.
The actors were good and the sets were very detailed and well done. Pig people are creepy, but I think they overused that theme just a little bit. Towards the end it was starting to get predictable that a Pig headed person was going to jump out at you, but it didn't stop me from screaming every time. It was scary, but it's almost more disturbing than anything else. The waiver explicitly states that it can be "triggering" so you can't say you didn't know. Part of me wishes it were a little bit scarier. There was a moment where I thought-was that it? But really, it was just
enough. There are more hard core haunted houses in LA that we could
try, but those probably take it further than I'm willing to
go. I love horror movies and in my head I think I'm this bad ass who wants to be really scared and can handle anything, but I'm really not.
Overall, it was really fun. I could have done without the roaches, but other than that it was doable and we had a really good time. We have The Haunted Hotel in San Diego. We've also done the Haunted Trail in Balboa Park and we'll probably go back, but it was fun to try something new. We went to dinner before, made it a fun date night and it was worth the drive.
We don't do pumpkins, and I haven't dressed up in years, but we love a good haunted house.
It was another uneventful Halloween for us. I went and had drinks with friends and MJ stayed home to pass out candy. I couldn't even post anything on Instagram because if it wasn't Halloween related it wasn't allowed. I kid, but that's totally what it seemed like! I had lots of fun checking out everyone's costumes and creativity though. While I was out with friends I vowed that I would dress up next year. We all said it would be fun to do a group themed girls dress up outing but even as I said it I wasn't so sure.
We had a lot of left over candy; which is very expensive by the way. We spent $25 bucks which is not much in general but a lot for candy. MJ wanted to take it all to work and I said, "No you aren't," and was given a deadline of 4:30am on Monday morning to remove whatever I wanted to keep from the bag. I kept all classic Snickers, Snickers Peanut Butter squared and some of the Snickers Almonds and Reese's peanut butter cups. The most I've eaten in one day is three and I've been taking one to work with me each day. My sugar addiction is much improved from last year. I didn't even have any today.
I got into the Halloween spirit by watching two scary movies. We watched the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre on Saturday night. Oh my word, that movie is disturbing and just all around weird. It came out in 1974 so it was interesting to see how those movies have changed over the years-which is not much. They have a formula, it works and they are sticking to it. I also watched Cabin in the Woods Patient Zero alone on Sunday. I'm actually kind of embarrassed about this one because it was pretty bad but I kept watching. I mean, it was good but also really bad. The fight scene between the two partially disintegrated former babes was just so bad. I'm a sucker for scary movies though. I don't know why.
This is totally off topic but we also found ourselves watching Sex Sent Me to The ER on Sunday. Well, not totally off topic because one of the couples that ended up in the ER after sex was wearing costumes. The only thing is that they were celebrating his birthday not Halloween but that's just a minor detail. Anyway, did you know that sex could be medically dangerous? I'm not talking about STD's or unplanned pregnancy either. It could potentially result in a ball permanently lodged in your mouth (that was the birthday celebrating couple) or even a brain injury (that was a couple celebrating their engagement). I'm just saying-be careful.
Another Halloween thing is the time change and I have to say I'm not a fan. It was bright enough for me in the morning before although I know it won't be once Winter hits but headlights on my way home from work is just bumming me out right now. I actually forgot to turn them on yesterday because it's not quite dark when I leave but definitely dark by the time I get close to home.
Mid-term elections also happens around Halloween. I'm a mail voter so I dropped my ballot off at the public library last Monday, because let's be real. Who actually has stamps? I may have a few somewhere but I decided to save myself the effort of searching for them by dropping it off. I have a history of forgetting about mid-term elections but this mail voter thing is keeping me on track. I think I can only miss one or two elections before I lose my status. I like the flexibility so we can't have that.
By the time Halloween hits it's also supposed to be chilly, even here in California. We got about a week of 70's and tall boots but now it's supposed to be in the low 80's again through Saturday.
I'd say my Halloween post was late but it's really not because I didn't really 'do' Halloween. Also, I almost didn't post this at all because I couldn't think of a single picture that made sense, but then I got a postcard in the mail from Costa Rica from my parents. They've been back for over a week now, but it's the thought that counts and I really love it that my mom sent it to me. This is their first big trip as a retired couple and I'm still really excited for them.
This photo still makes absolutely no sense for this post but who cares.
Saturday night we met a couple downtown for drinks and then lined up with a bunch of high schoolers to go to a Haunted Mansion. This one is pretty good. Last year we
went to an outdoor one which sucked but we went to this same
one two years ago and I forgot how much fun it is. It's in a basement
so it's very dark and we were funneled through different rooms in small
groups. In one room there is a bloody scene of a cannibalistic family
at a dinner table and in the next it's a looney bin with some crazy
person hobbling towards you. I squeezed the life
out of Mj's hand. I was hanging on his arm and screamed my way through
the entire thing. I was in the front and I'd already be screaming
in anticipation even before we entered the next
room. It's so weird because I'm a big chicken but I
love watching scary movies and I love being scared. Mj if you are
reading this I DO NOT love it when you scare me on purpose so please
don't take this as permission scare the crap out of me again.
Lots of people dress up and go bar hopping downtown so we saw plenty of
scandalous costumes. I get it that as an adult if you dress up for
Halloween you might not want to be wearing the same witch or princess
costume that you did when you were 10 years old. Halloween isn't just
for trick or treating and it's not just for kids so as an adult you
vamp it up to make your costume more exciting and glamorous. My thing
is that if you are going to dress like a hootchie mama in the name of
Halloween we should at least be able to tell what your costume is. I
saw a group of girls wearing 1/2 shirts and leggings. I had no idea
what they were dressed as. I saw a girl in a satin bustier, fishnets
and garters. What was she dressed as? A Victoria's Secret model? And
even if I can tell what you are...uh did you really have to go there?
I haven't played too much Halloween dress up since I stopped trick or treating but I do
believe that there is a Halloween hootchie mama inside of me just waiting
to come out. If I had a party to go to you bet I'm going to be a sexy
something but a leotard and garter belts alone will not my costume
make. I would love to dress up as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. It would be my one chance to wear even a replica of that adorable/sexy uniform. I don't think DCC are hootchies but the tiny outfit is on the risque side; especially if you aren't you know actually a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. And anyways, I don't see anything wrong with owning it and being confident enough to show some skin if you want to. But not too much skin!! Leave SOMETHING to the imagination.
In my office no one dressed up and there was not a single candy bowl or Halloween decorated cup cake to be found. Every other day there's junk all over the place but not today for some reason. I had a hair appointment after work so I didn't get home until 7:30pm. I missed most of the kids but there was plenty of left over candy. I'm too old for trick or treating but I love candy even more now then when I was a kid. Halloween is my excuse to eat excessive amounts of it just because. It works out because I heard on the news the other day (while I was at the gym) that horror movies offer the highest calorie burn then any other genre. Did you know that you could burn 113 calories watching a 90 minute horror film? That's the same amount of calories that you might burn on a 30 minute walk. Incidentally, The Shining is ranked as the #1 calorie burning movie. Ha!! How do they test this stuff out anyways? I have two horror movies lined up for this weekend so I should be in good shape candy eating and all.
On the way there I was bright eyed and bushy tailed as I had my very first body scan at the airport and then sat through the five hour flight that put us in Hawaii around 5 pm. The way home was much different. I was so tired on our overnight flight that I could barely see straight. The plane and the airports were freezing! Red Eye flights are so hard for my body to take! We got home and immediately unpacked. I just hate letting it sit and dealing with it later so as tired as I was I wanted to get it done and Mj was on board. It was nice not to have much dirty clothes to unpack because we did laundry on our last night. This is something I've never done on vacation but it was nice not to have to unpack and wash sweaty gym clothes and salt water logged bathing suits.
We made it home around 9:30 am and Mj is still going strong like some kind of freaky energizer bunny. I was laid out half asleep and partially incoherent during our flights and layover while he was just as wide awake as could be. He says, "No I'm not really that tired" while I stare at him in disbelief. I'm a wreck myself. After unpacking, sorting through some mail and catching up on some on blogs I finally had to to take a nap. I just couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. I'm catching up on some DVR stuff now starting with Gymnastics. World Championships were televised last weekend and I've been dying to know who won what. On the way home we stopped and got some Halloween candy to hand out. I've already eaten a bunch! I haven't handed out candy on Halloween since I moved out of my mama's house. Our neighborhood is tiny so I doubt we'll get too many kids but it will be fun. Provided I can stay awake that long.
My little nephew is ready for Halloween.
Don't think he'll be doing much trick or treating
We are both taking tomorrow off. I get one more day to recoup, pay bills and mentally prepare myself for going back to work. Is there some sort of time change that is supposed to happen? After a food filled eating out extravaganza vacation I have no idea what we will eat now because there is little to no food around these parts. The kitchen food supply is on E. I am just barely accepting the fact that I am back home. I love home but I LOVED Hawaii and I LOVE being on vacation. Where oh where did I go wrong that my actual life can't be one long vacation?? I already miss that warm tropical breeze sifting through my sun dried hair. We had such an amazing and perfect time together. Recaps to follow.
Well, some of the car purchase stress has subsided and I am actually starting to feel more excited about my new little car. I went back today to buy the warranty. No amount of badgering could have convinced me to buy it yesterday on top of everything else but after sleeping on it I decided I had better go ahead and do it. Mj offered to pay for it but I think I've already taken enough money from him so I put it on one of my low interest credit cards. So doing the numbers it has basically cost me close to 20K to get into this car and out of my lease. Ouch!!! That includes the cost and warranty for the new car, the return to dealer fee and cost to fix the front windshield for the Liberty. Incidentally, that windshield crack showed up only about 3 weeks ago. I had to replace the whole thing just last year. This is all quite shocking for a budget minded frugalista such as myself.
So, I picked up Subway for dinner and one pack of Mike & Ike's in honor of Halloween. I will watch a movie-The Proposal. Then thanks to Universal Sports which is broadcasting my favorite sport that is only popular during the Olympics, I'll get to watch World Championships (Gymnastics). Super exciting I know!!
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