Poppin' the Pumpkin-Carving Cherry

I had a pretty normal childhood. Growing up, fall made me so happy. Mainly because of crunchy leaves, warm colored sweaters, the fact that I could now buy my Starbucks drinks HOT and celebrate the first day of the season with a pumpkin spice, homecomings, Powderpuff, my birthday, and Halloween.

Halloween. I can't help but laugh a little because I go back to the scene in Mean Girls where Cady Herron voices what this day really means for a girl: the only time of year we can be as slutty as we want to be and get away with it. I suggested to Terri that we go as a bottle of Adderol and a blue exam booklet (Study Combo, anyone?) and she laughed. And then wrinkled her nose and went, "But it's not super seeeeexy." Oh, how we chuckled. But really. There you go. Never my style, but so true when you think about it.

I had the 'typical Halloween' when I was younger: trick-or-treating with my friends, while my dad alternated between yelling at me to thank the person giving me candy and muttering about the fact that children begging for sweets qualified as a holiday (although he'd become much cheerier when I saved all of my Almond Joys for him), creating costumes, and basically being in a sugar coma the next day. However, there was one tradition that I'd completely skipped...until yesterday.

Carving a pumpkin.

Yup.

I'd never carved a pumpkin before!! While a part of me shrugs and says it's okay, another part of me is all, "SERIOUSLY? WHY didn't I ever carve a pumpkin?! That's not begging for sweets! Secretly in the pit of my mind, I KNOW I've always wanted to knife a scary, jagged shape into a harmless pumpkin! That's it. I officially come from a broken home." All was remedied last night when our two neighbors, Nicole and Christopher, asked us if we wanted to partake in pumpkin carving. Before they even finished asking the question, I excitedly said, "Yes!"

I'd had a migraine for the past three days. But this did not stop me. In fact, I sort of figured that maybe if I took out my anger at having a migraine on a pumpkin, I'd feel better. Twisted logic? Maybe. Did it work? Trick, yeahhh!

And so, I present to you, Culver Boulevard Apartment's pumpkin:

If you look closely, you will see that we carved a haunted house with little windows into our pumpkin. The graphic book said that this was the hardest and I think me, Terri, and Brian were all feeling super competitive. Regardless, I think it is beautiful :) And it was so much fun! I had to scoop out the pumpkin first (and scared Terri when I pretended to throw some at her) and then help cut. Granted, I got a little nervous when it was my turn to carve some of the big pieces. I was so afraid I was going to mess it up and make a really ugly gash or something...but when drinking cider, listening to fun music, and laughing about how one's roommate acts like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory (Brian), you remember to breathe and just enjoy!

And so, though I feel like this was a long time coming, I wouldn't have wanted to pop my pumpkin carving cherry with any other pair of roommates!

The Best Friend Rules

Those who know me know that I have a borderline obsession with The Office. A seemingly dry work environment that is in fact chock-full of sharp wit, sarcasm, a beautifully sweet man named Jim, and a to die for character named Kelly Kapoor who says things like, "I don't talk trash, I talk smack. They're totally different." And the actress who plays her, Mindy Kaling is definitely at the top of my "Actresses I Want To Be For 24 Hours" list. And she is a part of who inspired this blog post.

Mindy is about to write a book called Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns). I have no doubt in my mind that this will be a hilarious read. However, there was a sweet sentiment to one of her chapters--the chapter about the Best Friend. She recently posted a link that called for people to write down their "Best Friend Rules and Regulations"...i.e. what makes the two of you work and inseparable. I read it and I immediately started to smile because who else should pop into my head but my own best friend?




This is Hilary, the other half who inspired this post. I have known Hilary since middle school...clearly we were meant to be because I was a thirteen year old chubster with oddly-shaped glasses, triangle hair, sarcasm, and a penchant for wearing tube socks to gym class...and she still wanted to be friends with me. Hell, I wouldn't have even wanted to be friends with me!!! Fastforward to high school where she was my number one go-to girl about all things important: the location of my latest boycrush, the code words we invented for people we disliked, the times I cried after a fight with my family, the time my hair was frizzy for my freshman school picture and she helped me put it into a bun...everything. And of course, after high school came college...and incidentally we both ended up at our beloved alma mater, Meredith. We were joined at the hip for the first two years, though a brief falling out left us flying solo for junior year and a bit of senior year. Even though I still felt like we weren't completely separated, I felt a bit empty for awhile. However, when all things were restored, it was like no time had passed at all and we were still a duo-riffic US, finishing each other's sentences, talking at rapid-speed about various celebrities, musing over our futures, giggling over THE MOST RIDICULOUS THINGS (like planning our weddings in tandem via wedding blogs/putting on Southern accents and yelling "YEE-YEE!" at the end of a sentence...madness, I tell you), but things that make me laugh even today.

Hilary is the epitome of what it means to be a best friend: she listens. Whomever wrongs me, she hates (within reason...whatever, she hates). She tells me the truth. She makes me laugh harder than anyone I know and will spend hours upon hours doing so. She supports me. She bakes cupcakes and I eat them. Really, what could go wrong in this friendship? But most importantly, she has seen me at my worst and has never judged me for it. Hilary is an assurance that I am just fine and dandy the way I am, and she will probably never know how much I appreciate that. And so, readers, I want to share with you, the 'Best Friend Rules' that I submitted.


THE BEST FRIEND RULES:

-If I call you at an obscene hour of the night, you must come pick me up, even if it is at the skanky dive bar that you warned me not to go because I could get an STD (don't worry, I'll repay you in coffee).

-If one of us goes through something horrible, like if the pair of hella amazing flats we hid in the men's underwear section at Target is not there anymore (or worse: a death, a break-up, a friend issue, etc.), the other will bring the following: cupcakes, funny movies, wine, trashy magazines, a laptop to Facebook stalk, and a shoulder to cry on.

-If you are sad, I will stay with you for hours until you are happy. Because I know you would do the same for me.

-If you are about to do something shiesty (like wear a multi-colored leopard print dress out in public, talk to your ex, or buy a fur muffler), I can be honest with you because I love you.

-When I move across country we will snail mail once every other week, call/text daily, Skype weekly, and communicate telepathically...because really, if we don't stay in touch, THERE IS NO ONE ELSE LEFT.

-You will be the maid of honor at my wedding. Duh.

-If I am unhappy about the same thing for awhile, you will help me figure out how to change it/take me to get Fro-Yo.

-If I sing the lyric, "I ain't got no car to take you on a date" from the baller song, "The Way I Are" a la Timbaland and Keri Hilson, you will immediately dance and mimic the lyrics because hello, we're a duo.

-I hate who you hate and vice versa. Okay, well, hate is a really strong word, but really. If someone wrongs you, I will dislike them intensely and wish them severe weight gain and bloated feet until they apologize/buy you something really cool.

-We make up code names/phrases for everything. For example: if I am on a bad first date and text you, "THE PAINT IS DRYING!!" you will know to immediately call me fake-crying about how you have a flat tire and are stuck in Bumfuck NowhereLand and I need to come "get you" (which really means sit on a bed with Goodberry's and wine and cry about how there are no good men left and the fact that my ovaries are going to shrink).

-You will be one of the godparents of my future child. If I have a child. Which I might. But still. It's gotta be you, babe.

-You constantly assure me that I would be a good mom and not accidentally break my child if I gave him/her a hug.

-I always tell you that you're pretty and vice versa. And it still makes me smile when you do!

-When I am making an acceptance speech YOU need to be my date so when I get to the, "Aaaaand to all of my haters...." the camera will pan on you smiling widely while you flip through a Rolodex of everyone who was mean to me.

-At your wedding I will cry because I'll feel overwhelmed at the notion of even HALFWAY letting you go.

-When we have homes, we each have a designated "Best Friend" room. Meaning no one but the two of us can go in there and hang out and anyone else who does will be killed.

-If you say you want to live in a city and travel and go camel-riding, I will support you. Because, hi, I'm coming with you.

-If I say I feel fat, you tell me to shut up.

-If my parents are embarrassing you don't mock them, but you just go with it.

-You will let me eat the last piece of pie.

-I will let you eat the last handful of M&M's because I know you love them.

-We can talk about PPB: Periods, Poops, and Burps. But we still get tickled over these notions.

-You will make me laugh like a hyena over everything, and hopefully, vice versa.

-We know that even though we're not from the same DNA pool, we're related.

-This isn't even about getting a signed copy of Mindy's book. Reading over this list makes me more thankful and teary and happy and just plain old LUCKY that I have you for a sisterfriend.

:)