Fabulous Saturday!

So I have this great boyfriend, Scott, who's a big fan of surprises. I'm not so good at coming up with them, but he's very creative. So Saturday was our 6 month anniversary and I think he may have outdone himself on the surprise front.

The surprise involved me receiving clues about where to go to get the next clue. Each one had some meaning—either a place we'd been or something we'd talked about. I was scheuffered around downtown Naperville to each destination by our friend Matthew who took it very seriously, dressing in all black with a hat.

At first I was a little concerned about the whole scavenger hunt thing—it seemed like an awful lot of work. Plus I was going to have to talk to the people at each store and I don't really like talking to people. But it turned out to be incredibly fun.

My first stop was a chocolate shop where I got a gift certificate (woo hoo!). My next stop was Barns & Noble where I got a DVD of The Birds, one I've been wanting for awhile.

Then I went to Starbucks where Santa happened to be visiting. I went up to the counter and they told me I had a hot chocolate coming, but Santa had the envelope with my clue in it. Fabulous. I've always been slightly terrified of people in costume ever since I had a few bad experiences at Chuck E Cheese. But I sucked it up and went to talk to Santa. He handed me a candy cane and asked if I had been good. I said of course I've been good, what kind of skank do you think I am?? Actually, I didn't say that. I just played along and exchanged pleasantries and then told him that I was Kim and he was very excited to give me my envelope. Then I got the heck out of there. (I found out later that the Santa thing was not Scott's idea as the Santa was not even there when he went there earlier that morning. The girls at the counter had the brilliant idea of getting Santa involved.)

I had some trouble figuring out the next clue, but I finally realized that it meant a manicure/pedicure for me. Woo hoo!! So we headed over to the nail place where I very much enjoyed having my nails done while Matthew and I chatted. Poor guy.

The next stop was Chuck E Cheese where Matthew gave me a cup of tokens and we played Skee ball obsessively. One of the machines was broken and wasn't giving us tickets so we got a lady to fix it. She opened it up, piddled around in there and then closed it and walked away while it started spewing a massive amount of tickets out. Sweet! I bought Scott some great pirate gear with those tickets.

I couldn't figure out my final clue so Matthew finally just had to take me there and I met up with Scott at the Riverwalk. He had some lovely roses for me.

So overall it was an amazing morning. We followed it up with a delicious dinner at Wildfire and a trip downtown to see Wicked. At Wildfire, we had this middle-aged woman as our waitress who thought she was real cool with her short spikey hair. She asked us if this was our first time there and we said yes and then she asked where we were from. I must have had a "huh" look on my face and I somewhat reluctantly told her Naperville. She addressed my look of confusion by explaining that if it's someone's first time to this restaurant, she assumes they're from out of state because pretty much everyone from the Chicagoland area has been there, it's just that popular. Good heavens, woman! I'm sorry that I'm poor and haven't been able to eat at your fancy pants expensive restaurant until now. I think she got the picture when we paid with our Lettuce Entertain You gift card.

Yes, Barbie IS Realistic

I visited my local Target today to purchase a gift for our toy drive at work. I decided I wanted to buy a Barbie because I just love buying Barbies and I really have no one to buy Barbies for.

I picked up a very nice Vet Barbie and then realized that I should grab a Ken doll too, because as a child I was always short on Kens. It seems most girls run into this problem. We get lots of Barbies with their cute outfits and accessories, but somewhere in there forget to get some Kens. Who are your Barbies going to marry if you don't have enough Kens??

Anyway, as I scanned the aisle for a Ken, I was dismayed to find only 2 Ken options: Beach Fun Ken with real hair and Beach Fun Ken with plastic hair. So, out of the approximately ten thousand Barbie dolls in this aisle, there were two Kens. I was disturbed.

Then it hit me: this Barbie aisle is a painfully accurate reflection of real life. There are millions of beautiful, successful, bikini wearing women in this world all chasing after the same two hot guys in swimming trunks.

When I discussed this with my boyfriend, he, as usual, had a solution:
"Well the problem is all the Barbies want a Ken. They should learn that there are plenty of good GI Joes and Batmans and guys like that if they'd just look past their own isle and into the next one."

I'm not sure if that's exactly profound our not, but it sounds good.

So the next time someone lectures you about how unrealistic Barbies are, don't believe them! What better way to teach your daughters the harsh realities of life and love? There aren't many things more realistic than a bunch of large breasted, skanky women who can't find husbands.

Dear Baskin Robbins: It's 30 Degrees Out, Give It Up Already!

This evening as I drove along 63rd St, I noticed a suspicious figure on the sidewalk up ahead. I was a little concerned that it might be some sort of axe murderer or alien. But lucky for me it was just some poor Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Donuts employee dressed as a giant ice cream cone in 30 degree weather. Since there was a bit of a backup at that spot on the road, I had ample time to watch this poor sap wave and hop up and down incessantly. As I sat in the car watching this scene, it became increasingly hilarious to me.

First of all, why the heck is Baskin Robbins trying to sell ice cream when it's freezing out? If they're so desperate to make their employees dress up in idiotic costumes, I'd think that a life size cup of coffee would be much more effective.

Secondly, it was approximately 6pm and in these parts at this time of the year, it's basically pitch black at 6pm. Forcing your giant ice cream cone wearing employees to stand outside isn't exactly effective when no one can see them!

The most comical part was that this poor person would not stop bouncing around and waving. At first I thought it was so they'd look super happy and excited about their ice cream cones, but then I realized it was probably because they were freezing cold and couldn't stop moving for fear of freezing to death.

So after watching in astonishment, the humor of the situation overtook me and I laughed until I cried. I was disappointed that I didn't get a picture, so I drove back maybe 15 minutes later to find the poor girl inside packing up her ice cream cone costume with absolutely no customers in the store.

Don't give up ice cream cone girl! Maybe you'll have better luck tomorrow.

Feet!

I really like feet pictures. I like them because they're different and fun. Also, it's a good way for me to be in a picture without actually having to be in the picture. Also, I heard that my mother once made a movie about feet, so maybe it's genetic.

Anyway, today I'm going to showcase my feet pictures. I'm sure there are more out there, but these are the ones I found on Facebook. They're mostly from the last 6 months and I think they do a fine job of chronicling the good times I had over the summer/fall.

Scott and I at a beach in Michigan on July 3rd. I think this is my favorite feet picture.

At the bonfire on the beach the same day.

In New York's Fashion District in August. I don't think this was meant to be a feet picture, it just happened.

Me, Scott, and Matthew during a shopping trip to the Outlets.

Scott and I hiking in September I think.

In Kouts, IN

At the bonfire in Kouts.

Halloween!

Scott and I at our church's Young Adult retreat.

Creeeepy

So last night I made the mistake of watching The Ring on TV. I had already seen it once and it basically terrified me, so I'm not sure why I thought I could watch it again. But I was stupid and sure enough, it totally freaked me out for the second time.

Since I was pretty disturbed, I was looking forward to reading my Bible before bed, figuring it would calm me a bit.

First, I read a couple chapters from Zechariah and I came across this in chapter 12 verse 4:

"On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness," declares the LORD.

Creepy!! If you haven't seen The Ring, part of the story involves a stable of horses that go nuts and jump into the ocean. This did not help to calm my nerves! I sat there for a minute, quite weirded out and then moved on with my devos.

My next stop was Luke 14. I was happily reading about Jesus healing people when I came to verse 5:

Then he asked them, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?"

Heavens to Betsy! Basically the entire movie revolves around people falling (or being thrown) down wells.

So that was basically disturbing. What is God trying to tell me?? Probably to stop watching scary movies.

Inside A Hayfight

In case you were wondering, this is what it looks inside a hayfight:



We had a lovely fall weekend in Kouts, IN. It involved apples, pumpkins, bonfires, and hayrides. Pretty much perfect.

Fifties Facebook

The other day my bf (I don't like the word boyfriend. What else can I use?? That's a whole other blog post. We'll just call him Scott for now.) and I were discussing the intricacies of the Facebook relationship status. (Good news, we're in a relationship.) But really, it's pretty intense. It can easily cause an unnecessary amount of awkwardness, especially when you go from pretty much anything to "single." Or from "in a relationship" to "it's complicated." Or when you request to be "in a relationship" with someone who was not aware you were anywhere close to being in a relationship. Awkward!

But it can also be a blessing, seeing as you don't have to bother getting the word out about your new (or terminated) relationship yourself. Just let Facebook do it! So convenient. This led me to wonder what in the world people did before Facebook. How was this information released and passed along? Then it hit me ... this is the Facebook of the fifties:



Up next in the "Facebook and Relationships" series: Friending your significant other's family members: Do or Don't?