A SCARY Halloween

I decided that Halloween as an adult just isn't the same as Halloween as a child. Kids wear cute costumes and go with their parents house to house and overload on candy.

Adults, at least "adults" here at the University of Iowa wear not so cute costumes and do things their parents would rather not know about from bar to bar and overload on beer.

Abe and I decided to take a trip downtown to get future costume ideas. Here is what we learned:

1-pair bunny or cat ears with your favorite lingerie for an instant costume

2-be a professional (nurse, police officer, pilot, marine, etc) but add a little spice to it with a micro-mini and some thigh high stockings or garters

3- if really desperate, wear your favorite undie/bra combination under a men's white button down shirt for a "next morning" look

4- or, my personal favorite, can't find a shirt to go with your oversized fireman overall pants? No worries, just cover your nipples with the straps and no worries!

...In actuality, I found it very sad. Sad, that innocent costumes like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz or cute bunnies, bumble bees, angels (?!), and respected professionals turn into girls selling themselves out for attention. I have never seen so many bums hanging out of skirts and shorts in my life. It is sad that the messages we send women are that being sexy is more important than anything else, and that careers dominated by women (nursing, cleaning, teaching, etc) are opportunities to show some leg. You can be anything from a "sexy dead girl" to "sexy garbage man," things that are not sexy. Halloween has long been one of my favorite holidays, but not if it is just an excuse to wear lingerie in public.

What a great day...gas and milk both less than $3.00 per gallon.

Gas $2.19/gal...filled my whole tank for $26.99!

Milk $2.65/gal...more expensive than gas. Yay.

National Boards....check!

After 2+ weeks I got my National Board Scores in the mail. I got a little nervous opening the letter but was relieved to see I received almost the same score as last time, just one point less. On most subjects I did much better than the national average; pharmacology was the only section I did slightly less.

Thanks for everyone who said a little prayer for me while I jumped through this big, long hoop towards my dental career. One more task checked of my graduation check list.

Look-a-likes

Last night as we were leaving a friend's we were met by a few drunk guys. One stopped us as he happened to recognize Abe from HS basketball over 10 years ago. He told me what a great guy he was (like I need any reminding) and that he looks like Superman. He gets this quite a bit. I'm not sure if it is a specific superman or just the superman image in general.

This got me thinking about celebrity resemblences. I have been told on many many occasions I look like Princess Lea. I seem to get it less but I still get it every once and awhile. I couldn't find any bun pictures but maybe the hood will simulate her crazy hair. What do you think? Have you ever been compared to a celeb?

Breakfast anyone?

So Iowa isn't necessarily known for its tourism. True, we have the Field of Dreams, the birthplace of John Wayne, and American Gothic, but we just don't see many out-of-towners here if it isn't for school or residency. I think part of it, however, is the ignorance of potential travelers. Look at these pictures from our very own Brandon, Iowa, just about 40 miles south of Iowa City. The __ largest frying pan (it isn't the "World's largest," they may just advertise it as the "State's largest"...wonder why "the frying pan"-- to have multiple competitors for?). It makes for great photo-ops and memories that will last a life time. I am sorry I don't have the picture of Abe standing up pretending he is a frying piece of bacon, but I think you can imagine.

NW Iowa Does Weddings

I have never before been to NW Iowa before attending my friend's wedding. I wondered if it was anything like I expected. Yep, in a lot of ways, it was. We were hoping we were dressed appropriately until we saw some of the other guests. Although we were in a fancily adorned catholic church, others around us felt shorts denim shorts and tube tops, etc were appropriate attire. Although the picture below looks like a typical festive crowd, I urge you to take a closer look at the pink shirted man in the center. I was a little shocked to see his shirt unbuttoned almost to his belly button, with his chest hair and gold chains showing themselves quite well. We weren't too worried after that about being too casual.

Also, Abe and his brother have been interested in facial hair since Abby's wedding when they started growing beards. Abe felt he had found a golden moment when he captured 3 handlebar mustaches in one frame!

Wedding, Iowa Style

Good thing I was wearing black or they might have mistaken us for the bride and groom!

A diverse group--from L-R: Hispanic, Scandinavian, African-American, Persian, Taiwanese

My friend J was the first of my close female classmates to tie the knot. We traveled with a group to NW Iowa. The drive itself was pretty exciting, I'll have more posts to share on that later.

Some thoughts on weddings:

1) they made over $1000 auctioning off their garter! She must have rich/good/drunk friends or she is more popular than I thought

2) maybe you should rethink the huge tattoo on your back for your friend's strapless bridesmaid dress

3) the father who married them didn't include the, "You may now kiss the bride." I didn't realize this was the highlight until we missed it. I kind of wondered, "So are they married now?"