Haunted corn field

I went out last night with some friends to Maris Farms in Buckley, Washington. We went to walk through their haunted corn field maze and woods. It was terrifyingly fun. The actors were really good, and when one of our group asked if they got paid, the gal responded, "no, we're volunteers, but it's very rewarding." I can vouch for the fact that they found it rewarding - we were scared out of our minds (and yes, that includes the men in our group).

I learned some interesting things about myself walking through that maze. Here goes:

• I still really hate spiders.
• I don't like it when the ground I'm about to walk over pops up and becomes a creepy creature.
• If I'm ever in a situation with a crazy man and a chainsaw, I'll just cower and "protect" my head with my hands. Somehow, I doubt that my hands would do much to protect me from decapitation, but hey, whatever. Apparently that's my first reaction.
• Corn field mazes are creepy even without any actors. They rustle and make weird shadows in the dark, which creates its own atmosphere. So, the corn becomes an actor as well.
• After reading Steven King's, "It" as a kid, I still don't like scary clowns, and the guy who was a psycho clown on stilts last night just solidified that fact. Non-scary clowns are just sad, really; but the scary ones still freak me out.
• I will gladly sacrifice my friends to run away from the children of the corn.
• Given the right situation (such as a children-of-the-corn girl following me through the corn singing "la la la la" in a creepy voice and then screaming randomly), I will actually scream on demand. Yes, she said "Scream" instead of actually screaming at one point, and I obliged. Funny then and now.

It was such a blast though. I don't know what it is about being scared that can be so much fun, but I guess it's because you know that you're in a relatively safe environment and everyone else around you is in on it, too. It's the whole suspend the reality thing and just have a good time.

After the 1-1/2 mile walk/run through the maze and woods, we headed over to the Bonney Lake Tavern (BLT). We had a few beers and recounted the events of the night, several of which involved me hiding behind A.'s back, and one of which included S. falling on her ass. Fun times.

Fabulous night

I'm happy to report that I had a wonderful time last night. I went to a company party in downtown Seattle, complete with an open bar at the party and a one night stay in a swanky downtown hotel that overlooked both Puget Sound and Lake Union. It was stunning. We ate, and drank, and danced, and then drank some more. It was fun to just let loose and have a good time with everyone.

As if the night wasn't going along fabulously enough, when we got on the shuttle to go back to the hotel after the party, a group of my co-workers and I ended up getting off and going to the one guy's place for more drinks and a good time of patting each other on the back for all of the great work that we're doing and how much fun we have together as a team.

Anyhow, eventually Kati and I headed back to the hotel to try and get some rest because I was moving into my new condo today. Right after we got into our PJs, my manager and her husband came in and swept us up for early morning (4:00 AM) breakfast at Minnie's. I went in my Victoria's Secret sweat pants and top, because that's pretty much Minnie's attire at that time of the day. When we showed up, the rest of the group that we had just left were there as well. Overall, it was just a funny night of running into people when you'd least expect it. Nothing like showing up in front of people you work with in VS sweats.

Oh, and the moving went well this morning. God bless my family. My step dad got my bedroom furniture all put together yesterday without me knowing it, so when I showed up today it was all ready to go. And several people from my family and a couple of friends helped lug everything upstairs today. It went quite quickly and now I'll just have to unpack everything and get my new place setup. I'm sooooo excited!!!

Last weekend

This last weekend was quite interesting. I went out on Saturday night with a friend from work, A., and a few of her friends. We went to a party that was in a VIP room in the back of a cool club downtown. We even needed a password to get in...pretty swanky.

Anyway, I met some cool people and had a good time until this random Italian guy attached himself to me. He kept following me around despite the fact that I wasn't interested in the least. So, that was annoying. He wasn't bad looking or anything, but he was completely annoying when he started talking, and at this point in my life, I just don't have that kind of patience. That may sound snotty, but I just didn't click with him and didn't want to drink with him, dance with him, go home with him, etc. He finally got the hint. A. had a similar situation with another guy, who would randomly go make out with some girl on the couch and then come back and hit on her again. It was really surreal.

Anyway, as the night was winding down, we went out to the main part of the club and ran into a guy that we work with. He was sitting at the bar with another chick, and seemed kind of embarrassed when A. (my friend) and I went up to talk to him. So, I'm not sure what that was all about, because apparently he has a girlfriend in another state. But, who knows? Maybe they have some kind of agreement...I have no idea.

And it gets even weirder, folks...

It appears that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have undergone either brain transplants or have been abducted by aliens. In what world is it normal to be pregnant after only about a 1/2 a year of D-A-T-I-N-G?

Nicole Kidman must silently wonder why she marriedTom in the first place, and then she must breathe a sigh of relief that she's no longer attached to such a freak. At least Connor and Isabella have one good role model in their lives...

Cats in the cradle, raccoons in the kitchen

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I'm house-sitting for M., one of my upper managers. I leave the cat door open during the day so that the two outdoor cats can get in and eat whenever they need to. However, I put the cat door cover on at night because M. mentioned that they've been dealing with an ornery cat in the neighborhood and they don't want him wandering in through the cat door at night. So, this has been my SOP for the last week and so far I've had no issues.

Tonight (or rather very early this morning), I hear a big commotion downstairs. I hear cat bowls rattling around and dry cat food going everywhere. So, I high-tail it down the stairs and see the cat door cover across the room and a huge mess in the kitchen. Then one of the indoor cats wanders down the stairs, so I realize that he is not one of the ones making the mess.

When I turn on the outdoor light and look on the deck, I see a ginormous raccoon staring back at me. I don't think that I would have been more surprised to see a Yeti standing out there. I'm not sure why the raccoon was such a surprise to me. Afterall, we see them over on the eastside pretty frequently (usually as roadkill, but you know...), but this is friggin' Seattle. Based on the raccoon's current girth, he does quite well for himself in these parts...a real yuppy raccoon. Not long after, another one peeks around the corner.

So, I think to myself, "shit". Or maybe I said that aloud. Either way, the situation isn't good. These guys are huge and the plastic cat door cover was obviously a mere hocky puck standing in the way of tasty chicken livers and tuna treats. I quickly put the cover back on to assuage any thoughts of immediate return, and then assess the situation. Being a stranger in this home, I'm not familiar with all of the heavy objects which would make good cat door cover securers. So, I place a big brick in front of the cover, and then maneuver the portable (albeit not on wheels) kitchen island behind it for reinforcement.

I then go about the business of mopping up soggy cat food and water from the cabinets and floor. As I look around, I realize that there is another cat door that goes into the finished basement, and I pray that none of the raccoons made their way down those stairs, only to return again once I've finished cleaning up the mess. Luckily, one of the indoor cats plods through to use the cat box and since I hear no growling or anything, I am relieved that there doesn't appear to be a raccoon in the basement.

So, I finish the cleaning up and then refill all of the bowls with water and the various foods, and then trot upstairs again. However, I'm not rattled enough that I can't fall back asleep, so I decide to blog and IM with a friend who is clear across the globe right now. I briefly hear some attempts at the door, but then when I head back downstairs they stop. So, now that I'm finally getting sleepy again, I'm hoping that they decide to give up so that I can get some shut-eye. Here's to hoping that my raccoon adventures are over for the duration of this house-sitting gig!

Dress shopping

Kati and I went shopping today, and I did quite some damage to my bank account. I did, however, find some fabulous things to add to my wardrobe, makeup collection, jewelry box, and so on. I find it quite a blast to shop with such abandon AND be able to afford it all. Gawd, I love my job and my life. It is so great to be young and make enough money to actually have fun. I felt like Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman", walking around with bags from fabulous stores.

I was desperate to find an adorable dress for the Cirque du Soleil show, "O", for when we go to Vegas in December. Unfortunately, the last few times we went shopping, I didn't find exactly what I was looking for. I found something that would work as a good backup dress last weekend, but it wasn't perfect. Today, I found not one, but three dresses:

• First, I found an adorable little black dress with a V-neck in both back and front, with a nice mesh/lace overlay. It's quite stunning and will be perfect for things where a little black dress is perfect, which is for most things. That's why the little black dress is the standby of every woman's wardrobe.
• Second, I found a beautiful turquoise colored dress, with a halter neck and hankerchief hem. It's quite stunning and it is the dress that I will wear to "O". I even found some lovely peacock feather earrings to go with it. Very Vegas!
• Third, I found what I refer to as my Sarah Jessica Parker/Sex and the City dress. It's a lovely cream color, sleeveless, with a flowy skirt and beautiful sash. White House Black Market refers to it as the Swan Princess Dress (http://www.whiteandblack.com/store/productchoose.asp?PID=300102892). I'm not entirely sure what I will wear this dress for, but I just loved it so much that I even bought a nice set of freshwater pearls to go with it. I imagine that I'll have a Christmas party or wedding to go to at some point where this particular dress will be perfect.

In addition, I got a bunch of fun stuff for Vegas, like a cute corset top and shrug, as well as a ton of other stuff. I just love shopping. I can wait to get into my new condo so that I can go through my wardrobe and throw out some of my older stuff and make room for the new stuff.

Memoirs

I recently started listening to "Fraud" by David Radkoff on my iPod. It has been such a joy to listen to. I love David Sedaris, so I started getting into memoirs, and just finished two audiobooks by Augusten Burroughs, and then moved onto Radkoff. Although I thoroughly enjoy Sedaris and Burroughs, I'm not sure that I've laughed quite as hard (or as often aloud) as I have while listening to "Fraud". I'm such a fan of authors who read their own work, and Radkoff has a really great way of delivering a story. Plus, the sayings that Kati and I have come out with from these memoirs...I doubt many people would actually understand our conversations were they not versed in memoir-speak.

So far, I have two favorite sections from "Fraud". The first is when Radkoff describes a museum about the Loch Ness monster, and how they desperately need a proofreader for the captions on their photos. Apparently they have random sentences inside of random sentences, leaving the whole caption to make no sense whatsoever. The second favorite is where he talks about using a computer mouse for the first time and not realizing that you pick the mouse up when you hit the end of the mouse pad. Both accounts are quite funny and very much worth downloading the audiobook to your favorite audio device.

House sitting and realizations

This week, I'm house sitting for an upper manager, M., at work. She and her husband live in a very nice house in Seattle and have four cats. Two of the cats are indoor cats, and two are outdoor cats. They each have very distinct personalities, and one of the indoor cats likes a lot of attention, but on his own time. If you approach him when he doesn't want to be disturbed, he'll scratch you. So, he's a bit grumpy at times.

This grumpy cat recently went outdoors (which is OK according to my cat-watching instruction sheet), and now I have to sit here and wait for him to want to come inside or he'll scratch my skin off. I know this because I followed him across the street earlier, trying to get him to come inside and eat, but when I reached down to carry him back over, he batted a big ol' paw at me and gave me a big ol' yowl. The other two outdoor cats just flopped over and purred when I picked them up to bring them in and eat, so they were easy. The other indoor cat seems kind of jumpy right now, although M. said that she should warm up to me over the week.

My problem is that I'm not a huge cat person. I don't dislike cats. I have a mild allergy to them, so I usually tend to avoid them to some extent so that I don't have red itchy eyes. I have met some really nice cats throughout my life, but the tempramental ones just always make me think - why? Why would someone love them and feed them and take care of them? This may sound bad, but isn't that kind of a waste of time? Isn't that kind of co-dependant, almost? I suppose that there is something more to it, but it's something I'll never understand. I'm definitely a dog person, and I guess that's all there is to it for me.

The funny thing is that I just met up with an old friend of mine, M. H. He's just opened up his own business, so I took a look at his new office and then we headed down to U Village for some Starbucks and a good chat. When I returned, the cat was finally waiting at the door, ready to come in, so at least that crisis is averted.

Anyway, M. H. is one of those people who I will always be glad to have as a friend. Even when we don't talk for some time, I always know that he's got my back if I need him and true to form, when all of this came down with C., M. H. started calling me every few days to make sure that I was OK and to see if I needed anything.

He's also the kind of friend who reminds you of who you are and where you've come from. We've been friends for close to 10 years, and I remember what I was like when I first met him my freshman year of college at the UW. I was still with my high school sweetheart, but I was really attracted to M. H. and we became really good friends, and semi-dated for a very short period of time, although it never came to anything - not even a kiss. There was just something that kept us friends, and I'm really thankful for that because he has turned out to be someone that I can count on and always will be. Had we dated, it's uncertain that we would have survived, let alone come out on the other end as friends.

So, it kind of reminds me that everything happens for a reason. 9+ years ago, I was asking God why on earth M. H. and I couldn't seem to get together. But now, I'm happy that we didn't get together and I understand why. So, I can at least look back on things in my life and know that someone is watching out for me.