LOOKING BACK

Well happy November, nerds! I honestly thought I'd be able to squeeze one more post in October out before the change of months and then, boo. You know how it is.

So now for a horrible transitional paragraph, I went to Moscow for Halloween this year and it was a pretty rad ordeal. It's been entirely too long since I visited that dinky little town and it was almost exactly just how I remembered it.

Except now they have a Buffalo Wild Wings and a Panda Express.

But we ate at Sangria instead because the avocado rolls and sirloin empanadas! And they lived up to everything I remembered them to be plus a little bit extra. If you ever find yourself in Moscow, do yourself a favor and hit up Sangria. It's a little on the spendy side, but oh so deliciously worth it. And to finish, for dessert you'll want the sweet potato creme brûlée. Just trust me on this one.

After dinner we sported our costumes and posed for pictures before heading out with a group of friends to do a halloween pub crawl. It was windy and rainy and completely packed with college kids around every corner, standing room only thankyouverymuch.

And the costumes! So many costumes of every variety! From crappily completed homemades to extravagantly executed store bought creations, there were such an incredible display of creativity that it caused me to spend most of the night people watching. Which is to say that I had loads of fun.

But aside from all the Halloween shenanigans, I just really enjoy being back in Moscow. I don't know what it is about that town, but I crave it every now and then. It makes me wish I was back in school. It makes me wish I could just walk around the down town and hang out in the coffee shops and eat a bagel. It makes me want to walk through the mall and hit up the Ross Dress For Less and get some pretzel bites. It makes me want to drive to the campus and walk through the arboretum, where I used to spend so much time.

So much of my growing up happened in Moscow. So much of who I am today is because of my time in that town. I remember hating it at first. Loving the fact that I was on my own and at the same time dreading the alarm in the morning. I remember working through so many insecurities in that town. From boys, to feuds with friends, to my own body sensitivities. I worked through so many obstacles, faced so many tough times, and trudged on so often when all I wanted to do was run away.

And then, the longer I was there, the more it really grew on me. I made some deep connections to the people there, it's where Nathan and I started dating and fell in love, as cliche as that sounds. It's basically where I grew up and grew into my adult self.

There's still so much growing and learning yet to do, and still so much ground I have yet to cover. But I still like to fantasize about what it would be like to go back to school and move down to that stupid little town that will forever hold this little part of my soul that lived and loved and painted and drew in that space between high school and adulthood.

Now my home is a little apartment on 4th street by Costco and instead of going to school everyday I go to work. It's a nice little routine and a great little life with so much in store for the future. So, I guess all that to say this: Halloween is awesome and change is good.

Happy Halloweener, kids. I hope you had a blast.

Nat The Bat

I can't say that life is slowing down at all. I can't say that I'm not as busy this week as I was last week, and I can't say that it looks as if things are going to come a full stop any time soon. I'm hardly in my own room since I spend a lot of time with Zelda and Prince Charming. Or I'm at work. Or I'm print making. Or I'm out buying art supplies for print making. Or I'm with Prince Charming at his friend's apartment.

I've been so busy, I feel like I should post more, but just taking time to sit and read all the blogs I have to catch up on after not being at my computer for a couple days, and checking email - I just get tired, and then I have nothing to write about because my brain is on sleep mode.

I don't even update my facebook status that much anymore.

Le sigh.

What I have been doing though, besides math homework, printmaking and sleeping, is colored my hair. Instead of my delicious blonde locks, I've gone brunette for the winter. Prince wasn't so keen on this idea at first and I had to bribe him with a chocolate milkshake and French fries before he finally consented. But now he doesn't hate my dark hair anymore, so it's a win/win for me.

Also, today I bought my Halloween costume. For eight dollars. It's just bat wings, a headband with bat ears and these weird arm glovette thingymabobbers. I was originally going to pick up a similar package, but with ladybug designs because my nickname forever and ever before I was even all the way born was NatBug. My oma calls me Bug, some of my friends call me Bug, my parents, although rarely now, still call me NatBug.

But the sad part is, when I went to the store to retrieve the kit, they were all sold out! I rummaged around the store crossing my fingers and hoping that something else would strike my fancy. I marveled at the spider headbands, and the spider earrings. The skull hair clips. The necklaces. They were all very wonderful and Halloween-y, but they just weren't me, you know?

So after being fed up with the masses of inconsiderate mothers (yes, mothers. I was so mad! You'd think grown women would behave like grown women but I find that is not case), I booked it down the mall to a different store.

Hot Topic. If you don't know what Hot Topic is, then let me explain a little about it. I hardly go in there because they always play death metal screaming music that gives me the utmost of headaches, and also because they have a lot of goth-y vampire trend items that I don't really care for. But whenever I do decide to venture in amongst the hipster emo wannabes, it's usually because I'm looking for some more nose studs. Or in this instance, a costume.

There in the front of the store was a rack of little simple costume kits - just what I was looking for. I didn't figure they would have a cute little girlish one that I had been after because of the type of store I was in, but I figured they would have something. And they did. There was a panda one that looked absolutely nothing like a panda but was still cute, a raccoon, the stereotypical 'dead bride' ensemble, and a bat one.

Strategically placed in other locations were costumes of more expensive get ups like princesses, nurses, and Alice in Wonderland variations, but none of those interested me. Some were too slutty, some were too expensive, some were just too....weird.

So back to the simple kits I went. Raccoon? No thanks. Panda? Doesn't even resemble the cute fuzzy animal, so that's a no. The dead bride? Just wasn't feeling it.

And then it hit me. You see, I was going for the "NatBug" look with the idea of the other costume, but then, admiring the purple sequined stripes on the black bat wings inside the clear plastic bag, I remembered another nickname that was given to me.

NatBat.

The only person who calls me that is Prince Charming. We are on, and have been on, much better terms for the amount of time that I want to say equates to a month, give or take. We've had one little upset in the entire month of October and it was only for a less than a day, so yes, I would say things are in a much better place than they have been in months.

And also today, at 11:34 in the morning, while I was work I received a test message from dear Prince-y Poo that made me smile to my core, so in the end, I just had to go with the bat costume. For sentimental reasons as well as the fact that the costume was A) not too expensive, B) not too overdone since I'm only buying it because I'm working Halloween night and I have to dress up, and C) I was quickly running out of other options.

So, costume in hand, I waded through the massive amounts of college students to the back of line, where I stood for a good fifteen minutes before making it up to the counter to pay.

Now if you'll so kindly excuse me, it's getting late and I still need to do laundry. I've been wearing this same pair of socks for days and it's driving me crazy.