"Yo! Justin's
in the HOUSE!!!" someone called out at a HalloWeen house party we
attended...i think it was one of the filipino guys dressed as a banged-up maNNy
PaCquiao.
during the last week of October, M + I met up in San JoSe (flying in from dC
and ‘the LoU, respectively) to visit
my parents and youngest bro, D. M
took some extra time off for a 4-day weekend, while i was planning to stay for
almost 8 days. The initial plan
for this time period was for me to fly out to dC for the aMericaN PubLic health association (APHA) annual meeting and to
extend my trip to spend time with my hubby; but DaD was to have his extensive surgery (see White Elephant blog) during that time and we wanted to be
supportive: emotionally, mentally
and physically. plus, i wanted to
make sure the surgery ward nurses were taking awesome care of DaD. being a nurse myself, that was a
priority for me.
M wanted to come out to SJ as well
so that we could at least be together for a portion of the time i was off from
grad school. plus, for the last 3 HaLLoWeeNs, we’ve always celebrated
together. such a morbid holiday to
mark as milestones in our relationship; but we’ve had some kick-butt costumes
in the past: for the 1st
year we dated, he went as 'me at work' (black wig, eyeliner, and blue scrubs
screaming for my sTarbucks green tea
latte) and i went as that crazy homicidal japaNese school girl on Kill BiLL, No. 1. last year, M
was a YeTi (a hiMaLayan snow
monster, a costume we made) and i was a TiBetaN girl (legitimate attire that i had tailored by legitimate TibetAn refugee
women when i lived in NePaL).
 |
| ScaRy YeTi, circa HalloWeen 2010 |
this year, we had to top whatever we
have done in the past, since this was our 1st H-WeeN as a married couple. you have my permission to continue to
laugh at how ridiculous we are with this gothic tradition. i don't really care, especially since
we've had so much fun playing 'dress-up.'
a couple weeks before we were to come to
northern CaLi, D thought it would be nice for M + I to take a break from being stressed out at the hospital every
day and thinking about cancer, so he invited us to his coworker's H-Ween party
the holiday weekend we'd both be in CaLi.
when i told M, there was only
one answer: hells yeah!
the week before HalloWeen weekend, M + I looked online for ideas for
possible couple's costumes. D said
that it would be okay if we didn’t dress-up, but really…? what kind of house guests would we be??
LAME. so as not to
embarrass D (since he was already going-all-out in making his ‘300’
SpArTan costume), M + I racked
our brains to figure it out. then, we found it: jusTin BieBer + tween
fan. perfecto! we ordered a wig, a JB fan t-shirt, and
biEber concert VIP faux passes
online and prayed that it would arrive in CA
on-time for the party. the FriDay
before the party, M + I visited the
local saLvaTion ArMy in SaN JoSe
(lucky for us, it was ‘50% off friDaY') and promptly found our bieber-like kicks
(for him & i) as well as a crazy purple t-shirt. cost = $5.00.
then we ventured to the local TarGet
to pick up some colorful jelly hair bands and siLLyBanDz look-alikes to complete my costume as a JB tween fan. it was soooo much fun dressing-up like
i was 14 y.o. (i had forgotten, so thank GoD for GooGLe images) and dancing the night away with my bieber-wigged
husband, bro, and new friends.
 |
| HaLLoWeen 2011: JusTin bieBeR + tween fan |
everyone's costumes were fabulous:
a lady dressed up as a transvestite prostitute (including 5 o'clock
shadow and 'package' outline through her tight skirt); a typical psychiatric
patient in the ER (mismatched shoes and histrionic make-up on) and a paramedic
escort who brought her in; an EgYpTiaN pharoaH couple; and 'daY of the DeaD'
gypsies (looked like a make-up artist did their faces because it was very
gothic HOT!).
the H-WeeN weekend flew by too quickly. but we got to spend some time with
the family as well as our own 'alone time.' M + I took advantage of our 'alone time': we discovered a new personal
favorite sushi joint, cHa cHa SuShi,
in siLicon VaLLey (aka SaN JoSe);
people-watched from a street bench during halloWeeN night as parents brought
their kiddies out to trick'o'treat in NoE
VaLLey after having dinner at BarNey's
GouRmeT hamBurGers; walked the beach park in aLamEdA isLand in the EasT
baY; and drank as much PeeT's coffee
we could find.
fun was to be had even for a short while, during a more somber reason for our CaLi visit. i'm lucky to have M
in my life: he still wants to hold
my hand when i'm struggling to keep my '*&%! together' while sitting beside
DaD's hospital bed and still manages to make me LOL when busting out some
BieBeR moves in his look-alike wig and ridonkulous kicks. M
reminds me of the importance of balance in life: crap happens to all of us, it's how we deal with it that
defines who we are as human beings.
being in a long-distance marriage during a time like this (e.g., school,
family sickness) is no walk in the park; but the man in my life continues to
give me cuddles when i need it and almost tinkle in my panties because i'm laughing so hard. me: "honey?? where's my spare pair?!" that's marriage.
