Happy Halloween!

Halloween through the years:

2012 – dressed up for Freaky Friday!

2010 – at Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream:

2009 – Oscar and Milly greeting the trick-or-treaters!  (and this was the night when I really started the blog!)

2008 – at John & Amy’s Halloween Party (we had been to a funeral before the party, so that should explain my outfit)

2006 – me & Daniel Wu, a friend from pharmacy school who also did a residency in Tuscaloosa

2005 – I know, it is really sad/lazy that we sharpie’d the pumpkin’s face on!

2004

2003 – our first married Halloween; carving the first Freeman family pumpkin!

2002 – at Brittany & Brian’s Halloween party

2001 (the college years!) – me & Stephanie as the Pink Ladies

Freaky Friday

On Friday, October 26, we participated in a Freaky Friday 8k run here in Tuscaloosa.  The race started at 9 pm at Wintzells, a restaurant across the river near downtown Tuscaloosa.  Of course we walked due to my back (no more running ever) and walked in a group with a couple of other people. We were actually assured that there would be lots of walkers, and there were some runners who walked intermittently, but I do believe that we were the only ones who walked the entire time. We wanted to participate because it was a costume run & we thought it sounded like a fun & active way to spend a Friday night.  Plus, we LOVE to dress up!!  Why is dressing up so fun?!?

Brent was the star of the evening.  It was out of control.  He ordered the wig & mustache on the internet, cut the sleeves off of a ratty Budweiser shirt and we found the rest of the costume at the thrift store.  It. was. awesome.  He actually became Joe Dirt for the entire night.

When we got to the race, he was such a hit.  All of these girls were taking pictures with him and he was working the crowd just like a politician.  In the picture below he is saying “Yeah, there’s not even enough room in these shorts for me to put my hands all the way in my pockets.”  Seriously.  The funniest part of the night (for me, anyway), was when he sprinted across the finish line, arms raised, mullet flowing behind him, cheering for himself, yelling “woooooo hooooooo!!!!!!!” AS IF everyone else had not already finished and was inside drinking + socializing. Seriously, there were four people at the finish line when we finished and Brent still finished like a champ – just like Joe Dirt would have.

(the bee & the butterfly on the course)

It was no surprise to anyone in attendance when Brent won first place in the costume contest. He won a Nick Saban autographed football, a $50 gift certificate to a Mexican restaurant in Northport, and a Sports Illustrated issue signed by Trent Richardson.  All of the Alabama memorabilia was hilarious. People in Tuscaloosa truly believe that everyone is a Tide fan.

What a fun night!!!

Vacation in a Vacation

Our vacation went like this:

Wednesday – travel + Universal Studios

Thursday – Epcot

Friday – a mini vacation-in-a-vacation to Tampa

Guess where we went?!!

A hint: we went there last year!!!

BUSCH GARDENS!!!

This year, we all went down for Howl-O-Scream – similar to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal.  There were about 7 haunted houses set up around the park + Halloween-themed shows, a dinner show (the dinner was really good!), and scary characters jumping out from behind trees and bushes all night.  It was super scary and I liked it better than Universal!  Plus their best rollercoasters were also open!

When we first got to our hotel and Tampa + got checked in, Brent and I walked up to a little shopping center just to kill some time.  On the way back, we stopped at CVS where I bought a black wig, fake eyelashes, and black lipstick to wear to the park.  No, no one else dressed up.  But Brent thought it was a good idea, so I just went with it.  I must admit that the look grew on me.  I felt like a wild woman and let me tell you, I kind of liked it. 

No Freeman Family Vacation is complete without a trip to…..

Seriously!!!  I managed to stick my hand in a cactus – it was growing on the other side of a handrail, come on – and when I pulled my hand away there were many tiny cactus stickers in my nailbed!!!  The guy at First Aid helped me pull them out.  He was surprised that I was 30!  Really surprised!!!  He said he would have guessed 14!!!  I was pretty excited about that – thinking that I must look really young for my age – when Brent pointed out that he probably assumed that I was young because adults can typically keep their hands out of the cacti…..oh well….

Anyway, as the night wore on, we played several games, rode rollercoasters, watched shows, screamed….

….and tried to keep the leg as comfortable as possible.

It was fun!  One of the scary clowns got after Brent and followed him for a little while, carrying (and blowing) a bicycle horn.  It was pretty creepy.  There were also characters wearing costumes covered with greenery that sat in the bushes and jumped out at you….they were totally scary.  There were many many funny stories – like when Brent and one of the monsters in one of the haunted houses had a “scream-off” and then when Brent did the frightened tango with one of the workers (!) in one of the haunted houses.  He is too funny.  After a few of the rollercoasters, I finally had to lose the wig….it was a tangled, windblown, synthetic MESS.  The eyelashes stayed on all night, though!

After Howl-O-Scream was over (1 a.m.!), we headed to Perkins for breakfast/4th meal where we laughed deliriously over our pancakes and omelets about a wide variety of topics. The place was packed with supercool college kids who kept looking warily at us, wondering why the old folks were still out so late….and with a young teenager (me)!!!  Ha!!!  Just kidding!  Anyway, I’m not exactly sure I’ve ever really experienced Brent in the 3 o’clock hour, but he’s pretty funny!

After Perkins, we went back to our Tampa hotel and crashed so hard!  And right before I fell asleep, when I was in that alternate-reality twilight zone state, Brent menacingly (and loudly) whispered our favorite creepy phrase from the orphanage haunted house: “Don’t tell Daddy!!!”

I woke up totally confused and scared and imagining that the voice had come from across the room. It was the worst scare all night!

Happy Halloversary!

One year ago today, I published this blog post to the Freeman Blog: “Trick or Treat!”  Although there were several posts on the blog before this particular one, they were mostly just pictures and honestly, some that you will find before this day were back-dated.  All of this to say that today is kind of like our 1-year blog anniversary.

Honestly, I think of the Freeman Blog as our little baby and I love it.  It is like scrapbooking (which I used to LOVE) but faster, easier, and with less mess.  I love the fact that I can look back on the past year and that our families can read what we’re up to, even if it is just a walk at the arboretum or a recipe.  I love taking pictures of our everyday lives and I love feeling like I’m sharing them by posting them on the blog, even if only three people are looking at them.

More than anything, though, is the outlet that this little blog has given me to document our lives and marriage. I think it will be amazing to show to our kids some day & I fully intend to continue blogging as long as I possibly can! Also,  I honestly think that keeping up with the blog has made me a happier person.  I swear!  I love taking pictures and describing our road trips and vacations and even the ordinary days.  I can’t talk about my job on the blog, but before I started this new position I was absolutely miserable with work.  The blog helped me tremendously by forcing me to be positive and to really notice the many, many blessings I have in my life…because I’m not going to be a total Eyeore on the internet.

I also think that the blog has brought Brent and I closer together. I love our life together and I love that even after 7.5 years it still feels like an adventure.  We will often be out and about and one of us will say “Oh, this would be a good picture for the blog!”  Even though I can’t get him to post (yet!), he contributes by providing ideas, inspiration, photos, and critique.

One final benefit of the blog is that it has helped me not to be so shy and private.  When I first started actually posting pictures and words in my posts and Brent would show his friends, or I would get a random comment from a stranger on the internet, I was absolutely HUMILIATED.  I felt like I was exposing myself to everyone.  But then the more I did it, the more I got over that embarrassment and now I realize that I was just taking myself WAY too seriously.  Now, I will say that most people still don’t know about the blog (like my coworkers) and I know I would still die of humiliation if they some how found it.  But I’ll worry about that it if ever happens.

I know that it is silly to write such a long, pensive post about a silly little blog that only has three readers but seriously, we love it and it is so fun and it has truly made a difference in my life during the past year.  So here’s to many more posts and years!!!

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween!



Finally I am home from work (9 - 5:30 today) and just relaxing -- Brent is at the Tennessee game and I am just hanging out with the pugs.

I stopped and got some halloween candy after work, but unfortunately I have had to close the front door and turn the porch light off to discourage any would-be trick-or-treaters. Oscar is totally scared and confused by all these little characters knocking on the front door. One of the little girls from the last group said "She (Milly) is nice, but he's grumpy!!" This was after he tried to take her hand off when she reached into the candy jar. Oh well. He was definitely grumpy after this:



I was looking for a good scary movie to watch tonight and saw that the 1973 version of Wicker Man was on TV. I have never watched it, but have always seen it listed as one of the best horror movies of all time. Now, I love scary movies, but hmmmmm.....I'm really not getting into this. There are some very bizarre musical numbers that I had to skip through so the kiddies wouldn't see them through the glass door. I guess I will see if it gets any better...

Finally, check out this massive Reese's ---- each cup is 0.5 lbs!