Thursday Thirteen- Halloween Edition!

Sorry I haven't posted this week- I have been sick for a few days, so I haven't really been on Blogger. I'm slowly getting back to the land of the living!!

In honor of Halloween, I thought I would post 13 pictures of "Halloweens past" as my Thursday 13 post.

 

1. 1980 or 1981: Cutest bunny ever! Halloween carnival with my mom

 

2. 1983: Lemon Meringue (from Strawberry Shortcake and Friends)

 

3. 1984: I believe I was Lucy from the Peanuts gang (I didn't have my mask on). This was at the Halloween "Hoot" at my elementary school.

 

4. 1989: I think I was a cheerleader. Last minute costume idea (I think the outfit had been my sister's). Forgive my hair, my awful "mullet-y" haircut was growing out here. I'd rather not talk about it. It's a painful memory! ;) Sorry so blurry, this is a scanned copy of a scanned copy.

 

5. 1990: A black cat. That headpiece was so hot (temperature wise). 

 

6. 1991: Okay, I kinda cheated and used part of my costume from the year before. I just died my hair this time instead of wearing the headpiece. FYI, the spray on black hair dye does NOT come out easily of blonde hair. It also makes a mess in the bathtub. This was my last year to go trick-or-treating.

 

7. 1999: French maid. Me and my friend KT at a Halloween party in college. 

 

8. 2001: A saloon dancer. This picture was taken at the end of a party that my roommate and I had hosted. I was so very tired.

9.  2004: Like, I was this totally awesome 80s chick for Halloween at my office. No, that is not my hair, it is a wig! ;)

10. 2006: Go-Go dancer. I wish I had a better shot of my awesome boots I had with this costume.

 

11. 2007: Cowgirl! Me and my friend Joe (who dressed up as his wife) at a Halloween party.

 

12. 2008: Girls Gone Wild contestant. Yeah, this was a last minute idea. I bought the skirt for 99 cents at Good Will. I think the fishnets were leftover from my French maid outfit. I wore black shorts under my shirt and also had a "censored" sign taped to it. I possibly went around flashing people all night. It was amusing. I won a door prize! :)

13. 2009: Gangsta maid of honor: Okay, not really. This was at my BFF Brandy's wedding last year. I just couldn't find any other Halloween pictures in my collection. I think my parents have a few more of when I was younger.

Today is my friend Martha's birthday. A few of us are getting together at her house for pizza and root beer tonight. So my Thirsty Thursday today is going to be an ice cold root beer. Love it!!

 

It's time!

Earlier this year before the start of baseball season the Rangers announced this was their motto for the year: It's time. If you have been following my blog for any amount of time, you know that I'm a huge Texas Rangers fan. I tried to go back and see how many of my posts mention the Rangers. I lost count! I'll admit that I've said being a Rangers fan is like being in an unhealthy relationship- because it  can be. There have been seasons where we (the fans) thought things were going really well, only to have our hearts broken at the end of the season. For those who don't follow professional baseball, the Texas Rangers have been considered a "joke" by the national media (yeah, I'm looking at you ESPN). If the Texas Rangers were a high school football team, you would want to play them for your Homecoming game because it was pretty much considered a win. The Rangers had never been to the World Series, never won the American League pennant and had never even won a post season series. Despite all of that, we remained faithful fans. We love our Rangers.  

 

Aunt Rachel and her two little Rangers fans at the Dallas Zoo last Thursday

Back towards the end of September the Rangers clinched the American League West division. This was only the fourth time in the 39 years the team has been in Texas that they earned a spot in the playoffs (1996, 1998 and 1999 were the other three times). On Oct. 12 the Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays in game 5 of the American League Division Series to advance to their first ever spot in the American League Championship Series (the ALCS). This also marked the first playoff series win for the Rangers. They moved on to face the New York Yankees in the ALCS (the Yankees had knocked the Rangers out of the playoffs in 1996, 1998 and 1999). Most of the national media (again, looking at you ESPN) laughed at the match-up saying it was no contest and said the Yankees would no doubt win that series and advance to the World Series for the 41st time in their franchise history. The Yankees have the biggest payroll in major league baseball. The Rangers have one of the smallest payrolls. I'm going to take the high road and not trash talk the Yankees (one: I have friends who are Yankees fans and two: I know a few of my sweet blogging friends are Yankees fans). :) It's nothing personal, in sports you have teams you like and teams you don't. I won't lie- I don't like the Yankees. But I'm just going to leave it at that. :)

I know I'm giving more back history than I should, but I've been told that not everyone "speaks baseball" so I feel I have to give all the little details that are common knowledge to me. :)

Friday night was game 6 of the ALCS between the Rangers and the Yankees. If the Rangers won that game, they would advance to their first ever World Series. If they lost, there would be a game 7 played on Saturday night. I'll be honest. I was a nervous wreck all day (I sometimes wish I was a "normal" girl who didn't care so much about sports! I was unable to eat all day I was so nervous.) :) Some friends and I had a small game-watching party at my friend Bekah's house. About 10:08pm CST on Friday night, Rangers fans saw something they had been waiting their whole lives for- the Rangers win the American League pennant and advance to the World Series.

I know I screamed. I know I jumped up and down. I know I gave high fives, and yes, I may, or may not, have shed a tear or two. I was so glad I have unlimited text messaging because I got about 100 text messages from friends and family. The news feed on my Facebook page was all Rangers related. All the tweets in my Twitter timeline were Rangers related. Even some sweet blogging friends sent me messages congratulating me on the Rangers win. Now, almost 3 days later it is still sinking in. My Texas Rangers are going to the World Series. And I will be there to see them live and in person next Saturday when Game 3 is held at The Ballpark. :) Oh yes, I have a World Series ticket! I still cannot believe it! Mark that one off my bucket list!

 

Some friends and I stood in a line for an hour outside Academy Sports and Outdoors about 11pm on Friday night in order to get our AL Championship shirts.

 

My sweet AL Champion Texas Rangers

 

Outfielder Josh Hamilton was named the ALCS MVP.

 

Manager Ron Washington with the AL trophy

 The greatest Rangers player ever, and now team president and co-owner, Nolan Ryan

A Fall theme for Thursday Thirteen and a refreshing Thirsty Thursday!

Despite the Rangers loss yesterday, I'm in a good mood today (and if C.J. Wilson needs a hug, I will gladly offer him one. Or two.) :) My sweet niece Alice and her two boys (my adorable great-nephews "C" and "E") are coming up to DFW today to see me. It's my half day at work so we are going to go to the zoo this afternoon. I'm very excited!

For my Thursday 13 I thought I would post some cute pictures of "C" and "E" that Alice sent the other day. I know, I know, I'm a proud aunt. I can't help but show them off!! :) All of you who are proud aunts can relate!

 

"E" has picked the pumpkin he wants!

 

 

We are calling "C" the "Pumpkin Whisperer". It's like he's listening to what it is saying! :)

He loved the hay stack!

 

He also loves kitty cats!

 

"E" says, I found one just my size!

 

"E" also had fun in the hay.

 

"C" trying to show off his muscles and help with the big pumpkin.

 

Too cute!

 

Blowing kisses!

 

Fun at the pumpkin patch!

  

 "E" thought that eating the paintbrush was more fun than painting.

 

 

 "C" enjoyed decorating the pumpkin

  

They are going with a zoo theme for Halloween! 

Today I think I'll have a cherry Dr Pepper for my Thirsty Thursday. Oh, it's so good!

If you also want to participate in Thirsty Thursday, stop by and say hi to Vic over at Freckles and Fudge. She's the bomb. Yes, I just said that! Have a great day my friends!!

State Fair of Texas

Last week a friend and I went to the State Fair of Texas. We went on a Thursday afternoon so it wasn't too crowded. If you took a Cinemark movie ticket stub, it was free to get in on Thursdays, so we lucked out not having to pay $15 to get in. I ended up only spending $6 while I was there, and that was to ride the The Texas Star (the Ferris Wheel). I know, I know, I sound cheap, but hey, I'm poor. I know everyone says you HAVE to eat the food when you go to a fair, but I don't. I mean, I like corny dogs and all, but I'm not paying $8 for one. And I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me, but I really can't tell the difference between a fair corny dog and one that I can buy at Kroger that comes in a 12 pack for $2. But that is just me. Also I'm not the biggest fans of sweets, so funnel cakes and candied apples don't do much for me. I've also reached the age where I don't have to ride all the carnival rides. When I was little, I had to ride every single ride at a fair (some of them twice). But since I have a season pass to 6 Flags, I can get my roller coaster fix there. I'm so getting old! :)

I thought I would share some pictures of our adventures! I hope you enjoy!

 

Big Tex. For more info on him, click here

 

At the bird show

 

The guy next to us held out his hand and one of the birds delivered a gift certificate to him.

 

After the show, donations to help support wildlife were accepted. One of the birds helped take the money.

 

The Texas Star

View of downtown Dallas from the Texas Star

 

Me on the Texas Star

 

Another view from the Texas Star

 

Monica feeding the giraffe at the petting zoo

Feeding Bevo- it was very slimy. We didn't realize until after we left you were suppose to use feeding shovels and not your hands to feed the animals. Oops.

Petting one of the camels

 

I loved the zebra!

This is comforting...

 

The kangaroo was so cute! This one let me pet him.

 

I know it's wrong, but all I could think was, that is a LOT of bacon!

 

This goat was very sweet.

 

This year's butter sculpture. Yup, that is all butter.

 

I love tall guys! ;)

 

Until next year...