halloween happenings

Well, it has certainly been a busy weekend with all the Halloween events going on. It even started to feel a bit like fall this past week as the temperature dropped into the 60s. My mom even helped with the fall spirit by mailing me some leaves from our backyard.

In order to get in the Halloween spirit, my roommate, a friend, and I carved pumpkins while watching "Hocus Pocus"...the BEST Halloween movie ever. It happened to be on TV last Wednesday, so we made a night of Halloween fun. (FYI, my pumpkin is the one in the middle with the monster.)

The following evening, the Arizona Dental Association held a Halloween party in Scottsdale for all the dental students in the state. (ASDOH, the only other Arizona dental school is on the other side of the valley.) It was a lot of fun to get all dressed up for a Halloween party. Even more interesting was the fact that it was held outside! It's never been warm enough for an outside Halloween party before! There was lots of free food, dancing, and LOTS of decorations. I even won a prize in the raffle...some DVDs and popcorn. I wore a flapper costume that I made a few years ago. Here are a few pictures from the AzDA party.

On Saturday night...the real Halloween...I went to a party thrown by my college friend and sorority sister, Vicki. Since I didn't want to wear the same costume twice, I threw together a costume using some items I already had and added a super special hat that I found at Walmart. Can you tell what I am?

Then on Sunday, I went to the Arizona State Fair with my roommate after picking up a friend at the airport. While it wasn't the best state fair I have ever been to (I think Wisconsin still holds that spot), but it was fun to go and do something different for a change. We wandered around for a bit...looked at the farm animals, watched the lumberjack show, saw the Budweiser clydesdales, and participated in the clown show. Most importantly though, we tried the food! Ever since finding out that they sold chocolate covered bacon at the fair, my roommate has been on a mission to try it.

She even shared.

At first, it didn't seem so bad. You got this sweet and salty taste...followed by a porky bacon taste. It was NASTY (as evidenced by my facial expression)! After that, we stuck to normal fair food. Allison and Ali got corn dogs, while I ordered "frilly fries," which are the same as the haystack potatoes I LOVED getting at Applefest in Indiana when we used to go.

After that busy busy weekend, it's been back to work. Finals are next week, and so I have lots to study and get ready for. The school is trying to keep the morale of the students up. Today, they had a "celebration" in honor of our new dental school dean (the old one took a different position at the school, setting up our new oral surgery, dental therapy, and dental hygiene programs). In the sim clinic, they held a race between two teams of professors to see which team could prep a crown the fastest. It was a lot of fun, as there was a lot of commraderie between the students, professors, and the "celebrity judges"...the old and new dean. Then we had a free pizza lunch outside under the ramada...since it is back up into the 90 degree weather! I forgot to bring my camera with, but I know a lot of my classmates got pictures. As soon as I see them, I'll be sure to post them, as the whole event was pretty funny. Hope all is well in Illinois...I'll be back in less than 2 weeks!