Ghetto Grad School Halloween

So you probably don’t know this about me, but Halloween is quite possibly my favorite holiday. What’s not to love about Halloween? Candy, dressing up, candy, drinking (when over 21 ), candy, little kids begging, candy, spooky movies, candy, Hocus Pocus with Bette Midler!, candy, zombies… and did I mention candy?

This year, my roommate and I decided we wanted to do something fun yet chill for Halloween, which basically meant we’d have a party at our place and then go out for a little while. We have class on Saturdays, which is super lame, so yesterday’s event was low key, but also a ton of fun!

I decided to be a ninja turtle for Halloween… mostly because I wanted weapons and a backpack to carry my stuff. That backpack definitely came in handy– no lugging around a purse for me!

But the most important thing about this Halloween is that I got to be a part of a super cool group of vegans to test out Creepy Cocktails (hashtag: #creepycocktails on Twitter.) Set up by Julia from the Snarky Vegan, we were given two martini recipes to try and test out on our victims friends.

A little preface: I was only able to try one martini recipe from the test group. I worked late last night, and I didn’t have time to both get into my costume and make the martinis. I did the best I could though!! Also, I sent my roommate out to get the ingredients because, again, I was at work and a little behind in getting schoolwork + martini ingredients done. Roommate did the best she could, but she didn’t get vegan graham crackers or gummy worms. In that case, I didn’t use the graham crackers at all, and I only used the gummy worms for garnish on my friends’ drinks.

Here was the recipe we tried:

Graveyard Smash Martini

• 2 ounces vanilla vodka, or regular if vanilla not available

• 2 ounces Frangelico

• squirt of vegan chocolate syrup

• crumbled chocolate Newman-O’s (or oreos) for rimming the glass and sprinkling “graveyard dirt” on the beverage

• dressing up: gummy worm or toy spider or skeleton hand

Shake vodka, Frangelico and syrup in a shaker with ice. Pour in martini glass that is already rimmed with cookie crumbs (chocolate syrup will help them stick). Position the worm/spider/skeleton in/on the beverage, hanging over the side or sticking up through the murky brew then sprinkle cookie crumbs on top of beverage. Goal is for the cookie and muddy liquid to look dirty/muddy. Like a graveyard. So anything related works (headstone cookies, etc. this is where folks can get creative, all kinds of spooky swizzle sticks are possible)

Here was the beginning of my martini masterpiece: I rimmed the top of our glasses with chocolate syrup, and dipped the tops of the glasses in mashed up Halloween Oreos. My roommate mashed the Oreos and she didn’t do the best job, so the rims kind of looked funky. Also, when I was rimming the glasses with syrup, some syrup escaped too quickly and ran down the insides of the glasses. It actually looked cooler that way! If only the syrup was red, it would have looked like blood.

I had my friend Eric make the drinks, as he called himself an “expert mixologist.” Also, when I tried shaking the drink in our cheap Target shaker, the lid flew off and spilled alcohol everywhere. Oops! The only thing bad about Eric making the drinks was that he left large chunks of ice in the shaker, which then went into the martinis. It wasn’t bad, and you can see from this picture that it kind of looks like bones! Also, that’s Eric’s hand in the upper left corner as he pours the drinks.

Finished drink #1!

Finished drink #2 up close! This was my roommate’s drink. I know, it doesn’t look dark/graveyard spooky enough. I promise you, some drinks looked darker than others. It all depends on how much oreos you mash up and put in your drink. By the time I took a picture of this drink, everyone had quaffed at least one of these bad boys, and most had forgotten about the oreo crumbs (sitting, as you can see, right on the table!)

This is a picture of our friend drinking the Graveyard Smash Martini. We unfortunately didn’t get any pictures of me drinking the martini, as I was the photographer/hostess… and everyone else was getting crunk

Unfortunately, not everyone liked this drink. I must tell you, in the interest of those who don’t like sweet drinks, this drink is very, very sweet. We followed the instructions to a T, and at least two people thought that this was way too sugary for their tastes.

Our friend Pete decided he was drinking rum and coke, because this drink was too sweet for him.

So be forewarned, all you ghosts and goblins out there, you might not like this drink if you’re not into sweet stuff. If, on the other hand, you like to get your drink on/you like it sweet, you will definitely like this drink!

But don’t just take my word for it! A ton of other awesome bloggers reviewed the drinks, and you can find their reviews (and awesome blogs!) on the list below. Have a bewitchingly wonderful Halloween weekend, everyone!

My co-hosts in graveyard delights:

snarkyvegan

the tasty vegan

kohlrabi and quince

amanda eats slc

little things big things

tak-home-a

JenoJoon

RSVP fails

Winter has arrived in Colorado! Yesterday, of course when my student group had an activity planned down in Colorado Springs, the weather decided it didn’t want to cooperate, and it snowed. Yes, SNOW! Actually, where we were in Denver, it just rained, but it was super cold rain. It stayed in the 40s here in Denver all day. I’m currently huddled in bed, trying to encourage myself to get dressed and brave the weather to go to the gym. This is going to be a tough winter. Or a fat one. I haven’t decided.

Anyway, on our drive to Colorado Springs, it definitely was raining/snowing. It was really cool to finally see a little snow on the ground, I must admit, but the chilly weather and poor road conditions were not fun!

On the other hand, our trip to visit the Air Force Academy was a huge success! Everyone who RSVP’d was able to make it, which was pretty impressive since the weather was pretty hairy for a while. I don’t really know what was the best part of the tour: the mission briefing, where we learned how cadets train for real life disasters, such as hurricanes in the Philippines; a sample ‘lecture’ the cadets get on military relations between hostile countries and the US; or the flight simulation. Probably the flight simulation.

Yes, they let ME fly a plane. Can you believe it?! Just kidding, it was just a simulator. I actually did a lot better than I thought I would! Even when we were getting shot at by the enemy, I was able to roll the plane out of the way AND keep low enough that their radar lost us. Holla! However, when it came to landing the plane… yeah, let’s just say I won’t be getting my pilot’s license anytime soon.

Speaking of RSVPs… my wonderful friend from school and her husband always throw these terrific, once-a-month, First Friday potlucks. I absolutely love my friend and her husband, and they put a lot of time in cleaning up their apartment, making a couple dishes, supplying games/conversation/fun, and generally being awesome hosts. I’ve gone to every First Friday potluck they’ve throw, except for 1 when I was out of town, and I always respond to their Facebook events promptly with a yes or no.

Since I’m vegetarian and my friends aren’t, I generally either: bring my own veggie hot dish, eat before I go to the potluck and then graze, or rely on others for their veggie dishes. This worked out great the last potluck, as I not only ate before going, but this other vegetarian girl showed up and brought a yummy veggie meal.

This time, two vegetarians had RSVP’d that, yes they would be coming, and that they would be bringing a veggie quesadilla and a veggie soup. Considering I knew that both of these people were pretty trustworthy for doing what they said they would do, I brought my pumpkin muffins, didn’t eat beforehand, and showed up…

To exactly 2 other people there, besides me and the hosts. Needless to say, there were no veggie dishes.

WTF?? Noooo!! But yes. It turns out the one other vegetarian girl canceled at the last minute, and the other vegetarian didn’t “have time” to make what he said he would bring, so he brought chips and hummus. Our spread turned out to be: veggie chips and hummus, pumpkin muffins, jello shots, wine, cheeze-its, and orange chicken. (Quick gripe: I had tons of homework AND work that day, and I still found time to go to the store, get some ingredients, and make my pumpkin muffins. And yet you, who don’t have a job and stayed home all day, didn’t ‘have time’ to make a frickin’ quesadilla?? What??)

Now, I have to say the veggie chips were awesome. I have never heard of this brand before, but I definitely think they might be worth $4:

Terra Chips! Yum! And the hummus was Sabra, which is also typically good:

This might sound whiney of me, but when 7 people say they will show up, and only 3 people actually do, I think it’s really rude. I’m not trying to say that I’m grumpy I didn’t get fed (it just teaches me to ALWAYS eat before going to any potluck, which was typically what I did anyway), but it does make me upset for the host.

My friend didn’t say too much about it, but I know if I were a hostess and only 3/7 people showed up to my potluck/fiesta, after replying that they could and then canceling last minute, I’d be pretty annoyed. And to those who didn’t bother to RSVP one way or another?? Come on!! I know it’s Facebook and it’s informal, but just say yes or no. If you’re not sure, there is a maybe button, and you could call me the day before to give a firm answer.

Some people say that the RSVP is dead or “outdated”, but I think that’s a load of BS. If you can’t take 5 seconds or less out of your day to make a phone call or send a text, or press a FACEBOOK BUTTON, for goodness’ sakes, you are a lazy human being. I know everyone gets busy, but you can’t tell me you’re completely cut off from the phone ALL DAY. Even my friend who works at NGA (National Geospatial Intelligence Agency), who can’t have his phone at work, always responds to FB messages or texts when he’s off work. And believe me, he is a busy guy.

Okay, so /vent over. Now you all know that you will be dead to me if you ever don’t RSVP to one of my events. Am I crazy here? Is the RSVP dead? How do you plan for parties when more than half of the people don’t give you a firm yes or no? Honestly, if the same thing that happened to my friend happened to me, I just wouldn’t invite those people over for potlucks. I would invite them maybe for a one on one coffee chat or maybe an informal BBQ, but that would be about it. Has this type of thing ever happened to anyone else?

When working out REALLY pays off…

Today, my roommate and I hit up our Wednesday “core-ruption” class, where our abs, butts, legs, and arms get a really nice (and by nice I mean painful) workout. Today’s class was really hard for me, as I was in a rather defiant mood for some strange reason, so I only halfheartedly did the exercises. Kinda lame! Well, I worked out with cardio before class, and I did good enough in class, but I definitely wasn’t pushing myself hard today like normal.

However, on our walk back from the gym to our apartment, my roommate spotted a couple of tents set up in front of one of the undergrad buildings. One of these tents was a Whole Foods tent, which immediately caught my eye.

My roommate was very hesitant to walk over there (she’s shy), but I spotted what looked to be a giant coffee dispenser, and I was on it.

Turns out today is National Bike or Walk to Work/School day, so a couple tents were setting up to promote biking and walking. They were also giving out SWAG! And boy, oh boy, did we get some swag!

I picked up: coffee, a promotional bike safety card (which I’m planning at throwing at everyone on campus who tries to run me over, which is pretty much everyone on a bike… they don’t know the rules of the road!) and, best of all, a PEDOMETER!!!

I’d been looking to get a pedometer for a while, and now I’m so excited to say I FINALLY have one. Hooray!

Has anyone used this kind?

Yay! I've walked 5 steps!

I just hope this thing is accurate. I can’t wait to wear it around all day!

So anyway, needless to say I’m really glad I went to the gym today, for a lot of reasons. One is, obviously, because I got to work out, however much I thought I didn’t enjoy it. The other is that I got swag!! Hooray for swag! Thanks, Bike/Walk to Work/School Day!

Okay, back to killing myself over some homework. Blah!

Movie Monday!

Today was absolutely great day for lots of things: my job search, my networking skills, and even homework! Today’s post is about the movie I watched: Pray the Devil Back to Hell. But first, a recap of the day!

This morning I went to the career class offered by my graduate school. It was probably the most beneficial class I’ve been to thus far for the class, and I will post a recap of what we learned from it either tomorrow or Wednesday. It was about networking and how to present your “elevator speech” when you network. A lot of things we learned about in class today, I already knew. My Mom is quite possibly the best person EVER at networking, and I have learned so much from her over my entire lifetime.

Things that come naturally to me because of what my Mom taught me obviously do not come so easily to other people, as I learned in class today. For example, we talked about how to act when attending conferences or other events where you have to network. One student raised her hand and asked “After I introduce myself, the conversation just seems to die.” What seemed to be an easy answer to me (smile, keep talking, ask questions about the other person’s background, etc.) were actually like foreign concepts to many people in the class.

Another thing that a lot of people didn’t seem to know was how important it is to stay in touch with previous contacts, even if you don’t think you will “need” them anymore. As my Mom always said while I was growing up, you never “burn bridges” and you always keep in touch, no matter how long it’s been since you’ve seen them, how far away they are, or however much you think you don’t “need” them.

Of course, I also learned a lot of valuable info from today’s career class, especially about the “six degrees of separation” in networking. I won’t elaborate too much in this post, but I do realize I have to use LinkedIn a LOT more than I do right now!

Anyway, about the movie… Students for Africa, a student organization on campus, was screening the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell today. They advertised it last week, and the movie has received positive reviews from a few people I follow on Twitter, so I decided it would be a worthy film to see.

The movie follows Liberian women in 2000-2003 during a period of intense fighting between Charles Taylor (the leader/dictator of Liberia) and warlords in the country side. The country has been embroiled in war since 1989, but it continues to get worse when, in the 2000s, the women decide to stage a peaceful protest, demanding an end to “suffering, war, and rape.”

The women in Liberia are from different religions, but they all are willing to do literally anything to bring peace to their country. They eventually force the warlords and Charles Taylor’s regime to get together in Ghana for peace talks, which does come to some fruition.

The thing I liked most about this movie was how determined the women were in bringing peace to their country. These women faced overwhelming obstacles and danger to commit to a peace protest like this, and many of the women had already been brutalized in so many different ways. Yet they demanded, and brought about, a significant change in Liberia. In fact, the women did not just abandon the cause after the peace talks either. They rallied and voted women into office in the new democracy. In fact, Liberia elected the first female president, Madame Sirleaf, in 2005!

It was an extremely worthwhile documentary. It does not lean towards the “heavy” side too much, and by heavy I mean overwhelmingly depressing. Of course, you can’t escape the violence and abuse and death in this documentary, but this documentary is more about hope and what hope plus determination can achieve for women.

I think everyone who is interested in international affairs or women’s rights should see this! It is an excellent documentary that has something for everyone.

Strawberry cupcakes for Oct. 1st!

Happy World Vegetarian Day, everyone! Also known as October 1st It is also the new fiscal year! 3 cheers for the US govt. figuring itself out and hiring more people… I need a job, y’all!

Anyway, a quickie post before I head off to work. Last night, I was craving cupcakes and knew I had an awesome recipe (courtesy of Happy Herbivore, of course) waiting for me… Strawberry cupcakes!

To my surprise, the cupcakes themselves aren’t made out of strawberries. My bad! They’re your typical vegan vanilla cupcake (with lemon zest, if you so choose), topped with a strawberry. Oh well!

And so the process begins...

This was actually towards the end, but you know what I mean

All the usual suspects

El fin!

Sadly, we did not make our own frosting. My roomie had some whipped buttercream frosting, and by the time the cupcakes were done, it was close to 11, so we just decided the frosting from the store would suffice.

My oh my, these bad boys are delicious!!

I have to get those flowers in there too! Such a delicious start to the beginning of fall. Today after class, my roommate and I went to try own costumes for Halloween.. and I ended up getting a super cute costume! More on that later

Right now I’m off to work and homework. Later tonight, a bunch of us are going out to a sports bar for snacks and beer… and of course, sports! My roomie and I are going not necessarily for the sports, but actually for a friend of ours who were trying to set up. Cross your fingers they hit it off! It’s funny that the stereotype is every girl likes to be a matchmaker… normally, I wouldn’t say this is true about me, but I am getting an intense excited feeling thinking that I might possibly play a tiny role in setting my friend up with a great person. Who knows, maybe that can turn into my career? Millionaire Matchmaker Melissa, anyone??