Hm, you got kind of tall. (Halloween, also.)

Saturday evening I wasn't feeling that great (Hello migrane! Didn't know I got those.) so I decided to just hang out on the couch and by sheer luck on ABC Family was playing this old gem:



So aside from the massive throbbing in my head, I was stoked. Did you know Kenny Ortega directed it? Me either! Newsies, Dirty Dancing, Let's Hear It For The Boy, To Wong Foo..., 2002 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony, This Is It AND Hocus Pocus?! I love this guy more and more. I'll forgive him for High School Musical. Anyway. As I'm laying on the couch, my phone rings and it's my uncle out on Long Island. After hellos to him and his girlfriend, he says "Guess who else is with us!" I hear a deep, male voice and absolutely cannot identify who it is. I admit to this and I hear a laugh and then the name "Armando."

ARMANDO?! Armando is my cousin I haven't seen since 2000 at my mom's college graduation party (my mom went back to school when I was in middle school). No wonder I didn't recognize his voice - the last time I heard it he was only 13! He and his family live in Washington state and at this point I don't really need to state the obvious, but we don't get to see them that often. He joined the army after high school and a few months ago got back from his second tour of duty in Iraq. It's been years since most of the family saw him so he decided to drive across the country and catch up with people. Great idea! We made plans to meet up in the city the next day.

Halloween rolls around and in comes Armando, Uncle Mark, Dorothy AND Aunt Daryl from Long Island to have lunch with me and catch up. We went over to Benny's Burritos on Avenue A for some good eats. Lunch ended up being close to three hours long and it was so great to catch up with some family. Really grateful they drove into the city so I could see Armando. And hey, another one of my little cousins is taller than me now! That makes seven of them now, I think.


Uncle Mark, Dorothy, Armando, Me and Aunt Daryl

About a week ago I heard about the Village Halloween Parade and decided that'd be fun to check out. Good choice! Thousands of people (I'm a terrible judge of numbers but I think that's a good gestimate) showed up, tons of whom were in costume, to check it out. My roommate Liz and I got in a crowd of people around 4th Street and 6th Ave and as people decided to leave, got pushed up to the front. Pretty sweet! It was super cold that evening but since we were all packed in pretty tight, the temperature was nice and toasty! No complaints from me! I love parades and this one was pretty high up there. Tons of skeleton and ghost puppets high in the air which would swoop down over the crowd - pretty neat. One huge group was dressed up as characters from Rocky Horror and stopped right where we were to do the Time Warp. The Ghostbusters were pretty fun and right before Liz and I left, Metro Man came through to tell everyone public transportation was a great way to get home (we live close enough so we walked). I wonder how long he collected those cards:




Other fun things: my roommate Rachel's sister Kayti and Kayti's boyfriend Mike are here for a few days. Love them! It's really fun having a full place and on top of that, Kayti made us all chicken paella for dinner last night which was AMAZINGLY delicious. I'm also currently enjoying a bowl of leftover paella right now. Mmmm. Geez, that family can cook!

Last Friday night I met up with my friends Meghan, Scott and Tim for our family dinner in Harlem. I think we get a little too excited (if that's possible) to see each other but that's fantastic. We're all friends from JMU and try to hang out with each other at the VERY least, once a month. Three of us are in grad school so that gets a little crazy, but hey, we always make time for family! Meghan, a brilliant photographer (if you're in NYC, go vote for her picture at El Museo del Barrio... Skateboarding in Spanish Harlem. She's a finalist!) took this:



Ah, love them.