Halloween Hopes.

Normally I really dislike Halloween. I don't really know why. Actually, I do. I think there are a number of reasons. First of all, I never really have liked dressing up for anything: Halloween, theme parties, costume chapter, etc. I can never think of any good ideas and I hate competing with all of the young women out there whose ideas of dressing up include transforming into scandalous animals and insects. Not for me. Also, I'd always envisioned Halloween to be a night of drunken debauchery. Which is still true, I suppose, and, believe me, I enjoy a few cocktails/beers/glasses of wine/what-have-you every now and again, but I have always thought this holiday was created for people to make drunken mistakes, and I'm not super sure I'm okay with that. Drinking in the company of friends is fun and safe but sometimes I think that people use Halloween to legitimize insane behavior. (I'll get off my soapbox now). Lastly, I dislike Halloween because I've grown past the point of being able to go trick-or-treating. I know, I know; it's a free world and technically I could still grovel for candy if I wanted to but that would just be plain weird at the ripe old age of 22. That being said, I'm surprisingly excited for Halloween. I have so many fun plans for tomorrow that I must admit that I really can't wait to celebrate All Hallow's Eve.

In the morning, Maggie Samuel and I will be breakfasting at Sprinkles Cupcakes. It might seem to be a little too early to be indulging in delicious mini-cakes but, really, it's never too early for cupcakes. Maggie and I have a tradition (okay, this will only be the third time) of planning Sprinkles and Starbucks dates and I'm pretty excited to try out the Halloween/fall flavors of tomorrow, including chai latte, pumpkin and caramel apple.

For lunch, my boss Emily is taking me and my coworker, Courtney, to Chipotle for lunch. Originally, the three of us had planned to dress up as burritos in order to earn free ones, as per a deal that Chipotle offers every Halloween. I have participated in this event for the past three years, stopping in at the Calabasas Chipotle with friends including Erin, Karli, Becca, Katie VB, Mammen, Davids Schwartz and Nelson, Brad, Clark and Mike to score free burritos. Sadly, Chipotle doesn't offer this deal at lunch so Ers and I already made plans to eat there for dinner. Despite learning that we would not be the recipients of free food, Emily still offered to treat Courtney and me to lunch there on behalf of Halloween. So, fine, free Chipotle twice in one day is, yes, overindulgent but also delicious-sounding.

Good thing my perfect Halloween only includes eating thus far--shows where my priorities are, I suppose. Assuming I can still walk/waddle after I've consumed all of this fabulous food, I plan on zooming down to Malibu for what should be an epic party at Mikey, Dorian and Andrew's place (affectionately known to most of our friends as T-Land). Tomorrow night will also signify Joel and Rose's last night in California; they're moving to Nicaragua on Saturday, and tomorrow night will be a great way to send them off. All of my favorite people are going to be there and I can't wait to see everyone's costumes, particularly Shea Miller's, which I'm hoping will look my favorite character in the made-for-YouTube-film, Jackie and Debra.

I actually am going to dress up. I'm going to be a Malibu local and I don't mean the scary surf type who steals your table on Taco Tuesday at Duke's; rather, I'll be channeling the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson version of Malibu chic, complete with Uggs, short shorts, too much jewelry, an extremely oversized bag, at least fourteen scarves, possibly a fedora and the ever-present Venti Starbucks cup.

I can't believe I'm admitting this but I really just can't wait for tomorrow. Hopefully Halloween turns out as great as I expect it to.