The most significant thing was that Friday was my last day working at This Is the Place Heritage Park, at least for now. My boss got teary when I turned in my name tag. The "heritage season" has ended, so the seasonal employees are done. There are positions open for Christmas, but this week I start my new (also seasonal) job at Sundance, and I don't want to spend the holiday season working two jobs when one of them is in Park City. If I don't have a job in the spring, I could return to This Is the Place. You'd think I'd have my life all figured out by the time I reached my 30s, but nope.
I used to stay in my church clothes all day on Sunday, but I decided it's not worth the dry cleaning costs to do that. I will often take Sunday walks, and last week I decided to explore in the gully behind the old ward building. It was lovely and fun, but I was annoyed by all the litter.
I got some good runs in this week. One was on a new trail by work. It was lovely but steep. A man with a dog said to me, "Congratulations! It's no minor task to run this up!" I'm not sure he was a native English speaker, and I was a little amused he got the sophisticated phrase "no minor task" but said "run this up" instead of "run up this."
Yesterday, I did my typical North Canyon run, and it was perfect weather. As the aspen leaves were falling all around me and even hitting me, it was just the best feeling. Though many of the leaves this year have been inferior, it was the best I had ever seen the aspens in North Canyon. I cannot think of a better hobby to have. I ran ten miles total. Ten years ago, I couldn't even imagine running ten miles, much less when half of it is uphill.
I've enjoyed getting ready for Halloween, though I don't have any must-do items like I did last year. I have met people who say they don't like Halloween. But I think they actually mean they don't like certain parts of Halloween. There's a difference! Nobody likes holidays more than I do, but that doesn't mean I like everything about them. I don't like the excesses of Christmas, the drunkenness of St. Patrick's Day, or the polarization of Pioneer Day. You can still like Halloween even if you don't like everything. Halloween is my third-favorite holiday, yet I think it is distasteful to decorate your yard with realistically violent and gruesome scenes.
My parents often have the Hallmark Channel on, and they have already started showing Christmas movies. Ridiculous! Why don't they just make Halloween or Thanksgiving movies? Their formulaic, predictable romances don't have to take place at Christmas!
My Halloween playlist is currently up to 173 songs.
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Some of my most noteworthy Halloween happenings this week were related to food, so it's time to move on to pumpkinundation roundup.
Sometimes people ask me what my favorite Halloween candy is. I tell them Caramel Apple Sugar Babies. I don't really like regular Sugar Babies, but the apple version is amazing. Not all the stores sell them, so I'm always afraid that they will stop making them. That would be a tragedy! Go buy some so they don't disappear. You won't regret it! 10/10.
This Jamba Juice Pumpkin Harvest Protein Smoothie does have that typical protein taste to it, and the pumpkin isn't too strong, but it wasn't gross. 7/10.
Fat Boy Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream Sandwiches aren't as strongly flavored as other pumpkin products, but they're still tasty. I generally prefer chocolate "bread," but the graham does work better with pumpkin. 8/10.
I first had Caramel Apple Milky Way Bars in 2012, and they remain a classic variation of a classic candy. 8/10.
Arctic Circle Pumpkin Shakes have been around since before pumpkin was cool. Sometimes the spice is a little strong, and indeed I found myself coughing on a particularly large spice that caught in my throat. (Maybe that was from my sandwich.) It's still great, though. 8/10.
Various smoothie joints do their own version of a pumpkin smoothie, such as this Keva Juice Smashing Pumpkin. It mostly tastes like the others, with a distinguishable pumpkin flavor mixed with frozen yogurt. 9/10. (Years ago, I heard someone complaining about girls liking pumpkin stuff too much, and he cited this very Keva Juice smoothie as an example of excess. Um, if you don't like pumpkin, I have good news for you: You don't have to buy it!)
So, for a few more items, I have to do some explaining. I have different categories of seasonal foods. Category 1 refers to things that are iconic to the holiday. Pumpkin pie, caramel apples, and candy corn are all category 1 for Halloween. Category 2a refers to things that are flavored like category 1. Most of pumpkinundation roundup is category 2a. Category 2b refers to things where the flavor is made uniquely for the holiday, even though the flavor itself doesn't have to do with it. I don't usually do category 2b here, but I had some interesting ones this week.
My Burger King Scary Black Cherry Fanta Frozen Drink looked more brown than the other pictures I have seen. It was good, but nothing groundbreaking. 7/10.
The Burger King Nightmare Burger is an interesting item. It has a chicken filet, a beef patty, and green buns. Supposedly, they deliberately developed it to try to make you have nightmares. But that was actually the best night's sleep I got this week. It's a good, but salty, sandwich. 8/10.
Probably tomorrow, my formal review for Starbucks Witch's Brew Creme Frappuccino will go up. It has a purple-colored, orange-flavored base with green-colored chia seeds in it. It looks great, but the flavor is a little bland, and the chia seeds are just weird. (There's no coffee, don't worry.) 6/10.
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