halloween party

i met Ty at the station near his house yesterday for the drive to costco. the Machida one is closer to him, so that's where we went. the Makuhari coscto is closer to me, but he was driving me all the way there, so i couldn't complain.

we got there after an hour and a half or so. the roads were crowded, of course. i was almost giddy. i was so excited for cheap pumpkins. gina picked one up for about 1500yen at the Makuhari costco, whereas if you are lucky enough to see one for sale in japan, occasionally in flower shops, they are 3000-4000yen. i've never even considered paying that much for a pumpkin, so the 1500yen price tag was reason for excitement.

we got our cart and headed inside. i've been a regular customer at the Makuhari coscto but the Machida one has a completely different layout and it's much smaller (only one floor). i would choose Makuhari over Machida anyday.

we were a little disoriented, but started weaving through the aisles in a fairly systematic way, like always (don't wanna miss anything!). though, we really only have a few things on our list: pumpkins, ready to bake pizzas and fruit snacks for me, tortillas and water for Ty.

pumpkins first, OBVIOUSLY.

we made our way toward the "holiday" section in the middle which was predominantly christmas decorations (bad sign...). and we spot some orange. they were GIANT pumpkins. GIANT. and they were 9800yen!! (about $98!) we looked around and that was it!

i asked an employee if they were the only pumpkins they had. yes, they were. "you don't have any other sizes?" "well, we did, but they are sold out."

you. have. got. to. be. kidding.

thoughts ran through my head. they REALLY don't have any "normal" pumpkin carving sized pumpkins? if they had told me the price over the phone, i would have known they weren't the size i wanted!!!! why couldn't they have told me?!! okay, does Makuhari have any left?? can we make it to the Makuhari costco in time for the party? (no way) what am i gonna do?? i promised pumpkins and pizza. what's a halloween party without pumpkins?! i just wanna carve a pumpkin!!!!!

i wanted to cry right then and there.

Ty didn't know how to console me. and in fact, he didn't even seem to try. (boys, ha.) in the end, i said, "well, i guess we just have to give up the pumpkin carving." (tears almost falling) and he said, the only chance now was if we saw some on the way home. (i actually spotted two on the way home, but we didn't have time to stop and/or Ty was already over pumpkin hunting.)

we finished our shopping. after making an original sweep of the store and not finding any fruit snacks (if only it was the costco layout i KNEW...) i stumbled upon them at the end. and 3 pizzas for the party (spicy bbq chicken, margarita and cheese). bagels and bottled water for both of us. tortillas, rolls and soda water for Ty.

the least wallet damaging trip to costco EVER.

and the most depressing.

we were in and out of costco in less than an hour - another record i'm sure! we loaded up our purchases in the car and got back on the road. Ty put my address in his car navi and it said 1 hour and 39 minutes. yikes. it was 4pm, but the party wasn't supposed to start until 6pm, so we were okay.

but car navi's can't forsee traffic, red lights and slow drivers in front of you. it took us over 2 hours to get home. on the way there, we chatted and laughed and sang along to songs on Ty's mp3 player. the ride home still had music, but for the last hour, i don't think we talked or sang at all. we were both just tired. of driving. of being in the car. of having no pumpkins.

in the end, two of my friends got there before we did, but the four of us broke open the pizzas, preheated my oven, kanpaied and sat around chatting. Newbie showed up soon there after (after taking a wrong street and finding himself in a prostitute alley and, almost cute in his naivety, ended up a bit flustered...haha) and near the end of the evening Cheer and her sister showed up too.

all in all, it was a relaxing evening of baking pizza (the wire rack works way better than the cookie sheet method, in our opinions), minimal alcohol, a needed amount of laughter and just the right amount of friends. but pumpkins were notably missing.


p.s. i still want to carve a pumpkin. i'm seriously considering shelling out the 4000yen to buy one just so i can carve it. even if it means alone. my mom and dad express shipped some pumpkin carving kits just for the party, and now they are sitting in my room, giving me puppy dog eyes.