All Hallow's Eve: week 17

Maddux and Josie always stop by our house on Halloween. I loved their costumes this year--such a funny pair!

We planted this Autumn Blaze Maple the last weekend in June. I guess you could refer to it as the "Baby Tree", seeing that shortly after planting, we found out we were pregnant! (Yes, it's a metaphor.) I love that the leaves are already showing their gorgeous scarlet color. There is no tree more beautiful than a maple tree. It's one of the primary reasons why fall is my favorite season.

I've been baking up a storm lately (anything with chocolate will do) and I found the recipe for these healthy zucchini muffins and I just added the chocolate chips. I usually keep them in a container for a few days and then just freeze the rest. So yummy!

I stole this picture from Kim's blog, as Max and Vivi are our other trick-or-treating regulars. My favorite memory from this year's Halloween was watching Corey go outside and bend down to hand a little girl some candy from the dish. I knew that the next year we'd be doing the same for our little peanut. Such a great tradition to look forward to.

The frenetic schedule...week 14

This past week was craziness at work. I sort of had to laugh at myself as the first week of school came and went, and at that time, I was feeling at relative ease with my workload and the general pace of work life. Enter this week--yikes. It kicked my ass in a huge way. First off, last weekend, which was filled with many fun, social get togethers, was still exhausing. Friday night Court invited me over for dinner, making some yummy chicken, potatoes and salad (my contribution was a very challenging store-bought French silk pie) and we played outside with Kirsten and Evan. It was really nice to catch up. She had some lovely gifts for the baby-to-be from an adorable store I have yet to visit. It was the perfect Friday evening. Saturday morning, Liz was in town to visit some friends and we chatted over breakfast and bought some lovely baby sweaters at the Chester Bowl Fall Festival--ah, fall! I do love you. That afternoon I went to Wade to watch the Alumni game and later that night, attend the banquet. It's always such an emotional evening, hearing the latest group of graduates talk about their love of this program and how much it means to them. I love to listen to Corey talk up there and it makes me very proud.

This picture of us makes me laugh. Corey can never keep his one eye from squinting in pictures, so it usually requires about three tries. By this time he was fed up and looks like a goofball.

That night my desire to continue to wear my fun shoes was quickly dying out; within a few hours not only were my feet swollen but my entire lower half felt puffy and distended. A preview of swelling to come? Sunday I met my mom, sister, nieces and cousin Mary for a righteous Eggs Benedict breakfast--such fun and mayhem. A three-hour nap followed.

It's never a good sign when you get to work on Monday and you're exhausted...it seemed like two workdays, and Tuesday and Wednesday were about 12-hour days to boot. It was so nice to come home late Wednesday night and my chicken wild rice soup was heated up and waiting for me.


Thursday night was re-energizing--I met the ladies for Mexican and to bottle our wine! (I stole this picture from Kim, because she's the only one who remembers to document said events.) The assembly line process was actually really fun and despite spraying myself with the bottle washer contraption, all in all no one was injured and each of us walked away with bottles to save while they steep for a few months (or in my case, until March).

Dumbfounded

Why haven't I had one of these yet this year???? That's a sad realization. And then I saw these. That's it.

Away

I drove down to see my sister and the kiddos this past weekend, yes, for a visit, but for more than that. Things have been rather heavy of late and I have been taking opportunities to leave my to-do lists and other domestic responsibilities behind. Literally and figuratively, I needed to get away. There was some soccer game watching, pool time, play time and game time. I am switching jobs and am very excited for this change. I'm ready for a new set of challenges and want to work towards putting my mark on something different and quasi yet-to-be-determined. I won't be taking my traditional time off in August, but I'll settle for some additional weekend getaways. Breathe deeply, be excited for what's to come, and enjoy the fleeting days of summer.

Summer fare

I ate this for three days in a row. It doesn't get much better than this.

Another take on outdoor activity.

Number of insect bites endured on recent camping trip: 57. For real. Which is amusing since my last post so confidently poo-pooed the bugs. Damn hubris. I had been looking forward to our camping weekend for weeks; an opportunity for us to be alone, outside, with limited cell phone reception. I put bug spray on (the semi-non-toxic kind), and by 7:00pm I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and pants, but hell hath no fury when the mosquitoes and flies were biting me through my pants (many butt lesions to prove it). I surrounded myself with the citronella candles to kick the hub's bum in Poker Yahtzee (which is really fun). I felt bad because I was whining about it; I've been camping my whole life, so it's not like I haven't been bitten before. My sister thinks I might have a more serious allergic reaction (my ankles were kind of swollen, there were clusters of bites). It was not pretty. I'll save the pictures for those in the medical field.

Another thing I'm possibly allergic to--shocking. I'll post some pictures of the happy moments.

I heart summer

Monday evening, assessing the end of the weekend: I'm full of welted bug bites but it's worth it; I'll wear them like a badge of seasonal honor. There's an obvious sense of revelry that northerners have when the weather gets warm, even downright hot. But beyond that, I'll complain little about the heat, I'll silence my grumbles about the bugs and I'll take naps after a long day outside because we earn these glorious days. (I am glad, however, that I have AC.)
Friday, after my nap on the lawn chair (again, I heart summer) the hubs and I bought paint for the living room, dining room, entryway and hallways, which comes to five gallons. Despite my love for decorating, the last few color choices in this house haven't been exactly what I envisioned; maybe I'm become less of a hue risk-taker. I want the color to maintain the warm, sunny feeling of the space. Then we went and ate chicken wings and I drank cider. That was our dinner. Later that night we hot tubbed it at the Berrisfords and spied a few lightening bugs--so cool.

The Gina sandwich--all from the old hood


Saturday we went to the Geneoveses' cabin, old family friends who live across the street from my parents. There were friends and families from many different connections, but we talked about how the cabin is really a nucleus for so many of our summer stories.

Sunday we headed north and attended another family/friend gathering where we got to try out our new custom-made beanbag boards (this is serious business) and I proceeded to not win my matches. Fireworks and parade-watching summed up a great weekend.

CARH's visit

CR was home for a week-long visit and we had a great time. Sadly, there are no pictures to justify that fun was actually had, but indeed, it was. Most of our time together included lounging, referring to house decor magazines and picking out our future designs, drinking pinot grigio and other chilled items, looking at very comical high school pictures (and notes), and talking. We went to this new restaurant and the food was delicious. We had Yellow fin tartare for an appetizer, I had halibut and CR had whitefish. I took her to this new bar and we tried to fight off the 40-something medical device salesman. Note: don't watch sports when you are in a bar (force of habit) because men think that is a telltale sign for conversation. This picture is my absolute favorite--from our Senior Prom. Thanks for spending so much of your time with me, friend!

Visiting my friend gym

Poor gym's been neglected this season because my friend excuses has been visiting way too much. When my workout buddy and I didn't continue our 7:00 am workouts this fall, it became very easy to forget. Changing to GF and getting acclimated to the cooler temps has just zapped me of my energy. I am much more dedicated in the winter because frankly, what else is there to do? Also, there is a lot of hard times going on with several people I know--it just seems like I need to be a little more nurturing to myself. Since we're neighbors now, Jess & I have vowed to have a weekly [power] walk (she can really off-road with Issac's stroller) and I've asked for these for Christmas. Also if anyone's interested in CC skiing, put me on your call list! I know the snow hasn't hit yet, but I'm trying to prepare myself with the positive. Someone suggested I put this in our laundry room--find a TV to mount on the wall and I'm good to go!

Autumn

The rain finally quit yesterday and the last two days have been absolutely glorious. I've been so sad because of course all of the most sunshiny days I am at work, only able to see the cacaphony of color when I leave the office and peer out toward the lake. The trees are becoming intermittenly bare, so I think I have to go take pictures tonight. Fall is hands-down my favorite season because everything is changing and becoming so rich in color. I really want to drive north along the shore to see its majesty, so I may have to make time for that this weekend.

Weekend bliss

I was having such a good time relaxing this weekend that I only took one picture...Kim & Tommy had us out to the cabin over the weekend and it was wonderful. There was some pontoon riding, sitting by the fire, definitely some eating, playing with Max, but mostly I remember that I TOOK A NAP...in the middle of the day. I can't remember the last time I did that since maybe college. Ah, that's what summer's all about. Thanks for the wonderful time!

House for sale

Well...we did it. The last few weeks have been a complete blur, but the house officially went on the market yesterday. Honestly, if I wanted to blog about something else I couldn't, because this endeavor has consumed my thoughts of the recent past! We really couldn't have done it without the help of our family and friends. I can TOTALLY sympathize with our friends who have done this in the recent past, esp. with kids. I took a ton of pictures once everything was finished and cleaned (oh yeah--that was an entire day in itself). I think it looks great! All shiny and cute. I decided to change my blog page designs--I've been on this green/hippie vibe for a while, where everything needs to be green, orange, blue...probably any sign of growthy or color is a signal that spring needs to come to this town. Happy spring everyone! The sun is shining and it's a good thing.