Halloween

For the first time in YEARS, Greg and I dressed up for Halloween and went out with our friends Michelle and Dustin. We had too much fun! After much debate, consideration, and shopping, we decided to go as GHOULISH GHOSTS! Can you tell that's what we are? We did consider going as the gang from ScoobyDoo, but we couldn't find just the right outfits at the thrift stores, and the costume shop cheapy costumes were $30+ a piece! Lame. I wasn't about to spend that kind of cash. So I suggested we go get some cheap white sheets, white face paint and go as ghosts. Michelle and Dustin were down, so that's what we did (and all for under $10 a couple). Greg didn't really get a say in it as he was at work, but he was up for it. Half the fun was getting ready. Who knew cutting up sheets and doing makeup could be so much fun?! You know, ScoobyDoo would have been fun, but I have never ever gone as something scary and not pretty. I was so happy to freak people out!!! Hahaha...

This picture really freaks me out! 

What was your favorite costume this year? If I had a daughter, I would have made her dress up with me as a rag doll. How cute is this? Someday.......someday.......

Source.

Hope you had a safe, spooky, but mostly fun Halloween!

And I'm back........

(me, one year ago in our front yard)

Greetings from Oregon; where fall season shows off what it can do with all its splendid color! It is seriously gorgeous here right now! Sorry again for the long absence. September was incredibly busy! And then, wham, all of a sudden it's October! And then wham! It's almost November. Crazy. This month hasn't been incredible busy, I've just been a little out of commission with a small surgery. Ya, good times right? Not to worry, everything is just dandy; so I'm going to spare you all of the gory details. The worst thing about it has been just lying around waiting to feel better so I can go out and do things (other than work).  Instead, I'll catch you up on what went down in September.

Actually, all I want to catch you up on is the Corvallis Fall Festival. As I talked about earlier this year, I'm on the committee for the Kids Art Discover Zone. It was great this year! A lot of work, but so worth it! We tried a new activity; hand puppets!  We provided the material for them and they went at it. What was especially unique about the activity is that most of the materials were donated recycled/reused goods (seriously, you have everything you need to make a hand puppet at home, this very moment). We had all kinds of fabrics, tennis balls (they made the best heads!), leather scraps, card stock, buttons, fake fuzzy fur, yarn...the list could go on! We even had a puppet stage (thanks to Jon and Jenny!) for them to put on their very own show. We're going to bring it back next year for sure. Kids make the cutest little puppets, let me tell you! Of course I didn't take my camera with me- so no photos to share. bum deal. But, below is a picture taken at our volunteer appreciation night a couple weeks prior. It ended up in the Corvallis Gazette Times (really, really wish I had a better outfit on that day, oh well). So thanks to them. Below is me and my co-chairs, Caron and Sarah. They are two fantastic women!

Let's see, what else went down in September.....I shot a wedding...but not my best work. Few good ones though. It was a very last minute gig. Hmm, seems like there was more, but nothing else too special to report. Next time I'll fill you in on what's up in Greg's world and other fun stuff.

Now that I'm feeling more myself again, I will get back to more regular posting. Which will be good for me. And hopefully good for you too. I'm actually surprised that  you keep checking back in when my posting has been, well, sporadic at best. 

I have to say though, I'm sure glad you do! xoxo 

Crickets

It's been quiet around here lately. Can you hear the crickets chirping? I'm sure they aren't loud and entertaining like Jimmeny Cricket is. I'll get back to blogging real soon. Just haven't been feeling quite, um, myself lately. Will explain in due time. All good things come in time right?

Image source.

It's that season again...Football! Go Beavers!

September brings warm days, and super cool nights and mornings. It brings Fall, it also brings FOOTBALL! Last Saturday was bright and sunny. The perfect day to kick of football season. You know that I don't follow football or anything, but when I got offered a ticket to go to OSU's opening game, I couldn't pass it up. Michelle's boyfriends Dustin was supposed to go, he's a die hard Beaver fan. However, he got called to duty, and so I got the call to take his place. I accompanied Michelle and her lovely parents, Dave and Cindy. We parked in my work parking lot and took the bus in to the game. That is so the way to do it by the way. I never knew what true blue American culture existed at college football games. It was a sea of orange, tailgating, arm movements for the 1st down, lots of yelling and chanting and well, if you've been, you know. And it was such a myriad of emotions. I mean, just see for yourself with my phone documentation.....

 We arrived with plenty of time before kick off. Hopes were high! Everyone said it would be an easy win. That's what I was expecting....opening game, all the players would be pumped up, ready to play, ready to win.

But by the end of the 2nd quarter, things were not looking so good. not at all. You should have seen the flags flying on the field. I don't even follow football and I could call every error (or what do they call it in football? offense? heck if I know, but I know interference when I see it). We hadn't even scored a touchdown.

This is by the end of the third quarter. I got a good dosey nap in, and the Beavers kicked things up a notch, scored a touchdown, made the field goal, and we were tied. It went into overtime and tensions were high. 

Everyone was standing and cheering. We scored in overtime...all we had to do was hold off Sacramento from scoring and the game was ours.

But all the standing and all of the yelling was to no avail. We lost by 2 points. You see what I mean about teh emotions?! Happy, sad, happy, sad, happy, sad. But it was a great experience and I would so go again!

Body Parts (from a child’s point of view)

Last Saturday, my sis Jeni and I skyped. It was so good to see and talk with her. I even got to see Spencer, Ethan and Olivia. Ryleigh must have been out doing something pre-teenish. Gosh that girl has grown up! Olivia is 3, wait 4? No, almost 4, but still 3. She’s a red headed wild child who I think could probably charm just about anyone to do just about anything.

Jeni was telling me about all of the hilarious things that Livy (short for Olivia) says…which is quite often. There was one particular thing that Jeni said she wished she could blog, but didn’t feel she could because of the youngins that sometimes read her blog. Well, I don’t have such readers, and since we’re all adults here, I’m going to share this (what I thought absolutely hilarious) little story:

Recently, she had to teach Livy about girl body parts and the word “vagina”. (GASP! I just used the word vagina on my blog! Wait for it…it’s about to get worse!) Why at such a young age you ask? Because apparently Livy was going around explaining that “boys have a penis…. and girls have a butt penis!” Hmmmm….an interesting take on that one don’t you think? I laughed until I cried and almost wet my pants.

That’s the hard thing about living away from them….missing the most hilarious moments. Kids do say the darndest things, don’t they? Thank goodness for Skype!

I couldn’t resist sharing a pic from Jeni’s blog of the spitfire Livy.

Isn’t she a cutie pie?! Speaking of her blog…check it out for more hilarious stories (or if you are a big fan of baseball): www.linnloop.blogspot.com.

Yay, it's Friday again!

During the week, I come up with the most wonderful blog posts. They cover a wide variety of topics of interest, they are colorful and meaningful and funny, witty, well written, all the things you would want out of a blog. And then when I finally get to it, it's all crickets chirping in my head.
I wanted to tell you about last weekend. I want to tell you how proud I am of my little brother Chad for getting recruited to Phoenix College to play baseball. I want to tell you how much I've been thinking about gratitude, and how thankful I am for my family, and for those friends who are like family.   I wanted to do a post about how crazy I can be, and how we all have our craziness, and to thank those of you who continue to love and support me despite my craziness. I wanted to post about love, and forgiveness. I wanted to do a post about what to do if you are ever in a vehicle accident (Random, but I should still do that sometime).These are the things that have been on my mind lately. And perhaps, someday, I'll regularly post here and talk about these things. But for now, you just get a topical glimpse.
I know that it is Friday, and I should be doing a Friday Favorite....but eh, do I really need a special feature? I mean, come on, its just you reading ;) just my family. So I won't stress about making this blog perfect, or worry that it is sub-par on the internet land. I mean, who needs 50 comments and loads of followers anyway? this is just not that kind of blog. You know it and I know it. Maybe, if I had a laptop, I could get really good at this and do it all the time. But for now, you only get bits and pieces of us and our life here in Oregon. And I'll save the rest of my brilliant posting ideas for someday. As my grandpa says, "Somedays do come."

Happy Friday Ya'll! Have a great weekend. I'll leave you with some pics- scenes from last weekend.

This gorgeous flower was a bulb given to us by Kevin (Greg's brother). What a perfect gift.

By the way, I've really been trying to use my own voice here and write like I talk, not as an essay or anything like that. It's kinda scary being me, but can you tell? Thanks again for the love and support you bring, not only to me, but to Greg too! xoxoxooo

Good Gracious, 2 weeks gone....oh, and Friday Fav's

Well hello there! I got an email from my aunt today. It read "I'm bored, update your blog!" And so, here I am. I've been meaning to do this for the past two weeks, but we've been busy man! Lots of stuff with friends and Greg and I have just been going and doing. And then I was "sick" this past week, and I just cannot blog when I'm all drugged up. Ok, and my dear readers, who I'm pretty sure are just my close fam and friends and you all probably know, but for those of you who may not, what I mean by "sick" and "drugged up" is the infamous monthly pain cycle. You know what I'm talking about. Yes, anyways, back to the past two weeks. Well I've been taking pictures with my phone like a mad woman, so I'll just annotate those and spare all the gory, long winded details that I love to do. :)

We've been loving cooking all of the bountiful fresh produce from local farms. I mean, who wouldn't want to eat this colorful goodness? 

 We got the BEST DEAL EVER on this grill. Can you see the tiny little grill that we were using before? It's in the background in our fire pit. Yeah, imagine crouching over that! Poor Greg. So one day we went out for charcoal, and found this grill on super sale for $26!!! Oh yea, Greg is the grillin king now!

Our first meal from the grill....

It was so super delish! Grilled portabella mushroom and bacon sammies. Remember those veggies from the first photo? They went into this delectable pearl couscous pasta salad. It's one recipe that I made up that we both actually loved. Yay me! Wow, I'm a foodie huh? All these pictures of food! I had more, but refrained from posting them. :)

 Fresh flowers from the Wednesday Farmers Market. $5 for this bouquet- they were so so pretty on my table. The Farmers Market is like the only place I will get flowers because they are huge and gorgeous and never outrageously priced like grocery stores. 

My cat Marco. He decided to try to wear my reusable shopping bag. It was sooo funny watching him try to wriggle out of it!

Last Friday we had some friends over for dinner. Greg and I made fajitas. Of course, no photos from the actual dinner, just the aftermath. Not too bad eh? It was such a good time. We had Michelle and her boyfriend Dustin, and Shannon and her husband Kail over. We had a fire in the backyard complete with smores. It was a lot of fun. Too bad Shannon and Kail leave at the end of next month...they joined the Peace Corps and were assigned to Peru! Pretty cool though huh?

Last Saturday my friend Glory had her band debut. They had it at one of the band members homes, and this was the view. Their band, Blue Honey, did a great job. I took their band photos last week. I'll post one up soon, they turned out pretty good.  

My Friday Favorite has to go to this cute little fella. Greg brought him home last night for us to foster until he reaches 2lbs. He just tugs at my heart strings he does! Currently, he is laying on my lap, loving my kitty scratches, making it very hard to type.... so worth it! I'm calling him MC, short for Moo Cow cause he has spots like a cow. Well I cant give him a serious name or else I might keep him! Apparently, some lady found him wandering around and like a good Samaritan brought him to SafeHaven. Kittens are just the best! Now if only our cat Dora could warm up, we'd be set! Or we'd have another cat. Maybe its best she doesn't accept any other animal in the house for now. But later...we might have a problem. For now, kittens are my Friday Fav. 

This weekend we don't have a whole lot planned...just a lot of house cleaning and stuff like that. I think we will hit up the Zimbabwe Music Festival at OSU. We went last year and it was fun. We especially enjoyed a few dancers in the crowd who never stopped dancing! it was great! What are you up to?