Pumpkin Carving

carve your own pumpkin

What You Wish For

This post is dedicated to my sister Micol

Time I woke up: 6:10 am. Realized that lazy roomates didn't put out the garbage (AGAIN!) so had to rush container and recycle bin out to street (barely made it.)
Number of neighbors who saw me in flimsy robe, glasses, crazy wake-up hair and slippers: 5

What I ate for breakfast: Count Chocula cereal. It was everything I thought it could be. It almost made up for the fact that I was still fuming over roomates who never take out the garbage even though they are home all night and I never get home before 10pm on Tuesday nights. Almost.

What I am wearing: Green/blue cardigan (Frenchi), white puffy sleeve t-shirt (H&M), plaid pleated skirt (Free People), Grey polka-dot knee-highs with bows at the top (H&M), tan knee-high boots (Ariat).
Number of comments received on how cute I look: 1 (well, actually it was me sending a text message to the music sherpa telling her how cute I thought I looked. Does that count?)

First thing I did when I got to work: Checked my email, charged my phone, checked a course CD for accuracy (it was the wrong CD for the course), and updated my blog ;)

Thank you, Josh Beckett

Josh Beckett: a good pitcher and kind of hot. And forget Damon, have you seen Ellsbury?

The Red Sox beat the Indians 7-1 in game 5 last night and will be playing game 6 tomorrow night at Fenway. For those of you who don't know, I am a huge Red Sox fan. I'm not sure when it started, it's not like I grew up watching baseball, and I have only been to Boston three times. But they LOVE their sports teams - especially the Sox. Even in March they were people everywhere decked out in Red Sox fanabilia - hats, jackets, scarves, gloves, hoodies. I just love the old-school sports teams: Red Sox, Dodgers, Mets, Cubs, Indians. None of this Diamond Backs/Rockies business.

Saturday's ALC game is huge - they are one loss away from being done this year and one win away from game 7. What I would give to be able to go to Fenway tomorrow night! Go Sox!

are you kidding me?!?

I heard on the radio this morning that California Governor/Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill to ban the terms "mom and dad" an "husband and wife" from California public schools. The really weird part is that I couldn't find the story anywhere but random websites like www.worldnetdaily.com, www.libertypost.org, www.CELEBRITYPRO.com - seriously?

Where was CNN on that one? How is this not HUGE news? And why is it that only the really crazy conservatives are saying anything? I think this is going way too far - I think that everyone needs to be sensitive to all family situations (for the kids' sake) but banning words like mom and dad and husband and wife from being said in a public school is crazy - completely crazy. I don't belive family values should be taught at public school - but I also believe that all alternative values and ideas should also be left off the agenda. Did the state even get a chance to vote on this issue? What happened to the idea of majority rules? I just want to know why CNN and other major news organizations didn't run a story on it. Whether or not the nation agrees on it, I don't think I want to trust a website called celebritypro.com to bring me my public school/government bill signing news.

sniffles

most people i know have been sick with a cold lately - and i finally got it last weekend. it's been great - my nose is constantly running like a tap, my eyes are all red and watery, and i sneeze about a million times a day. my friend chris even said something like, "what's wrong with your face?" when he came over for lunch yesterday. i looked up "common cold" in google images and this picture came up:

high speed photograph of a sneeze

how scary is that? this is part of why i didn't go to work yesterday. i hate being sick, but one thing i like about it is that i get to stay in my jammies all day, read books and go to bed early.

OctoberFEST

Me at Oktoberfest a few weeks ago

I love October! It's one of my favorite months for the following reasons:

* Oktoberfest at Snowbird - Brats, polka, cinnamon-almonds, and crisp mountain air.
* Harvest- I love all the fruit and vegetables this time of year.
* Halloween! Pretty much my favorite holiday. I plan my costume around July. I'm that lame.
* Decorations - The one time of year you can get away with completely tacky, gothic decorations.
* Weather - Most people would violently disagree, but I love crispy/rainy/cold autumn air.
* Candy - I love the crappy Halloween candy - even Neccos! (p.s. it should be against the law to give out Smarties as Halloween candy).
* Activities - Parties, haunted houses, corn mazes, farmers markets, pumpkin patches, pumpkin carving.

One of my favorite stories is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. I just read it the other day and once again, it reminded me of everything I love about fall and Halloween. The language is a bit much, I'll admit I keep a dictionary close when I read it, but the descriptive language is just beautiful:

"Certain it is, the place still continues under the sway of some witching power, that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual reverie. . . It is remarkable that the visionary propensity I have mentioned is not confined to the native inhabitants of the valley, but is unconsciously imbibed by every one who resides there for a time. However wide awake they may have been before they entered that sleepy region, they are sure, in a little time, to inhale the witching influence of the air, and begin to grow imaginative - to dream dreams, and see apparitions."

After I read the story, I had to watch the movie. It's by far one of the best gothic/horror movies of all time. I don't enjoy any scary movie in general, but Sleepy Hollow is one of my exceptions. Johnny Depp is great in it, and Christopher Walken is even more creepy than usual. It's rated R for good reason - there are a lot of flying heads - but man it's good, gothic, Halloween fun!

I also ended up renting the Disney version of Ichabod Crane/Sleepy Hollow. This was one of my favorite cartoons as a kid. It's brilliant - and Bing Crosby narrates. I tried to find it on Amazon to buy, but it must be out of print becuase the only copies available are $75 - $110. I'll stick to blockbuster.com.

Have any good Halloween traditions, party/costume ideas, recipes or movies to share? Leave a comment!