Pumpkins, cider and hayrides...

This weekend flew by! Friday night I stayed in, crafted, and seemingly got very little accomplished except for a heap of teeny pumpkin earrings. On Saturday I got my new driver's license (the DMV took a whole 5 minutes - I swear, it was amazingly fast) and had to work for part of the day covering some events. Saturday night I went up to John's and we had dinner with his friends.

And Sunday - Sunday was a fine fall day. Ryan, Felicia, and I met up with Stef and co. for a maize maze, pumpkin picking and hot apple cider. We went to Butterhof Farms, and it was a lot of fun, although a bit disappointing when it came to the pumpkin picking. It was more pumpkin picking-up, with already loose pumpkins. It's okay, though... still a good time.


Here's a shot of Sam running through the corn maze. We didn't make it through (it was a bit much for the little guys). Ryan found a maize maze that you go through with flashlights at night time - I'm psyched to try that.


Little Finn guarded the loot. He also tried to eat the pumpkins, but we quickly squashed (ha!) that plan.


The hayride was a bit silly, what with the fake turkeys and deer along the pathway. We enjoyed it, although perhaps not as much as Salem did.

My model

John once again modeled in the bridal show my office hosts every fall and spring. I have to work the show (interview the vendors, take photos, etc.). This is a shot of John and I before he modeled his tuxedos. The other two he wore I wasn't a fan of, but I really love the linen tuxedos. Perfect for a beach wedding.

Isn't he handsome? Someone whistled at him when he was on stage, too. ;)

Two strange things.

Two strange things happened in the same amount of days.

First, yesterday morning Piper and I found a slug in the kitchen. It was probably about three to four inches long, and a good nickel-sized thick in the middle. Surprisingly, Piper didn't try to eat it, and it was slugging around right by her water bowl. I think she encounters them enough outside for it to not be much of a novelty, though she was a bit whiney and distressed by it. She lost interest when I gave her breakfast.

Now, you may think, slug, big deal. But I don't kill bugs, even spiders which I really really hate. Okay, that's a little lie. I do kill mosquitos, but only when they're sucking my blood. The other day I even opened a window to shoo a mosquito outside.

Anyway, Piper and I found this slug and I didn't really have any idea how to get rid of it. Slugs are wet and slimy, and they suction to the ground, especially linoleum, as it turns out. First I grabbed a paper towel, but I quickly realized that wasn't a good plan, because the poor little guy was already a bit less slimy than usual. The paper towel kind of stuck to it and dried it out, and I couldn't pull it off the ground. I ended up surrounding the slug with saran wrap, waiting for it to crawl onto a piece, and then let it go in the bushes outside.

So, that was weird thing number one. I mean, how did a huge slug get into the kitchen? The doors are all sealed, the windows have screens... assuming it did get in through a door, it would have had to crawl all across the carpet to get to the kitchen. Shouldn't he have been all covered in lint and stuff? Strange.

Second, this morning I woke up and walked into the upstairs bathroom to hear this incessant buzzing... the sink and walls were even vibrating, and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I turned the water on and off, checked the medicine cabinet, and walked into the hallway to hear the buzzing through the walls.

I walked back into the bedroom and told John about it, and he was pretty much still asleep, but still managed to ask me if it was a bug buzzing or an electric buzzing. I told him electric, and apparently this was the lesser of two evils, because he didn't respond.

I decided I couldn't do anything until I figured this out, because what if a pipe was going to burst in the wall or something? I went to move everything from around the sink, and when I moved the toothbrush holder I paused, and then pulled out Ryan's new, electric, vibrating toothbrush.

Which was left on. Who knew those things were so powerful?

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I bought bananas last week and never got around to eating them, so what's one to do with rotting bananas? Well, make banana muffins, of course.

I have this recipe from a cookbook my Uncle Gordie got me when I was very young - it's a "Friends" cookbook (as in the television show) and it has random recipes that it attributes to the characters in the show... However, as far as I can tell, they're mostly not in any episode. Regardless, "Marcel's Banana Bread" is the best banana bread recipe I've ever come across. I nixed the nuts and added chocolate chips this time around.

And boy, are they delicious.

Celia and her cupcake

Ryan gave me a beautiful print for my birthday from The Black Apple. This is the Celia Cupcake Print, and I adore it. How fitting, too, with the cupcake. I may have to invest in a cupcake headband for myself.


I love The Black Apple, and equally so Emily Martin's blog, Inside a Black Apple. It's totally worth an add to your blogroll.

And, while it's very much deserving of its very own post, in my opinion, I'm going to share the wonderous bag John gave me for my birthday right here. I don't know how many people would be entertained by a post based solely on me gushing about my new bag. Because I am truly, dearly in love with this bag to the point where I may have to cast John to the side and marry it. And how sad would that be for John, as well as ironic, seeing as he gave me the bag?


This, my friends, is the Lucky Brand Abbey Road Foldover Bag. (Abbey Road - can we say fate?) It is the most beautiful bag I have ever come to acquire in my short 25 years, but arguably one of the best I most likely will ever call my own.

My boyfriend is simply the best for giving it to me. And I will feel badly about the whole casting aside of John, but what did he expect? Maybe I'll give him something equally as amazing to remember me by. Like a WWE Championship Spinner Engraved Title Belt.

Happy birthday to me!

I celebrated my big quarter century birthday on Oct. 6. Sunday night, I had my annual birthday dinner with the folks and my brothers. My mom made a delicious beef stew, which I don't think she's made since my grandmother passed away. Her parents used to make stew often in the winter, and my mom did a top notch job of duplicating it. For dessert, I had a birthday pumpkin bread/cake with lemon custard. Mmm.

My parents also so incredibly overdid the gift giving this year, although that's often the case with them during holidays. They gave me this amazing antique ivory table and four mismatched renovated chairs. My grandparents old oak table has served me well at my little house, however I can't say I'm too sorry to see them go and make room for the new set. The ivory was painted at some point (who would paint ivory? no idea) but I actually love how the cream paint is chipping a little to reveal the shiny black underneath. At some point I may need to rub it all off, if the chipping gets to be too much, but for now it looks great. The chairs are amazing, too.


This all came from The Maple Tree (link at right), my mom's friend's store, and the artisans she works with do fantastic work. Each chair is different, found in disrepair, fixed up and then painted and redone with unique fabric seats and matching little pillows. The designs are: blue with polka dots; pink with sunflowers; yellow with stripes; cream with flip flops. I can't decide if the flip flops or polka dots are my fav.


Isn't it all beautiful? And here's a kinda' bad shot of the legs, because I had to use my flash since it was evening and there wasn't enough natural light going on. But it will give you an idea with how awesome this table is.


The top is also embossed with this type of floral design... It's just so cool, I can't even explain it. So shabby chic. So great.

California... and other things.

It's been a while since I've had time to post. After getting home from California, things have been insanely busy, mostly due to work. But, for a quick update, John and I had a fantastic time visiting Shannon and Tim, and the trip actually seemed longer to me than it was, which never ever happens so it was an especially relaxing break from work. My birthday was Oct. 6, and I had a great time celebrating with a few friends. I received some amazing gifts, but that's all going to have to be reserved for my next post. This one is for California.

The top picture is John and I on a beach near Shannon's college, University of California, Irvine. The beaches there are so much better than the beaches out here - there's beach and mountains right next to each other, and there are rocks and tide pools and so much more going on. I'd love to live on the west coast. I'm bored of things out here.

Here are a couple more shots at UCI:



We went to the Huntington Library and Gardens near Caltech, where Tim goes. I took tons of photos. Here are just a few of my favorites:





Huntington is broken up into more than a dozen areas devoted to different parts of the world. It's spread over 120 acres with more than 15,000 different species of plants. There were also a couple of turtles, but most of the turtles seemed to congregate at Caltech.


I love turtles, and the ponds at Caltech were chock full of them. I took tons of great pictures, but John and I agreed the Piper head cock this little turtle has going on was the best.


Shanon and Tim live in Long Beach, and nearby are these canals that you can walk along, putting you practically in people's backyards. It's funny, because most of these homes have incredibly large windows overlooking the canal, also giving passersby a clear view into the family room. It's a beautiful area, though, and John really liked it. Shanon and I walked there last year when I visited, too.

We kayaked along some different canals and in a bay. I saw a seal (!) surface for like a second. We then went to this little area where all these jellyfish live. They don't sting, so we were able to pick them up...


...and pretend to eat them. I really loved the kayaking and it made me want to get a membership back home to kayak whenever I want. John, however, said he'd rather be watching TV. It was too much work for him to have fun, but I think once he got to see some ducks it was a little more enjoyable. Shanon and Tim were speedsters on their kayak. It was a little sad how slow John and I were.


All in all, terrific trip. This is a semi lame post, because I'm apparently not in the best writing frame of mind right now. It's due time I get a post up, though. The only bad part was the long layover in Houston on the way, and the plane rides in general. I hate flying for so many reasons. Of course, when the reason is to visit good friends in a better part of the country, you learn to deal.

Oh, possibly the best part?


That's right. Jamba Juice. How jealous are you?