Sunday, October 30, 2011

Halloween Fun 2011

Compared to a few previous Halloweens, especially last year, this one was very toned down. This could’ve been because I didn’t know for sure what I was going to be until just a few days before. Then all my time was spent putting together a decent costume and I just didn’t have the creative energy (or time) to go all out as I have in the past. Oh well!

I had a great time being a gypsy this year. My dear aunt let me borrow the perfect gypsy skirt. With my peasant shirt, belly dancing scarf, six rings, 12 bracelets including 10 bangles, two necklaces and some very noisy earrings, I may not have had the most creative costume, but I was definitely the noisiest. Not that I’m good at stealth on a normal day, but I was especially not stealthy on Friday.

I wish I could say I accomplished a lot in spite of the party attitude at work, but it was mostly a play day. I did get an honorable mention for my costume, as the best “Diverse Markets” costume. I almost thought the honorable mentions were funnier than the regular awards.

Here’s the pictures of the day. This is the extent of my cube decorating. Exciting, I know.

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How could I help it when this is what others on my floor were doing?

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What’s inside the blacked out cube?

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Creepy!

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He’s part of the 99 percent.

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Fun costumes, including mine. Smile

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Baby Rosemary the Riveter. So darling!

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Spooky food. The “orange cow pie,” really a Cinnamon Blob from Johnny Kolache, won an award for highest sugar content.

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One more friend picture. It really was a great Halloween, in case you can’t tell.

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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Pumpkin Walk 2011

In the six years I’ve been living in Utah, I’ve made it a tradition to attend the North Logan Pumpkin Walk every year. If you’re curious exactly what it is, you can find more information through the website.

To sum it up, basically these are displays made out of pumpkins dedicated to a certain theme. Last year’s was “The Magic of Animation” and this year’s was “My Favorite Things.” On the whole, I liked the displays last year better, but I still loved going.

There were two things that made this year’s show memorable for me. The first was the weather: 75 degrees at almost the end of October? Yes, please. The second was introducing several of my family members to the Pumpkin Walk. What a great experience!

As always, I’m going to let the pictures tell the story since they can do it much better than I can.

Somebody got a little tired before it even started.

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Gearing up for the walk.

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On to the pumpkin scenes. A few of the memorable ones: Kung Fu Panda, Angry Birds, Candyland, Calvin and Hobbs snowmen, Winnie the Pooh and Tangled. Who wouldn’t love a Tangled scene made of pumpkins?!

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Light bulb! Let’s make a pumpkin scene of Despicable Me. My personal favorite.

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No post would be complete without people pictures. Winking smile

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Everybody gather round. It’s time for family pictures.

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Last shots, I promise, group style of course.

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Can you see why I love this fall tradition and couldn’t wait to introduce the rest of my family to it?

Monday, October 24, 2011

A little obsessed perhaps?

Confession is good for the soul, right? Well here comes one from me: sometimes I let myself get completely obsessed with something and then I want to put all my time and energy into it, no matter what else I should be doing.

But I’m pretty sure everybody does that at one point or another, so it’s okay, right?

My current obsession? Christmas shopping!

I decided last year when I was making nightly trips to major retail locations to finish up my Christmas shopping before heading home for the holidays that I really don’t like it when I do that. It’s so stressful, there’s a million people around and I feel like it takes away from the true spirit of the holiday. So, this year I want to stop that from happening by being enough of a planner to get most, if not all, of my shopping done by December 1.

I’m making good progress on my goal too. I found my first two gifts last weekend, I took care of at least part of the gifts for the kids this tonight, and I’m well on my way with a couple of others I have in mind. That’s actually what I was obsessing about tonight. Winking smile I know what I want to get, but it’s proving more expensive than I’d planned so now I’m doing my due diligence by searching out the best possible deal.

Did I have other things I could’ve and should’ve been working on tonight? Absolutely. But did I do any of them? Nope.

This is what happens when I don’t have enough going on in a given week. Oh well! At least there’s worse things I could be obsessed with, and this is all in the name of being prepared and trying to plan.

Monday, October 17, 2011

The sight I didn’t want to see

Like most people, I’m never very excited when Monday rolls around. It’s just not my favorite day of the week, even if it only comes once a week.

Please indulge me for a week while I complain about a particularly terrible Monday.

I might have missed the most disturbing part of the day if I’d hurried more to get ready this morning. I barley missed the 7:33 train and instead took the 7:48. I wanted to get into work right at 8 this morning, but I accepted my fate and sat patiently waiting until the next train pulled into Sandy.

We were driving along until right before the Meadowbrook (39th South) stop. The train came to a complete stop just before the station. I looked out the window and noticed the Daybreak train was at a complete stop too. No announcements were made, so I sat patiently reading for about 15 minutes and then I wondered what was going on.

I saw the reflection of emergency lights in the window, so I figured there must’ve been a car/train accident. It was worse than that. More like a pedestrian/train accident, a fatal one. Unfortunately I found that out when we drove past the body covered by a sheet with blood on it.

I’m glad I didn’t have to see the body itself, but I still found it disturbing. I discovered later on from reading an article that it was an 86-year-old man who died and under strange circumstances. I guess I’m bothered just by the loss of life this represents. I don’t know what might’ve happened to this man that he walked in front of a train. So sad!

In addition to the train incident, I also had to deal with a difficult client at work who was completely unreasonable. Normally this wouldn’t bother me but today it upset me and left me shaken.

I also received a “no” answer to something that I wanted with all of my heart to be a “yes.” I’m sure it’s for the best, but I’m just really disappointed. I’m trying to swallow it and accept it as best I can.

Anyway, I’m sorry to be so gloom and doom today. It just wasn’t a good day. But I am hopeful that tomorrow will be so much better.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Finding the right fit

It’s been over two years now since I purchased my last pair of athletic shoes. At the time I bought them I freaked out because they were running shoes, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to make a commitment to run.

Little did I know.

They’ve been brave warriors and supported me as I learned I could in fact be a runner. They’ve now taken me through four separate 5Ks, three with running as my intent and my fourth this weekend as more of a walk.

Oh the miles these shoes have seen! They’ve taken me through my trip to New York, Yellowstone twice, my first visit to Zion National Park and just this last week all over Chicago. I could list my miles here but I’m going to hold off.

As I’m sure you can imagine, they’re a little worse for the wear. It’s more than time to retire them.

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But that meant I had to go shoe shopping for new athletic shoes. * Sigh *

Don’t get me wrong, I love shoe shopping as much as the next girl . . . just not for athletic shoes. I never know what type or brand to get. I want to make sure I get the pair that will best fit my needs and is within my price range. Cross trainers? Running shoes? Walking shoes? I’m just not sure.

That’s why I spent probably an hour on Saturday night at DSW trying on all kinds of shoes. One of the salespeople asked if she could help and I explained what I was looking for. She suggested a brand I’d seen but wasn’t familiar with so I thought why not give it a try? So I did.

Cue the hallelujah chorus! I tried a few other pairs just to be sure, but they were super comfortable and a reasonable price too. Yippee!

The only problem is that having had dark shoes for several years now I absolutely didn’t want white shoes. They show dirt so much more clearly. Alas, this is what I ended up with, but they’re so comfortable that right now I think it’s going to be fine.

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Now I can’t wait to exercise this week to break them in. Smile