what not to wear

No, not with Stacy and Clinton.

{ With my winter wardrobe. }

I feel like every year when the temperature starts to drop and the days start getting shorter I need to take a crash course in how to wear my winter accouterments again.

All my coats 

and my sweaters 

and my boots 

and my hats 

and my wool socks

and my flannels

and my gloves 

and my scarves.

I have to re-remember it all.

So far I'm still in denial.  I'm wearing my summer shirts underneath a layer or two of jackets.  I haven't gotten the courage to really break out the coats yet...

Because getting out the coats is the beginning of the end.  Once the coats come out the flip flops are gone for good until April, possibly May, and heaven forbid till June (I wouldn't put it past Utah to be that unforgiving).  Once the coats come out it's an acceptance of snow and cold and slush.

No, I can't get the coats out yet.

It really is this in-between time, right after fall and before winter and then perhaps the whole month of spring, that are the coldest times of the year.

Because this is when we won't accept the truth.

Even if the weather-man says it's supposed to be 60 degrees outside that day we rationalize with the fact that that's almost 70 degrees, and therefore my quarter-length sleeve cardigan will do just fine.  Besides the suns out anyway, so it really can't be that cold.

WRONG.

It is my acceptance of my denial that seems to be the first step to my recovery.

I'll start bundling up tomorrow.

The first day of November.

Darn.

hello my pretties...

via.

It's Halloween time again.

It seems to creep up on me every year.

So what are you supposed to do?

I hear you're supposed to go do scary things and dress up like scary things and watch scary things...

Well I've picked out my pumpkin from the pumpkin patch...

 And I've watched Young Frankenstein...

And I sewed my Tinkerbell costume (don't be that impressed, pictures to come later of course)...

{ But I haven't gotten scared yet }

So , because of this gross lack of adrenalin-pumping fun in my life, someone had the bright idea that we should go to a haunted house.

And of course that is one of those bright ideas that sounds like so much fun.

Until we get there....

And then it's not so fun.

By the way, we didn't just go to any haunted house.

We went to the Nightmare on 13th...

As in the Travel Channel voted it one of the scariest haunted houses in America.

So we're talking a 45 minute walk through all manner of spookiness.

And people jump out at you.

And there's blood and guts and it smells like dry ice.

And there is a complete and total disregard for your personal bubble.

Who's bright idea was this again...???

 

Well, at least we got free pictures with a zombie.

Who snorted in my ear right after this was taken...

But we had fun.

Actually, we had a lot of fun.

At least we remembered that you don't go to haunted houses without a man.

Check.

We brought two just in case.

One to walk in front and one to walk behind.

Double check.

But here is my conclusion on haunted houses:

I've decided that haunted houses are one of those things that you look forward to going to.

You really hate them while you're there.

And then you laugh about how fun it was later.

I've also decided that that makes no sense.

radio.

I've always kinda had a soft spot for good, old fashioned radio programs.

I think it must have come from listening to the Drama Hour on long road-trips late into the night when I was growing up.  

Stories full of mysteries, detectives and cowboys all playing front and center right there in the back seat of the suburban.

Pretty great.

That's why Mortal Fools production of 

DRACULA

was such a treat.

It was what I'm going to call "radio theatre,"

and it was an adaptation of Orson Welles 1938 radio broadcast of Bram Stroker's original novel.

Lets start with the local:

Creepy castle up on the hill.

Behind an actual mental institution.

Late at night.

Check.

Inside the venue:

Dark, 

drafty

and intimate.

Check.

They were pretty fabulous,

but the troop's foley-artists were by far my favorite:

How do I get that job??

(yes, she's clapping coconut shells together to sound like horse's hooves and he's blowing across the top of a glass jug to sound like the wind)

P.S. They're doing a production of The Glass Menagerie in the spring.

I pretty sure I remember hating that book in middle school, but if it's this good...I might just have to go see it anyways.

dear readers,

I'm putting on a benefit concert this coming Wednesday and if any of you live in the Utah Valley area I would LOVE if you could come and support our cause!
PLUS it's just going to be a pretty awesome concert.

To find out more about how Dane is doing check out his family's blog here.

And if you'd like to make a donation feel free to check out our blog right here.

All contributions will be going towards helping Dane and his wife, Rachel, cover medical and living costs.

Thanks for helping guys!

boots

On Monday.
Me in boots that is.

Because Utah weather has got me all sorts of confused.

They told me it was supposed to be cold.

They told me there would be rain and thunder and lighting.

I said okay.

I said I have just the thing for that.

So I wore these:

I wore these because it was supposed to be chilly.

I wore these because it was supposed to be wet.

I wore these because it was supposed to

rain.

False alarm.

It was warm.

It was sunny.

And there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

ALL day long.

They lied.

Ergo I jumped in every puddle I could find just to spite them...

(whoever they are)

dear tomorrow

I want us to be productive,

I want us to bake cinnamon swirl muffins for breakfast and every morning after,

 I want you to be Friday instead of Thursday,
and I want these yellow curtains.

That's all.

better late than never

so...

 and all my favorite fall things

you call it:

4-wheeling

I call it:

quading

tomato

tomahto

either way Spanish Fork canyon is gorgeous

although most of the time the scenery looked something like this:

a little blurry.

but you really can't go wrong with fall foliage in the canyon.

the crew:

the locals:

the view:

 the best-friend:

the boy:

the damage:

the funnest.

arts & crafts

lets all be honest.
stop trying to deny it.

you love arts & crafts.

you have since forever.

and fall crafts are the best:

the cutest lanterns for our kitchen windowsill

stay tuned for carving pumpkins

that's next :)

well, since it's almost thanksgiving-ish...

can i tell you what i'm grateful for?

moleskin.

yep, you read that right,

thank goodness for moleskin.

because i have these boots, you see.

the most wonderful boots.

the most darling, beautiful, brown boots.

the perfect boots for fall.

i love them.

but 5 months of sporting flip flops or (better yet) going barefoot has reduced my heels to sufficiently virgin skin once again

and today's ped socks and boot paired combination might have drawn blood...

except i remembered i had a pad of moleskin in my backpack!

the best.

my heels were saved.

and i didn't have to gimp home from campus

thankful for that too.

the best thing...

about
fall?

there is no shame in make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies at least once a week.

favorite.

homecoming.

in high school it used to mean:

finding a dress, 

not too fancy, but not too casual

finding a date, 

one that would just be fun, this wasn't prom or anything...

and finding a group

preferably one with more people in it that you knew than not

well, for once college has simplified my life.

because now homecoming means:

parades

and football games

no dresses. no stress.
low commitment and low cost

sign me up.

rain, rain...

today you can stay.

I've made it a habit recently of listening to thunderstorms on youtube while doing my homework...

today I don't need my headphones

:)

at the car wash

does anyone else find the drive-through car wash slightly unnerving...?

or is it just me?

it probably is just me...

but something about the sight of this:

(yes i took a picture while i was going through the other day for some sort of validation...the stallion was in dire need of a good cleaning)

doesn't it make you feel like your car is being washed down river or something??

like your sinking?

anything?

ok, fine.

it's just me.

organizational behavior 347

Here are some of the gems I've gleaned from this class thus far:

1.) It has been proven that between two people the better looking person will get hired.

Well, I didn't get hired for the last job I interviewed for...

So either there must have been a lot of other really, really ridiculously good-looking people who applied with me or...

2.) People like you better when you mimic them.

So basically we should all quit trying to be individuals.

3.) The two most recognized words in the world are:

              

Okay and Coke

Make of that one what you will.

and 4.) I scored a 13 out of 100 in the Emotionality section of the Big 5 Personality test...

So my lack of crying about anything other than a death has finally been scientifically justified.

I feel better already.