Happy Halloween!

It's one of my favorite holidays.  Oh who am I kidding, I love all holidays.  

This year, Paul and I didn't really do anything to celebrate.  We didn't dress up and we don't get trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood :(  We did go to a pumpkin patch with the football staff last week which was really fun!  The place we went is called Anderson Farms.  They have a pumpkin patch, 3 corn mazes, a haunted hay ride and corn maze, and lots of cute farm animals.  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera.

Here are two pics of me and Paul on Halloween 2006 (our senior year of college).  Paul was a biker and I was a flapper.

Haha cracks me up!

And here are a few pics of our Halloween decorations around the house.



I hope everyone had a very happy Halloween!

My New Camera

I bought a new camera last week: a Nikon D5000 with an AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm VR lens and a 55-200mm VR lens.  Until now I've always used a point-and-shoot camera.  I've been reading the manual and trying to figure this thing out, but I have a feeling it's going to be a while before I know all the ins and outs!  Regardless, I'm very excited about my purchase! 

This afternoon I went to the old abandoned railroad tracks just outside of Boulder and practiced using some the settings on my camera.  Here are some of the pics I took...

Does anyone know anything about this camera or have any good photography tips for me?

I hope everyone is enjoying their football Saturday, GO BUFFS and WAR EAGLE!

 

Homecoming

This weekend was Homecoming at CU.  We played Texas Tech and lost...again.  Our record is now 3-4.  It's been a rough season :(

BUT, it was still a good weekend.  Some of my friends from college "came home" for the game and I had an absolute blast with them!

I hosted a tailgate before the game.  When I was in college, my parents and Paul's parents used to tailgate in the same spot every Saturday before home games and my friends and I would always meet them there.  It was a little grassy field behind an old apartment complex right next to the stadium.  We called it The Crack House because, well, it looked like a crack house.  You can no longer tailgate behind The Crack House because they re-did the landscaping and are trying to keep it nice.  However, you can tailgate in the parking lot in front.  And that is where I decided to have mine...for old times sake!

My bestie, Sara, came up for the tailgate and the game.  We had so much fun!  When we were in college, Sara and I used to go to every home game together.  We would get to the stadium 2 hours early so we could get the best seats in the student section.  We were CRAZY!  

 We had a fun little group, but we sure did miss Paul's parents!  Here's a pic of my dad, Buzz (brother), me, my mom, Sara, and Tinsley (another friend from college, love her!).

Jack, Hardy, and Buzz.  Jack was one of Paul's roomies in college and is still one of our best friends.  Hardy worked with Paul in Auburn and now coaches strength and conditioning for the CU basketball team.  And of course, I love that I get to hang out with my bro every weekend.  I'm so spoiled.

Lindsey (a fellow CW) stopped by with her sis and mom who were in town visiting for the game.  How cute are they?  And Rachel (another CW) came with her sister-in-law.  I love Lindsey and Rachel, don't know what I would do without them.  Actually, yes I do.  I wouldn't do anything.  I'd be really bored.

And of course, it wouldn't be a proper CU tailgate without shotgunning a few beers...

Haha I love the faces!  I guess we're not in college anymore.

Kitchen Items

Look what I bought yesterday...

It's an apple peeler/corer/slicer from Williams Sonoma!  This thing is so cool.  I've had my eye on it for while now.  I love baking with apples, especially this time of year, and I can't wait to put this bad boy to good use.  Apple pie anyone?



My mom got these for me from T.J. Maxx last week...

Le Creuset 14" oval baking dish, 9.5" oval baking dish, and 7" rectangular baking dish.  I love the bright colors.  All three of these dishes were half their original price!  Gotta love T.J. Maxx.

Now I just need to find some new fall recipes...any suggestions?

Applesauce Muffins

Oh my gosh I love these muffins!  My mom makes them every year for Thanksgiving, but I had such a craving for them last night I had to whip up a batch.  They're perfect for Fall and seriously delicious.  Here's the recipe.  Try them tonight, they'll make your whole house smell heavenly!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oil

1 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Pour into greased or paper lined muffin tins.  Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Leave muffins in tins a few minutes before running a knife around the edges.  Cool on wire racks.

Enjoy!

Ten20

You know what makes me happy?  Pedicures!  To me there are few things more relaxing in the world.  I went and got one last week and it was pure bliss. When I was in college I used to get a pedicure every 2 weeks.  No joke.  But now that I'm a responsible, working woman (haha) I try not to spend money on such things; things I could do myself.  However, I had a gift card I'd been hoarding since Christmas (thanks sis!) so I finally decided to cash it in.  I went to a place in town called Ten20.  It is hands-down the best nail spa I've ever been to.  If you live in Boulder, and have not yet been to Ten20, you seriously need to check this place out.

They have these big comfy chairs and they let you pick what movie or TV show you want to watch from the Tivo that plays on a giant projector screen (every Wednesday is Chick Flick night, how cute!) 

They serve cokes and M&Ms (and if you know anything about me, you know I have a dangerous obsession with coke classic and candy).

The girls that work there are so cute and friendly and they always do a fab job on my nails! 

This is the color I picked.  It's called Midnight in Moscow by OPI.  I'm loving it for fall.

I heart you Ten20!

On another note, it's date night and I'm so excited to spend a quiet night at home with the hub.  I think I've seen a total of 7 minutes of him this whole week.  It will be nice to relax tonight because tomorrow I'm heading over to the Matthews residence to take care of some cuties for the weekend while their parents are out of town: Sadie (eighth grade) Ben (fourth grade) and Joe (kindergarten).  Wish me luck ;)   

Book Club~Commencement Part 1

I joined a book club!  I've always wanted to be in one, however this is not your typical club- it's a blogging book club.  How fun is that?  Check out the website by clicking on the button below.  It's not too late to join!

This month's book is Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan

Here are my answers for part 1

1. Which girl do you identify the most with?

You know, I don't know that I completely identify with any one of them.  They are all much more liberal than me; I'm a pretty conservative and traditional person :)  I guess I probably identified with Celia during college and Sally post-college the most.  Celia because like her, I have a very close relationship with my family and my mom.  It was hard to leave home for college (even though I went to college in the same town I grew up in) and I remember having a lot of the same feelings she had those first few weeks.  But she didn't take herself too seriously which has always been my philosophy as well.  It seemed to me that Celia was the reason all four girls became freinds-she reached out to each of them in the first days of school and was the common thread between them all.  Did anyone else think that?  I identified with Sally post-Smith because I got married when I was 24 years old and none of my friends were even close to being engaged at the time. 

2. If you're a college student or graduate, what similarities or differences do you see between this story to your own college experience?

My college experience was totally different from this story.  I had lots of different groups of friends throughout my 4.5 years of college.  Freshman year I was friends with three of the girls that lived on my hall, but I sort of lost touch with them after that first year.  I also joined a sorority my freshman year and became close with many of my sorority sisters.  Sophomore year I moved into the sorority house along with 60 other girls.  Three of my sorority sisters are still my great friends to this day; two were bridesmaids in my wedding.  Junior year I studied abroad in Australia and met three girls from the east coast who were also studying abroad.  We became instant friends and were attached at the hip.  We had a blast, but eventually had to go back to school in the states.  I kept in touch with two of them who are still my dear friends and were also bridesmaids in my wedding.  I would have to say that my most consistent group of friends throughout college were my husband (boyfriend at the time) and his 5 roommates.  I knew my husband in high school and met his roommates my first day of college.  They became some of  my best friends and remain so today.  There were many times that I was the only girl hanging in the group of guys which is so different from the characters in this story!

3. Which girl do you think has changed the most since her time in college? In what ways has she changed?

I think all of the girls have stayed pretty true to themselves since college.  Sally changed her mind about med school and Bree grew distant from her family after telling them about her relationship with another woman.  I think Bree has probably changed the most since the first year of college because she started college engaged to a boy, and is now a lesbian?

Can't wait to hear what everyone else thinks of the book so far!

 

Blackout

Wow we had a busy past week.  We had lots of visitors from out of town AND our Buffs pulled off a win against Georgia!!! Needless to say we had a really fun weekend!

Paul's parents, Bob and Mary, came to stay with us from Missouri.  They arrived on Thursday evening.  (On a side note, you'll notice that I rarely refer to them as my mother or father in-law.  I've know Bob and Mary since I was 16 years old and I've always just called them by their first names.  Once Paul and I were married, it seemed so weird to call them "in-laws" so I just kept calling them Bob and Mary.  Besides they're really more like parents to me than parents in-law).  (Oh and on another side note, my Mom, Dad, Bob and Mary are BFF and have been ever since Paul and I started dating 10 years ago.  It's a little crazy and can be overwhelming, but SO MUCH FUN to have parents that are such great friends!  Paul and I feel truly blessed for that). Whew, glad I got all of that off my chest.

Anyway, Bob and Mary arrived on Thursday evening.  They made dinner for us and we spent the night just hanging around the house. 

Friday night Paul and I went to the Buffalo Stampede with his parents, my parents, my brother, and our family friends, Donna, Gary and Jon.  The Stampede is a pep rally/parade for the football team downtown.  It's always really fun, but this one was especially fun because it was more packed than I have ever seen it.  Everyone seemed to be really excited for this game.  It was the 20 year anniversary of the 1990 National Championship team so there were tons of alumni in town.  There were also tons of Georgia fans. 



{Mary, Paul, Me, Bob}

After the Stampede we all went to dinner at BJ's Brewery downtown.  BJ's is so yummy, they have really good pizza :)  The fun thing about going to dinner downtown after the pep rally is the band comes in to some of the restaurants and plays the CU fight song.  Everyone sings along and there is such a great energy.

Not the best picture, but you get the idea.

On Saturday, my parents and Paul's parents hosted a tailgate across from the stadium at a little place we like to call "the crack house."  We've been tailgating there for years.  We had a good turn out.  Our friend Chad (one of Paul's college roommates) and his girlfriend Tinsley came down from Vail, Joe (another one of Paul's college roommates) and his friend Austin came up from Denver, my Aunt Carol came from North Carolina, and a bunch of our local friends came by. 

{Aunt Carol and my mom}

The game was at 5:00pm and was a "blackout" which is where they ask all of the fans to wear black.  I love blackouts!  We usually only have one per season, but I think it looks so cool.

The game was really close up until the last minute.  It was so nerve-racking and SO exciting!  The energy in the stadium was unlike anything I've seen in Boulder in a very long time.  In the last few minutes, Georgia had the ball and they were charging down the field when all of a sudden, they fumbled!  We recovered the ball and won the game 29 to 27.  The crowd went absolutely WILD! 

After the game we went out to celebrate with Joe, Austin, Chad, Tinsley and some of the guys that Paul works with. 

After having six people stay at our house that night, I had a lot of cleaning to do the next day and that's exactly what I did all day yesterday.  I am worn out.  But it was SO worth it!!  We had such a fun weekend :)  

Hope everyone has great week!