Happy Halloween

Well, we did our Halloween celebration tonight. We will be in Ohio at this time tomorrow for a wedding and won't be celebrating October 31 in the traditional way. Tonight we carved pumpkins with our small group from church. The carvings were religiously related. Ours was meant to look like Mary and Baby Jesus. Mind you, I said "meant to look like..." I kept having to explain it to people.

In addition, we dressed our poor little puppy up in her costume tonight. She has been a cowgirl, a dinosaur, Yoda and this year a hot dog. Here's a picture for your viewing enjoyment.

Actually, she was much happier than she looks. This year there wasn't a head piece and that seemed to minimize her horror. Don't worry, we took her on a walk after the costume session.

We are headed to Columbus tomorrow for a weekend wedding. (D. is a groomsman) On Sunday, we head to East Lansing, Michigan to see how we feel about it given it's possibly our future home. It should be a good trip since D. and I will be seeing some parts of the country for the first time!

Shameless Product Plugs

I have found a few items recently that are “changing my life” in small, but noticeable ways and felt the need to share these items (both large and small) with you: Furry Slippers - $5.99 per pair – Fall and winter weather is upon us in New Mexico and I realized that my flip flops just wouldn’t cut it for around the house use any longer. I found these cheap, comfortable and cute (leopard print) slippers in the Target shoe department this past week and already love them. My greatest fear is that I will “accidentally” arrive at work with the slippers on one day, since at this point they are just an extension of my body. Little Boomey Wine - $3.97 per bottle – Cost Plus / World Market sends me weekly updates and I found out they are having a big red wine sale this month. So far, I have tried the Little Boomey Shiraz/Cab blend and it’s really good. Despite an 18-month membership to a ridiculously expensive wine club, I wouldn’t say I am a wine connoisseur. That said, I normally try to stay in the “tasty, yet $8-11 priced wine category.” (Alright, I admit to a “Two Buck Chuck” phase, but that’s long behind me now.) This wine meets the “tasty” requirement and I can get two or three bottles for my normal price of one! That’s a fantastic buy, if you ask me! Stikk.com – “free” – Oprah Magazine recommended this gem of a website to me and while I am still a visitor, not a member, it’s a really cool idea. Essentially it’s a place where you can track your success in specific personal goals. You enter the goal, set up a team of supporters that will email you when you have down days and have a referee track and vouch for your success. You can “put your money where your mouth is” and if you don’t succeed, you money can go to a charity. They also provide the option to have your money donated to an “anti-charity,” which I find really interesting and a great potential motivator. After all, I could certainly give $25 to a charity I loved if I missed a goal, but it would really burn to give $25 to an organization I hated because I couldn’t stick to something. I am always looking for great motivators and think I will be signing up soon to track my progress on this site. Check it out when you have some spare time! So there are a few things that have made my world a better place in the last week in addition to a great visit from my mom and a few days off work!

Out of the Groove

Somehow my illness a couple weeks ago robbed me of my blogging super power. It used to be I would go about my day and think of about ten things I could write about. Now, I am out of the groove and arrive at blogger.com with little on my mind... While mental clarity is nice, it makes for crappy blogging, part of a fun blog comes from a slightly neurotic mind.

D. is out of town for the week. The house is way too quiet when he's gone and I miss him quite a bit. I am really lucky that my mom is only a four-hour car ride away. She came down yesterday and will spend a few nights here while we shop, watch girl movies and the like. When I consider the move to Michigan, the fact that my mom can't be there in four hours is certainly a point in Albuquerque's favor. She mentioned a trip to the nearby outlet malls and my ears perked up... The last time I went there I did some significant damage to the credit card balances, but who doesn't need a new pair of fall shoes? Or perhaps a new Coach purse?

Speaking of Albuquerque, this week marks the annual Balloon Fiesta. It causes slight madness in the area as our population swells and restaurants get packed. That said, it's fun to look out your window each morning and see countless hot air balloons sailing past. I think my mom and I may head to the "Glowdeo" one night this week when they light up tons of balloons at the same time and illuminate the night sky. It's pretty spectacular. Here's some pictures of the fun from past years: