Highways and coffee beans

A lot of October was spent getting ready for Halloween weekend. And that kept me pretty far away from my laptop and too wrapped up in flannel to have much to say. (excuses, excuses, I know.)  But I have to gush about this weekend to everyone I know, and that means you! Shameless bragging alert... well not bragging. I so don't deserve the awesome-ness of this past weekend.

Michelle came down for the weekend and we road tripped it on down to T-Town... Tulsa, Oklahoma. The weather was perfect and as usual, we wound up talking the whole six hours down. In short, she's amazing and people suck - a lot - and we have to be willing to stand up for ourselves when the rest of the world turns their back. The trip was the continuation of the amazing drive, with awesome music, fantastic finds around town  (Blue Rose Cafe, Center of the Universe and hair braiding on the River Walk!) and miracle of miracle, not getting lost even on the highway.


The ultimate cause of the trip was the Hanson Fan Club Member Event (there's some debate and a lot of Hanson fans will call it a MOE - Member's Only Event- I contend that they're wrong but that's another post.)  I won't bore you with all the facts here, but the event included a costume contest, and seeing as I was a Starbucks Caramel Macchiato with Isaac's name misspelled five times and a quote from both Noah Roberts and Taylor, I came in Second only to Charlie Chaplin (Amazing! Truely!) I cleaned up: coffee, the 5of 5 dvd set, and I garnered the look of awe from my favorite band. The show was amazing and was well worth the trip even without the prizes.


The only thing that topped the event was the fact that we also received word of a final date for my niece and nephew's adoption to be officially final. Done, final and forever ours. It's fantastic and underwhelming at the same time. Fantastic because it will make them officially ours. Underwhelming because as far as my heart's concerned, they've been officially ours for a few months now, and they were ours long before that. Underwhelming because regardless of whatever the courts say, Cassia's already claimed Tim and Liz as Mom and Dad long ago, and nothing the courts could ever say would mean more than that.  Still, I can't believe the day is finally come. I'm so excited. And can't wait to get up to see them all.  I can tell you now what I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving: those kids.

Almost too fitting Song for the day: Penny and Me by Hanson "Penny and me like to roll the window down
Turn the radio up push the pedal to the ground
Penny and me like to gaze as starry skies
Close our eyes pretend to fly
It’s always penny and me tonight

Penny likes to get away
And drowned her pain, in lemonade
Penny dreams of rainy days
And coffee cake by the fireplace
And aimless conversations about the better days"

BOOO! um... BLUES!... um...

I've been a bit lax about writting lately. Mostly that has to do with how busy and unbusy I've been the last week or so. The fall has come swift and chilly this year. The temperature dropped virtually overnight to be the perfect weather for long walks watching the leaves change color, and that is exactly what my family has been doing. Our walks around St. Vincent's Park has given us a lot to laugh about as our dogs challenge each other (and us) to see who's going to take the lead and who's going to get back home first. For two dogs who do more eating than running this gets to be quite a hillarious challenge.  The walk is gorgeous, laughter aside. It's truly a woodland scene plopped right in the middle of city life. 

Our walks bring us home just in time to settle in for the Blues games. Ah, yes the hockey season has started. And what a start it's been. It's no secret that I'm a Blues fan, and that's about as far as it goes. Other teams' historys are lost on me, but the Blues... oh the Blues are a dominant ficture around my house every season. Four games into the season, we've already seen what will probably be the best hit of the year (Thanks, Winchester) and some the trends that have to change for us to make it to the Cup.  Like every year, I am ambitious and my father is not.  Every year is "the year" we'll make it to the Cup in my opinion. With faith like a child, I sit in front of the tv and hope. Hope that Polak will make the hit, that Halak or Conklin will make the save and that Oshie or McDonald or Steen will make the goal. While my dad sits next to me on the couch and tells me why I will hope in vain. I am a homer, and he is a ... realist. Don't get me wrong, he'd love to see us win. He just sees the flaws as well as the flare. Twice this season, I've been disappointed, but every game I'm encouraged. We've got the passion and it seems like we've got the desire for it. So again this year,  I think we'll make it.

In the mean time, I've got some serious decorating to do. Halloween is almost upon us and I JUST got my jackolantern out. My desk and my bedroom aren't decorated at all. I have been slacking... Granted, I've got other things done. My costume for example is finally underway. I should have that done in about a week and I'll post instructions and pictures when I do.