I sold my soul to the devil

I did! I supported the early Christmas-ization of American by buying ornaments on Halloween. I'm so ashamed! I am totally anti-Christmas before Thanksgiving! Except...I was at Target, and they were cute, and on sale...and I have to decorate my classroom. Even more shameful, I will probably put them up mid-November....my school only has 2 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. One of those weeks I'll be at conference. My students need to feel festive merriment when they come into my room! They just don't make cool Thanksgiving decor! And they're blue and gold - school colors! I'm teaching pride here, peeps.

W is for Witch

Happy Halloween lovahs!

(via)

Cajun Style

THERE IS NO FAST FOOD ON THE PLANET BETTER THAN POPEYES. I dare you to find another place. You can't really even call it fast food, since it's so good. Also I always seem to wait about 10 minutes in the drive thru line after placing an order. Tonight while running errands I was struck with the craving - which I don't deny. I don't live super close to one (maybe 20 minutes) so I don't go often. The shrimp po'boy and cajun fries did not disappoint. Bonus: in a brief conversation with my sister in Texas tonight, I learned that her family (including my mom who is visiting them) also succumbed to the Popeyes craving. It's in the blood!

First Frost

Looking forward to seeing a scene like this on my morning walk with the dog tomorrow. It's supposed to go down to 29 degrees tonight...and yes, the Uggs have been brought out. Function, not fashion! Why wouldn't you surround your toes with Australian sheepskin when it's below freezing?

photo credit: flickr find

windy gales

Lake Michigan, just south of my summer abode, during the crazy storms yesterday. Grateful that no one was hurt, but grateful for this amazing picture!

courtesy: associated press

Things I love about Halloween:

-the decor

-the opportunity to be a little bit kitsch and get away with it

-the sweets

-the weather

-the idea of all things spooky, haunted houses, etc.

-"scary" movies such as Ernest Scared Stupid, The Goonies,

Teen Wolf

******

Things I don't love about Halloween

-actual haunted houses

-real scary movies

Images

V is for Victory

On to sectionals next week under the FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS!!!!

things that should not be seen at a pumpkin patch

-an abundance of mullets
-an abundance of bump-its (or bump-it style hairdos)
-an abundance of cigarettes
(sensing a theme here)
-large, inflatable, pumpkin bouncy playthings
-a "hayride" with no hay that pulls a tractor around the parking lot
-hot dogs, nachos, and pop as opposed to CIDER and DOUGHNUTS

...after attempting the "corn maze" and surveying the scanty field of pumpkins, my friend and I checked out and went for ice cream. No autumn-ish photos were achieved. I think a fall trip to Michigan next year will be mandatory.

U is for Umbrella

Last October, Saint Louis was rainy and chilly. Tonight my apartment is still cooling down after yet another 80+ degree day. My janky, half-broken black umbrella sits in my closet waiting for use. It feels like fall hasn't really come (other than one blissful week), and I'm worried that winter will pop up out of nowhere. It's supposed to be somewhat of a "mild" winter here this year, but seeing is believing. I just want one good snowstorm, resulting in at least 2 snowdays.

Umbrellas found at bussbuss, a somewhat random find, but potentially addictive site.

Happy week all!

T is for Threadless

threadless {dot} com used to be one of my favorite websites. Tee shirts are one of my top three favorite clothing items. I randomly thought of the website today and wasted precious time finding goodies like these:

threadless.com

birthday weekend...

...my dog is still the cutest. I used to like other people's dogs and not want my own. Now I love my own and chances are I don't like anyone else's.

...my mom bought me this necklace. I LOVE it.

...I borrowed a 70-200mm lens to take pictures of my brother's football game. Sports photography is hard. And it was 87 degrees, disgustingly hot for October. But it was fun and having a lens that can zoom so well for the perfect action shot is exhilirating.

this still makes my heart happy.

click for better.

And yes, my Spartans won. So really it was a perfect weekend.

I went to a fall party where the house was so perfectly autumnish and cozy and decorated. I need to get to a pumpkin patch, stat. Also nice would be a house with a gorgeous interior and grounds to decorate. One thing at at time.

for ma birthday....

...all I want is for Michigan State to beat Michigan.

Go Green! msuspartans.com

Also, it is lovely sharing a birthday with the late great John Lennon.

listen

lovely little ditty. quick quick quick before top 40 stations slaughter it and you get sick of it (it's already starting)

have a lovely weekend

All the wayyyyy back in middle school many moons ago, I used to get really hyper on the bus going home Thursday afternoons. In my opinion, Thursday was (is) the start of the weekend. Even though you still have to go to school/work on Friday, you wake up with the euphoric feeling that it's Friday, which actually fades throughout the day as it passes. College only confirmed that Thursday night starts the weekend. So...zumba with ze ladies tonight, st. louis cardinals game tomorrow, football and photos saturday, perfect fall weather....happy weekend.

golden gate picnic....wow. via

Sunday StL Sunset

Super.

And overexposed, for fun.

contemplating....

-fall weather. it's finally here! 60/70s (50s at night!)...football weather
-farmers market...full of apples, gourds, cider....summer corn and peaches are gonzo
-the photo class I'm taking...going to take some portraits of my sister in law today. thinking about renting a better lens soon to test my skills more....
-the future of my flickr...hoping to have some sort of consistent photo shoot 2x/month....but I've sort of lost interest in posting to flickr
-grateful for my blog. this is the best diary/journal/thought keeper/indulgent self-expression outlet that I've ever had. I used to think I wanted to have some sort of catch/theme....like the wonderful design/fashion/craft/living blogs I love. But that's too much work. And that's not me. Other people do that so well....I love posting what I enjoy, not trying to have a conglomerate of what's trendy and keeping track of everything. I love this for me and my friends.

(photo:autumn gallery)

Friday Night Lights

While not feeling 100% last week, I became obsessed with this show. (Thank you, Netflix instant streaming. An upside to being in bed most of the day) Amazing acting and characters, great writing, football...I feel transported to a tiny Texas town when I watch it. Of course, it is critically acclaimed, so naturally it's had terrible ratings and shorter seasons...blah.

there is nothing - nothing - like a long phone conversation with a close friend. always healing in a small or big way.

indian summer

It is football season. Fall. My fave. And it is still in the 90s in Saint Louis. This is not okay. I don't care how much I'll want warmth in January (really, the winters aren't terrible here anyway. I don't dread them the way I did in Michigan.) I want to wear a sweater to games, not a tank top and shorts. I want to leave and go home to warm up, not go home to shower and get unsweaty.

My mom came to visit this weekend and watch my little brother's football game, which was so nice. I was feeling quite under the weather (I know...the hot weather) and there is nothing like having your mom around when you're not 100%, no matter how old you are. Naturally we had to be at the game about an hour early, so she could watch warmups and feel the "ambience"

When my brother, who is a captain, walks out hand and hand with the other captains for the coin toss, my heart does a little flip. Brotherly love! Love it! Seriously, click the picture!

I bought a new lamp. My walls are still fairly boring. My mom and I spent Saturday morning in the city wandering around little garden/junk shops and going to the farmers market. My fridge is now half full of fresh veggies and cider, and half full of leftovers from all the meals out we had.

School is too busy. Much to catch up on after being a bit off my game this past week. Onward!

I'm taking a photo class

my favorite subject.