Lilith: Frasier, we need to have a discussion.
Frasier: oh no, don’t tell me you have a thing against Halloween too.
Lilith: I don’t have a thing against Halloween. I just don’t want my child panhandling door to door accepting non-nutritious snacks from strangers dressed in a silly costume.
Frasier: But darling, that is Halloween.
Lilith: Oh well, then I guess I do have a thing against it. -Fraiser

It’s October guys. Can you believe it? I feel like September was a complete whirlwind. I’m so excited for October because it means it’s finally fall. It also means I can officially decorate my house for Halloween without getting weird looks from the neighbors. Ok…I may have decorated on the 26th of September, but now I can show you guys without feeling embarrassed about it.

I already showed you all my mantle:

And now I’ve added the Halloween touches to the house. Here’s the other bookcase, as you walk into the house:

Yes, I do have every Friends episode on DVD, and yes my DVDs are alphabetized. I’m just a wee bit OCD. A few of these decorations are DIY. That framed picture I printed online, and then added the ribbon trim. The spider candle luminary is actually an old pasta jar I cleaned out and painted.

This my centerpiece on the dining table. The sign I bought at Michaels for 50 cents, and the leaves are leftover decorations from my wedding. The candles were given to me last year by my MIL, and the straw is actually from the packaging for the candles. Again, the luminary jar is an old pasta sauce jar that I painted with acrylic paint. It was super easy and a lot of fun to make. I think I’m hooked on painting mason jars now. I can’t wait to paint some for Christmas!

Here’s the front porch:

I found the trick or treat sign at Michael’s and had a coupon for 50% off. I absolutely love it. The wall sign I’ve had forever, the gourds are from Safeway, and my MIL gave us the spider a few years ago. It freaks me out sometimes when I forget it’s there and open the door from the other side!

The ironic part of all of this decorating is a. We have no one to share it with, since we rarely have people over (I’m thinking we need to have a couple’s dinner at the very least this month)and b. we are going to be out of town for Halloween night. We are heading up to Oregon and probably won’t even celebrate the holiday. But oh well, I still love decorating! Hopefully next year we’ll be in a house and we can have a Halloween costume party. I’d look into those make your own invitations free sites with a cute Halloween theme. I can see myself going overboard with parties once we have a place to host. Hmmm, maybe even a blogger party? Who’s in?

Have you done any fall or Halloween decorating yet? I’d love to see photos!

 

“Country roads, take me home. To the place, I belong.” -John Denver

Today I’m off on an Ikea adventure with Tahoe Girl. Then we’re spending the weekend hanging out. It’s her mom’s 60th birthday on Saturday and she invited yours truly to help decorate for it! Tonight we’re going to hit up a happy hour and just kick back. I’m really excited for our little weekend.

But part of me is already daydreamin’ about an upcoming trip I’m taking with Match in November. I mentioned he’s in the middle of a TEN day work week right? Well he’s doing a shift trade so he can score himself ten days off in late October/early November. I can’t wait!

We’re heading to Oregon to visit my family, and the in-laws just may be tagging along. We’re talking about having an early Thanksgiving. I can’t tell you the last time I had Thanksgiving with my family. Sniffle. Also Match hasn’t been home to visit my folks since we got engaged back in December of 2009, almost 2 years ago!!

I can’t wait to go home and wander the beaches.

Go back to the park where he proposed and get a picture during the day. You can’t tell here, but he proposed on a cliff side overlooking the ocean with a full moon. It’s that tiny dot in the picture.

and spend some quality time with my family. Match is such a hoot in Oregon. He runs around like a country boy, chasing the goats and driving like a banshee on the four wheeler. We’re also hoping to make a lot of pit stops on the road trip back and make an adventure out of it.

Look at that shit eating grin. I can already see him buying an SUV with a thule ski rack and moving us to the sticks. That boy belongs in the country!

I’m really looking forward to showing the in-laws around my little town and the house that built me. I couldn’t wait to get away from it when I was a teenager, but now I can’t wait to go back. Funny how getting older does that to you.

Ducky: A toast! Close friends and dear family all. A bountiful thanks and good things for Fall!
Abby: And to all a good night! [pause] Wrong holiday.-NCIS

Sorry I had to spread out the Carmel trip into so many posts, but we did so much! I didn’t want to jam it all into one entry. Alright so we had just gone on an amazing kayaking adventure and we’d worked up quite an appetite. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant in Carmel. There was a band playing so Travel Girl, MIL and I danced to a couple of songs while the boys laughed at us.

After dinner we went back to the rental house and cooked smores on the outdoor bbq and had a champagne toast.

MIL started by toasting to Travel Girl and her boyfriend for being there, and for Travel Girl finally being able to join the family on the trip for the first time in 6 years.

Then MIL said she knew our anniversary was coming up and had a little something she wanted to share with us. Do you guys remember my wedding guest book? Well, MIL never wrote in it. She said she did it on purpose because she’d always planned on writing in it for our one year anniversary. I’m going to share with you a little excerpt from what you she wrote. She read it aloud to us, and by the end of it we were both crying.

I believe that the most important role for a parent is to not only provide their children with a safe and nurturing home to grow up in, the love of parents who accept them unconditionally, but also to guide them to make choices in life that will sustain their happiness and can be passed onto generations to come. That legacy is what makes our lives worth living. Soon it will be your turn and FIL and I look forward to sharing in those chapters in your life together.

The first year of marriage is challenging and from our perspective it is a challenge you have met with great success in part because you share the same goals, you communicate with each other, you are patient and support each other in all your endeavors…and, of course, the LOVE you share. We believe as we did on your wedding day that you two have made the right choice to marry. May you have a lifetime of happy years together.

This toast meant so much to me, especially since I had been under the impression that MIL did not approve of mine and Match’s choice for me to stay at home. It was a very sweet moment and one I will cherish.

After all the sentimental stuff, we finished our champagne and headed back into the house to play board games.

We passed out early again that night, all of us exhausted from a long day of fun. We decided to let Monkey sleep on the bed and he was quick to wiggle his way into the middle. How cute is my dog? I mean really.

We got up fairly early the next morning and took the puppies to the beach to play. My favorite part about Carmel beach is that it’s off leash.

We wore matching sweatshirts because we’re that couple.

After lunch we went back down to the beach and spent the afternoon relaxing, eating, drinking and playing this really cool game MIL bought called Ladder Ball. It’s so much fun, but super hard to play. Of course the boys figured it out right away.

We had unheard of warm weather for Carmel, and at one point Match went a little insane and jumped into the ocean. He says it was warm but I don’t believe a word of it.

It was another amazing trip to Carmel and I can’t wait to go back.

Lo: I’m not going on the kayak. Brody: You’re at a beach. Lo: I’m too afraid, I don’t want to go overboard. -The Hills

The second day of our Carmel trip we got up early and did our traditional morning walk to get pastries at the local bakery. I think it’s the one time of year that I eat chocolate croissants. Do you guys watch Ellen? Have you seen her segment, what’s wrong with this pictures? Well, click on the picture below to enlarge it, and tell me what you think is wrong with this picture. Keep in mind this was taken at around 930, 10ish in the morning.

If you guessed alcohol, you’d be correct. Match planted the bottle in front of his sis, but he’s the only one who put a little Irish in his morning coffee. Hey, he’s on vacation, away from stresses like worrying about his car title loans Connecticut and bills and such. I don’t mind if he has a little irish in his coffee.

Over breakfast, Match’s mom suggested that the four of us go sea kayaking while she and my father in-law took the dogs to the beach. Having never been even river kayaking I was nervous but decided to go for it, so long as Match promised we’d get a two person kayak. I’m so glad we went because it was an incredible experience. We started out by getting suited up at the kayak shop.

and then we were off. I think the push off was the worst part. It felt like there was just so little between me and the water, and the water was not warm. I was terrified of going overboat.

After a few minutes I was able to relax and soak in my surroundings.

We had a group of very curious otters that came by to investigate us.

We also paddled right by a jelly fish. It was so beautiful floating under the water. My quick snapshots don’t do it justice at all.

We couldn’t stop grinning the entire time. I think Match and I are going to have to buy a kayak someday. We’re hooked!

We paddled around the Monterey bay for a little over and hour and we were exhausted by the time we got back. It was a combination of a great workout and also relaxing. Getting back to shore was a little harder than I thought it would be, and I ended up toppling over in the sand when trying to get out of the boat. I didn’t do as badly as Travel’s boyfriend, who flat out fell in the water. It didn’t help that I was laughing at him and that’s part of why I fell down. Luckily he was a good sport and ran over to Travel Girl for a smooch.

After kayaking we met up with Match’s mom for drinks at Cannery Row in Monterey.

The boys found a cigar shop and bonded over their love for a nice stoogie. I found a cigar Indian buddy.

When we got back we all passed out for a power nap before heading out to dinner. More on that in my next post. Have you ever been kayaking?

Gloria: [to Jay and Manny, about learning to ride a bike] You two have fun. I pass. It makes no sense. There’s no reason that thing should stay upright.

Jay: There’s no reason you should stay upright, but it just works. -Modern Family

This was my third trip to Carmel with Match and his family, and the first with my sister in law. She brought her boyfriend and it was the first time Match and I met him. Needless to say in a two bedroom vacation rental, we had quite the full house with the 6 of us and two dogs. Despite not having a room to ourselves, we still had a great time, possibly the best we’ve had in Carmel yet!

The first day Match had to catch up on sleep having just worked the night shift Thursday. So we left him at the house while the rest of us went to Monterey for a bike ride. The last time I rode a bike for any length of time I was probably in my teens. I was nervous that I would fall, or lag way behind because it’s been so long. But it’s true what they say and before long it was like no time had passed. I managed to stay upright the entire 2 hour long ride!

I’m not sure the exact distance we went, but we were all panting and sore by the time we stopped. We found a pub on the ride back and stopped in for appetizers and fuel aka beer.

My in-laws are the cutest. Over 30 years together and still all kissy face.

That night we all walked to downtown Carmel for a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant.

The food was amazing and company excellent. We got to knew Travel Girl’s beau a little bit better. It’s obvious that the two are very much in love and that makes me happy.

After dinner we had to walk off all that food, so we did a little window shopping. I did what I do best and acted like a fool.

We passed right out that night, exhausted from the bike ride. I can’t wait to get a bike of my own someday.  When’s the last time you took a long bike ride somewhere?