the world's largest garage sale

the saddest weekend of the year{closing up the summer house & taking the boat/dock out :( } contains one of the most entertaining days as well: the world's LARGEST garage sale. not to be confused with the world's LONGEST garage sale, thats just plain ol' overwhelming.

it, my friends, is an allll day adventure. you can find any sort of crazy thing your heart desires. and plenty of things to tug at your nostalgic heart-strings. and sooo many VHS tapes and beanie babies!

 in order to give us some structure to our wandering, we came up with a scavenger hunt list:

• an item of clothing with a kitten on it
• something electronic that is very outdated
• something never opened
• something you played with as a child
• a frog made of metal {the flower arranging kind}
• an item proclaiming someone is #1
• an album or 8track
• a souvenir from somewhere you would never get a souvenir from
• a character glass from a fast food restaurant
• a stuffed/formerly alive animal
• a brooch
• something you cant identify

we thought a kitten dream catcher was way cooler than a kitten tshirt//i feel owl and fish frogs are ironic//pennants and gilded plates from nowheres-ville//drinking glasses with EVERY character imaginable//so many stuffed animals {of both varieties}//figured out the rolling pin contraption is for making ravioli//i always end up with things on my head//parmesan tater-tots, pulled pork and coleslaw, yummmmmm!

we were so overwhelmed by alllll of the treasures that we didn't track our scavenger hunt finds very well. and being without my phone/camera, greg only captured a fraction of the awesomeness there. but i can guaran-effin-tee that there were all of those things and then some.

around here: october 2013

 

beautiful fall runs // peanut butter m&m's are my version of crack(and part of the reason i run) // the fiance can make a mean breakfast sandwich // being touristy in my own town with the in-laws // working on some fancy things // lunch cruise at work

october love, love, love!

1} my fav pumpkin spice coffee: Green Mountain Coffee
2} the Tigers had one hell of a run this year
3} OPI Wooden Shoe Like to Know ;)
4} fall=tall boot time
5} trying new dairy-free optitions: SO Delicious Greek Style

currently: October 2013

wearing tall boots and short skirts

refreshed by crisp fall mornings

missing sunshine early in the morning

drinking awesome coffee

designing an purdy party dress

thinking about a new 'do

thankful for my easy on the brain full-time job

loving my finance

dreaming about our future

taking more photos

happy to have my new iPhone

printing future calendar pages

listening to dave and chuck the freak 

shopping for Christmas

recovering from busy weekends

it's Halloween time again!

Hocus Pocus is one of my allllllll time favorite movies! ever. of them all. i remember recording it off of the tv as a kid and watching it over and over. even the part where someone stepped on the remote and we started recording a hockey game for a while instead.

so here are some things you probably didn't know about The Best Halloween Movie of All Time, and why it's the best, courtesy of BuzzFeed.

ps, what's your favorite Halloween movie?

october goals-mid month update

check out the original post here.

>slightly behind with the running, mileage-wise, but i feel like i've turned a corner with the effort this week.   now that it feels easier i need to push harder, especially my *long* runs. i have also been running after work, and getting my butt out there after i'm tired and cranky is hard.  but then i feel better too, wooohooo! ended the month with 22.3 miles and only 2 missed runs, high five me!

>3 blogs/week sounds easy.  3 quality posts/week is pushing it.  i've got a lot of things on my to-do list and i'm trying not to post a bunch of fluf, aka funnies and entertainment. i've also been back dating a lot of posts like this one, booo. so either i need to get it together and post on time, or rethink my goals. update: ended up with 12 posts for this month, missed 3 posts to make my goal

>i've deleted a bunch of outtakes and gathered most of my photos into the same file. update: i got all of my photos into my picassa/google acct and deleted the crappy ones.

> now that i have my new iPhone it's easier to take more photos.  my back up phone had a terrible camera, and it was a bit of a pain using my work phone and greg's THEN getting the pics to my computer. excuses

>slightly behind but still on track for this one.  lots of meetings at work this week, so more driving than i would like.  but i'll just have to push harder. i didn't make it last month, i can't fall short two months in a row. update: only walked 7 times, ugh.

ps, how are your october goals coming?

gluten free, dairy free, pumpkin spice cloud cookies

super easy, super yummy, and pretty healthy{ish..}
you need:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 can pumpkin {plain pumpkin, not pie in a can}
• 1/2 c walnuts or raisins or both or neither
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice OR
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

preheat your oven to 375°F (350°F for dark or nonstick pans)

mix the dry ingredients together first so your nuts/raisins won't sink to the bottom of the cookies. THEN add your pumpkin.

spoon onto your lightly greased cookie sheet. try to keep 'em smooth because they won't melt down.

bake for 10-13 minutes

yummmmmm!

ps, what's your fav fall recipe?

around here....

this month has been about planning, being active, excessive amounts of coffee and peanut butter {and drinking coffee out of peanut butter jars}, and busting out the fuzzy socks.

my favorite running season!

the smell of fresh cut grass AND the crunch of fallen leaves....oh running in the fall. AND i'm not a sweaty mess either, love, love, love!

one problem year round though, is getting my gps watch to connect. usually i start it up as i'm leaving the house and sometimes it's connected by the time i'm done warming up.... sometimes i end up standing on the corner, waiving my arm in the air, looking like a goober. so here are some handy-dandy tips to get you connected a lil easier.

i'm sure living in a crowded area and riiight next to a super busy highway (hello Massachusetts Turnpike) have something to do with it. hint, hint, i'm ready to move out of the city so i can wander the woods again ;) oh nature, how i miss you!

but on a side note, as i was swapping out my summer running stuff for the winter :( i had a bit of a realization.....
most of my running t-shirts consist of either booze or makeup related things....hummmm, about that...

ps, what's your favorite thing to do in the fall?

the best seam ripper of all time....an xacto knife!

i've never been all that great with traditional seam rippers. having the sharpest part of the blade allll the way at the back is bad news for me and my fabric. usually it's because i get the pointy end stuck in the nice part of my fabric, and rip it. or i start sliding through the stitches and the fabric catches in the blade and i slice my pretty fabric instead of the stitches. basically i'm a disaster with a regular seam ripper.

so as crazy as it sounds, using something sharper{caution! i'm not lying, it's sharp!!} actually works better for me: an xacto knife!

 

you can {carefully} use the sharp, pointy blade to get yourself started or pick apart top-stitching. it's awesome for opening up buttonholes too! just make sure to use the straight pin trick ;)

but for regular rippin' of stitches, i love, love, love the rounded blade. you can glide between the layers without the pointy end getting caught on your fabric.

just lay the larger part of your item on your leg or work surface, and using the hand holding the knife, sandwich the fabric between the side of your palm and work surface/leg. then use your free hand to pull the other half/smaller side away, and voila! look at all those stitches to slice!

my favorite handle to use is the orange one shown above, made by fiskars. you just slip your pointer finger through the loop and press down. no more hand cramps from holding a regular, skinny handle. it also comes with a great blade cover and won't roll off your table!

ps, what is your favorite sewing/craft tool?