;) Wink emoticon.

I carved the Carlock pumpkin last night at our neighbor's house. I used a pumpkin carving kit for the first time EVAR and picked the ";) wink emoticon" from the book of carving choices.

****For the record, every pumpkin being carved from now until the end of time will require the $4 kit from the store. How easy and fun! I'm not kidding.***

Our lovely neighbors Max and Chris let me borrow their carving tools and off I went...carving away. I felt bad that I was working late and I wasn't going to bring our pumpkin because I was exhausted, but decided to at the last minute, and I'm glad I did. It ended up being very satisfying.

And my "wink" turned out so neat. I'll have to post a pic.

So far it's been a busy week! Jason and I attended a Baby Care Class with C at Inova Hospital on Monday. We learned some basic baby care skills - most of which I recall from my years of babysitting. Our preggers friend C sponsored our ticket to the 3 hour class so she didn't have to go alone. We have been helping C out here and there along the way during her pregnacy and this class was one of the highlights. The class was very real! It covered everything from swaddling to SIDS to when to call the doctor. I think she enjoyed that we were there. She's been nervous and put on home rest for this last week and we're just glad to help her out if we can. That's what friends do, right?

Our on-call duties have been relieved for now though - C's mom is in town now. She took the train down from NY and is here for the arrival of C's baby. Today, C was admitted to the hospital to be induced. Her appointment was at 7:30am, so she may have the baby today. We're standing by!

While we're waiting on C Jr. to arrive, I will be figuring out my Halloween costume. For some odd reason, we have two Halloween parties to attend and I actually want to go to them. What should I be?

Hey, new couple: Two to a treadmill.

I was inspired to write this post after reading my friend N's post while eating lunch at my desk. Her morning run story reminded me of my morning runs, which occur a minimum of 4 out of the 5 weekdays - in our condo gym. Nothing fancy, just a treadmill, the sunrise and me. ( I aspire to one day be as calculated with the miles and times as N (go N!), but for now I just monitor my heart rate and sweat a lot.)

Early in the morning, I'm usually the only one there. Exept for one other girl and the occasional straggler, I spend my time alone in the gym. No one seems to be on my schedule - which is fine by me - because when I'm pushing myself doing intervals I tend to cough if my heart rate gets too high, and people end up thinking something is wrong with me.

So, last Friday it must have been "gym day" as the lady with the cane showed up (who likes to ride the bike in the dark and asked me to keep the lights off...we finally came to a one light on one light off decision) and then this new couple which have proved to be a bit annoying. So on Friday the new couple occupied the two available treadmills in the condo gym. No biggie, I made a b-line for the elliptical with the thought that my legs were tired anyway (and I usually go for the elliptical on Friday's anyway.) However - as I pumped away I noticed that both people were just walking very slow! THE WHOLE TIME.

A few days pass, and they arrive together on Tuesday morning. But this time, I'm on a treadmill. I noticed their body language and they were clearly not happy with the fact that I was using one of the machines. I couldn't really see, but from glancing over at them I swear I saw some eye rolling - "really?" I thought, "I am pretty sure it's first come first serve." So, I just ignored them and kept running. Today, they came in again. Thankfully, I was a few minutes away from finishing my run - so I didn't disrupt their workout or should I say their walk. I will be monitoring this situation and hope that it doesn't present an issue for the winter months ahead. No doubt some people will move their workouts indoors, so maybe this is the case. If so, I will deal, I guess.

But for now - ALL I'M SAYING IS (and sorry for shouting) - if you're gonna hog both treadmills and just *walk* - then it's two to a treadmill!

Sync up people, you're new!

The chips are here!

You know - THE chips. The one's you cart back from Chicago everytime you visit--no matter what.

Golden crunchy triangles of joy. Yes, those.

El Ranchero Tortilla Chips!

Some of you Illinoians perhaps take these chips for granted as you walk down the snack isle at your local Jewel/Osco. You may in fact give no thought to them at all when you toss them in your grocery cart, however for the deprived east-coast-mid-westerners...each bag and each bite is treasured.

Almost rivaling the mid-west pizza cut in squares, these chips can be dipped or just eaten plain and they are wonderfully delicious.

My mouth is watering just writing about them. Who knew that corn, lime, corn oil and salt (the ingredients) could make my heart swoon! I guess it's just that little "taste of home" that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. So, here's to you Illionois! I love your chips!

So, how did I come in posession of said cheeps? As the story goes, last week my friend P told me he was going to fly to Chicago over the weekend to drive back his new car -so he asked if I needed anything from the Jewel. "Why yes, " I replied, "depending on trunk space, a bag of El Ranchero tortilla chips...two bags if you have room!" P said, "sure, no problem."

So, today, P drove to work in his new car and brought with him a grocery bag from Dominick's - fresh from Libertyville, IL - with two bags of chips for me. Oh, you should have seen my face.

Pave the Way

I've been dreaming of going to an apple orchard to pick apples. Maybe I can talk Jason into going to one next weekend. I just imagine the crisp fall air and the crisp apples and the long day-dreaming drive. I know Jason would say, "we have apples from the grocery store already." But, I think it's just the thing I need this fall. (We've never gone before.) And even though I have these dreams of jetting off somewhere applely, I feel like we can't travel too far - because our pregnant friend C is nearly due, and she could call at any minute. We're her ride for evenings and weekends and I'd feel pretty bad if we weren't there. So, that might be a null plan. I really do want to go though. I helped C on Saturday with her baby shower cards and we went through some donated clothes. There was a bag of "sketchy" clothes that didn't make the cut. But, many were keepers.

Speaking of crisp fall air...it was chilly this morning! Leia and I went out around 6:30am an whoooohooo, it was cold. There was ice crystals on all the blades of grass and Leia crunched down the path without a care, she didn't seem to mind. When we got in I dryed her feet off and tried to toast them up with the towel. I think she appreciated it. I was working on her pink coat last night, and even though I don't like the finishing stitch for the colar, it's almost done. I just have to sew on the belt.

*Sew speak for Mom: you'd be proud, I did all the bias and it looks pretty good! I may try to cover that finishing stitch with some fabric like the red one had. Or just put those two buttons on it and go with that. Do you have an opinion?

The city is paving all the streets around our house this week. It's gonna look brand new!

Waiting game.

I've been waiting and waiting and waiting to find out what the deal is with my job. It's day 2 of the 12th week since the merger talks were confirmed between Sirius and XM and all of us in programming have been wondering what will happen. I believe information is coming this week. Now, I'm not sure what i thougth was going to happen (I did dream they'd make a big XM cake and say goodbye to everyone - thanking them for their dedication.) But, now I have this feeling it will all go down with little grace and plenty of shock. So, I wait.

The thing is, we've been a passionate music loving family of programmers for 7 years - this ain't your corporate 9-5 desk job. People pour their heart and soul in to creating the perfect playlists and catering to the talented musicians who walk the halls of XM each week. We don't sit in corporate cubes, we have studios, and we talk to millions of people and turn them on to their favorite music. Daily. It's a pretty all-consuming job. Most of us don't have a life outside of this place and many (like me) moved half way across the country to be here. So, my question is...will they factor in all of this when they give the news this week? I can only hope.

Soothing Leavetaking

My new favorite album is from singer/songwriter Peter Bradley Adams (one 1/2 of the duo Eastmountainsouth - which is great too.)

His new album Leavetaking came out recently and I am really enjoying it.

Click here to sample it yourself!