a little bit of me.

{trick or treat}

Trick or Treat...  Gimme somethin' good to eat...  If he could talk, Toby would've been saying this all afternoon, as I fed him pup-a-roni to get this shot.  Gotta love dog costumes :)  Hope everyone has a safe & happy halloween!

{happy}

New Scrapbooking Product just plain makes me HAPPY.  The UPS man just brought me a HUGE box of American Crafts product and I was absolutely giddy opening it up and setting it all out in my living room to admire.  Its moments like this that I realize just how lucky I am to be doing something that I love, every day :) 

Also {happy} to report that my parents regained power in their home yesterday.  The said that only about 1% of Broward County (in between Dade Cty and Palm Beach Cty) has power back.  They pretty much won the electricity lottery.

My sister and her hubby have temporarily relocated to her hubby's family's vacation home further north in florida, while they wait for their power to be turned back on.

And Eric's parents are roughing it with a borrowed generator from their neighbor.

{wilma}

My parents, sister & BIL, and Eric's parents were all directly in the path of hurricane wilma today.  Scary stuff.  I spoke to them off and on all day.  Everyone is OK and safe, but a tree fell through eric's parents living room window, and every palm tree in their backyard uprooted and subsequently crushed their screened in patio/pool.  My parents' had a window blow out, which isn't so horrible considering that their neighbors lost their entire roof.  And my sister (Kristi) called while the eye of the storm was passing over their area - she said that it was the craziest thing...  felt like a calm, normal day...  and then an hour later, when the eye passed, the hurricane resumed.  Currently - they - along with 6 million other people are without power.  My parents lost their phone lines as well.  And this was only a category 3 storm...

Ok - since I don't want this post to be too depressing -- here's a photo that I snapped today...  Toby with our little pumpkin family that we picked up over the weekend:

{quotes}

Brought my parents to the airport Monday morning - they had such a fun time...  And since then I have been incredibly busy.  While working on project after project, I often begin to get scared that I'll run into a creativity drought.  It happens.  Continually being innovative and unique and fresh is really quite difficult.  Randomly enough, I found this quote the other day (while looking for another quote):

"The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get the old ones out.  Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture.  Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it."   - Dee Hock

I love the message behind this.  Makes perfect sense.  Now have it taped up on my scrapdesk.  Thank you Dee Hock - whoever you are.

{Fall}

Fall is here:

And so are my Parents!  They flew in to MN from South Florida, on Thursday afternoon, just in time to see the trees turn gorgeous shades of warm autumn colors.  Growing up in Ft Lauderdale there was no such thing as an actual "Fall" season.  There, Fall was defined by the start of the football season, and the start of the school year, and that was about it.  Love having all the elements of autumn surrounding us here.  While I know that it means winter is close -- it's still just so enjoyable -- and I think, slowly becoming my favorite season.  Last year, in philly, I made my first trip (ever) to an actual pumpkin-picking farm.  That experience, even at 26, was priceless...

Tomorrow, we're returning to the apple farm (see post from about 2 weeks ago)...  the famous apple donuts will be sampled by all... and then we will make our way to a pick-your-own pumpkin farm.  :)  FUN stuff!

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PS - Fall photo snapped today - around the block from my house.

{catching-up}

Spent the weekend in New Jersey for Eric's cousin's wedding.  The wedding was absolutely gorgeous, however you would never know that from my photos...  I opted to take along my (old) point-n-shoot digi camera (because it fit very nicely in my purse), which apparently has decided to only focus when it feels like it.  Anyhoo - we had a blast, flew in and out of Philly...  good to be in Center City again.  Remembered just how much I miss it, and yet at the same time understood exactly how much I love where we are right now, at this point in our lives in MN.

Highlights of the weekend:

#1 - Fried Oreos.  You would think gross -- until you try them.  Definitely not gross...  more like indulgently-sinfull.  (yummmmmmmmmmm)  Believe it or not, they were served at the wedding.  Kind of like a delicacy.  :)

#2 - Seeing Eric's whole family together.  We haven't all been together since our wedding almost 4 1/2 years ago.  Too long.

#3 - Having lunch at Cosi in Philly - they make yummy, yummy salads that involve fruit, nuts, and cheese...  AND they make their own cosi bread - miss that place.

Ate way too much, and I think that I have to put myself on food-detox this week.  Good thing i picked up a pesky little cold on the plane...  it's taken away most of my appetite.  :)  Today was spent catching up on emails and things around the house...  I have a feeling that it's going to be a busy week...

**********************************

a few photos from the weekend - mainly the bride and groom (leslie & david) and family:

{photos}

The ammmmmmmmmmmmmazing Nisa Fiin, of Shooting Stars Portraits in St. Paul, took some photos of me yesterday, in my pursuit for a headshot for MM (they've requested one).  I absolutely LOVE all of them, buttttttt this (by far) was my fave:

Isn't she the best?!?!?  Unfortunately, MM has told me that this is a little "too close of a crop", and that they need something a little more spacious - so I have to decide on another...  Decisions, Decisions!  And we all know that I am horrible with Decisions...

Other than that - still working (part-time)...  Finished a few layouts this weekend for the Queen & Co Booth at Memory Trends - love, LOVE their new papers and embellies...  and those "Big Brads"....  YUM!  And...  scored a pack of SEI's new puffalicious stickers - total retro 80's cool...  yep thats right, Kelly - I've got the puffy's...  you know you want them....  (Kelly and I totally drooled over these stickers at CHA)...  Now to resist hoarding them, and actually use them on something - SOON!

{weekend-in-review}

Had a super-fun-filled weekend (other than the Gators losing, but we won't talk about that...).  Eric and I spent the afternoon today picking apples at a local orchard.  There were fabulous photos ops, and I did not disappoint my 1.0GB compact card - almost filling it with 177 photos.  The apple orchard was complete with a rustic barn that served every type of apple derivative imaginable...  Candy Apples (brought one home with me), Apple muffins, Apple pie, Apple cider, Apple jam and butter, Apple oatmeal cookies, Apple crisp, and the new WEINROTH FAVORITE OF MINNESOTA...............  APPLE DONUTS.  Unbelievably amazing.  After ordering just one to sample, and us each having a taste, Eric promptly returned to the counter and ordered 6 more.  Yummmmmmmmm.  Breakfast tomorrow.  :)  For years, Eric has told me about the donuts he remembered eating as a child/teen at Dreesens - an East Hampton (NY) bakery/donut shop/legendary-institution-in-the-mind-of-my-hubby.  He compares these as a close second, which makes me want to take a trip back East to the Hamptons, just for the donuts alone.

Saturday morning was spent at a photography class that the fabulous Sue Thomas told me about.  Turns out that we will be photographing "Fall in Minnesota" over the next month, and that in order to do that, I needed a polarizing filter for my camera lens.  Amazing what you can learn in just one class.  I love the effects/filtration of the polarizing filter - noticed such a difference in my shots just today.  Why didn't I know this before?  Hoping to also (potentially) learn how to turn my camera to that scary "M" manual mode.... Just Hoping....

Shoutout to my Dad...  Who turns another year older today (we'll just leave out the number, hmmm).  Hope you had a great Birthday!!! :)

And I'll wrap this up with a photo of the now infamous donuts....  Drooling at the thought of them...  We will be making MANY return visits... :)