A picture's worth....a quick weekend review!

I won't be gracing you with any text today because 1) My professors have realized it's past midterm and they have slacked assigning things so they are loading it on... 2) My advisor has taken the "advise" out of advising, which leaves me with much research and 3) we had a busy weekend. So in summary, Whitney and Jay came this weekend and it was MUCH needed for Will and I to spend some time with our good and very missed friends. On Friday we BBQ-ed at Amy and Eric's and they updated us on Waverly gossip...I mean *news. On Saturday we had a quick breakfast...the girls went to a designer sale (Thanks to the research of Jamie, Jay's sister) and then we headed of to of course, join our fellow Iowans to root on an ALMOST win for the Hawkeyes. After such a long day we ended with dinner and a bed. I could go on for about a page with how wonderful it was to see them but the yelling coming from my books is far to loud. Here are some pictures to prove the fun and love we have for Will's long time friend and two of our favorites! Dinner awaits the ladies- Whit and I Between all demanding schedules we rarely get to see Jay's sister and her husband even though they are a few miles away! Between our hawks, Jay, and Whitney we had a three good reasons to get together. Grew up just fine didn't they mamas?

The World Series

The past few days campus has been buzzing with Yankees vs. Phillys talk. I thought Deja Vu was running my life as I kept over hearing excitement for "the big game" everyday. Everday I would convince myself that this WAS the night...the deciding factor of who the victorious team would be. But no, the next day I was still overhearing plans for watching the Yankees vs. Phillys. I went to my husband to get the scoop and he informed me that in the world series the two teams are set up to play SEVEN games. Let me get this straight: The SAME two teams play each other SEVEN times to determine who is better at baseball? WHAT?!?!? I am a little beside myself on the whole process. I now know it's literally a series but don't you think it's a tad extreme? I think the world series boss needs to narrow it down a bit. For this moment of (to be nice to myself) naivety, I thank my parents for not instilling the interest or skill of baseball/sports in me, which has apparently saved me from watching seven games of the same team. Nevertheless, Go Yankees!

Leaf of absence

The grass proved to not be so green on the other side and as we continue on through the months there are few changing leaves, shipped pumpkins, and posers grasping the lack of fall that is present here in the southwest. I really gave the Arizonians a hard time in my mind because they celebrate fall much like the rest of the nation but everything is fake, still in tank tops, and priced with shipping and handling. Now I'm sticking my foot in my mouth as I am one of the south westerners that will not let go of her fall festivity roots. My outlook has turned much positive as I'm giving all of Arizona an A for participation even though their landscaping may be a bit stark compared to the luscious fall of Iowa. We do what we can and enjoy doing so still in our swimmin' suits. Amanda and I thought it was appropriate to indulge in pumpkin carving be it the season. Will made us our first fall fire in our love nest as Amanda and I went to work. We really enjoyed ourselves and Will insisted on keeping the pumpkin seeds to prepare for Jonny's arrival; so he was hard at work with his pumpkin seed recipe. The results of the pumpkins were a success. Amanda went for the always loved traditional and in honor of my french speaking husband I constructed a Frenchmen pumpkin. Ladies and Gentlemen, the results: With Jonny coming for the weekend and a costume party on our list we then had to construct costumes (emphasis on the word construct). Halloween has proved to be a creativity challenge for me and whether it is a success or failure, I do not buy costumes. I feel as though it is cheating and a slap in the face to Halloween. I have no idea how I got this in my head but I'm assuming it's because of the years spent watching my mother make my sister's costumes out of balloons and garbage bags every year. Normally I would have the trusty giant "dress-up clothes" bin awaiting my digging in the coat closet back home but just moving and a childless pair-we don't have such supplies. Going cheap and original I decided to go with dressing as a giant shower loofah. Jonny and Will were quite un-easy with my plan but it turned out quite nicely. Against my philosophy Will and Jonny went with store bought costumes and dressed as an Indian and 80's rock star. Ironically, Will brought more confusions than I because of the mistake of buying a girls wig thought to be a male Indian hair-do upon purchase. I think he was going for some kind of chief but people guessed Pocahontas-oops! Results: The pop star and vampire in this picture are a couple of childhood friends from Waverly. Nicole (pop star) threw an adorable costume party complete with "bloody eye meatballs" and other Halloween hor'doeuvres. With Jonny in for the weekend it made for some extra good luck for the hawkeyes and we couldn't of course miss another defeat. It was wonderful to see Jonny and see my husband all smiles with his little brother. We continue to be blessed with such a supportive tight-knit family and plane tickets seem like pennies when we get to see them. Results: GO Hawks!