My love of concerts and what has changed

This week we got the rare opportunity to hang out with adults at a concert of one of our favorite musicians Sufjan Stevens.


As you can see they had a huge band. It was kinda unlike any concert I've ever been too, possibly because they were all dancing around like crazy people during one song that lasted 30+ minutes.


It was great to go out with Scott. It was also fun to see our friends and just be grown ups for a little while.

Going to this concert made me think of the possibly one hundred (surprised? but its true) of concerts that I have gone to. My very first concert was ten years ago almost exactly. I was laughing to myself at how different this concert was and how much I have changed. Here is a quick list of the most stark contrasts:
1. I used to go to a concert, or "show" as we would call it, about once a week. Now it is once a year, if we are lucky.
2. I would go to a show have a blast and that was just the beginning of the night. This concert started at 8 pm and I was tired.
3. It used to be the louder the better but this time my ears were definitely blown out at by the end of the night.
4. My friends and I would jump around and go crazy at concerts. Now I was so thankful there were seats and that everyone basically sat for most of the concert. I was grumpy when the people would not sit down.
5. How much my music tastes have changed. I would have never listened to Sufjan in high school. Now when I hear my high school music, it is kinda nostalgic but I question how I loved it so much (not all of it but some)
6. We used to go and hope to meet cute boys. This time I got to enjoy an awesome night with my best friend.
It's weird how you don't realize that you are growing up until you have a reason to look at the way "things use to be". I always think of myself as that same high school or college girl, but when it comes down to it I'm not. And I am ok with that.

There's A Party in My Tummy!

That is a clue about our Halloween costumes, and we also sing it at our house constantly.

Halloween finally arrived and boy was I so relieved when it was over.


Since Olive (or is it Scott?) is obsessed with the show Yo Gabba Gabba we decided to all be different characters. Olive was Tootee, I was Foofa, and Scott was DJ Lance (and yes, our costumes are extremely homemade). I will say that almost no one knew what we were. If you haven't seen the show we made absolutely no sense. I loved my costume because it was warm and comfy, Olive hated her costume because it was basically the exact opposite. But I wasn't necessarily thinking of comfort when I was making it. I thought it turned out pretty darn cute though. Too bad she wouldn't wear it for more than 5 minutes, but I don't really blame her.


We met up with our cousins to do some trick or treating.

I think Olive liked it other than her cumbersome costume and how much walking was involved. So I guess the only part she loved was the candy which she has since forgotten about.



For as much fun as Halloween was, it was a bit traumatic. First I was stressed because I was in charge of our Trunk or Treat that was also that evening. While we were out trick or treating Olive twisted her ankle while walking and was very upset. Then it started to down pour on us as we were running back to the car and she got soaked. BTW, did anyone else eat more chili in the last few weeks then in the entire previous year? I am seriously chilied out....until next Halloween! Finally:

I think our crazy pumpkins turned out to be perfect jack o' lanterns, just as I predicted. We decided that crazy faces would fit better so that is why mine (in the middle) has a weird droopy eye. Olive wasn't too dazzled about carving pumpkins and just wanted to keep scraping out the insides.

Our Pumpkins

I am quite proud that we grew our own pumpkins this year. Only two grew from the gigantic plants, but at least that's something.

Because they are home grown they are not the most beautiful pumpkins. In fact they are definitely odd looking. They are not as orange as the picture is making them. Actually they are quite yellow. They have lots of dents and warts and weird imperfections. But I like them anyway.

Due to their lack of beauty, I think they will make good jack o' lanterns. I am excited to carve them tomorrow!

They may be crazy (looking) pumpkins, but they're our pumpkins!

I Might Have a Problem

I am obsessed with sweaters. This has been going on for a long, long time. It is very dangerous for me to go to any stores right now because I find it impossible to pass by the sweaters. I have always been a very cold blooded person so sweaters have been my savior. Not to mention cardigans (for so many reasons like layering, and that they are removable if you get too hot). I blame You've Got Mail for my love of cardigans. I remember watching that show and loving the wardrobe. I wanted to dress like Kathleen Kelly when I grew up. And now that I think about, I am pretty sure I basically do!

This is my entire collection (except the one I am wearing) which totals 22. Is that out of control? I think not. But then when I consider that it doesn't include my sweatshirts or coats (which I have a load of those as well) I think it might be bordering on "time to seek help".

I have sweaters and cardi's of all kinds. With beads or fancy buttons to comfy and casual. Now I am realizing that I definitely lean towards blacks and greys. I mean, I have 6 grey sweaters. But I swear they are all different. I need every one of them!

This is not the best angle but 20 bucks to anyone who can find my practically identical sweaters in the stack. ( I mean they are seriously almost the same sweaters. But there might be more than one pair!)

Well, there you have it. I have come clean. I have a sweater problem!

Is it Halloween yet?

I mean seriously! We take this holiday pretty seriously around here but it seems like it is taking forever to be actual Halloween. Maybe it is because we have already done so many Halloween themed activities. So far we have thrown a Halloween party, gone to the Haunted Aquarium, a Pumpkin Story time, a Trunk or Treat, a family Halloween party, Wheeler Farm Fall festival, and the Little Spooks trick or treating (and that is not counting our activities this week). I guess Halloween starts taking over all of October!

Well, here is one of our many Halloween activities (some are better documented than others).

We met up with some friends at This is the Place for their Little Spooks activity and it was so much fun. Here the kids are checking out each others costumes.

This is what they did when I said "Say Cheese!"

I don't know why this picture cracks me up but I love her pose to show off her cowgirl costume.

Then it was time to trick or treat. Olive now loves trick or treating and walks around the house with her pumpkin saying it all day long.

She was fascinated by the friendly witch telling stories and singing Witches Brew. I have loved teaching Olive Halloween songs this year.

She was very patient at getting her face painted. I think it made her feel fancy.

My little cowgirl!

They had pony rides going. I was nervous to even take Olive by the ponies because I knew she would want to ride it, and then hate it while she was one the pony. After waiting in line I was just sure it was going to be a crying disaster but she proved me wrong. She sat on that pony with all the confidence in the world and yelled "Giddy up!" Maybe she is a real cowgirl at heart.


We went to visit the animals in the petting zoo. The animals that were moving made her nervous (I think it was also because some kids were chasing the sheep around)

But she really liked the animals that were staying still and laying down.

We finished the whole day off with a fun train ride around the park. It is so much fun to take Olive to do these things now that she is old enough to enjoy them. I sometimes miss my little baby, but I am loving having a 2 year old!

P.S. Sorry for the delay in blogging. I was crazy busy getting ready for the Halloween party we had on Friday (which I didn't take a single picture at!) and then yesterday I had some serious dental work done that kinda knocked me out. But I can tell that you all really missed me, and did not think that our home office was extremely boring!

Our Home Office

I thought that since I showed off "my" workspace last week that I should document the actual cool, finished, and highly functional home office we have.

This room went through a huge makeover from the previous owner (what room haven't I said that about?). I have before pics but I'm can't find them. So just imagine lots (seriously lots) of wood paneling, yellow everything, bright orange spray paint inside the cubbies, and creepy red spiders in every corner. The room seriously freaked me out in its original condition. I didn't like being down there. But now with new everything it feels fresh and clean. The perfect work environment.

Which is good because Scott uses this as his home office so that means recently it has gotten A LOT more use. You can see some of Scott's bridal prints in this photo. He has seriously been working his booty off for all of his weddings. It is especially nice that he has a place to go work in peace and quiet to focus. Sometimes I forget that he is working down there which means I actually leave him alone!

Because our house has a shelf basement the office has a great shelf that runs the length of the room. It is perfect for displaying various items.

They also made the other side into display cubbies/shelf things. If there is one thing this office has, it is storage! I was nervous though because all the storage was "display" storage and not where I could just put things away and close the doors. But thankfully...

Scott gets lots of cool, collectible antiques and things from his parents and now we actually have a good place to put them all out (with his micro machine toys he kept from when he was little). What more do you need for decoration?

It has begun

I went downstairs today to find Olive. I had send her down to get daddy and she never came back. This is how I found them:

I know Scott has been waiting 2 years and 9 months for this day. He must think that training her early to play video games will give him someone to actually play with.

Apparently she is a natural.

She thinks it is very cool and funny, well, she thinks that about her dad but it might apply to games also.

That is some cute daddy daughter time! I think there are years to come of this.