Last night consisted of a full-fledged spider factory for my entry in the baking contest for my work Halloween party. They are chocolate macaroon bodies with chocolate covered pretzel legs! Petty time-intensive, but thanks to the help of Russ, I got them done and won SECOND PLACE out of about 15 entries!

Recipe found HERE [Oh, and I used M&M's for eyes]

Great husband, eh? Oh, and I apologize for the poor picture quality...

The infamous Halloween decorating contest at work. (See previous post about the party planning committee). Well our hallway turned out fantastic, in fact it looks like I work in a haunted house. Spiders drop from the ceiling, there is scary music in the background, cobwebs, bloody fingers, bones, etc. As expected, my team went a little overboard, but we won! Here's a snapshot of one wall:

Not your everyday accounting firm, eh? I feel like my work could really be "the Office." Either way, this is a haunted forest.

Tonight we are going out with some friends for dinner and to see THIS at Sea World.
And tomorrow we have an official Halloween party to attend! For as much as Halloween is NOT my favorite holiday to celebrate, this is looking like it'll be a great weekend.

Hope you all have a very
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Mail from a little country called Japan

I got a letter from my brother who's serving a mission for our church in Japan. It made my day/week/month. It's pretty funny how he can say something for the sake of saying something, without knowing how much it applies to MY life, right here, right now. Good ol' inspiration, I guess.

Jace with his trusty bike, Kevin.

We have come so far. "We" as in my family. We have all been learning valuable life lessons--some hard, some not so much. But either way, we are all growing. To quote my wise little brother:

"I love hearing about you and B and thinking about where I am. We are all over the world now! Doing completely different things, all with incredibly different facets and details involved, yet with all of the different lessons yielding the same result, and that is helping us become like our Savior. So cool."

So cool indeed, my brother.

So here's to life.
Here's to growing, learning, struggling.
Here's to taking on new adventures.
And here's to remembering how blessed we are to be in a world sorrounded by those people we love.

Don't Mess With the Party Planning Committee

I somehow got roped into being on the party planning committee here at my work.

I want out. I don't like staying after work decorating the hall with garbage bags and construction paper to make a "haunted forest" just so we can beat the audit team.

Honestly? I could care less who wins the competition.

But I'm kind of scared of speaking up. After all, I am the new girl, and something like this might happen:

Don't Let Me Down

Tuesday night we saw Rain.

They were incredible.

A few times throughout the night I closed my eyes and I felt like my wildest dreams had finally come true. And by wildest dreams I mean seeing the Beatles perform live. But alas, that is impossible, as two of the "fab four" have passed on. Someday, my friends, someday.

Either way, watching as a group of 4 random guys perform a decade span of music in honor of one of the greatest bands of all time gave me chills. It was amazing to see how nearly 3 generations of people were so influenced by one single band.

Everyone was dancing. Everyone was singing. Everyone was on their feet.

I didn't think it was possible, but seeing "Rain" and the influence the music had upon the whole theater (upon the whole city, actually, as this band has sold out the Majestic Theater for 6 nights straight) has made me fall even more in love with the Beatles than before.

The music is so nostalgic, so inspiring, so timeless.

{Image found here}

Doesn't this picture just make you want to be their friend??

Dirty Maggie

One of my older sister's many attributes that I admire is her ability to be assertive, or in other words, to not let people walk all over her. I, on the other hand, have been known to do just that (and HERE, my friends, is a perfect example). Examples like mean-0 Sally have made me want to be more assertive, to take action to the situations that present themselves in my life.

I have been dreadfully neglectful to my dear Toyota Camry (who is named Maggie), and she has built up a pretty good layer of dirt. This morning I left for work a tad earlier than usual and decided it was time to pamper her by even buying the "expensive" Valero Super Wash ($8... blech). After pulling out of the wash, I got out to dry off the last water droplets. After wiping the car for a minute or so I notice Maggie is no longer covered in dirt, but more of a muddy film. The car wash did NOT clean off the dirt, it merely got it wet! Initially I thought "oh well... there goes eight bucks. I'll just have to go somewhere else next time." And then I remembered the story about Sally and my sister's comment under the post. It's time to take action.

I marched (but really, it was more like a walk) into the gas station and demanded my money back (but really, I just nicely told the man the car wash did not clean my car off all the way). He kind of laughed and gave me a receipt with a code to go through the car wash again. OK, not really what I wanted (I wanted my $8 back), but hey, you can't push the envelope. So I went through the car wash again, and this time I just pulled out without going through the dryer part and wiped the whole car down myself. So really, I guess I cleaned my own car, and it kind of just looks filmy, and it made me 15 minutes late for work. But hey, I was assertive.

Fried butter?!?

Texas is known for a lot of things: a lone-starred flag, the size, football, barbecues, and a lot of state pride. Well Texas is now also famous for it's variety of terribly disgusting foods. In an article (found here) by Nancy Howard, she quotes:

"As many of you know, I live in the great state of Texas. However September is the one time of year I am almost embarrassed to say where I am from... Why September, you may ask? This is when the great State Fair of Texas opens the gates to some of the wackiest and most processed foods one will ever come across.This year's entries include of all things deep fried butter, deep fried pecan pie, deep fried peaches and cream, and deep fried peanut butter cup macaroons. And this is no joke. Many foods that are now commonly found at state fairs around the country have their humble beginnings in Texas.

Many of us are fully aware of fried Twinkies, fried Snickers, and fried OREOS. But have you ever heard of a fried banana split, Texas fried Cookie dough and yes, even fried Coke? And if you are curious as to how one fries Coke--it is actually a Coke-flavored dough that is deep fried and smothered in a Coke-flavored syrup, topped whipped cream and cinnamon, all for a whopping 830 calories, or the equivalent of me having to run well over 8 miles just to burn off the calories."

Oh Texas, what a lovely state. I am so proud to claim this as MY state. Although, I will admit that I am quite curious what this whole "fried Coke" thing is about... oh dang. I think I need another session of D.C.A. (Diet Cokes Anonymous).

Would any of you be willing to try these lovely fried delicacies??

Diet Cokes Anonymous -- Session 2

For you "Writings on the Wall" readers who have been with me since the "La Di Da" days, you will know that I have a history of being shamelessly addicted to Diet Coke. [You can read about my coming out here]. Well I thought I would keep you informed of my status.

I am proud to say that I no longer need my 44 oz. daily fountain drink. This is huge, people. Almost every day this last summer I stopped by the local 7-11 and filled up my 44 oz. mug. Yeah, serious addict.

No, I am not completely off the juice yet, but I have limited myself to a can a day. Both Russ and I are quite proud of this progress, so for those of you still snickering and thinking to yourself "she's fooling herself--she's still addicted," just allow me to revel in my achievements via this post.

Thank you.

[Note: I still hold claim to the fact that a fountain drink is much better, and I do indulge in the fountain Diet Coke when we occasionally go out to eat, and yes, I still, and probably will always, love Diet Coke a lot].

Celebrating the Arts

New discovery: I NOW LIVE FOR THE WEEKENDS. Russ and I try to make the most of the time we don't have to spend sitting in front of a computer. This weekend we definitely made the most of it.

Saturday was my favorite.

We woke up, exercised for like 25 minutes (hey, it was a Saturday...) and then made up for it by eating a fantastic french toast breakfast with real french bread. All french toast fans know that french bread is the secret to good french toast. Russ also surprised me with the perfect fall treat-- a pumpkin spice steamer from Starbucks. Seriously amazing.

In the afternoon we went downtown to "Chalk It Up," a fun little event where local artists in the area come and display their talent on the streets of San Antonio in chalk. It was fun to walk around and smell the kettle corn and tacos. While walking around, we passed the Majestic theater, an impressive historic theater in downtown that was advertising for that night's Symphony -- Beethoven's 7th.

Obviously, we came back that evening to continue celebrating the arts. I LOVE SYMPHONIES. Everything about them--the atmosphere, the culture, getting all fancy and dressed up, and obviously the music. Beethoven's 7th is one of my favorites, specifically the 2nd movement. When that piece was played, I wasn't sure if the chills I got were from the music or the frigid theater... but I'm pretty sure it was music. I realized this weekend that listening to classical music is one of the few times my brain actually stops. My mind is clear, and I am left as the only one in the room listening to the many emotions and thoughts that Beethoven was trying to portray.

Needless to say, Russ and I felt quite cultured after this weekend. Oh how we love to celebrate the arts.

ACL - Camille's Post

Russ was right. ACL was epic! I have been to many DMB concerts, but never have I made eye contact with Mr. Matthews himself. Yes, we made eye contact, and that is because I was on the second row. Absolutely incredible.

Saturday was probably the longest day of my life, considering we got to the stage at 12:30 and were STANDING there till after 10 at night IN THE POURING RAIN. Like not just a drizzle, I'm talking a downpour. I thought my legs were going to fall off, either from exhaustion or being water-logged, or something. But we had to be bold and fight the masses to keep such a wanted spot. At least the eternal wait provided entertainment throughout. Other bands we saw include:

• Alberta Crossing -- cool British band with really long hair and skinny jeans
• Mute Math -- seriously amazing performers, with back flips off pianos and more
• Citizen Cope -- awesome music, chill guy with dreadlocks
• Levon Helm Band -- pretty folky/down south rock, but not bad rock for a 69 year old fron man.
  

Anyway, it was awesome. ACL knows how to do a festival, and as always, Dave knows how to put on a rockin' show.

{DMB4EVR}

ACL - Russ's post

ACL was epic. This was my favorite part.

DMB put on a rockin show. We waited 8 hours in the rain. For this spot.

Yup. This shot comes from my camera phone. Even though I hacked it with the latest Cyanogen rom, it is still just a 3.2 megapixel camera with no zoom on a myTouch 3G. So yes we were on the 2nd row. Needless to say, it was a blast and we had a great time. I will let Camille tell the story, as she is Dave's number one fan.

If you need us tomorrow, this is where we'll be

Domesticity

I've come to terms with a new addiction: finding recipes. Whenever I have spare time at a computer I find myself going to various recipe sites and blogs. I've always enjoyed cooking, but cooking for one during college didn't seem to happen very often. Now that I have someone to test all my food on, I have become obsessed. Today during some down time at work I even made an excel spreadsheet with tabulated categories of all the recipes and their corresponding URLs that I have been finding online and want to try out.

That may have been the line. The line of accounting nerd domesticity.