fall colors warm the soul

So this weekend was great! We fit a lot in, but it was relaxing too. The perfect kind of weekend, really.

Friday we got in the holiday spirit by carving our two HUGE pumpkins. Here they are pre-carving... taking up our whole sink:

Pulling out the guts:

We got a lot of guts from them!

And so so so many seeds!!!

We roasted up the seeds, which is a quick easy process... and they are so good! Just seperate them from the guts, rinse them off, and let them dry for a few hours. Then coat them with a touch of olive oil, a healthy sprinkling of salt, and pop them in the 250* oven for about an hour (or until crisp and starting to brown). So good!!

We had trouble figuring out what to carve for a while, but finally settled on a support ribbon (which we planned to put pink tissue paper/vellum behind so it would glow pink!):

And pumpkin jack! from Nightmare Before Christmas... one of Trav's favorites:

We were pretty pleased with ourselves!


Saturday we worked on the guest bedroom all day. It was a good day for it since, while it was actually pretty warm out... it was also raining off and on all day, with these ridiculous winds to boot! It was gusting so hard, I was actually starting to get worried that we'd loose our power (thankfully we did not). In any case, Trav finished switching out the outlets, and putting on all the outlet plates, and I did the light switch plate... which was customizable!

We also started working on the wainscoting:

We got all the baseboards up:

So hopefully this coming weekend, since we have no plans... we'll be able to finish off the wainscoting!

That evening we headed over to our friends Brian & Stacey's place for dinner and socializing. Its been a while since we've seen them, and it was really nice to get to catch up and see how big their son is getting.

Sunday I headed up towards Lehigh to see my old roomie Megan (who is married to another old roomie, Mike). The drive up was beautiful! It was beautiful and sunny, and the leaves are all changing now, so it was a perfect fall day. They live in a pretty small town now, so it was quaint and full of trees, which I love. It really picked me up! I got to see their house for the first time (very nice), and we went out to lunch. It was great to catch up with her also.

It seems to get harder and harder to find the time to visit people as the time passes. We're all so busy and much more spread out. But this weekend was a great time for catching up!

Now its back to work... in this last week of October. I can't believe its already the end of what is probably my favorite month.

Well, that's really all for now... I have a busy work day ahead of me and need to get back to it. But, before I go... just a few more 3-day pictures (from Kate).

One of our awesome safety volunteers/crossing guards:

The line of walkers stretching ahead... and there was an equal line behind us!

Heading out, day two:

Holding up a shoe during closing ceremonies, in honor of the survivors:

Kate and my hands... this is a great shot:


Okay, that's all of that... and I'm going to run now, but I'll leave you with this. I couldn't not show you a new trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!


Tata!