In the mood for some Halloween treats?

No tricks, just some treats from my cooking blog:

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treats

Halloween Caramel Corn

Have you cooked up anything fun for the holiday?

Great Costumes

I love dressing up for Halloween but instead of a new costume this year, it was easier to bring out an old favorite. So what did we do instead? Bought costumes for the kitties!

Rocky's a vampire. (Count Von Rocky!)



And Kali's a butterfly.



They're actually being really good sports about the costumes, surprisingly enough. Though, they both have had, "What did you put on me?" moments.

What are you dressing up as for Halloween?

Trick-or-Treat Come Early

If I was going trick-or-treating this weekend, this is what I'd want in my bucket:

Lucky for me, my bucket really does look like that! I did a Halloween swap with my online book club. The directions were to send something to read and a treat to go with it - my swap partner totally spoiled me! Not only did I get all of those books, I got some great candy too.

It's Halloween come early around here!

Photo Flashback: Best Halloween Party Ever!

Two years ago, Mark and I spent Halloween in Disney World. On Halloween, we went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party. I could write a book on how much fun it was, how beautiful the decorations were and how much candy we took home, but my favorite part was this:

The characters dressed up too! Super Pooh was my favorite. Ever.

I love this time of the year!

My favorite time of year is officially here. The first leaked Black Friday ad of the year was released last night.

It’s okay – you can laugh. I won’t mind. Really.

Black Friday shopping started as a way to stretch my broke, college budget but my sister and I have got it down to a science. We’re usually back home, in bed and done shopping by 9 am. We’re that good.

Since graduating and getting a “real” job, though, our shopping has changed. We’re picking up less for our own friends and family members and spending more time grabbing up the good sales for the kids we adopt for Christmas.

I can’t wait to spend the next month stalking bfads.net and planning my shopping route for November 26!

$45 CSN Giftcard Giveaway Winner!

First of all, thank you to everyone that entered! I had a lot of fun reading what you'd all get if you won and - I'll admit - some of your wishes have now made it onto my list.

I pulled the winner using Random.org and the lucky winner is:

Congrats, Marisa! If you end up getting that donut pan, you'll have to let me know what you make in it! You should have an email from me waiting in your inbox.

And a little NYC

We brought Laura and Edgar back from Boston with us so they could spend a few days checking out NYC before flying home to Texas. Unfortunately, Mark and I both had to work Monday so we couldn't spend the day with them, but we did meet up with them for dinner.

Before the trip, I had asked Laura if they wanted to do something classically NYC or something touristy, like Mars 2112. She interpreted that as I wanted to go to Mars 2112 (I didn't really, oops!) and said they'd love to go.

So, we went.



It sounded good in theory. It's like Rainforest Cafe with Martians.



The place was borderline creepy, though - it was empty! There were only about four tables of people and this place was in the middle of Times Square. I'm not sure what it was, but something was definitely off about it!

Still, we had fun.



When we went to leave, it was raining like crazy - and since the restaurant was below street level the courtyard was starting to flood!



After waiting for a few minutes things let up enough to start walking. Laura didn't want her new, Canal-street purse to get wet, though!

We spent a bit walking around NYC before hopping the train home. It's always a hard goodbye when you don't know when you'll get a chance to see your friends again. With any luck they'll be back within the next year!

Giveaway Reminder!

You have until midnight ET tonight to enter the $45 CSN Giftcard Giveaway!

Click here to enter if you haven't yet! The winner will be announced tomorrow.

Boston Weekend, Part 2

Sunday morning, we packed the car with pink and went off to surprise two of the Moms of the group. Edgar loved all the pink - I'm pretty sure he said it was his favorite color.



The boys weren't really interested in baby stuff. They spent the day watching football (and, according to this picture, some Katie Holmes movie).



One of the girls, Krissy, has an adorable little girl. Another, Maria, is expecting a girl early next year. The rest of us put together a little celebration. Not a full on shower, more like a sprinkle.



We managed to surprise both Moms simultaneously - no small feat!



After the sprinkle, we all went up to Krissy's parents house for Sunday dinner. In true Italian style, they had fresh-made pasta, gravy, meatballs... the usual. It was all fantastic.



And so was Krissy's family! Dinner was fun - full of conversation and laughing.

After dinner we had to head home, unfortunately. Five hours doesn't sound like a long trip until you're driving it!

Boston Weekend

Friday night, we scooted up to Boston for the weekend. My online BFF, Laura, and her husband, Edgar, were visiting from Texas and Laura had pretty much begged us to come up. We were happy to oblige.

Friday night consisted mainly of quick intros before we all passed out. The real fun started Saturday morning.

Laura and Edgar are big Red Sox fans. We're not. At all. But being the good friends we took them to tour Fenway.

The stadium is interesting to see just for the historical perspective. While we were there, they were also doing off-season field work. I love seeing behind-the-scenes stuff.

I couldn't believe how old and uncomfortable the seats were, though! I get that they're keeping it historically accurate but I would never actually pay to sit here for a few hours.

After Fenway, we met up with a few more friends and their husbands for lunch.

And then we all spent time walking around Boston and seeing some sites on the Freedom Trail - like Mother Goose's grave.

And Boston Common.

And the Make Way for Ducklings Statue.

The day was capped off with a trip to Topsfield Fair.

We all watched the pig races - my favorite!

And then we spent time walking around, seeing the animals and taking pictures.

We had a blast!

Piling Up

To say things are piling up around here might be an understatement.

We spent the weekend in Boston and Monday evening in New York. I spent the better part of last week getting things ready for that - and everything else was, of course, neglected.

The hamper and laundry basket are overflowing. The litterbox really needs to be cleaned. I haven't grocery shopped in about two weeks. And the cherry on top is that we're pretty much booked solid through the rest of the month so there's no end in sight.

When I got out of work yesterday, I was stressed and overwhelmed thinking about all I had to go home and do. So, like any respondisble adult would do, when I got home I ran myself a hot bath and laid there reading until the water was too cold to handle.

It was fantastic.

79 Shopping Days 'Till Christmas - $45 CSN Stores Giftcard Giveaway!

*This giveaway is now closed.

Only 79 shopping days until Christmas! Yes, I realize it's only the first week of October but Mark and I have already been talking Christmas. What can I say? We're planners.

CSN Stores wants to help one of my readers get a jump on their Christmas shopping too - and they're offering up a $45 gift card to one lucky reader to help do so. CSN Stores has everything from bar furniture to kids toys so they're like a one-stop-shopping mecca. I've ordered from CSN in the past it's always been a great experience.

Just about everything that I'm asking Santa for can be found in one of CSN's stores.

More pieces for my set of Christmas dishes:

A wok set:

A cute sleeve for my new laptop:

A doughnut pan:

And a cute apron:

I could make this post a mile long with all of the cute things you could snag up with a $45 gift. So, are you ready to win and start your own Christmas shopping?

To enter, just leave a comment on this post letting me know what you'd get with the gift card if you won AND an email to contact you at. Would you get something special for yourself or buy a gift for someone else? Any special item in mind? You have until midnight EST on October 14, 2010 to leave a comment - I'll announce the winner October 15th.

My Soccer Player

Mark's always played soccer. Once we graduated college he missed having a chance to play; I am not the least bit athletic enough to keep up with him. Fortunately, he found an adult rec league by our apartment to play in - and then recruited some of our friends from school to join in. The team they ended up on? OFAS - Old, Fat and Slow!

Despite the fact that we've been together for more than six years, I'd never actually seen him play until Saturday. I always left it to be "guy time". It was fun to see him on his game.

And it was fun to see some of our guy friends too.

They're on-field interactions sort of reminded me of the snowy days in college when we'd play football.

They work as a good team. I guess that's what you get when you've been friends for seven years.

Mark, Andy, Trevor and Jared, after the game. They tied 1-1, but it was a fun game to watch.

Light the Night 2010

Last night was Light the Night - the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's annual fundraising walk and one of my favorite fall events. This was my fifth year participating but because of all of the craziness going on our team wasn't as big as usual.

Mark's brother Andy joined the two of us to make our small (but awesome) team.


For the uninitiated, Light the Night is the only fundraising walk that takes place at night. Everyone who raises at least $100 gets a lighted balloon to carry during the walk.



It's really beautiful.

Supporters carry red balloons. Survivors have white balloons. The gold balloons are carried in memory of loved ones lost.

Our tiny team raised $462 to help find a cure for blood cancers. It was a really good night.

The Winds of Change

(And you thought that was just the remnants of Nicole, didn't you?)

When I started this blog more than two years ago, it was intended to chronicle the wedding-planning journey we were in the midst of. It was supposed to encompass anything and everything I thought was pertinent enough to write about. By all accounts, I feel like I've succeeded on that front.

I've noticed, though, that since we've moved one of my hobbies has dominated the blog more and more - my cooking. The fact that I cook is nothing new; I've been doing that for years. The new kitchen has really given me the room to spread my wings.

I don't want this to become a food blog, though. I still want this to remain a potpourri of life. But, at the same tim,e I still couldn't help but feel my cooking deserved some sort of organized forum of its own.

So, today I'm introducing Kate's Recipe Box, my new food blog: http://www.katesrecipebox.wordpress.com/

If you've been enjoying the recipes here, I hope you'll join me over there.