Of All Places

When the San Jose earthquake struck yesterday, I was at the salon getting my hair cut (of all places). My hair stylist had just finished washing my hair in preparation for the cut as the earthquake began. If you've ever experienced an earthquake, you may relate. There is that initial moment when you aren't sure what is happening. Then you begin to realize what's happening, but your body isn't reacting yet. Your mind kicks into gear and starts imagining all sorts of scenarios. This building is going to come down on me with a wet head and hair that begs to be cut! Or Mark and Owen are not here and I may never see them again! Then finally your body begins to move in slow motion. You move to the closest safe spot, which in our case was a large archway in the center of the salon. And we stood there, frozen, while we waited for it to end. Others in the salon were running in every direction. I heard someone shout, "Earthquake!" And soon after it stopped. No damage done, but very scary.

And oddly enough, I was at a salon (of all places) about a year ago where I was getting a haircut during a rather large storm. The power went out, and I found myself again with wet hair. We didn't regain power for a good half hour. So we dragged a chair to the window and used the dim evening light to finish the haircut.

And last winter I went to a nail salon (of all places) with my mom to get a pedicure. We wore our flip flops, even though it was the dead of winter, so we could easily leave the salon and not ruin our freshly painted toes. Well, while we were having our toes done it began to snow. And snow. And snow. By the time we were through it had turned into a winter wonderland outside. We had to trudge back to our car and scrape the snow off in those dreadful flip flops. We didn't get far before we realized we were going to get stuck in the snow like the dozens of other cars on the side of the road. The house was only a 5-minute drive away, but it took us an hour and a half to get there. Long story short - let's just say I have experience putting snow chains on a car during a snowstorm while wearing flip flops.

Fabulous Fall

I may be a little late in posting about the beginnings of fall. But here in sunny San Jose we have just begun to see it. The leaves are turning, the air is crisper, and porches are painted with pumpkins.

A couple weeks ago my sister (Britanny)came to visit with her daughter (Alice). We took a trip to a local pumpkin patch to usher in the season. The patch was beautifully decorated with all sorts of pumpkins and fall flowers. We took a turn on the carousel and the harvest train. We saw giant-sized pumpkins, tiny pumpkins, multi-colored pumpkins, even a pyramid made of pumpkins. Owen and Alice loaded up a wheelbarrow with pumpkins...and Britanny and I unloaded it. The weather was a cool 72 degrees. Fabulous!

Eeny, meeny, miney, mo

Today's Pumpkin King...tomorrow's Prom King

Aside from picking out pumpkins and decorating the house, we have also been enjoying fall goodies; candied apple pork chops, butternut squash soup, pumpkin bread, and spooky sugar cookies.

And I'll be saving THESE two treats for Halloween Night!

Three Things

I have been busy with many things lately. Take these three, for instance:

I am stocking my fridge with all sorts of yummy pureed fruits and veggies, which means lots of steaming and blending. And so pretty on the shelves!
I am eagerly preparing for Halloween; making very serious costume choices, buying treats, and decorating the house to boot. Stay tuned to see what Owen will be for Halloween night.

And I'm watching this guy. He lives in my front yard on a geranium plant. He kind of creeps me out, but I'm too curious to get rid of him. Does anyone know what kind of spider he is? (As a point of reference, his body is about the size of a quarter.) He's big!