Pumpkin in disguise

This weekend we had a fall project day, not to be confused with our summer project day that we had a few months ago. I was too busy to take lots of pictures, but one thing I did that desperately needed to be done was to clean out our pantry. I like to stuff as much sutff in there as possible until things start falling out. Erm thinks we need to clean it, I think we just need more storage. At any rate, I cleaned it, and in the end, as always, I was happy I did. In the process, I found enough paper plates to feed a small country on. Literally. We never need to buy a paper plate again. Who needs this many paper plates?

After other projects got done, we headed off for a visit with Erm's parents' house and then to Skip and Dana's for dinner. My favorite thing to bring is dessert, so that's what we brought. I also got to make my chocolate-pumpkin-pecan cake, it was delicious, and didn't look too bad either! Next time I'm going to double the recipe so that it evens out more in the pan and matches up better. I thought I did ok, though. The stem? That's a secret ingredient...

Mmmm... pumpkins!

So anyone who knows me knows that one of my favorite things in the world is (are) pumpkins. I love them. I love the way they look, taste, smell... and now I'm going to love how they feel! Before my birthday, I spotted some Dream in Color Smooshy in Flamingo Pie... which is pinky-orangey, and I had to have it. Orange is my new favorite color. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my birthday, which I realized when I had lunch with my mom last week and she said "I'm surprised you didn't do a blog post about turning 30?". So there, I said it. I turned 30 in September. Actually, its ok now. It WASN'T ok for the whole two weeks leading up to it... it was so bad that on the eve of this milestone, after Shaine, Kelly and Melissa surprised me with a very nice birthday dinner... I went home after too much wine, poured myself a stiff Kaluha sombrero (who drinks those?) and looked up Andy Rooney articles about the best things about women in their 30s. I shocked myself into it, and when I woke up on my birthday I was (hurting) fine with it. But... I digress.

So... my wonderful Mom gave me a gift card to my LYS because she knew there were two sock yarns that I wanted but couldn't remember what they were. I bought the Flamingo Smooshy, then some Smooshy in November Muse, which I had also had my eye on.

Not exactly sure what I'm going to do with it yet... but not to fear. I also had some left over on my card, and spent a couple of my own bucks (being my birthday and all...) and bought THIS beautifulness.... Mmmmmmmalabrigo

Malabrigo Worsted in StoneChat. I have two of these, and will be making a scarf for myself, since I've also been eyeing this for... months.

But, onto the pumpkins. I was looking for the perfect pattern for my slightly orange yarn, and came across the "Little Pumpkins" Socks (Ravelry link). I read the comments on it, people said it went really quickly (yeah, right) and the pattern was easy to memorize (ok, whatever) and guess what... they were right. I'm already just about done the leg on one and I've been working on other things at the same time and I started them on Thursday! I'd love to have them done for this weekend (wishful thinking) but by Halloween would be wonderful. Here's some pics of the first sock in progress. I don't know how much they look like pumpkins now, but maybe when I put them on they will?

Isn't that awesome?

Ahh... nothing like a long weekend to refresh and recharge! This past weekend was Erm's bachelor party, so I turned to my friend Shaine to entertain me. She did not disappoint! Shaine won some plane tickets in a raffle, but in order to get them, she had to drive up to the mountains and tour a timeshare and get the hard sell put on her. I was given the option of going or waiting for her to come home and hang out, and I said why the heck not? I'm not doing anything else today! So we went on a road trip to the mountains. I had heard that the foliage was at its peak and absolutely gorgeous, so we were excited (and amused) to get some leaf peeping in. We may have said peeping 20 times in the course of the day! Here's some pics of the peeping:

That's me... peepin

These people were peepin

So Shaine joined in

I missed my calling

So we finally got to the timeshare place after all the peeping (see, I told you I couldn't stop saying peeping) and went through the longest hour and a half of our lives. Shaine and I used to work in a sales-organization-that-doesn't-classify-itself-as-a-sales-organization, and we spotted this time share saleslady's tricks a mile away. We were particularly amused by her insistence on saying "Isn't that awesome?" after just about everything. "Europeans vacation 6 weeks out of the year, its their God given birthright... isn't that awesome?" or "You can get a locker at any of our locations any time... isn't that awesome?" and "These condos are fully furnished, there's even salt and pepper... isn't that awesome?". I don't think I've heard the word "awesome" that much since I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in middle school. It was also awkward that Shaine was treated like some kind of invalid because she isn't married or engaged, and brought a friend with her. They kept telling her that they liked to have the people in charge of making decisions there, and asking her when she thinks she'll be engaged, like she's some kind of robot controlled by her significant other. (I'm not usually all feminist-y, but it was ridiculous). It gave me a nice out when they turned to me and asked me if they could get ME into a timeshare... I told them I clearly gave up my decision making skills when I got engaged...

Even Erm's Sock that Won't End got into the leaf peeping!

This sock really.....won't....end. I have a mere 2 repeats of the pattern and the toe and I RAN OUT OF YARN. Arg! Erm will have to wait on that second sock until I buy more, which probably won't be the same dye lot. Luckily its a cuff down sock, and not toe up!

Wedding #2, Apple Picking #1

What a weekend! My maid (now matron) of honor, Kerri, got married on Saturday! I got to return the favor and act as her maid of honor for the day. It was a gorgeous day out, how lucky that the weather cooperated... for once around here. The ceremony was in a rose garden on the water in Beverly, and the reception was at Tupper Manor, also in Beverly. The whole wedding and everything about it were GORGEOUS. I was a basketcase all day... not sure what that was all about. Naturally, I don't have pictures yet, because for once in my life, I forgot my camera! More on that later.

Where I DID remember to bring my camera was apple picking on Sunday! Another gorgeous day! It was Kristin's first apple picking experience and she was not disappointed! We picked apples and pumpkins, grabbed some cider and crafty stuff, and went home and watched the Pats! I love fall!!!!

Kristin picking her first apple!

Me eating my first apple

Farmer Erm, showing off

Next up... more knitting!