WE'RE FAMOUS...OOOOO-prah

Janelle & Allison on Oprah

Not that I'm a big fan of Oprah, but it was still exciting to go. The episode was of Oprah and her best friend Gail camping in Yosemite and we mostly watched video of them on their trip so kind of lame episode to be a guest on, but still way fun. The show was centered around friendship so it was neat to go with Janelle and be goofballs about the whole thing together. You know ,we were those really cool people dancing in the audience before the show started. I can't tell you why, but my feet and arms just couldn't stay still while singing along to Usher's OMG to the tune of O-O-O-OPRAH in place of his lyrics.

Mustache Madness

(the 8th grade boy, the bandito, the villain)

I love having Sarah here! So far we've hit two great shows; The Weepies and Ingrid Michaelson. This past Saturday was the Ingrid show and her fun friend Amanda was also in town to join us. In light of it being Halloween weekend Sarah bought us some finger mustaches to use as our costumes. AWESOME. EASY. FUN. We had a lot of fun being silly with them and I must say a great night was had.

AWESOME PACKAGE

So I came home from my trip to find an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G package from dear Ame. THANK YOU AMY!!! It contained some Halloween goodies, but the best part of it was the wing sauce! Amy learned of my love for wing sauce when she was here this past month and just knew my cabinets needed some. I can't wait to have something to eat it on. In fact, maybe I'll order a pizza tonight so I can taste some of the goodness. Packages are so fun to get!

MY HOME AWAY FROM HOME

I made another trek to the Midwest to visit with great friends and had a blast. I was pretty lousyabout taking pictures which bums me out since there were such fun things to document.

Highlights of trip

-A barn dance where I learned the term "Peel the Banana" and dressed in western wear. I know, I need a picture of me doing this, but the others will have to suffice.

(Kate, my dancing partner for the night)

-Amazingly fun concert with Janelle and her sister. This was my about my fourth time seeing Joshua Radin and unfortunately I found him to be so-so, but The Script was seriously awesome and I really can't wait to see them again. Best song of night was Rusty Halo.

-Eating at a terrible middle eastern restaurant on campus...you'd think since the food was crappy this wouldn't be a highlight, but we were served by the cutest little boy who was about 10 years old and he kept telling us the food was "delicious" adorable, but incorrect.

-Playing with darling little swissy puppies (Awesome hair, right?).

-Driving in Gary, IN; a heck of a scary place, and seeing a man just walking down the street with a machine gun. Not really a highlight, but still worth mentioning.

-Chicago with Janelle which include city sights, yummy and buttery popcorn and one visit to the Oprah show. The show topic was a dud and we didn't win anything, but the whole experience was still really fun.

-Tornado warnings, sirens, skies...odd.

-Walking on Janelle & Michael's beautiful property and seeing trees full of fall colors and finally getting to see Mr. Bow's creek. What a lovely and peaceful place....it was tick-filled which gave me the willies, but I still loved it.

Too bad the Midwest seems like worlds apart sometimes because I sure love being there.

Leg One

Gypsy and Blake are working towards a pack dog title and this weekend they successfully completed their first of four legs. They have to hike 10 miles with Gypsy carrying 20% of her body weight (17#). I can't imagine carrying 20% of my body weight....ugh, but she was a trooper and they both seemed to have a fun time with the others who joined in the event.

I joined them with my friends dog Razz for the first 4 miles and then called it quits; I quit just in time, because is rained for the remainder of the hike. Yuck! The pack dog hike started in a small town named Cle Elum and then continued to Roslyn (the town Northern Exposure was filmed aka Cicily, AK) so in honor of one of my all time favorite shows I tried to recreate the opening credits of the show where they have moose crossing the Roslyn Cafe sign.

Outback & Up North

On Friday we drove up north to spend the night in a small town named Cle Elum, WA before Blake & Gypsy's pack hike on Saturday. We saw this pretty sight (Mt. Adams)

and we stopped in Leavenworth; a little Bavarian-themed town. Several hours were spent in the Outback, but it was a beautiful drive full of fall colors...yeah, my favorite time of year has fully arrived! Oh, and there was a cafe named after our very own Gypsy girl!

Backin' Up

Amy this one is just for you.