i cant believe its halloween already!  where has the year gone?  this is my favorite holiday, is it even a holiday?

i love all the costumes, the excitement of getting all this candy, the jack-o-lanterns, the ghosts and gouhls in people's yards.  its the one time of year that i feel neighborhood-ly.  though we all talk to our neighbors throughout the year, but this is the one day where we are all out and about.

today as i was driving home from work, i passed up three boys riding their bikes, wearing those presidential rubber heads.  one was george w. bush, one was clinton, and i think the other was nixon ... i couldnt keep staring otherwise i would have drove up into someone's front yard! 

how funny is that?  three boys, dressed as people they probably dont even know who they are other than they were presidents at some point.  where was my camera?  at home.  damn!

they go hand and hand ... i am always looking for inspiration to feed my creativity.  i have a few people i call on religiously for inspiration.  whether its for cooking, baking, scrapbooking or photography, i look to them and they always deliver. 

one of my favs, donna downey, has done it again.  just reading this has ignited me to start looking outside the box.  check it out ... see the new link i have posted on the side here ... see what she can do for your inspiration. 

i cannot imagine life without her.  i am eternally grateful she is my sister.  i am so happy that i am a sister.  and to her.  she always always makes me feel better about things.  we just hung up the phone not too long ago and i feel 100% better than i did before we spoke. 

i wish the same for all women.  and if you dont have a sister, hopefully you have a friend that is close enough to call a sister.

since basically everything made shelf stable these days contains this devil of a sweetener, including bread, popsicles, soda, cookies, some cereals, etc...i decided to take a few things into my own hands.  also reverted back to the days where meals were made from scratch with fresh ingredients.  not only am i getting the benefits of homemade, no chemicals, i am also saving some cash!

found this super easy recipe for homemade tortillas.  mind you, they are no where near comparison to the homemade-fresh-out-of-the-over corn tortillas i had in mexico city, but they passed the taste test. 

(taste test = add peanut butter, taste.)

i didnt add any flavoring but these could easily take on a sundried tomato or pesto or garlic flavor.

ingredients:
6 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, cut into small pieces
2 1/2 cups warm water

-place flour in bowl of mixer.  add baking powder and salt.  mix.
-add shortening.  mix on low while adding water, slowly.
-mix on low for 90 seconds until well blended.

-on floured surface, empty dough and divide into two equal portions.
-wrap with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes.

-divide each half into 8 equal portions.  roll out on floured surface to 8" round.
-stack rounds on baking sheet with plastic wrap/wax paper in between each tortilla.
-let stand 10 minutes.

-to cook, fry in frying pan over low heat until lightly brown and bublly.  (no butter or grease!)

found recipe on budget101.com

enjoy! 

and here's one colossal pile of leaves that is worthy of some jumping in, some rolling-around in and definitely some tossing up in the air.  eight years ago when this tree was planted, it had high hopes of what it could be.  today, i was witness to that hope! 

that is what the loss in my 401k stated earlier this week.  one word.  ouch. 

as usual did some surfing on how to handle this and recover from it eventually.  during the surf i found this website, walletpop.  looks as if its another finance savy website.  probably contains the same as all the others.  but this one is prettier.  and i like the fact that there is a story on people leaving their designer brand latte and slumming it at the likes of dunkin d, mcdonalds.  good for them.  

also read the article on where to put your money now.  has some good ideas, low risk ones to boot, on what to do in the interim.  

this is what sept thru dec 31 has and will look like:

-sept 28 : lisa bridal shower
-oct 5 : kelly baby shower
-oct 11 : cousin mandy wedding
-late oct / early nov : baby nephews arrival
-nov 1 : lisa bachelorette bowling night
-nov 21: lisa wedding
-nov 27 : thanksgiving
-dec : christmas season
-dec 25 : christmas
-dec 31 : end of 2008

holy crap.

to clear my mind of any stress from reading the above, i'll stare at some wedding pictures taken at cousin mandy's wedding this past weekend in lake george, new york. 

a few after party pictures...    
 
 
 

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today was sister-in-law's baby shower.  she is having twin boys.  she is a rather petite person, so its a bit weird to see her this big. 

parents-to-be:

grandma, nieces ... grandma's brood will now be up to 7:

and a couple of others:

went to megan's last tennis match yesterday morning.  my sister called at 7:50a asking me to go to this match that started at 8a.  there went the plans to go to the gym ... but it was worth it.  starting my day off seeing her cute face with the big braces smile ... definitely a good thing!

i like this photo, her silouhette behind the fence. 

this morning i started a tradition or ritual of treating myself to a starbucks every friday.  my sister started something like this with my niece, they call it starbucks fridays. 

i purchased a fancy dancy new coffee to-go tumbler to reduce my waste:

and then today, i had my 1st pumpkin spice latte of the season.  the smell of the pumpkin spice made my mouth water.  the first sip - all warm and yummy - gave me a comforting feeling.