~ Oktoberfest Recap

Did you see my post about Oktober First?  We did indeed celebrate.  Tonight I went over to my parents house (Gary had to work this weekend -bummer) to have our own private mini Oktoberfest celebration.  We had sauerkraut, German potato salad my dad made, pumpernickel bread, and lots of other yummies.  I brought over some nummies that I picked up from Aldi after Hannah gave me the spätzle for my dad.  It’s a supermarket that had a nice selection of German snacks and foods.  They don’t have a lot of those all year round, so if you want to stock up, do it now . . . but note, they only take cash or debit and don’t have disposable grocery bags, so bring your reusable grocery bags!

I quickly took these snapshots right before running out the door . . . I think I got everything.  We had the white asparagus and the marble marzipan cake for dinner and dessert, and some of the peanut puffs while we watched a movie.

My mom sent me this quiz, ‘Are You Über-smart About Oktoberfest?‘
I’m an “Honorary German Citizen”, 8 out of 10 correct.  -woo

~ October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I’ve seen a few ads, if you purchase pink products, a part of the proceeds will be donated towards breast cancer, which is good, but if you want to be more pro-active for this cause, check out  http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ped/ped_20_BCA.asp

Today, evidently was the ‘Making Strides Against Breast Cancer’ 5k/3.1 walk at 9am which I totally missed – either because I didn’t realize it was so early in October, or it wasn’t publicized enough.  But either way, they have another one by the American Cancer Society called the Walk-n-Wag on October 31st 2009 where you can walk with your dog check out the details if you’re interested: www.wakewalknwag.com

~ All Their Ducks, I Mean Geese In a Row

I saw this parade of geese walking down the road in the rain a few months back and got a quick snapshot.  I missed it, but they were ALL in a row following each other one by one which was so friggen adorable.

~ Happy Oktober First!

The weather is starting to get crisp (though that could change any day), and when I was at the store, I saw pumpkins!  That made me smile

Fall officially started a week or so ago . . . the NC State Fair is right around the corner as well as Trick-or-treat-ers, and since my dad is German, I’m thinking of having our own private Oktoberfest, complete with sauerkraut and streusel.  I got the idea from an e-mail ad I got from World Market.  Actually, I hadn’t realized it was October til I got the e-mail -haha

~ Awwwwwww!

A friend forwarded this e-mail to me, and it was just too adorable not to post.  Its something I would think to see on Cute Overload.

The Fire in Santa Barbara , CA last week caused these two to take shelter together. The fawn is 3 days old and the bobcat about 3 weeks. The fawn came from somewhere in the fire and the bobcat from Carpentaria. They immediately bonded and snuggled together under a desk in the Santa Barbara County Dispatch Office for several hours.

Animal Planet is reporting the bobcat kitten was rescued near Arnold Schwarzeneggers ranch, where it was dehydrated and near death.

They rescued the fawn during last weeks wildfire. Although wild animals, especially of separate species, are never placed together due to regulations, in this emergency situation, they had no choice. During the mayhem of the fire, they were forced to put animals anywhere they could, since they had run out of crates large enough for the fawn. The kitten ran to the fawn, and it was instant bonding..

~ Greenpoints are Going Away

Gary’s mom let us know that Lowe’s Foods is doing away with their Green points program.

NOOOOO . . . we have tons of green points.

According to the News and Observer article I found online here, you can redeem your points two years after they stop the program, and I suppose they are going to have “a new loyalty program that will be publicized Oct. 6.”

I I guess we aren’t getting that water jet ski Gary has been talking about from the Green points catalogue.

Hopefully the new loyalty program will be just as good or better.  Guess we’ll find out after October 6th.

~ Hellooo Again Baby!

When I got my car, it came with XM Satellite Radio, which was a great plus since we got 3  months of service free.  In order to continue getting XM though, there are 3 month service contracts usually starting at $9.99 per month.

Since we get Free radio as it is, I opted not to renew.  This week I got a card with a special promotion for 6 months at $4.99 per month.  I can do that   Plus we have a few trips coming up over the next couple of months and its nice to have lots of music options, news, talk, sports, etc.

Aaaaaah, I missed you XM.  Good thing I saved all the pre-sets.

~ I Was in the ER

Last week, I was in the Emergency Room.

It was about 9:30am and all of a sudden I had these horrific stomach pains.  I could barely move, I almost wanted to die.  Well, not really, but it was pretty friggen bad.

I called my doctor and they were all booked up and said to go to the ER and follow up with them later.  I was barely able to drive myself there, and luckily I had a Target bag with no holes in it, and a hand towel.  -yeah I know, gross

Once I got to the ER, I would feel better and then think “I’m ok, I can leave now”, and then the horrible pain would be back and I decided to stay.  Gary met me there and everytime I thought I was ok to go, the pain would come back once again.  And bad pain.  As the hours passed and passed, the time in between pains lengthened.

They finally saw me  and turns out I had some sort of food poisoning.  I have never had food poisoning before, so now I know what it feels like.  But you never know, it could have been something bad.  So I went home finally around 3:30pm.  Most of my time there was just sitting around, but I slept when I got home and was better the next day.

So don’t worry (mom) it wasn’t a biggie.

~ Southern Home Show Recap

So, we did make it to the Southern Home Show on Sunday, and walked through all three buildings of vendors.  My mom had gotten 4 tickets to get in free from one of the vendors which was super nice of them, and we enjoyed walking around and talking to vendors we needed home renovation info from.

I especially liked two of the outdoor showcases, one of which (below) was a cute little cottage with well manicured, but temporary foliage and greenery.

~ Sea of Blue

Have you ever noticed the lighting can really change the mood of a place?  A home, a restaurant, a hotel . . . really anything.

I usually always notice the lights when we go to places of bodily nourishment . . . and then I forget all about it with the smells of food.  But sometimes when I’m waiting, I’ll take pictures with a camera phone or my point and shoot, like this one.

It kind of looks like a very symmetrical sea of blue waves and foam.