difference a year makes!!!!

so this month has FLOWN by...and i really get sick of hearing myself say that...but this month was exceptionally FAST. and this morning i was realizing how much calmer this upcoming October will be as opposed to LAST year. back in the day, when i was actually...MAKING money....as opposed to....LOSING money, (this is a tangent for another day, remind me in case i forget to come full circle on the pitfalls of starting your own business....oh? you wanna hear about it now? ....too bad. i only like to talk about money 2 days a month....the days my husband gets paid. i'll feel better about the subject in a few days at the end of the month) i used to dream of lazy fall days and i THINK this october will be relatively quiet and that MAKES ME SO FREAKING HAPPY!!! :)

some things won't change, however....such as our INFAMOUS halloween home decorating extravaganza. this year will be even bigger. and even better. but i have to tell you -- since i care about all of you reading -- do NOT bring your children on halloween night. they will kill you as vengance when they've grown up. now, bear in mind, LAAAAST october i was not keen on children. at all. read: let's scare the pants off of all of them and photograph the wails as evidence of a FANTASTIC evening. job well done. we were running around in our black costumes giving jumping chest high-fives with each 3-yr old's scream.

shut up. it was funny. really.
and granted, you know, you have to ask = WHAT PARENT TAKES THEIR THREE YEAR OLD OUT AT 9PM TO THE SCARIEST HOUSE ON THE BLOCK??!!! we're just meeting their expectations by flipping their kid out. but they aaaaaasked for it.

nevertheless: we will be decorating again. and people will come by with their cameras for 2 weeks leading up to halloween to photograph our house, which is always interesting when you're cooking dinner and glance out the window to see a SCHOOL BUS pulled over so the kids can snap away with their camera phones. (hello...5th graders with cell phones....another time.)

i think we're buying an additional fog machine...and having a little pre-game party...and giving the community everything they look to us to provide.

EXHIBIT A:








the really sad (hysterical) part of it all is that these parents GET HIGH on setting their kids up and BEGGING US to terrify them. half the time, due to the nature of my neighborhood, the parents are drunk...mean...and bored. we have a rule about NOT torturing any munchkin under the age of 2. but....the rest are free game(please take special note of the playboy purse) :







oh man oh man oh man.....
::: chuckling to self :::

chad and i have decided this year (along with the cooperating neighborhood folk) to get back at the parents this year. i won't name names...but SOMEBODY in my household thinks it'd be funny to mix the plastic spiders with real ones bought at a local pet store.

like i said....this is merely a fair warning to my local friends with children. :)

moving right along to something warm and fuzzy:
last october also included a GIRLS REUNION, A MARATHON, A DOGGY SURGERY, and A FAMILY WEDDING!!! i swear i did not sit down ONCE that month....

girls reunion will be happening again in november, but this time last year we gathered at the BEACH and had kickin' time...even though i can't recall for the life of me what we did besides eat. as long as eating is involved, you can assume it was a homerun weekend!!!!



and i KNOW it only seems like yesterday to all of you...but A YEAR AGO next month rudy had his wicked EYE SURGERY!!! and not only did we feel the need to decorate his cone, but we decked him out in some festive attire....which proceeded to suffocate him, but i'm sure it distracted from his agony of having stitches in his EYEBALLS.....at least he got the month right.





it was around this time that my husband had obviously toked a bit too much and decided to run the Marine Corps Marathon. i still cannot believe he did it. but that is an awe that constantly washes over me when i look at him. i can't believe everything he does....and this marathon was such a testament to how he tackles all of life. sure....he took his first hot bath of his entire life, after stumbling into the house...post race. (i think he secretly liked it...it's the only upside of the entire ordeal. must be why he signed up again for the NY marathon NEXT MONTH)....and it was the first time in his life he ever popped advil. aaaaand he gimped around for the following two weeks, talking about where and when he'll run his next race. freak. but my heart swelled with pride as he (AND CAROLYN!) crossed the finish line and it's a memory we'll never ever forget! HERE'S TO THE NEW YORK MARATHON ON NOVEMBER 4th!!! Who's comin' with us? :)








aaaaaand last but clearly not least:
my baby brother got married....IT HAS ALMOST BEEN A YEAR!!! what the....
happy ONE YEAR together, dudes:



at any rate....fishing through old photos is such a strange phenomenon. even the incidentals in life.....the fleeting moments.....the activities performed on a whim....the bustle of everyday living ....all add up to create the fabric of your life. i look at these pictures and can literally recall what the air smelled like.....how the sun set on that particular day.....how Autumn descended upon us... as i gazed over my shoulder, at the fading summer behind us, fat with satisfaction and contentment, as though i had just eaten Thankgiving dinner.....

and i praise the Lord i wasn't truly able to see some of the heartbreak the following year would bring.

but that's the incredible thing about life.....all you have is today.
yesterday's memories are held SO close....and with each day, you tuck another memory into the batch.....whether you realize it....or not.....