-170- Bling

At work today we were allowed to wear either costumes or a Halloween-related shirt. I found a cute shirt that had Little Miss Chatterbox dressed as a ghost and said "Little Miss Spooky" on it. I also found these flashy jack-o-lantern earrings. I don't normally wear large earrings, and I felt like these were so huge even though they aren't. I felt like my earlobes were being dragged down! Anyway, they were really fun!

-169- Fall Festivities

My mom always used to make chili on Halloween. It was such a cozy tradition that I decided to continue it in my own home. However, since Halloween (tomorrow) is a weekday, I decided it would be easier to bump up the meal to tonight.

I got the "recipe" from my mom. The reason I say "recipe" is because it's not much of a recipe - it's more like a list of ingredients. Everything is to taste! I was nervous to make it because there weren't exact measurements for the spices and everything else, but it actually turned out really well. Oh, and I used my slow cooker for the first time, too!

It sure was delicious! Along with some cheese (of course) and a cornbread muffin, I felt like this was the perfect autumn evening meal.

-168- Catnip

Look at this sweet creature! She is enjoying her new bed that we just bought her, because her old one was huge and... old.

Okay, here's the secret: we had to put catnip on the bed in order for her to even look at it. But at least she'll use it now!

In other news, we got our couch delivered today! It's so comfy and soft! Plus, it looks great in our living room.

-167- Bundled Up

This is the scarf I bought three years ago in Oxford. I'm not able to wear it too often but I did today. Actually, I could probably wear it every day in the office since it's always so freezing in there, but it would normally look ridiculous if I wore it outside. Today was a perfect day for it though, so I was very comfortable.

-166- Warmth On A Chilly Day

My morning warmer-upper today was this lovely tea - chai! Mmm! I love this fragrant and spicy tea. Also, please notice the shiny red electric kettle. One of our friends gave it to us for our wedding after I registered for it because I knew that I would sorely miss Rebekah's trusty little kettle.

-165- Waiting for the Rain

It's supposed rain sometime in the near future. Look at those beautiful clouds! I'm ready to get all cuddled up with a blanket and maybe some hot chocolate and a movie.

-164- Gusty

It may look like this photo was taken accidentally, but it wasn't.

I walked into the room and felt this gusting wind. I was thoroughly confused, until I realized that I was just feeling the air coming from the air vent. Hopefully this was my blonde moment for the week.

Anyway, it's good to know the a/c works well. Let's hope the heater works just as well! I've learned that Texas likes both extremes!

-163- Boo!

In one of the first homey, decorative touches to our new apartment, I hung the sweet little Halloween dish towels my mom sent us. And yes, there is a mirror above the stove. I have no idea why, but it allowed me to be in this picture along with the cute towels!

-162- In the Thick of Things

Can you believe this cat? If you haven't already located her, she's on the chair that Justin's standing on, between his feet. She obviously wanted to be wherever he was, but really? Just being in the same room wasn't enough? She's crazy.

-161- The Move

Waffles are so good. Waffle House's waffles are even better than just "waffles" (in my opinion). I actually only  just tried Waffle House tonight for the first time, but I can guarantee it wasn't the last time (especially since there's one right down the street from us now)!

Moving day was a success. Justin's family and our friend Quentin came out to help with everything, and we couldn't have done it without them. I'm so thankful for all the supportive and helpful people in our lives! I can't wait to spend the next (at least) 13 months in this new apartment! I am so looking forward to cooking in the new kitchen, especially. We even have a pantry now! Woohoo! Moving up in the world. ;)

-160- Unbelievable

This is our moving truck! Justin picked it up this morning. Funny story: he was stopped at the first stop light he came to after exiting the U-Haul parking lot, and two men ran towards the vehicle, opened the door, and jumped in. He was like, what??! He asked them what they were doing and all they kept saying was "Work! Work!" and he kept telling them to get out. Eventually, after driving to the next light, they got out. Surely we could have used the help, but the reason we rented our own truck was so we wouldn't have to pay for labor! Anyway, this story is funny now, but I was terrified when Justin called me and the first thing out of his mouth was, "You won't believe what just happened to me!"

-159- Disposed

Justin was a busy beaver yesterday. He packed up our entire kitchen! So we now have to use disposable dishes, but this is making me really excited for the move! This is my breakfast of Rice Krispies this morning.

-158- Intersection

We met some friends for dinner at a barbeque restaurant tonight, and on the way we had to go through this MASSIVE intersection with a huge metal traffic light pole. It's kind of hard to describe, which is why I took a picture. Anyway, you can't really tell from the picture, but the pole that the lights are attached to is aligned diagonally through the intersection, which makes the way the lights face have to be diagonal to the pole... resulting in a very confusing light set up. I sure am glad that I don't have to drive through this intersection everyday! I would not be surprised if there are constant accidents on these streets.

-157- [Sweat] Suit Up!

The weather was cooler today! I came home and instead of donning my usual shorts and t-shirt, I threw on a pair of sweats and a jacket over my shirt. I think I may have felt cold partly because of the weather, but also partly because we hadn't adjusted the a/c according to the weather because it was such a sudden change. Sudden, but very welcome! Doubt it will last long though.

-156- Taking It Down!

We've been slowly dismantling our apartment to get ready for our upcoming move. Tonight, one of the things we packed were the curtains. The windows looked so bald and blank when we took them down!

-155- Dinosaurs in A Basket

You'll recognize the orange dinosaur on the right, Pegasaurus. She's been with us since we got married. However, to most of you, the yellow longneck on the left is a new sight. I am proud to introduce to you... Dino! He was Justin's childhood friend, and his mom recently unearthed him and gave full custody to us. Lucky for Peg, she now has a mate! Now they can make squeaky babies together.

-154- Two-A-Day

This day deserves two pictures because it is very special (although I do reserve the right to post more than one picture per day regardless of its "specialness"... just sayin'). For one, since we were in town, that means I was able to have Saturday night coffee with Rebekah. Unfortunately, Anna wasn't able to join us. It was great catching up and time passed so quickly as it always does when we're together. Also, today is the anniversary of the day Justin proposed to me. I can't believe it's been a year already! It feels like it was just last week. Anyway, these pictures depict my love for my two best friends!

-153- Mantelpiece

We've come out to visit Justin's family. I've always loved the decorations my mother-in-law puts out, but the holiday decor takes the cake. This time it's autumn-y, harvest time decorations: orange, red, yellow, pumpkins, scarecrows, changing leaves. This photo of the mantel shows my favorite part of the decorations today.

-152- Take A Break

Coming out of the office for lunch this afternoon, I noticed that the little vending machine room off the main hallway of the building actually has a sign. I just thought it was hilarious! I suppose it's because it seems silly for something as unimportant as vending machines would have a sign right outside the room they're in.

-151- Famous Feline Model, Chloe!

Look at this little model. I love her! She's so cute and soft and warm, with just the right amount of sass. I took a few minutes this evening to disturb her nap to take several photos of her. This is one of my favorites.

-150- Peaks and Valleys

I'm glad that the ALCS is played on a major television network, or else we wouldn't be able to watch it due to our limited cable selections. Unfortunately, after a miraculous walk-off grand slam to win the game last night, the Rangers couldn't pull it off tonight.

In other (way better) news, Justin got a promotion! It's one step closer to the position he really wants. I'm so excited, happy, and proud of him! He starts in about two weeks, right after we make our move.

-149- Swarms of Black Birds

This is a horribly zoomed in picture taken on my phone, but you can still make out just how many birds are resting on the power lines. There were hundreds more swirling around in the air that I caught blurs of in the upper left corner. I felt like we were in a modern day Birds movie! Gross.

-148- Snooty Fat Cat

Many of my pictures are of food or Chloe. This one is of Chloe by her food (and water). She will lie by her bowls for much of the time she is not lying on her cat bed, and always when we are eating dinner; the table is next to her bowls. She looks so satisfied with her meal right here, but really she is just being blinded by the little orange light that shines on my camera whenever my picture will include the flash. I thought it was funny!

-147- How Curiosity of the Cat Almost Killed the Cat Owner

We packed a little more today. It was so nice outside that we took the cat gate down from the hallway and placed it to block the open front door, leaving the bedroom open to wandering feline activity if we didn't remember to shut the door. Well, of course I didn't remember, so when I left the bedroom to place a freshly packed box in the living room with the rest of the others, I returned to the bedroom without a thought about where the cat was. Now, you must remember that ever since we moved in we did not allow Chloe into our room, so I am not used to seeing her in there. Well, I went back to the closet to finish up, and I see two big glowing orbs facing me in the bottom dark corner - scared the crap outta me!!! Then it just made me laugh once I realized it was the silly old cat.

-146- Casual Friday

This is me sporting my new Rangers shirt - which I got to wear to work today! We also got to wear jeans (like any other Friday), but if we wore a Rangers shirt we were allowed to wear tennis shoes as well. It certainly was a comfy day!

-145- 5 Down, 2 Across

Fifth line down, second word. What? Yeah, that's what I thought too when I read it. I'm currently re-reading a childhood favorite called The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. I really don't know what "batman" is referring to, and I'm almost done with the book! I'm guessing it's some sort of servant. I just thought it was funny to see "batman" in a children's fantasy novel.

-144- Baby Hangers

Aren't these miniature hat hangers cute? I never thought about how hats were displayed in stores, but I guess some of them are done this way. We went to Sports Authority tonight to get me a Rangers shirt to wear to work on Friday. Yes, the boss tweaked the dress code to support the home team!

-143- Blank

Wow, I'm really horrible at this. I forgot to take a picture again. Obviously.

-142- Free Soft Serve

Last time we went to Burger King we got several pages of coupons for their new soft serve ice cream. There were a lot of free and buy one, get one free offers. We decided to try it out tonight. It was pretty good, except it's not actually hot syrup, just cold syrup (it would have been better with hot chocolate syrup). I wouldn't pay full price for one of these, but they were worth it because we got them two-for-one.

-141- Hollowing Out

One of the grocery stores in town is closing, so for the past few weeks they have been having a massive closeout sale. All the food and other merchandise is moved to the front row of the aisles, except the produce, meat, and dairy. I went today to see what I could find for a good price, and didn't come back with much (not that things weren't at a good price... they just were mostly things that we didn't need). Anyway, this picture captures just how empty half the store was. It was slightly eerie... there were people rummaging around and piling their shopping carts high, and it felt like it was one of those movies where there is some catastrophic event that makes it so that shop owners no longer have control over their stores, which results in mass looting. I even saw a man with a boy that had a cart packed with cosmetics... my only guess was that he was planning on selling them to make a profit, since they were marked down so much.

-140- Unfortunately, Those Aren't Really Chips Ahoy Cookies

We have begun to pack! Three more weeks... just three more weeks until we move, and yet there remains a lot that we still need unpacked (I found that out when I tried to pack all that I could this morning). So far all we have packed are most of the books and decorations... but it's better than nothing!