the colors of fall

one of the cool things about flying south for the winter is getting to experience fall twice
although fall in texas isn't nearly as spectacular
the leaves ARE finally falling off the trees in texas
they aren't turning amazing colors first
they're just dropping
however, several of our plants in texas are confused right now
and have bloomed - like our azalea and our magnolia
it's already snowed at the camp in maine - one week after we left
for all my maine peeps that are freezing this post is to remind you of better days
and for all my texas peeps that don't get to see the beauty that is fall
these are some of my favorite pictures i took of the fall beauty in maine before we skipped town

happy halloween

in honor of thanksgiving, i wanted to wish you all a happy halloween

that's just how behind i really am
halloween is always about the time we make the switch between maine and texas
this year we had some guests visiting

so we decided to carve a pumpkin
and bake pumpkin seeds
and listen to spooky, scary stories
so as i recover from all the turkey dinner and black friday shopping.....
BOO!

1/3 of the way to cuba

i know the last post had a ton of pictures

but did you notice the one from key west and the southern most point in the u.s.

noting it's only 90 miles to cuba?

our final maine visitor had other business while visiting

a marathon - 26.2 miles - that's nearly 1/3 of the way to cuba from the southern most point in the u.s.!

this was my first marathon

people wear odd things to get noticed (or maybe get their mind of the insanity they're doing)

yea, shorts - that's it!

not convinced this was a costume - it looked very real!

fishnets and tutu

even some spectators got in on the action

we waited at every possible viewing area to cheer our friend on

luckily we have another great friend that thought to create signs so she couldn't miss us

duke was even there - cheering hiding from all the runners and noise

we did almost miss her at the very first station

i guess she got warm since we saw her at the starting line

and had on a different color by then

she rocked her inaugural marathon!!!

i admire anyone with that much determination to train and then run for that long - at one time!

and guess what???

she spotted a moose at the finish line!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

insta-friday - the last 5 weeks edition

wondered where i've been lately?
yea, me too!
it's been a whirlwind
so i looked through my cell phone and this is what i found out

week 1:

clockwise from upper left: setting the mood - "who's got my skinny toe?" youtube it; carving a pumpkin with our final guests of the season; a prezzy from my honey's latest trip to london; trying my hand at making pumpkin seeds; picking up sean from the airport at the same time the troops landed (bring on the waterworks); final whoopie pie of the season; final camp project of the season; sunrise atop cadillac mountain (yes, i was up for a sunrise!); the final result of our pumpkin carving

week 2:

clockwise from upper left: crossing out of maine to catch a flight out of boston; looks like it was to tampa - funny picture i posted previously but no one knew what it was - got a better shot of it this time - it looks like the little girl is whizzing; final campfire; margaritas upon arrival to dallas with friends; duke and sean at boston logan waiting to fly to dallas; view from hotel room in tampa; drinks with work friends in tampa; leaving a present for some maine friends (he was facing their house just waiting to scare them)

week 3:

clockwise from bottom left: fabric shopping minus the pork-knuckle burrito this time x2; killing time at miami airport trying to get home (which i finally did after 2 am) - turned out i made a bad decision going through miami instead of waiting out the broke-down captain's seat part in tampa; dinner in st petersburg with sister in law who was in the area for work too (at least this time the husbands told us before we left, instead of after we got back); parking pass the nice people gave me as they were leaving the parking lot so i didn't have to buy one for said dinner

week 4:

clockwise from upper left: who is that masked man??? oh, it's just sean; helping out some planking at the smallest bar; said smallest bar; before; after (sean's not mine - i ate a lot of fish this week (yes, me) but just can't do it when it's staring back at me); we've been to the beginning and end of us1 this year but this spot is the southern most point in the us (as it says); miss geico boat on parade; most well endowed mannequin i've ever seen

week 5:

clockwise from upper left: truck of coconuts just waiting for the taking; our final lunch in key west; where i wanted to be - by the pool; where i was - work conference in florida

so the jist of it is that i spent the majority of those 5 weeks in florida
good thing they don't have state income tax

i have a lot of blogging to catch up on
i promise it won't take me another 5 weeks
things have slowed down finally
i actually get to stay home this week!!!
so be ready to come back soon and hear about some of the things in more detail
or about some of the fun we had that didn't even make it to the cell phone
until then....