What is this blogging thing you speak of?

Well, hello to my few dozen readers!  I've missed you.  Seriously, it feels like weeks since I last blogged.  But it's been only 8 days.   Zoinks!

A friend just blogged about how this is the time of year when she gets most creative and prolific.  If these words are turning green, it's because I envy her. 

For me, this time of year is when all my routines fall apart.   I experience a brand of busy like none other; the things that keep me sane - swimming, volleyball, walking the dog and blogging - start to feel like onerous tasks that are getting in the way of work.  Yes, I'm aware that this is a bas-ackwards way of looking at things, but it's happens.  Every October.

October is when, on the work front, sales take a dive, and it seems to take everyone by surprise. We refuse to learn from history.  A little gloom cloud settles and makes it harder to keep up the good spirits on my team.

October is when everyone and their uncle is hosting an event that I should be going to.  

October is when I have to make a trip to Madison at what seems to be the worst possible time (though it's always great when I get there).

October is when I realize my life would be simpler if I had a craft: something I could make people for Christmas gifts.   (Like my aforementioned super bloggy and creative friend.  You should go check out her blog and buy her stuff.  It's great).

And October is when it gets gorgeous outside, so all I want to be doing is walking or hiking in those last few glorious evenings before Daylight Savings turns the world dark right after lunch. 

Instead, I bounce from meeting to meeting to event, cram in a 15 minute dog walk, race off to another meeting/event, come home, play with the dog for ten minutes, lament the nasty state of my house, and go to sleep. 

Cooking, you say?  That's funny.  I eat out too much, and get that nasty, if-I'm-not-careful-I'll-gain-10-pounds-BEFORE-the-holidays feeling. 

(Yes, I know, poor me.  At least I have a bed to sleep on, food to eat, electricity to power this computer.  I can assure you, I feel duly shallow as I type this.)

Yet on the flip side, because so much is going on, lots of good things happen, and I have to remind myself that it's important to pay attention to them, too.

Like, for example, the fact that my blog boot giveaway winner decided to give her boot gift card away.  Seriously, how sweet is that?

Or that my coworkers staged probably the most impressive Halloween ever on Wednesday.  There was dry ice, as you can see.  Enough said.

Or that this godforsaken, soul-killing slog of a presidential campaign is just a few days from over, and we can go back to not talking about politics on social media, like we do everywhere else. 

Or that I'm not traveling again until Thanksgiving, and that I'm planning the most exciting Christmas trip EVER with two friends.   And that this planning required me to order 4 pairs of shoes to try on, only one of which I will keep (thanks for the idea, Sarah, and the free return shipping, Zappos).

Or that this tree is outside my window at work.

Or that this truck did not fall apart and empty it's cargo onto the street in front of me today, as the dangerously tilted right side would seem wont to do.

Or that despite the fact that I've been a terrible dog mom this month, my dog still loves me. 

Or that it's now November, a great month full of baking, visiting and selling tickets for holiday outings and presents! 

Good and not-so-good, there's been a lot of fodder for blogging in the past 7 days.  More to come, and I probably won't be able to resist a political post or two, so stick with me.  It won't last.  I'll go back to blogging about inanities soon enough. 

The boot giveaway winner is...

Sometimes the universe just aligns.

The winner of my blog boot giveaway is the fabulous Beth Bobbitt, whom I still call Beth Goodwin when I forget that she just got married.

Stephen Ironside/Ironside Photography

This will probably embarrass Beth, but I've decided to use this entry to love on her a little bit.  She is, hands down, one of the kindest and sweetest people I know.  She has a great smile and laugh, and always tries to make people feel important.  She also happens to be a very valued member of my staff, and in fact, sits just two doors down from me in my office.  She was a blogger long before I was (I'm not sure if she still blogs), is a talented artist, and is also lovely and stylish.  I mean, check out the shoes she wore for her wedding.  Seriously adorable. 

If you recall, my boot giveaway entry focused on articles of clothing that make us feel kick ass.  Beth's comment on my blog was anonymous, but I could tell by what she listed that it was her.  She loves tights, and she has all kinds of them, in bright, bold colors that make me positively green with envy of her style (and how great the tights look on her).  New Country Outfitter boots will go very, very well with many a Beth ensemble. 

So congrats, Beth, on your win.  For all the others who entered to win the giveaway, thank you for sharing your kick ass clothing stories.  Here's to us all having more moments of feeling kick ass.  I hope you'll come back and read my blog from time to time.  You could even sign up to receive my posts via email (at right). Who knows, maybe I'll stumble on some other booty (pun intended) to give away in the future. 

BLOGtober Fest Day 5: Foodie Friday

I'm traveling this week.  I pre-scheduled some of my posts for the Arkansas Women Bloggers blogging challenge, but couldn't for the life of me figure out what to write about on Foodie Friday, since I'm most decidedly not a foodie.   And I confess that, with all the arts administration talk and email checking and spending time with friends I don't see often, my heart just isn't in recipe sharing at the moment. 

So in the spirit of being in Wisconsin, I give you my idea of a perfect Friday food line up.

BRATS

FRIED CHEESE CURDS

BEER

ICE CREAM

Let the clogging of the arteries begin.  Have a great weekend, y'all.

BLOGtober Fest Day 4: Promote a post from the past

Well, this title is self-evident.  This is day 4 of our BLOGtober Fest challenge from Arkansas Women Bloggers, and I'm in Madison at a conference.  So here's a post from last fall about fall in Madison - seems appropriate.   What makes me laugh is that the post (from last fall), references an earlier post about the PREVIOUS fall.  Seems like I have a habit of being in Madison in the fall and trying to write the awesomeness in my blog.

The photo below was from the driving art tour I did that is referenced in the post - there's no art in it, but it is such a gorgeous and accidentally well composed shot that I wanted to include it.  We'll hopefully be doing the tour again tomorrow, so maybe I'll have some comparative photos...oooh...that sounds like fun.

From Farm Art to Football - Fall 2011

BLOGtober Fest Day 3: Fall Traditions

Tradition.  Tradition!

If you know me at all, you know that I just went off on a little Fiddler on the Roof riff.  I'm done now.  Thanks for being patient.

Anyway, this is my 3rd post in the Arkansas Women Bloggers BLOGtober Fest blogging challenge.  And it's meant to be about "Fall Traditions."

Being a single gal who's lived in a bunch of places, having a fall tradition that stands the test of time isn't something I can claim.  So here are a few of my favorites.


The High School Fall Tradition I remember most
Having a booth at the Sandwich Fair - selling corn chowder, usually in the rain. And for those who are wondering - the Sandwich Fair is not a fair about sandwiches (though how awesome would that be?). Sandwich is a town, next to my hometown, and they have a fair every Columbus Day weekend. 

The Fall Tradition I want and can't make happen
Apple picking.  Seriously, why is it so damn difficult to find an apple orchard in Arkansas?

The Colby College Fall Tradition I love remembering
Walking home after volleyball practice and having dinner with the team in Roberts Union.  (However, the tradition that MY CLASS started - swimming in Johnson pond on the last day of classes - is the best, but that's in the spring.  Still, I think it's worth of an honorable mention here.)

The Madison Fall Tradition I miss the most
Badger football - tailgating, student section cheers, the 5th Quarter.  And with apologies to my adopted hometown, a sea of red that made sense. Let's go BUCKY!

The Arkansas Fall Tradition I just revived
The Fayetteville Fire Department Pancake Breakfast.  We went this year, and realized the last time we went was FIVE YEARS AGO.  Good grief, I can't believe I've been here that long.

***
Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed re-remembering all these traditions.  Traditions are fun.  They root us to our friends and family and location in a way that sticks with us as time goes by.  I'm thankful to Arkansas Women Bloggers for this challenge, which will hopefully become a tradition of it's own. 

BLOGtober Fest Day 2: Halloween Memories

Growing up in rural NH, Halloween was about driving.

It wasn't like the fun Halloweens I've had since I lived in Madison and Arkansas, where we all dress up our kids and dogs and walk around in strange things called "neighborhoods."  In my hometown, the neighborhood was an 8-mile road that dead-ended in a lake.

I don't remember a lot of Halloweens, but I know they always involved a car.

Except one year, we had a van.

I think it was my sophomore or junior year...maybe senior.  I don't remember my costume (it might have been "mad scientist" year).  All I remember is a bunch of us taking my friend trick-or-treating...for the first time.  He had to be at least 14 or 15 years old.   Let me say that again.  For one reason or another, this guy had Never. Been. Trick. Or. Treating.  As far as I'm concerned, that's blasphemy.  (Well, I guess technically celebrating the pagan All Hallows Eve might be more blasphemous, but who's counting?)

So we all dressed up and piled into the van, a bunch of high schoolers acting like little kids. I couldn't tell you where we went, what we wore, or who was in the van other than the trick-or-treating virgin.  We drove around on a perfectly windy, creepy New England night, accompanied by the perfectly spooky rattle of branches and rustle of leaves.  Adults looked at us with varying degrees of indulgence or skepticism as we rang their doorbells, but we didn't care.

I remember laughing.  A lot.  And though visiting Eureka Springs' White Street on Halloween a couple of years ago ran a close second, I think this night back in the '90s wins for "Best Halloween Ever."

***
This post is the 2nd a series I've written as part of Arkansas Women Bloggers BLOGtober Fest Blogging Challenge.  Lots of bloggers are writing posts on pre-selected topics - and you can view them all at Arkansas Women Bloggers.

BLOGtober Fest Day 1: About fashion/decor I have nothing to add

Happy fall, y'all.  This week, I'm participating in BLOGtober Fest, a fun and delightful challenge from Arkansas Women Bloggers. We must write something each day from October 15-19.  They even give us the topics, which this working gal loves; a few decisions I don't have to make.

And our first topic is...fashion and decorating. I'm being perfectly honest; when I saw this topic, I thought...le sigh.

I'm aware that there are many, many blogs that are full of good writing about such things.  But I don't read a lot of them, and mine isn't one of them.

Here's the thing.  I'm not crafty or decorative.  My halloween/fall decor consists of a sparkly cat my dad bought me at Lowe's and a silver pumpkin candle my mom bought me two years ago.  I love this new little silver leaf knicknack my friend got me as a present last week, and the OTHER pumpkin candle another friend gave me (both pictured at left), but that's about as far as it goes.

On the fashion front, yes, I've become obsessed with boots lately (and through 10/23 you can still enter to win a pair of kick-ass boots here), but aside from wishing I was more fashionable (or at least skinny enough to wear more fashionable clothes), I don't have much to contribute to the dicussion.

And at this particular moment in time, when so much of such importance is going on in the world, I wish that we could have supportive, civilized discussion (like we do about fashion, decor and cooking) about politics, world events and social issues.

But I know that's a pipe dream.  So instead, I'll link you off to a few of my fellow bloggers who are talking about fashion and decor, with so much more skill and passion than I have.  

Approaching Joy - the lovely, sweet and talented Paige can give you all kind of fashion inspiration, and plus, she's just a really nice gal, so go check her out.

In the "not a blog" category I give you: There are about about a million boot giveaways happening via Country Outfitter right now, so check out this pinterest page or just go like Country Outfitter on facebook.

You'll also see some pins about cool fashion/refashion tips on ohbygollyblog.com.

Catalog Living - ok, this is a humor site, but it's one of my favorites because it takes pictures from catalogs and creates stories about the people who live there. Their names are Gary & Elaine.

The Inspired Room - I found this blog on a google search for "decor" - such pretty pictures.  I want to live in those pictures.

Happy fashioning and decoring.  Until tomorrow, when I will hopefully have something more interesting to say.