It's Autumn Time!

On October 1, I took out all my autumn decorations. So exciting! The wreath above I got for $3 at Goodwill. Isn't it cute? I love the colors. The turkey below I got at the BYU bookstore sophomore year of college. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!


The leaf candy dish I also got at Goodwill. The little acorn man and "Count Blessings" jar came from the BYU bookstore. If I had more money, I would buy all the cute stuff on sale at my work (Party City).


So, why do I love fall so much?

1. The colors: While in Utah, I really got to experience the fullness of fall, with the green summer trees changing to fiery reds, oranges, and yellows. It's beautiful! Leaves are so lovely. They have a unique shape and a satisfying crunch. And when they all fall off, the trees look spooky and mysterious.
2. The weather: Fall is cool and crisp, but not too cold. I love wearing cozy sweaters and cute jackets. Here in AZ, summer clothes are still in effect. But it's cooler in the mornings and evenings, which means more opportunities to go running. If we weren't in AZ, it would also mean hot chocolate, warm blankets, and blazing fires.
3. The food: I admit I've been using the oven all summer, and we had soup and muffins last week, but now I can do more! I love pumpkins, squash, corn, and other fall harvest foods. And turkey, of course. Pumpkin is my favorite though: bread, muffins, pancakes, pies, fritters, cookies, seeds, etc.
4. The holidays: Halloween is so much fun, with costumes, pumpkin carving, corn mazes, and candy. I'm bummed I have to work that day (and every weekend this month)--no handing out candy and going to parties for me. And I'm most likely going to be alone that whole weekend, because Justin will be in Vegas with his family visiting his sick grandma. Hopefully, we'll be able to go to my home for Thanksgiving. I haven't missed one yet! I love cooking everything with my mom, getting stuffed on delicious food, doing the turkey wobble (a Caruso tradition) with all the kids, and hanging out with the family.

The only things I don't like about autumn time are football, haunted houses, horror films and decorations, and wind. But the good things far outweigh the bad! I leave you with a photo of the luminous harvest moon behind wispy, dark clouds. Happy fall!

Funniest Cakes Ever!

On MSN's homepage, I found an article about blogs that post hilarious photos of different topics. I died of laughter all morning checking out cake wrecks, especially the ones with misspellings. As an editor, I just appreciate them more and find them ten times more hilarious than the average person would. Here are a few of my favorites (they are much funnier with the blogger's sarcastic comments, so check out the Web site too):

Instead of "Woo Hoo, Tommy!"



As the blogger said, sounds like something from Taco Bell, doesn't it?

Hilarious if you read it right and in a serious voice with a straight face! haha

This is just so funny. I would cry of fright if I were that 5-year-old kid!

First Day at Work

Yesterday was my first day at Party City. I was in charge of the costumes and Halloween items. I got to pick out some accessories to wear: an overpriced-but-free-for-me red and black feather boa and a flapper girl headband. Never wearing a boa again! It kept unraveling, and I almost choked myself once. Anyway, I pretty much spent the whole time getting costumes for people to try on. It was very fastpaced, which I like, and fun. I had a good time! No bad customers at all, and the time flew by. My legs and feet hurt from standing all day, though. And cleaning up was frustrating because I didn't really know what to do with certain items. I was just thrown into the arena without any training. So I tidied up the best I could.

I only made one friend that day, the girl I took over for at the costumes, and she is LDS. She saw my CTR ring and there was an immediate bonding between us. I love that about our church!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good: Justin and I participated in a research study today. For two hours of our time, we were compensated with $60!

The Bad: To celebrate my employment, we went to the dollar theater to see Up. The theater was having major technical problems. Our movie did not start until half an hour later. The problem took only a few minutes to fix, but they took forever to get to our theater.

The Ugly: Because the movie started so late, we had to leave early so that Justin would get to work on time. So we don't know how the movie ends! Grrrrr.

Party City's Newest Employee

Yep, I finally got a job. I applied to Party City, next to the Walmart a few blocks away from our home. When I turned in my application, the guy talked to me briefly, and I could tell he liked me. He invited me back for an official interview, and I could tell he was going to hire me. And he did.

Getting Sundays off and working with my tutoring job are not problems. The only problems are I get minimum wage and the job is temporary, because Halloween is the busiest time of year. After Halloween, they permanently hire only a few of the seasonal workers. Hopefully one of them will be me or hopefully I will find a better job by then.

I also need to go on a shopping spree, because I don't have the required clothing in my closet. Not really looking forward to it: I don't really like khaki pants, I hate sneakers, and who wears black shirts in Arizona, even in winter?

I start next Monday. Tune in again soon to hear about my first day at Party City!