Newsworthy

I enjoy reading the news (Noah, you're scoffing, I can sense it... Noah is a much more devout news devourer, and conversations usually end with me looking uber-uninformed). I'll admit, I don't read religiously. But my job is fairly news-oriented and when I'm looking for clients' coverage, I am always really interested (read: distracted) by the other newsworthy topics of the day.

But I have a problem. I cannot NOT read the comments section after stories. I can't help it. It is a scratch that MUST be itched. I'm sure I can blame it on that same slice of the human psyche that can't resist watching a trainwreck ... because wow. A trainwreck indeed.

Seriously, who ARE these people?! (Surely, not the type of people who take the time to rant about ranters on their blogs. Hypocritical irony noted. Guilty.) No matter what the story, no matter the topic, these comment trains inevitably crash toward an, "Oh yeah, utgrams968?! Bring it!" conclusion and are littered with shoddy arguments and angry half-truths along the way. Who knew "Britain's Prince Harry and Girlfriend Split" could spark such heated debates?

The best part of these comments is the fact that there is SO much poor grammar and spelling on this planet. These comments would have me believe that 80% of the world's newspaper readers are, in fact, illiterate. Trust me, cheerGRL17*, there is no quicker way to debunk your argument than a sentence that reads like this...

"Over all, you jokers that support there views are rediculous!! Stop trying to force you're Morales on everyone!!!!!"**

I particularly enjoy the excessive use of punctuation. Does anyone else have the same unhealthy obsession?

*Screen names that are used to protect the innocent have been changed to protect the innocent.
**I did not see this ACTUAL sentence. It is a combination of a few of my top picks. "Morales" was especially a favorite.

Dear Snow,

Thanks for finally showing up. I find you 11 times more pleasant than the ugly gray and bare trees we've been enduring for the past few weeks. Plus, it feels a lot more natural to listen to the all-day every-day Christmas radio stations Noah preset in the car with you around.

Fair warning: it probably won't be long before I'm cursing your very existence. Don't take it personally. It's not your fault we don't have a garage. You also didn't force us to purchase a vehicle with rear-wheel drive.

Welcome back! It's good to see you.

Best,
Allison

Halloween

I just had to add this late addition... what a cutie. Laine's not bad either.

We're just a few days behind schedule reporting our Halloween activities. But this year's Halloween was a fun (and photographed) one, making it excellent fodder for a post.

We kicked off the whole season with more than our fair share of caramel apple making. Most of which was spearheaded by yours truly, so rest assured, this is not a complaint. Three cheers for the Riley family orchard... I so married into the right agrarian scene.



We also got our spooky artsy fix with an evening at Odyssey Dance Company's Thriller with the Millets. It was a lot sweeter when we were students and snagged tickets for a measly $5 each. Even still, this is such a rad performance. All those creepy girls who can pop their arms out of socket and hang them listlessly over their heads... those are the moments you wish your parents had opted for dance and socket-popping lessons over the boring old violin and piano.

This year, I was so excited to have a primary (albeit very small) of trick-or-treaters around. But because we weren't going to be in Salt Lake for the actual occassion, Noah and I decided to trick-or-treat our primary kids instead. We went as just-came-from-our-evening-workout. It wasn't a difficult ensemble to pull together, we just went straight from our evening workouts. Not creative. A little frightening. It was so much fun! We have some of the sweetest little kids in our neighborhood, and it was fun to catch them off guard on October 30. They didn't even see it coming.



On Halloween, we headed to Herriman to visit that Riley bunch. We took the chicken and the zebra out to get the goods for the eventual sugar-induced coma. Laine was so funny about it. She practiced "trick or treat" at each door, until somebody finally answered, at which point she promptly froze. Her momentary pause was inevitably disrupted by the family dog making an appearance, which sent Laine into delighted shrieks of "Doggie! Doggie!" and she quit paying attention to the bowl of sugar in front of her. After three or four houses repeating the same drill, she tired of the whole experience and we walked back home. I swear I was never such a distracted and/or apathetic trick-or-treater...



For those of you who are starting to worry a little about the picture, rest assured, I still bleed Aggie Blue. I invested in a little masking tape, face paint, a backcomb and some Aquanet and went as a Zoobie to our office Halloween party - partly because the hairdo alone rates up there with "scariests" in my book. Speaking of scary, who knew my roots were so grown out?! Yeesh. Good thing I don't sport the Utah Valley Girl 'do very often...

Thank You, Smash

So, the blog received a much-needed and much-desired facelift at the hands of my sweet sister and her wicked good talents. Thank you, Smashley!

Lost & Found

Lost: (1) pair, men's underpants, white.
(1) Hanes v-neck undershirt, white.

Found: In our laundry. So, if you washed your wardrobe in the Marmalade laundromat at roughly 11:00 a.m. on Saturday and you're now missing your skivvies, you can find them in the dumpster at said Marmalade.

How does that happen?! I prefer not to think about it...

To quote my dear Claire on her response to Ay Carumba, "ah, apartment living."

Last Leg

Sorry if you're getting tripped out (read: tired of the pictures already!), but these last few pictures were some of my very favorites from the whole trip. We spent the last two days in Palymra, NY where the leaves had turned since our first drive through the area. The morning we left, we were able to attend the temple and visit the Sacred Grove, it was the perfect way to end the trip. Below are two of my favorite pictures from the path to the Grove.




I thought these trees were so neat - I love that each one is a different color.