rocheport ride

we have had AMAZING weather here the past several days... 75ish, clear, and sunny! since our anniversary we have wanted to rent bikes and ride from Columbia to a little town called Rocheport. Its about 15 miles away and there are trails that run the whole route.

if we had taken this ride about two weeks ago it would have been really beautiful with all the fall leaves, but the brown midwest winter is starting to set in. we really enjoyed riding by the river and the weather made up for any lack in color.

it took us about 2 hours each way and we hung out in Rocheport for about 2 hours as well. we were SO happy to enjoy lunch at this kitschy little restaurant called Abigail's the restaurant reminded us of home and the food was amazing. we will for sure be going back.



it was so nice to spend the day doing something fun and active just the two of us. life has been way too busy and stressful lately so this was a much needed day. we REALLY want to buy bikes now...hopefully in the spring!




hope you all had a great weekend too! ta ta for now!

autumn stroll

a few weeks ago we had a beautiful saturday. grant and i decided to get coffee and stroll through downtown and head to campus to tour the rec center (OMG it is out of this world!).



we had fun enjoying all the beautiful fall foliage...



and checking out campus.



what we didn't remember was that it was homecoming day! apparently homecoming originated at University of Missouri so it is an insanely huge deal...like HUGE. these are all the people waiting for the parade! it had floats, bands from all over and the whole bit. it was seriously insane, but way cool!

it is GOOOOOOOOOD to be a duck!

ain't he the cutest duck fan you ever did see?? this is him all cheery last week when the Ducks stomped the Huskies




he is so cute... can't get close enough!



well... last week DID NOT EVEN COMPARE to the fun and excitement of last night's game! if you live under a college football rock you can read about it here, but really you should at least watch a highlight reel... it was THAT GOOD! i could hardly even knit for fear i would miss another awesome play!



ducked out!



very pleased after yet another oregon touchdown. IT WAS SO SO AWESOME to hand USC their ass on a plate... 600+ yards, most points scored against them since '97, etc, etc!!!!



i think Grant was almost as nervous/excited/exhausted as the players were!



we were happy little duck fans... only thing that would have been better would have been watching it live back home! we miss you, Oregon...especially during football season!

listen.

its been a long time! hi! we have been incredibly busy and not with anything all that exciting, unless you consider pediatric nursing and cardiovascular physiology exciting. sadly, we kind of do.. but that is beside the point. i took some pictures of grant freaking out (ok i was too) during the ducks game saturday, but i haven't uploaded them. Maybe I'll get those up by the end of the week?? I know you are busting at the seams with anticipation, AREN'T YOU?!

In the mean time, I listened to some great episodes of This American Life while working out today and yesterday. Do you listen to this show? I used to not like it, but I must have been on crack because I'm obsessed with it now. And its on tv now too?! You can watch the show streaming from netflix, which I like to do as an excuse to sit in my rocking chair and knit. I know I'm 80 years old.. don't judge!

Anyway, a weeks ago This American Life did a two part series on the health care system. I'm sure we all have very different opinions about what is going on and how it should proceed, but I would encourage anyone with an opinion to listen to these. They do a really good job of looking at things from a different perspective and brought up a lot of issues I hadn't heard of anywhere else. It is really making me think and reconsider my position on the issue.

If you are so inclined, here are the episodes...the full episodes are on their website for you to click and listen to. If you decide you want to get the weekly podcast you can subscribe on iTunes... only thing is I can't figure out how to get past episodes that way.

Week 1: More is Less
Week 2: Someone Else's Money

Enjoy!

curtains and stools. OH MY!

when we bought this house we knew we needed some sort of window covering for the sliding glass door. the vertical blinds were going back up over my dead body. (no offense if you have vertical blinds...) we checked out our options and, quite honestly, could afford curtains and that was it. though my mom tells me it is the 'new thing' to do on sliding doors? she may have just been trying to make me feel better...

once that decision was made i had to figure out what the heck we were going to hang up! let me remind you that it was July by this point...there had been a quilt hanging up since May and i was tired of sweating and wearing my sunglasses to dinner (that side of the house faces west). this is becoming a long story. anyway... basically, i looked for fabric i liked - nothin'. G and i spent a few hours in target - nothin'. i stopped in pier one while running errands and found these. eh. i think i like 'em... this whole decorating this is so stressful for me!

they are kind of expensive for our one-income household and we needed to cover the slider plus three other windows...adds up fast! for each of the windows in the living room i cut one panel in half and hemmed the raw edge. then i bought one more panel for the kitchen window hoping to make a roman shade.

although i finished hemming... we haven't yet hung the other panels, but i think we are liking the ones on the slider. i am REALLY happy i insisted on getting one of the double curtain rods...the sheers on the second rod hide the fact that it is a slider back there... looks prettier, no??

one downer...i had grant hang the slider ones up and then (after a week..im slow?) realized i had never ironed them. OF COURSE it is now driving me insane and the screws (holding the curtain rod in place) are too tight to get them down...awesome.

with the extra fabric for the kitchen shade (haven't made that one yet...) i covered our stools. these were old and ugly oak stools with no pad on the seat. i primed and sprayed them (spray paint = my new best friend) and then cut a thick piece of quilt batting and a circle of fabric. then i just pulled tight and stapled A LOT.

i think i like 'em. i worry that there will be too much of this fabric in the room. i considered making pillows for the couch too, but i really do think that will be too much.

in other house news...

sunday while i made bread Grant cleaned up our garage. our attic is all organized with a TON of extra space...more than we ever thought. and the garage is too! it was all to make room for the car... its been COLD here and i wasn't about to go outside if i don't have to. love it!

in the coming weeks we have plans to actually assemble the last 2 chairs to our dining room set. they have only been hanging around since January! i always said i would never be this person...yet you get busy and you have no choice. i am also 2 years behind on printing pictures... i used to have every picture printed, in an album with some framed, and archived within days of taking them!

anyway...i am wordy tonight. i hung out at the state mental hospital for a few hours today... it might have made me a little loopy. we also have a plan for getting my craft room in order and, hopefully, making room for an actual guest bed! we'll keep you posted.

today was my monday and i'm already ready for the weekend... two.more.days.

pumpkin festival!

warning: picture heavy post...



we were going to go to the pumpkin patch this weekend but THEN we heard about the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival! what is a pumpkin festival? basically lots of fun booths and autumn festiveness where you can buy/pick pumpkins...SWEET! have i mentioned how much i like this stuff??



i took this from our parking spot...which was the sweetest spot EVER. G read that Hartsburg has a population of 108 (yes. total.), but that the festival draws 32,000 people every year (its only 1 weekend long)!! he decided that meant we should find an alternate way in and out of town...exactly the kind of thing that made me marry this man. everyone else easily waited 2 hours to get out of town and to the freeway...we walked slightly (maybe a few blocks) farther to our car and drove away with no wait!

we made it back in time to catch most of the duck game. did you see the SWEET touchdowns in the first few minutes of the second half?? we were screaming and clapping in the sports bar...no other duck fans here so they all just stared...whatever! your loss missoura!



back to the festival...this was our first stop...kettle corn. YUM!













there were lots of crafts booths, too! i love that my husband enjoys this stuff as much as me...we were checkin' out all the crafts/holiday decorations and he kept saying, "i can't wait til we can get all this stuff for our house." i melted, just a little. we had so much fun walking around and the weather was, obviously, awesome!



clouds in the mirror on the way home.



our loot!! grant says we are celebrating pumpkin diversity in this household...ha!

can you guess how much this all cost??? $15! can you believe that? pumpkins are 2 for $10 at the grocery stores here...such an insane rip off.