Fallish Festivities

My brother, Brett, came to visit Josh and I for his fall break from Taylor.

Here are the necessary ingredients for an October visit in our casa.

1. Redbox a scary movie.

Just not this one:

Sick.

2. Visit a fall festival and pose with cheesy items.

3. Safely escort pumpkins home.

4. Carve jack-o-lanterns.

Be sure to clear all excess pumpkin strands with air compressor.

An ode to something scary, Harry Potter, and Batman (that had one piece fall out):

So we turned Josh's pumpkin around to show off his cityscape.

Chicago or Gotham? You pick.

5. Watch a Leo thriller: Shutter Island.

Happy October!

Peanuts & Cracker Jacks

Let me preface this by saying, NO, we are not White Sox fans.

Last Friday night, we met up with my old Sunday School teacher and friend, Grant. (Old as in years past, not his age.) ha

It was awesome because the Sox were playing our Cleveland Indians. Yes, the Tribe won.

Josh and I haven't been to a baseball game all summer.

Since I last saw Grant, he has taken up some awesome photography. He was in town for professional development, but took some fabulous photographs of Chicago. You can check them out on Flickr here.

Our walk back to Union Station from the Red Line was a bit chilly, but it was wonderful to be in the city after dark.

The picture below isn't photoshopped. It's the Sears Tower with a glowing pink light on top. I'm glad Josh caught a picture of it when the clouds were passing through.. very Batman, dont'cha think?

Warm Up Dance

As the temperature outside starts dropping, so does the temperature inside our apartment. We made a date out of our Sunday afternoon (dorky yes, but fun nonetheless) to get ready for the cold season.

We started out with warm Starbucks drinks and picked up some wood for our fireplace. Next was the big job: insulate the windows. We'll let you know how it works out.

Step 1: Clean the sill

Step 2: Apply double sided tape to the perimeter

Step 3: Peel tape

Step 4: Adhere film to tape*

Step 5: Blow dry out the loose wrinkles (Like magic. Oh, what entertains us.)

(See? It looks so good you can't even tell there's a sheet of clear wrap 2 inches off the window!)

For the record, this is the only time in life I have seen J with a blow dryer. Momentous.

Step 6: Sip Starbucks and take pictures

* I was terrible at this step. Absolutely awful. Thank goodness Josh wasn't!

Not Every Baker is Made Equal

Josh and I are VERY different in the kitchen.

I never thought I would be the OCD one, but he brings it out of me where...?

In the kitchen.

This was our attempt at baking Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies. Can you guess who wasn't willing to share a few licks of the dough? Or who wanted to eat more dough than actual cookies? Who do you think wanted to scrap individual cookies and go for one big messy blob? Any guesses?

Good thing I absolutely love him. :)

What Goes Up, Must Come Down

Welcome to Six Flags Great America.

(Dear Cedar Point, this place was nothing compared to you. Don't worry, we are still on Team Sandusky, Ohio for best roller coasters ever. love always, Josh and KJ)

But... it was still fun. Really fun! Accenture rented the park out on Saturday, Sept. 25th and all their Chicago employees were admitted for free with their families.

Josh wanted to take this picture to show how close we parked to the front entrance.Boys are strange.

Look, no lines!

This was their Dark Knight ride- indoor coaster. More excited here than we were after the ride.

This particular SF employee was not a fan of Josh. I had to document it. He paid to try and climb the rope ladders. After he paid the steep fare, she changed the rules on him from what the sign read, making it impossible to win-- I know, I've seen it done! Full refund. Couldn't believe it.

GLEEks

We decided to grill out for our GLEE TV dinner (much healthier option.) You're looking at two steaks and corn on the cob. Yummy!

Then it started to rain. HARD. Josh continued anyways, summoning my handy, dandy leopard print umbrella to help him. Love that.

Don Campbell

The first week of September, we made a visit to San Diego to be with family members and remember the wonderfully joyful and inspiring, Donald Campbell- my grandpop.

These are his roses. You can't see in this picture, but he has rose bushes all over! He was a gifted gardener. The best I have ever seen. His talents with roses were remarkable.

On Friday night, we shared in happy hour and dinner with my grandparent's friends. They played music that honored Don (I wasn't very good at it!) and some had spumoni/ice cream in his name too!

The lady on the far right in the picture is above is Marian. She graciously let us stay with her. She used to teach at NYU, played tennis for 90 years, and still has such charming spunk! She is pictured below with us too. When we asked for a photo, she ran to the bathroom to apply her lipstick first!

Spending time with the family reminded me of how important we all are to each other. Even though we are spread all around the nation, our hearts always connect when we reunite.

Love and miss you, Grandpop. Thank you for being such a great man.