October Highlights!

Prepare for an onslaught of photo happiness!
I realize we're WELL into November, but it took me a while to download so.many.photos!

We kicked off October with a party.
Like a college party.
With a keg.
And flip cup.
And a late-night dance party.
Clearly we do not do this often.
It was fun.

These ladies wore this to the party. So I guess it was a little more chill than a college party.

The boys stepped it up. Matt wore his wolf shirt. Big night.

[Me picking up a new first year friend to drive him to the party.]
P: Oh, is it the theme party??
[pause]
Me: Ha, no. This is just what I wear on a Friday night.
[pause]
Me: Wait, what would the theme be??
P: I don't know...Ke$ha?
Ouch.

Dance party finest.

Best thing to do the day after a party?
Go to a Ciderfest!

Incredible Farmhouse burgers.
Unlimited cider samples.

Hayrides!

Did you see the sky today. Talk about blue!
(Bonus points for naming that movie)

Unlimited pie samples!

It was a gorgeous day, so we hung out in the orchards for a while.

We leapfroged.

Lounged. In apple trees. Don't be jealous.
Ok, you can be jealous.

Dangled.

Pie + overalls + oversized tires. So happy!

To round out an all-star weekend, we went on a sunrise hike!
This entailed waking up at...

3:15am.
Not a typo.

These were the smart ones with functional headlamps.
Those of us without light walked in between these generous light-sharers.

We hiked Hunger Mountain, which was about an hour and half up with an awesome rock scramble up the last part.

And when we got to the top we saw
THIS!!!!

For some reason, I really wasn't prepared for how strikingly beautiful it would be.
Oh, and cold. Very cold. So we huddled.

"...and I thought
how the sun

blazes

for everyone just
so joyfully
as it rises

under the lashes
of my own eyes, and I thought
I am so many!
What is my name?

What is the name
of the deep breath I would take
over and over
for all of us? Call it

whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the ways to enter
fire."
Mary Oliver

Banzai!
Welcoming the sun.

It was so worth waking up at 3am.

Post-hike. Pre-amazing, post-hike breakfast!

Then this girl had a birthday with the best theme ever:
Glam + Potluck of her favorite foods

Luckily for us her favorite foods include bacon wrapped scallops, fettuccine alfredo, and ribs.

And this was the weekend Matt was in town!
We so glam.

We so glam, at karaoke!

That's right.

The Giant Pumpkin Regatta!

Where people race in Lake Champlain in giant hollowed out pumpkins.
In other words, amazingnessrightbeforeyoureyes.
Can you spot the dragon and viking lady?!?!

Puff the magic dragon takes an early lead.

A battle starts mid-race.

The new objective: tackle other people out of their pumpkins.

Objective accomplished!

So many great party themes in October.
This beauty:
Mix viewing Madonna's Immaculate Collection DVD
+
Dressing up as a Madonna in one of the videos
+
Some fun, hilarious women
=
Awesome.

Erica's Birthday celebration!
We sent her on a scavenger hunt around town to find her present (a guitar!),
Followed by a Southern potluck dinner.

Fried okra via chopsticks!

Sampling aaaaaaamazing jalapeno, goat cheese hush puppies!

Mint iced tea in mason jars.

Pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, creamed corn, cajun fettuccine alfredo, veggie gumbo...delicious.

Imaginary double dutch. Always a crowd pleaser!

Pasciullo sisters know what's up!

Amazing women from all points of the birthday girl's life...sister, high school, college, med school...

After the party, I crawled into bed with my friend Annie and woke up 2 hours later at 4:30am to my alarm.
Annie: Where are you going?
Me: The airport.
Annie: The airport?
Me: Yep.

So that I could fly home for the wedding of my wonderful friend from high school!
Isn't his wife gorgeous?

The high school boys.
Love this picture.
Especially the groom's white man overbite.
Nice work, gentlemen.

Hey-oh!
Dance party!

Sexy Ho!
(Don't worry, it's her nickname...)

I'm pretty sure I stated this after a couple of glasses of champagne, but I wanted to publicly say that I am so glad my guy friends married such amazing women.
Not that I'm surprised.
I'm just glad I get to be friends with them now too.

The stunning couple just before they retired for the night.

Oh but the weekend didn't stop there folks!
Next morning I drove to Athens to watch my sister (this one) play soccer for UGA.
The best part of that drive:
Getting a voicemail from my friend in Burlington who didn't know I was home saying he hoped I was enjoying the cold, rainy Sunday, as I drove with the windows down. 85 and sunny.

Proud big sisters.
(p.s. Check out that crowd! It was packed!)

Family dinner post-game. Mexican food. Obvi.

We called our missing sister, the one who lives in Zambia, from here:

M: Hey! We're heading out to celebrate Independence Day!
Me: Oh, awesome! Independence from who?
M: [pause] England? [pause] I'm not sure...[pause] Let me check. [pause]
Yep, England.

Family picture in our pseudo-matching outfits which we trotted around town in all day. Hilarious.

Sisters at a post-game party.
(We left a seat for you Marissa!)

Back to Burlington,
our friend Mark & Annie got us in the mood for Halloween by hosting a
Butternut Squash soup eating,
Caramel Apple making,
The Shining watching
party.
Yep.
October breeds great theme parties.

I'm proud to say I wasn't the most scared person watching the movie.
Not even the second most scared!
That was definitely a first.

Annie makes studying the kidney pretty.
I just had to share.
And to note that we successfully completed learning the heart, lungs, and kidney during October also.
Not all fun and games, my friends, not all fun and games.

1st years vs. 2nd years Flag Football game!
Undefeated 2 years running!

I played! (And I didn't tear my LCL this year, Mom & Dad. :) )

Touchdown!

Erica is fierce. Don't mess.

I had to include this picture because it sums up happiness for me:
Making Halloween costumes with my friends,
waiting for pizza to arrive,
having just finished a course,
and won a flag football game,
covered in mud,
wearing a PBR headband.
Why? What does happiness look like to you?

For Halloween, we went out celebrating this guy's birthday.
The theme was gangster.
I think they nailed it.

Later we met up with everyone who had gone to the official Halloween party.
These are the costumes we made!
Characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Click here to see how awesomely close their costumes were.

The ladies: Gangster, Toph, Maple Tree, Gangster, and Katara

The rest of the weekend was spend hibernating from the cold and rain.
Drawing.
Watching movies.
Painting nails.
Making pumpkin cookies.
Reading Real Simple and Vogue.
Perfection.

Look, Mom, we used the cookie cutters!

I used this recipe.
They approved.

Yay October! What a month!?!