Me: I am 1000 words short for the day, and I have lost all interest.

Tamara: I assume this is Kat... My new phone is blind to friendship.

Me: I do not know this Kat of which you speak. She sounds ravishing. Tell me more.

Tamara: Oh yes, quite ravishing. A thousand words behind her goal, though... So good with bad, you know?

Me: Touche.

It's snowing, and it seems to be sticking this time. And earlier I heard "Last Christmas" on the radio for the first time.

The holiday season is definitely on the way.

Twizzlers at my side, it begins.

One thing I really like about working at a college is that fall still feels like a time of year when things start picking up. Fresh starts and new projects - all that fun stuff I've always loved. And it's certainly been that way this year. I moved into my new apartment (which I'm loving more and more all the time) two weeks before the semester started, and the last two months have felt like one exciting thing after another.

This weekend has been no exception.

Friday I had my friends over for the first time since I moved in. A couple of them had already seen it, but this was the first time I'd really had people over, other than just looking in, or helping me move in in the first place. And it was a great night. We carved pumpkins, I made shepherds' pie for the first time (which turned out wonderfully, and which I completely plan to make again), and all around had a really nice night.

Saturday we went in costume to see a few cover bands at the local brewery, where among other things, we saw the worst band in the world. Not just the worst cover band, the worst band. Ever. It was painful to watch, and baffling, as the Ramones really aren't particularly musically challenging. But they made it all sound much, much worse. Than anything else I've ever heard. I'm going to stop myself now, because I feel like I could just go on and on. Luckily, the rest of the night was pretty good.

Sunday I got a couch, and christened it by curling up and watching Stardust and eating leftover shepherd's pie. It may sound boring, but I certainly enjoyed myself. I do love me some Neil Gaiman. And Robert de Niro as Captain Shakespeare will always be my favorite role of his. He's charming.

And today was all about final preparations for NaNoWriMo, which starts tomorrow. I've got my novel sketched out, I spent the evening making lists and notes and whatnot, and I made an incredibly enormous grocery store run. I bought a big haul, and shouldn't need to go back for at least two weeks. Which is good, because I spent a bit more than I intended. But it's all in the name of NaNoWriMo, and at least I managed to make myself buy some healthy stuff. So hopefully by this time tomorrow, I'll be at least 1667 words in.

I still haven't decided if I'm going to attempt both NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo, like I did last year (not that it lasted). I think I'll just wait and see how insane I'm feeling tomorrow. For now, I think I just need to go to bed. Literary abandon awaits!


Happy Halloween, everybody.

I am blogging right now while wearing sunglasses around my apartment. Because I'm so awesome!

Just kidding. Actually, I just got my eyes dilated. They look all weird, and it's hard to focus on things up close. I felt very dorky puttering around my apartment in sunglasses while I made myself yet another cup of peppermint hot chocolate. But at least they're my own, and not those weird roll-up ones they give you. My plan is to hide in my bedroom, the darker of the two rooms in my apartment. Not counting the closet and bathroom, of course. But I don't want to sit in either of those. So I'll hang out and probably watch "Sex and the Single Girl" on Netflix, because sitting in the eye doctor's office and letting my eyes adjust reminded me of that scene where Tony Curtis keeps insisting "It's very bright" while he gets Natalie Wood very, very drunk. And then when the sun goes down, I'll go do some laundry. And then I'll go pack for the second of the three weddings. It's fun times around here, let me tell you!

I do really like my new brainy specs, though. It's been ages since I got a new pair of glasses, so that was my own nerdy brand of excitement.

In other news, fall has most definitely come to Santa Fe. I had not two but three blankets on my bed last night, it's been gray and rainy all week, and there's already snow on the mountains. I love it like this, in spite of the fact that I had to go to the grocery store in the pouring rain the other day. Fall has become my favorite season since coming to Santa Fe, and I think it's mostly because I never had it before. There really isn't a real fall in Texas, and San Diego was more or less the same year round. But it's lovely here. I've already started making big pots of comfort food- red beans and rice, ratatouille, and potato leek soup. I'm baking and knitting more- two things I never feel very inclined to do when it's hot, in spite of how much I love them. Now I'm looking forward to the first snowfall, because I've decided to celebrate it by building the first fire in my woodburning stove. Which I suppose means I should be looking for a cast iron kettle to put on it as a humidifier. Three people have now told me I should do that, so I shall.

The first of the three weddings was this last weekend, and it was way too much fun. Plus, it was on the same day that I went to Taos Sheep and Wool Fest, so it was a lovely day all around. I bought lovely yarn, which I can't wait to make into stuff (a sweater and a cowl or two is what I have planned so far), and then I got all dolled up and headed out. Apparently I did a really good job dolling myself up, because the bride didn't recognize me at first, having met me only once at a baseball game. So I guess it's good that I looked really different from that time I was in a tank top and jeans that I almost immediately dropped ketchup on.

The wedding was at a lovely hotel/resort place in Taos. It was an outdoor ceremony, and we got very lucky. Not only did we narrowly avoid getting rained on, but the bagpiper at the other wedding, elsewhere in the grounds of the resort, stopped just in time for our ceremony to start. But my friend Jeremy and I still couldn't here the woman officiating over the nearby waterfall, so we made up our own dialogue. It was mostly self-explanatory, so it was ok. Once he steps on the glass and they kiss, there's not much else to it. And then we all ate dinner and fought over the cookies on the tables and laughed a lot. My friend, the groom, said I was being seated at the fun table, and he definitely wasn't kidding. I discovered that the gay couple sitting next to me are both in rehearsals for The Nutcracker right now, and I threatened them with a dance-off. I can Sugarplum with the best of them!

And the best part is that I'm even more excited for the two weddings I still have to go to! And for Halloween, and NaNoWriMo, and Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It's going to be a very good fall, I can tell.

I made this baked crab macaroni and cheese tonight, with roasted asparagus. And the rest of the mac and cheese is sitting on the stove, and it's still warm and cheesy and gooey, and I can't stop eating it. It's so freaking delicious.

Make this stuff, you guys. Just do it.

I know, I know. It's been over a month - again - since I posted. Sorry, Mom.

Honestly, it's mostly been because there hasn't been much to post about. Things have been pretty low-key lately. But it seems they're picking up.

Today I got invited to my third wedding for this year.

It'll be the first one I go to, but the third I'm invited to.

My friends are getting expensive. Luckily, I was invited to this one really last minute (it's next weekend. Luckily, I have a rack full of cute dresses to pick from), so I probably won't be expected to get them a gift, especially since I've already kicked in for the gift we're getting them from everyone at the office. This is a work friend's wedding, if I didn't make that clear.

It's weird getting older. Everyone is getting married all the time, and I already have friends that are having babies. I can't put my finger on what's weird about it, it just sort of is.