The Best Holiday Ever Made!

I love Halloween. While many people around the world find great joy in the holiday, I think I'm a little more dedicated than the average fan. Ryan likes Halloween, but he had to take some serious steps to curb my enthusiasm. For example, he put a moratorium on Halloween decorating before October 1st. He also leaves virtually all of the decorating to me so that I won't go overboard -- as if there is such a thing!

Halloween rocks my world because it's the one day of the year that has no limits or expectations. You can do almost anything you want, and the weirder it is the better. Grown ups can act like kids. Homes that are usually warm and welcoming can creepy or scary. Kids in costume get to rebel from showing elders respect by demanding candy or else. In a word, Halloween is just plain cool.

This weekend, I entered what I call "Phase 2" of my Halloween decorating. I constructed a ghost sculpture that I found on Martha Stewart's website.

Meet the newest member of the Nonerick family, Stewart.

We will have lots of photos from our Halloween this year. We have an donut party and a costume party. What are our costumes? Ryan is going as Billy Mays, and I'm going as Tippi Hedren from "The Birds."

Happy Halloween!

Leaf Peepers

Recently, Ryan and I went to the east coast for a little family bonding, R&R, and leaf peeping. For those of you who have no idea what leaf peeping is, it's an activity where city folk head to forested areas (also known as "the sticks") to enjoy a little bit of nature and a lot of maple flavored products. Lucky for us, we have family in Vermont, which saves us from qualifying as "yuppie leaf peepers" because we don't have to stay in a fancy bed and breakfast with couples like Bert and Ethel from Long Island.

Here are some pictures of our leaf peeping adventure.

Walking on an old carriage road covered in leaves.

Poor Alice!

Something about the beautiful view, colorful foliage, fresh snow, and work boots makes Ryan think about becoming a farmer. Then he realized that farmers don't have time to code.

The fiery trees seem to work together to create beautiful patterns.
It's almost as if the trees are saying "After you. No, after you."

Hangin' with Ava, Hannah, and baby Xander at our deluxe accommodations. Incidentally, their house used to be a fancy bed and breakfast. Yet more evidence that we can't avoid being yuppie leaf peepers.

We also attended a family wedding in Syracuse, but we need to get some pictures from Ryan's mom before we post about that part of our itinerary.

Thanks to Ryan's family for putting up with us for a full week! We had a great time and can't wait to see you again soon!