Its in the Air

I am SO excited for Fall this year!!! Granted, Utah falls aren't quite as vibrant or long as those back in KY, among other places, but it will be wonderful all the same. No matter how soon the time runs out from now until the snow starts falling, I will cram as much autumn into my days as I can handle.

I love fall clothes, the weather, the BYU football games, the smells, the food, and of course those begging-to-be-stepped-on-ultra-crunchy leaves! I am going to make sure that this is an Autumn of enjoyment, taking advantage of all the fun, festivities, and beautiful nature that can be had.

I can hardly wait to go fall clothes shopping. New shoes, sweaters, jackets, jeans... I'm tickled at the very anticipation of it! Bradford will definitely humor me because I'm pretty sure he will also benefit from the fruits of my sprees. Sometimes its more fun shopping for him than it is for myself.

I'm starting a fund for our Fall O'Festivities, as Bradford fittingly christened it, so that we can be sure to go to the pumpkin patch to pick out our lucky pumpkin friends for this year, and also so that we have plenty of resources to attend all the fun things like farmers' stands, haunted houses, haunted forests, haunted corn mazes, haunted toilets, whatever! I get so ridiculously into those, no matter how unbelieveable, I push all logic aside so I can get thrououghly scared at every cliche chainsaw man and scary clown face (don't have to try too much be truly scared of those ones...). What fun is a haunted anything if you aren't going to let yourself be scared? Bradford can testify that I truly do denounce any reasoning that would allow me to walk through one of those without much clinging and shrieking. Not to mention the heap of entertainment for him as a product of that behavior...

And food! Thanks to the most recent Better Homes and Gardens magizine that was just bestowed to the doctors' office I work in, via the friendly postman, I have oodles of mouth-watering recipes and treats to try out. From pumpkin curry soup, spice-rubbed chicken to savory plum salad and chocolate cherry bread pudding... I think I will easily become a fan of the feasts of fall. Also, what fall is complete without several caramel popcorn balls and jugs of hot apple cider?! Come one, come all, I WILL be in the kitchen this season.

I hope that there are lots of fun parties and things going on... wait, this is Provo, land of the Cougars and home to BYU, of COURSE there will be parties, campus parties, community parties, ward parties, and hopefully a few parties by friends. Heck I may throw one myself if I feel ambitious enough. Now... what should Bradford and I dress up as if we need costumes? Hmm, that'll give me something to mull over.

Decorations! I want to do something fun in my apartment... maybe a fun squash arrangement or some fall leaves... There will definitely be scents of cinnamon and other delectable autumny smells to be had. Ooo! An autumn wreath on our door! Brilliant...

One of the canyons out here has what they call "The Alpine Loop." You go up one canyon and "loop" around the mountain and come out another canyon an along the way there are tons of aspen trees. They are gorgeous when they change color. They usually change pretty quickly though so you have to get up there at just the right time when they are at their most vibrant. I'm sure Bradford would love to go up with me and look at them and take some pictures. I also want to find a yard that needs to be raked so I can play in a pile of leaves. I loved it as a kid and and positive I would still find some kind of joy in it now.

With the days getting crisper, and whiffs of autumn in the air, Fall is going to be here before you can say Jack Robinson! So do something exciting to enjoy this wonderful season! Shower the kiddos with handfuls of candy come the 31st of October, try a fun recipe, sit outside and enjoy a beautiful afternoon with a good book. Let me know of plans you have so I can borrow your ideas and add them to my list.

Happy Fall everyone!!!

Ratatat-tatting

Last night Bradford and I went up to Salt Lake City to The Venue to watch a band Bradford recently discovered on Pandora and we both found it pretty cool. The band is Ratatat and they don't sing, its just all music full of synthesizers, some awesome guitar solos, and of course an electric keyboard and other doo-dads. It was so much fun! The Venue is a pretty small venue too so it made it even better. If I liked them before I think I love them now. But it will never be the same listening to them now that I've heard them live. It was SO incredibly good. The first two hours of the concert were torture though... there were two opening bands, and they were really not entertaining. The first one, E-rock I believe, was better than the second one, though still not what I would call good (Anyone that can use a Wiimote and nunchuck to digitally scratch though is considered pretty cool in my book.). We almost wanted to leave because the bands were draining our energy and excitement to see Ratatat and then they took the longest time to set up for Ratatat that we considered just going home. I'm glad we didn't. Ratatat's set was worth the wait. But next time, we'll probably show up an hour or two later so we don't have to deal with lame bands and wait time. Bradford used my camera to take some pictures and videos of the concert so I posted a few of them for anyone who wants a taste. (P.S. The video I was going to post was taking FOREVER to attach to my blog so I didn't end up posting it but I may try it again later.)


We got to go higher up (with a better, less obstructed, less crowded view) into the "lounge" part of the venue. It was a "21 and older" only section so it was the first time I've ever been IDed to get in somewhere. They had couches and an outside balcony and, of course, bars.

The keyboard guy was going nuts in all the songs, it was pretty hilarious to me for some reason. Maybe it was because his hair was a huge poof and it was fun to watch him fling it around...

These are some songs that I like a lot by them:

Falcon Jab http://www.box.net/shared/pncgik12g2

Wildcat http://www.box.net/shared/kby3rh338u (Bradford thinks they should play Wildcat at the BYU football games because it has a cougar-ish roar throughout it. Its fun).

Loud Pipes http://www.box.net/shared/k8pa53lc05

While we were waiting to go inside for the concert there was an old beardy guy standing by the crowd with a cello and he was playing all sorts of diddys on it. He was quite a character. Bradford and I decided that he's a bum because his under-appreciated musical genius drove him to insanity and forced him to the streets. We gave him a buck or so, as did a lot of other people. I bet he made a pretty good chunk of change that night. Ratatat should have had him open for them. I would have enjoyed listening to him more than the bands that did open.

We also went to Wal-Mart last night after the concert to get a few odds and ends and we FINALLY found Mario Kart for my Wii! I'm pretty excited to try it out. I love Mario Kart...