"You're overdue on your blog"

Thanks for the reminder, Mom!

The past month has ushered in fall. Ryan and I made a failed attempt at a pumpkin pie (it ended up tasting like a milk pie). We went apple picking (2 of them are baking in the oven as I blog). Ryan completed his first marathon in under 4 hours. I signed up for a dance competition in November.

So yes - things are happening :) Ryan bet me 10 dollars that I wouldn't be able to hold off on the pumpkin spice coffee creamer until our regular half-and-half is gone. I lost this bet, but since we are both broke, he agreed not to send his bookie after me.

With this competition coming up, I am forced to again address my look. Fake eyelashes are purchased, as is a fake "bun" for the back of my hair. I bought it at a store that sells wigs, extensions, cheap jewelry and nails. I brought it home only to discover that it was not a match for my hair color. It was too light! Of course the woman at the store refused to exchange it. I stood at the register for a minute with a really sad expression on my face, just like my mom taught me, and it worked! They didn't exchange it, but the owner and a staff member comped me some gel-type stuff to paint onto it to make it darker, and now it is a closer match.

Instead of looking like a fake bun that's too light for my hair, it now looks like a fake bun that's too light for my hair and covered in shoe polish. Oh well. Honsetly, the hair is the least of my worries.

I have an ebay dress on the way that will either fit or take me back to my tap days at the Canfield Dance Company. I won't bore you with the details, but I looked very patriotic and very well-fed.

My other outfit is from a legit dancewear company so I have more hope for that.

And then there is the dancing itself. Oh the dancing. All I can say is that I really hope I can get it together by the time I have to do this in front of people. I want to at least get out there and not look like a fool with my shoe-polish bun.

But anyway - lets dance across that bridge when we come to it.

ECUADOR!!!! We are pretty much done planning! Hotels are 90% booked and confirmed, flights are settled. All that's left is printing out all our directions and confirmations, color-coding them by city and packing! I am SO excited for this trip!