I remembered to take pictures!

Hello friends! I remembered to take pictures at a couple of events lately, and decided to share! Aren't you all proud of me?

First, I had a Halloween get together at my apartment with some friends from church and a few people from work. We got together to watch scary movies (since it was Halloween and all), eat, and hang out. My friend Matt was more in the Halloween spirit than the rest of us and came complete with a "couldron" of punch that "smoked" (had dry ice in it). It was a good evening and fun to have a crew of people over - it was the first time I had done that with a large group since I moved out here. For those of you who like scary movies, my official advice - rent The Orphanage, don't rent The Happening.

The other holiday related activity recently was a party my friend Erin (first picture below) put together to make Operation Christmas Child Boxes. For those of you unfamiliar with OCC, it's something Samaritan's Purse does and they send shoeboxs of goodies to children in poverty all over the world. Volunteers create boxes and donate funds toward shipping and Samaritan's Purse distributes them. Erin organized a group of us to each buy stuff and collect shoeboxes, and then to have a little shoebox stuffing party at a local church. We made a ton of them - enough to fill the back seat of Erin's car and a good time was had by all.

And mom, this picture it just for you - this is Wesley (in case you ever need itfor a police wanted poster) Just kidding :)

Finally friends, as I've already happily shared with many of you, the weather out here is amazing. Last weekend I spent the weekend outside studying in a park and it was warm enough to do it! In early November!!! It's seriously thrown off my sense of time - it just barely feels like fall out here now - much less almost Thanksgiving. No worries, I'm not complaining.

All of you in Minnesota - MOVE! Hurry -there's still time before full blown winter hits! That said, here are some fun pictures of the fall colors our my apartment window.