Birthday Review (and a Special Edition of Halloween MMSM)

What a very strange weekend it was . . .
LOML offered to take me out of town for dinner and a night at a hotel, but I chose to stay in town and watch college football instead. Fortunately - Alabama won. It was a nail-biter and an overall good game though. We tried to hook up with a few friends, but that never worked out. THEN, I got pissed at the place we went to watch some more football, because they changed the big TVs to games that held no interest (Iowa) and then to a UFC (fighting) thing. I was SO MAD!! We left early, me a bit downtrodden.
My spirits were raised on Sunday when we visited with my family. We carved pumpkins and ate gumbo. I got one of those AWESOME Margaritaville Blenders (frozen concotion maker) from my family. I can't wait to use it!! We also had a yummy Tirimisu cake that my mom ordered from New York. As soon as the cake was eaten, we got a call that a close family friend had passed. Seriously! LOML and I left soon after and went to see a movie before finally heading home.
It was a busy weekend, but definitely left my spirits dampened. Perhaps that's why I was having all those ill feelings about my birthday in the first place. It was destined to be. . .less than celebratory.
On the other hand, the outpouring of good wishes I received via twitter, Facebook, blog comments, and e-mail was overwhelming. A BIG HUG and THANK YOU to all of you for thinking of me, if only for a moment. It really meant a lot!!

The conclusion of my birthday, means one thing - the lead up to Halloween!!
I've saved a bunch of links from last year and a few this year to share this week.
Let's get this party started with some Halloween-Themed "Made Me Smile Monday"

• How about these owl cookies - they look good enough to, well, eat. They are also not completely Halloween specific and can totally be made any time of year.
  
• A gallery of Star Wars pumpkins
• Mmmmmm - vampire cookies!!
  
• Beer Fairy costume - LOVE IT!!

Lastly, does anyone have any great blended drink recipes for me to try in my NEW, AWESOME machine? I've got the bushwacker and margarita down pat (well, not for this machine, YET) and I can make a pretty mean smoothie. But, if you've got any other suggestions, recommendations, or if you wanna come over and try it out, lemmie know!! Ohhh - anything for Halloween perhaps???

Conflicted (& FGF)

So, today's supposedly "Feel Good Friday" and "Margarita Friday".
I was. . .am. . .was. . .whatever feeling pretty good about today. UNTIL, I got to work.
I guess, I'm feeling good about my home life - not so much about work.

I made a really basic list of items to get done yesterday, and DID them. I also was actually able to wake up this morning (with a good 45 minutes before I had to leave for work) and get some tasks (from the running list in my head) done. GO ME!!
However, when I got to work I was able to confirm that one of the clients I have been working closely with canceled their services. What a bummer!! This has me worried about my position here. I'd rather go ahead and leave to pursue my dream of crafting full time, but there are so many incidentals to consider. Ugh, I've got some heavy thinking to do. I'm so neurotic, it takes me forever to make any kind of leap because I worry 'what if.'

In any case, let's move on to some "Feel Good Friday" links

• This is fairly old, but here are 50 ways to help the planet. There are quite a few of these that I already do and a few that surprised me.
• While I was on the cruise, I really could have used this list of how to come up with good conversation topics for the Captain's Dinner. I'm no good with smalltalk and was grasping at straws with my dining companions. There are also links on the page for starting a conversation, joining a conversation, etc.
  
• This article really touched my heart. A girl with down syndrome was named homecoming queen. It brings tears to my eyes and helps me realize that there had to be some good people in high school, maybe.
  

And I'll leave you with this because it's just awesome!!