Post Halloween Recovery

So, in case you didn't notice, I was WAY more excited that the Phillies won the world series than I was to celebrate Halloween, but a funny thing happened on the way...I ended up having WAY more fun celebrating Halloween than I did celebrating the World Series trophy being hauled down Broad Street.

You see, my office is on the parade route. Cool huh? I thought so...until I actually went to the parade. You could barely get outside the doors, and once you did, unless you had your handy little ID card, there was no inside for you. Thankfully I kept mine on me the whole day, and actually got pretty close to the action. I got some fun pictures of the Philly Phanatic and a couple good ones of Pat Burrell and Cole Hamels. Cole is hot on TV and dear lord he's just as hot in person. Too bad Mr. Pit is WAY hotter than Cole and already married (to me, yay!).

Anyways...it was all fun and games for a time. We got let out of work at noon (and the project I had been cramming for was pushed back until December, holla!) and down to the parade we went. We clapped, we yelled and we smiled for the ABC/NBC/CBS cameras that rolled down Market Street. Then we got lunch and ate it in the silence of our office. A leisurely afternoon was had, and then I decided that a 2:15 pm train would be fun to make, as it could get me home by 3.
Little did I know that the train station would be SO crowded that the waits for trains would be 3 hours long, and that they would stop letting people into the station itself.

Then, panic set in. I couldn't figure out how to get home if not by train or cab (of which there were NONE to be found). I called Mr. Pit and pleaded for him to come and get me or to tell me what to do. "Get on the subway, and then on the Light Rail". Brilliant. I hadn't even thought of that. So, I did what any good Philadelphian does, I hiked up to 30th street station looking for any kind of transportation West.

Luckily the 30th street subway station was almost empty and after spending my last $10 on subway tokens (they don't give change, bastards), I hopped on the subway, and then on the light rail and was picked up by the chivalrous Mr. Pit near our house.

Door to door it took me 3 hours to get home. Had the trains been not so crazy crowded due to the diligent people who actually listened to Mayor Nutter, it would have taken me 40 minutes. Oh well, I lived it and learned. When we win the World Series or even the Super Bowl, I will be taking the day off from work the day of the parade. Not that it wasn't fun while it lasted, I just wanted to be home way earlier than I was.

Anyways...then I got home to find a HUGE praying mantis on my door frame (pictures are on facebook, this thing was huge!!) and then I got ready for trick-or-treaters and put together the costumes for later that night.

We had some really cute kids come to the door for candy and most were exceptionally polite with a lot of 'thank yous' to go around for the candy. Lil' Pit was also on his best behavior and didn't bark at anyone or try to ram through the door like he did last Halloween. See, even Pit Bulls can learn manners if you teach them well enough!!

Then we were finally off to M and C's house for their Halloween party and it was a blast. Our costumes (I was a golfer and Mr. Pit my caddy) were a hit and it was really great to catch up with people that we don't see that often. I also found a long lost relative (well, Mr. Pit found her but quickly called me in to the conversation) and the rest of the evening was filled with family names, stories and one very poorly played game of beer pong by yours truly.

And, that was my weekend. My day at work hasn't been too eventful, much to the chagrin of my boss, but I will motivate soon enough.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!!

Go Phillies Go!

So, unless you've been living under a rock for the past 2 weeks, you realize that my hometown Phightin' Phils are 1 win, yes, 1 WIN away from a World Series Championship tonight. I am so excited (as is the rest of my office) that no one quite knows what to do with themselves.
People have taken the day off of work to prepare (not me) and plan on taking the day off tomorrow to recover (again, not me)but I am still really excited to watch the game tonight and can't wait for the outcome and am hopeful for an awesome parade down Broad Street on Wednesday, yahoo!!!

Now, onto other things...I really figured out how to sew this weekend with the help of my awesome friend E. I got to see her house and meet her pitty pup, Cami, who is SO adorable and the house is fantastic. She and her BF R have done an amazing job sprucing up the house, and they aren't done yet, so I can't wait to see the final product. I learned a lot of things this weekend though, and I might as well tell you here why I was under E's watchful eye for almost 4 hours yesterday!

Sewing with any striped fabric is HARD. Especially when you aren't used to carefully measuring and pinning. E taught me the importance of pins, but I didn't take the stripes into consideration before I started sewing, so my finished product looks a little wonky, but I am still very proud.

Nylon is thicker than you think. E was a trooper and sewed a nylon keychain for me, and most of it was done by hand because we didn't want to hurt the needle on the sewing machine. All that really happened though was that E hurt her fingers, but it looks awesome. I will post pictures tonight if Mr. Pit ever gives me my laptop back. (but, since he needs it for the next 2 years in grad school, probably not so much)

Slower is better. E taught me how to 'hand sew' with the machine, and I can't tell you what a difference this makes. I am not very good with the foot pedal thing, so being able to start the row using my hand and cranking the needle down does amazing things to start the project.

Measure twice, then again, THEN cut. I didn't do this as I was too excited to get to sewing. E told me that over half of the issues with any garment come from NOT measuring correctly and not leaving yourself enough room to actually sew.

I learned a ton and can't wait to work on new projects. JoAnn's was having a huge sale over the weekend, so I will try to get up there another day this week to pick up some more supplies and see if I can start a real live project as opposed to just making them up as I go along. However, I think my first "Jewelry Envelope" as I call it, turned out really well.

Oh, and one more thing, don't forget to iron! This makes a HUGE difference in the look of the final product and makes it look THAT much more professional. Totally awesome!

Thanks again to E, R and Cami for hosting me yesterday!!