Happenings...

Monday we had the opportunity to go to "The Late Show with David Letterman." I registered us online and Todd got a call and was told we got some tickets (he had to answer a question correctly). The tickets are always free but a lot of the time people just go early that day to try and get tickets; our way was easier. The tickets that we got were awesome! There was only a small handful of us that got them and we got front and center (we also were able to use the bathroom). We had a pretty good time, met some very nice people and laughed (even when we didn't think something was funny, or in my case, didn't get it). I got all stressed out because they kept giving us all these rules on how to act, what to say, what not to say... it was all so stressful. The guests were Michael J Fox and Shawn White (whose a twig without his snow gear). Loved Michael, funny and a very strong person. Hopefully we get on tv... dvr us for friday nights show:)

Wednesday was our annual carving pumpkin night. This years theme was "Faces" (although I didn't realize that until we were done). Todd did that one guy from "The Office" and I did a traditional jack-o-lantern face and a dog face pumpkin. This year wasn't our best year but I still think they turned out pretty good. I did a simple face because I thought I would be carving the dog face but the small pumpkin was rock hard, so I drew on the face instead (it kind of looks like Gus, when he has a haircut). We had a good time! I just want to inform everyone that next year (if I am by any of you) we will be hosting a Halloween Party. My mom always hosted one when I was growing up so I have decided to continue the tradition. All in attendance must dress up, bring a pumpkin to carve, bring good food, dance, bob for apples and play other games. So next Halloween, my house, be there. But until then, the Altoms in New Jersey wish you all a very spooky and fun Halloween! BOO!

Happy Halloween!!!

All of New England in 1 day... sigh...

Yes, that's right all, Todd and I drove through all of New England in one day (not every inch of New England but all the of the states). It was a lot of driving but it was crazy how we did it all. The New England states are so skinny, which helped. We went through New Jersey (of course), New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The highways were lined with bright orange, red, yellow and green trees; it was beautiful. Apparently in New Hampshire there is a law that billboards are not allowed on the freeway so it doesn't detract from the pretty trues (we didn't get to see this because it was dark the whole time we were driving through New Hampshire).

Our first destination was Rhode Island. Does anyone remember a show called "Providence" that was on a long time ago? I don't remember what it was about but I can picture the brown, curly haired girl (from CSI:NY) walking along a bridge, drinking coffee and talking on her phone. I remember watching that show and thinking Providence was such a beautiful place and I wanted to visit there. Saturday we had the opportunity to go there. It was beautiful and everyone was very friendly. I could picture me in a town like that; still big city but very much old town charm.

I'm pretty sure it took us 45 minutes to drive through Rhode Island... that state got gipped on size but not on beauty. Oh, oh, can I just say that the policemen there dress so cute. They are all fancy and stuff and wear leather brown, knee high boots. I kept wanting to get pulled over so I could complement them on their attire.

Our next destination was Boston. Yet another place I could picture us living! So pretty!! I kept telling Todd to get into Harvard:). I wish we would have been able to stay longer but the clock was tickin. We drove along the harbor (there was something going on around there because there was tons of people!), went to Harvard, eat at the best pizza and sub shop in Boston (that's what the sign said anyways... I wanted to run in there and congratulate them, ya know, like on "ELF") and went to Fenway Park (go Red Sox... next year...)

Harvard Business School

Next was Salem... BOO! It took forever to get into the city, ya'd think they would devise a better route. Because Salem is basically Halloween Town, USA there was a bunch of stuff going on. Every weekend in the month of October they have a festival and a festival means yummy food (and people all dressed up)!! We walked around and saw the sites of the Salem Witch trials, eat, and headed out. We thought this would be a fun place to bring kids. In one of the parks they had a big screen that was showing "The Addams Family" (I thought that was neat and I wanted to stay and watch).

We then drove to Maine... basically to say we were once there (for 10min)... But I'm sure Maine is very beautiful and I could picture us living there...

We then drove through New Hampshire... no proof... to dark...

We finally landed in Bennington, VT. It was too dark for me to judge it's beauty and whether or not I could live there. We spent the night there... very tacky and old decorations (and TV) but it did have a king size bed!!! The next morning we arose and left our humble abode. We eat at a restaurant called "Full Bellies." The service was very fast and the food was cheap and tasty! Bennington reminded us of Driggs; cute and charming but couldn't really live there full time. Don't worry, we bought some Vermont Maple Syrup...  not for everyone of course, just us... it's spendy! :)

We then headed home to ugly New Jersey... not the Garden State but the Garbage State... sorry for the people that like NJ, I just have not found a very pretty place so far...

That concludes our New England Adventure... the end!

Pumpkin Pickin'

I love the fall! I love the fall here! This past weekend we took a rode trip to a near by farm to find some good ole pumpkins.

Todd launched some pumpkins

We took a hayride

We took our own family pictures (we used a tripod, we looked funny and Todd made us wear plaid)

We went through a corn maze

And then we left and went to the Brooklyn Bridge

This is a plaque on the bridge. At the very bottom it reads, "Back of every great work we can find the self-sacrificing devotion of a woman." I thought it was a great quote!

We wanted to take cool pictures at sunset, but sunset was an hour away so I took a picture of Todd and called it good... he's so cute

That concluded our fall day... we did go home and make pizza and then our fall day was concluded!

Gus will be famous!

As probably most of you know, Todd and I are obsessed with our dog. Gus is practically our child so I guess it's a good thing we love him (wait until we have actual human kids... we will be even crazier). We pretty much think Gus is the cutest dog ever, and a lot of people agree with us. Every time we go out we always get "Oh look at that cute puppy," "How old is he?," "What's his name?," "What breed is he? I want one!" If Todd didn't have me, Gus would be quite the chick magnet. Even having me, Todd gets stopped all the time by girls wanting to know about Gus. Basically, we are pretty proud of our little pooch.
When we first decided to get Gus, I did some research and decided we would feed him BLUE Buffalo. Todd didn't want our dog to eat just any kind of dog food so I found the best. Every time we get a new bag of food, there is always this card with a picture of a dog and the dog's bio. I thought Gus needed to be put in dog food so I looked online and made a mock up "Trading Card" (that's what BLUE calls them) about Gus. I didn't really think much of it except that people can go to the BLUE website and look at "Trading Cards" and see Gus. However, today I got an email from a marketing guy from BLUE and they want to actually use Gus's pictures as advertisement online and his picture will actually go in bags; I knew my dog was cute. The best part about it is we get free dog food for a year (which is awesome because having the best does not mean the cheapest)! So Gus's picture will be sold throughout the land, we will probably have the paparazzi surrounding us shortly and Steven Spielberg will probably call and want to use Gus in the movies... ok, I'm going a little overboard but Todd wanted me to share the news:) Yippy for free dog food!!! See Todd, I may have not made money but I saved money!! I knew Gus would come in handy someday... now it they would just pay to have him neutered...


If you want to see what Gus's trading card looks like, click on the link:

bluebufftradingcards.com

The Sweetest Place on Earth

Hershey, PA! One day back in August (while at church), I discovered that Hershey, PA was only a couple of hours from where we would be living. We had to go and yesterday (Todd had the day off because it was Columbus Day) we went. We had a great time! It is about 2 hours and 45 min away but it enabled us to see a lot of Pennsylvania. I want to live there; or really anywhere in New England (technically PA isn't part of New England but meh, details...). Besides falling in love with the fall scenery, here is what we did:

We arrived

Went to "Hershey's Chocolate World"

Went on a free tour of the chocolate lab

Graduated with our Master's in Chocolate Tasting

Went on the free tour again (there are singing cows...who could resist?)

Went to "Cafe Zooka" to sample some Chocolate Shots

Didn't drink all of the shots...they were very thick and bitter and weird

Strolled down "Chocolate Ave"

And left... (we took this picture all by ourselves)

We had a wonderful day and we are very thankful we have the opportunity to be doing all these amazing things... together!

A "Wicked" weekend!

This weekend we had the pleasure of having Mark and Debbie come visit. They had a rough plane ride but showed up at our place around noon on Friday. Todd was at work but both his parents and I wanted to go see where he worked, so we headed into the city during the late afternoon. I was so proud that I got us there and didn't get lost!! We had to check in at this security place and have Todd paged (although the security guy didn't know who Todd Altom was...hey, maybe someday hun). Todd has a very nice cubical but needs to be decorated. Todd's boss, who we call JB, was very nice and it seemed like he really liked Todd (but who wouldn't?). After that, I got my early birthday present; it is a camera...it is beautiful!! It really is for the both of us because Todd will probably take more pictures with it than I will, so I'm thinking I  need other stuff for my birthday...

I had heard that Serendipity is a really fun and good restaurant to eat at, so Todd and I had made reservations for all of us to go eat there. It is decorated very interesting but fun. The menus are HUGE (see pic below).

The food was pretty good; I liked what I got a lot but, Debbie's had bugs....GROSS! She handled it very nicely, I would've demanded they cover the entire bill, but she just switched dishes. Serendipity is known for their frozen hot chocolate. Todd and I tried it; it was huge and pretty good. Mark and Debbie got a gigantic Sundae...go big or go home!

Saturday was "Wicked" day! It was so good; we all loved it!

Us inside the theater...we had great seats!

Debbie and I don't like this picture but it does show off our t-shirts we got and Todd's cup:)

Later that night...really later...8:00pm...the boys went to the Priesthood Session of Conference. Debbie and I read and played games on our IPhone/ITouch...oh and Debbie brushed Gus (this is worth mentioning because she really doesn't like dogs but she is warming up to Gus me thinks)! Todd's new favorite pie is Pumpkin Cream, that was discovered while we had dessert once the boys got home. 

The next day was conference and we listened to it all, went for a walk in Jersey City and played card games (it was a very good night of cards for me...sorry hun). Monday morning we went to this wonderful restaurant for breakfast called "Brownstone Pancake Factory" so good. Gus and I are all alone now, hence the blogging. But it was so fun to have Mark and Debbie here for the weekend; we wished they could've stayed longer. Thank you Mark and Debbie for everything!! We have such an amazing family and we love you all!

p.s. I might not be able to make it into broadway while I'm here...apparently you have to be really good...hmmm...but I would've made a good Glinda (Galinda), minus the whole singing good thing...oh well