Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Now that I am an adult I couldn’t care less about dressing up or gorging on candy. But I still love all the witch stuff and Halloween movies. In October I always want to watch episodes of Charmed and my favorite witch movies like Practical Magic, and of course the Harry Potter films (the last couple anyhow!). Now I also enjoy seeing the kids dressed up. This year we spent the holiday with friends and their children. It was a blast:

When I was a child I loved decorating the house for Halloween even though we’d only have a handful of trick or treaters (I lived on a very small street where we were the only children for most of my childhood). Instead of the usual filling up a pillowcase with candy like my friends did in the big development neighborhoods nearby, I would spend the evening visiting my fifteen or so neighbors and chatting with each for 15 to 20 minutes at their home. I used to love the fires in the fireplaces and spending quality time with these diverse and interesting people who I had known my whole life. Even today, years later, I feel a bit sentimental about the whole thing. During this time of year, I always feel a little bit sad that I can’t visit with my beloved neighbors from Manning Lane: Natalie, Madeline, and Margaret, who have all passed away (in their upper 90s). (It even makes me sad that my children won’t get to know them. Ah, I am so pregnant and extra-sentimental!) I feel lucky to have such warm childhood Halloween memories.

For me this holiday is still about good friends and that extra element of magic that’s missing from every other day…

Okay, I also have a thing for candy corn.

So this past weekend my engagement and wedding ring came off. It’s official: my ring finger is no longer a size 4. I found the whole experience rather crushing — not so much over my fingers being larger, but the idea that I had to take the rings for the first time since we got married with the understanding that I couldn’t wear them for at least three more months. I like having David not just in my heart, but on my finger, thank you very much. I’m just too sentimental.

Today I felt a little bit better when I noticed that about half of the pregnant women at my yoga class were without their rings as well. Now I feel like the whole thing is more of a pregnant woman right of passage, than just another addition to the crappy pregnancy symptoms checklist. Big sigh of relief.

My belly is getting big! Trust me, these pictures don’t really show just how gigantic my tummy is right now.

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+ From the New York Times: Five Easy Ways to Go Organic

Lemon tree in our backyard

Crisp evenings, gorgeous downright hot days: these California seasons are so strange! We’re talking about a 40 degree temperature difference! Amazing. Reminds me of the desert.

The unpacking activities continue…

And I’m now 25 weeks along. Suddenly my appetite has increased, my belly grows noticeably every week, and getting up out of bed is surprising difficult. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard moving around is going to be in three months…

We’ve discovered the baby likes Euro dance music: picture lots of dancing around and kicking Mommy to the beat! I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised as David’s brother and my uncle are musicians. Let the rhythm move you, baby!

I can’t wait to meet our little one.

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Loving these sites:
+ My cousin Michael’s awesome new music blog
+ Geninne’s beautiful illustrations at her art blog — check out her mini biosphere
+ Creative Thursday with playful daily paintings
+ Updated our links page

And some gorgeous flickr finds:

I’m gearing up to overwhelm you with baby photos.

Where have I been? Moving!

What have I been up to? Packing, cleaning, and unpacking!

I’m also getting to know the new neighborhood (just a few blocks away from the old), regularly attending prenatal yoga classes, starting up at the local chiropractor (life changing for a pregnant woman!), hanging out at my friend Chelsea’s house, baking all sorts of yummy fruit treats — baked apples, strawberry pie — and drinking lots of decaf English Breakfast tea. It’s this fall weather; I can’t help myself.

Now that the computer is set up, we have internet access, and I’ve located my camera card reader, hopefully I will get this blog up and rolling again.

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Some links for you:
+ I love the idea of a doctor making house calls
+ Video on homebirths via Wannabe Hippie (note: this is definitely not g rated!)
+ Decorating ideas with awesome room inspiration galleries
+ Great book for every woman planning on giving birth in America (thanks, Ranni!)
+ Fun, inspirational, very orange blog