I am still alive!

Hello? Hellooooo? Anybody out there?

Whoa. I can't believe it's been this long since I've posted anything on here. I can't even really blame it on being busy. Sure, there's been quite a lot going on, but I've definitely had my fair share of downtime I could have used to write posts for your perusal.

So, just what has happened this month? Let's see. There was a trip to B.C. One family wedding. And my birthday. And a 10K race. Mom and Dad's anniversary. One superb birthday/housewarming bash in Fort McMurray. A motherload of work at the ol' office. And then, to top it all off, a sprinkle of Halloween. Ooh, and who can forget some amazing playoff baseball!

Here we go from the top:

The trip to B.C. - Brody and I drove from Calgary to Enderby on Friday, October 9. A fairly uneventful trip turned interesting on the otherside of Revelstoke when we lost our headlights. Well, we lost the low beams. After a short pause at the creepy truck stop between Revelstoke and Sicamous, we decided our problem was not fuse-related and therefore unfixable at that particular time. We highbeamed everyone between the truck stop and our final destination. Luckily it was later at night and there wasn't too much traffic on the road. Still, we pissed off our fair chair of fellow travelers, most of whom were driving large semis.

Wedding - A big congratulations to my little cousin Jenna and her new husband, Brett. The happy couple married in Salmon Arm on Saturday, October 10. It was a chilly, but gorgeous, fall day and the bride, bridesmaids, groom and groomsmen looked fab. It was nice to see some family and watch my 91-year-old great gramma get picked up in a bar (by an old drunk guy who was so well known at the establishment he had his mug framed on the wall). Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Granny cut the rug with the old dude.

My birthday/Mom and Dad's anniversary/10K race. These are grouped into one category because they all fell on the same day! October 11 was a busy one for the Lundquist and Ellis families. Brod and I had to leave the previous day's wedding early because we had to wake up at 5 a.m. on my birthday to prep for the race and then drive an hour and 10 mins to Kelowna. We made it in time, met up with his sister and brother-in-law and were off to the races...literally. Penni and I ran the 10K while Brendan joined the rest of the crazies for the full marathon. I clocked a time of 1:05:03, which was faster than I hoped, but a time I expect to improve the next time I run a 10k. Penni steamrolled through the 10K with a finish time of around 54 minutes and Brendan beat his 4 hour goal for the marathon by two seconds! Congrats to everyone.

After the race we enjoyed breakfast with Penni and then headed home to Enderby for a big turkey dinner with the rest of the family. The day ended with a few presents - for me and for my parents - and lots of laughter. I love being home for the holidays. Happy 29th Mom and Dad.

Housewarming and October birthday bash: October 24 marked the night when the young mixed...errr, sat along side...the old in a housewarming and birthday part at our new residence on O'Coffey Crescent. A good time was had by most of the attendees and the evidence of a good night littered the countertops the next morning. Happy Birthday to my fantastic friend and fellow birthday-er, Kristen Palmer. I should also use this space to send happy October birthdays to my great friend Dana Prevost, fellow blogger and proud daddy, Lars Konge, my bestest uncle J, and a host of others who celebrated their special days this month (Sheila, Kailyn, Scott, Brendan, and of course, my late and lovely, great grandpa - Grandad).

Mish mash: The rest of the October 'stuff' will fall into this category because this post is getting long and I'm getting bored (which surely isn't a good sign for the readers). Halloween was uneventful for me, but pretty eventful for others in my household. Kels dressed up like Lulu the Lemon (hopefully you can all make the connection there) and Scott was someone I'd never heard of until a few weeks ago - the Dos Equis man (who is apparently the [self-proclaimed?] most interesting man in the world? I dunno, it was weird to me :)). They both looked lovely and had a good time with a Facebook profile page, a gay cruise ship director/sailor, Tinkerbell, a mexican, a playboy bunny, Eve and Harry Potter. While they were out carousing, I enjoyed a quiet night in with a few girlfriends and a couple bottles of wine.

For those of you who have been watching the MLB post-season, you haven't been disappointed. Rarely have I seen a playoff stretch feature this many exciting baseball games. The only way I would like it even more was if the TO Blue Jays actually got to participate. In their absence, and due to my inability to cheer for the bought-and-paid-for, penant-winning Yankees, I am forced to cheer National League this year. Go Phillies.

Sorry for the long update my friends. I promise to refrain from going MIA in future.

PS - Because I feel like it, I'd like to share with you, one of my favourite quotes.

"In a world where celebrity equals talent and where makebelieve is called reality, it is most important to have real love, truth and stability in our lives."

Lord knows we could all use a little more of those.