I can't believe it is October already! The passed 2 weeks have been very busy, but I will try to catch you up on a few things.

First off, Lollypop Farm's Barktoberfest is this Saturday. Please support my friends and a wonderful organization. My sister-in-law, Sarah, is running the 5 mile race. Sponsor her here! Steve adopted Barnaby from Lollypop 2 years ago. Several of my other friends have also found loving, furry companions there. It is a great cause and tax-deductable!

Courtney and I returned from Philadelphia Friday Sept. 21. We made lots of great contacts and attended valuable sessions on our own areas of interest (me- sales, marketing, and development, Courtney- animal husbandry). I also reconnected with some friends from home, Pam and Ryan, who both work at the Seneca Park Zoo. It was great to hang out with Hillary, although we were both pretty busy. As part of the conference, I was able to visit the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ and the Philadelphia Zoo. The only free night we had, I saw my friend Christian from high school. We had some drinks at an Irish bar in Philly with Courtney and Christian's friend Jerry, whom I met several years ago when I visited Penn State for a football game.

When Courntey and I got back into town, I had to rent another rental car because mine was still in a million pieces at the mechanics. When the accident occurres, Courtney was my knight in shining armor and picked me up. I joked with her at the time that I would rent a convertible because I wanted something positive to come out of the situation. My first rental car was a Hyndai (sp?) Tuscan. The rental car guy and I are good friends now because of all the details needed for direct billing State Farm, so C asked him if there was a convertible available....

AND THERE WAS! So for the passed 10 days, I have been driving a metallic green Mitsubishi Spyder. I don't know what year it was, but it was fun. The weather has been gorgeous here! And even when it was a little chilly, I put the top down and the heat up. I am very sad to give it up. Today or tomorrow my car should be ready. C's husband, Joe, is going to take a look at the car with me before I pay the mechanic. I doubt it will ever run the same, but I hope it can still handle the snow. I'll miss the convertible, but with the top up, it is hard to see out the back and it has HUGE blind spots.

Our friends threw Gretchen a bachelorette party last weekend. We has a potluck dinner and went out dancing. It was fun to have a girls night. I had returned from Philly the night before, so I headed home about 1am. I was pretty beat.

The next day, I met up with Christian's friend Jerry. He was in Ann Arbor for the U of MI/Penn State football game. I picked him up in the convertible and we went to the Detroit Tigers game. The park is super nice and right next to the football stadium. We sat 23 rows up on the first base line (thanks Jerry for kick-butt tix!). Afterwards, we went to Hockeytown USA for a drink and snack while the traffic died down.

The stadium was also right next to the theatre were the Beastie Boys were set to perform in the next few days. The show was sold out, but my friend Susie saw them in Toronto and said it was amazing!

Saturday, C and I studied for stats and then took the convertible up to Uncle John's Cider Mill for some wine tasting, donut eating, and kettle corn. It was a beautiful day. Perfect for a top down road trip. Saturday night, my friend Kate and I saw Mandy Patinkin in Concert at MSU (well the big theatre, the Wharton Center that's on MSU campus). He was soooo good! He sang a bunch of songs I didn't know and a few that were familar because of my high school voice class. He had to restart the show due to his mic crackling, but had a great sense of humor about it. He was a wonderful story teller too. Check out his website for an impressive list of credits. My favorite part was when he closed the show with his famous line from "The Princess Bride!"

I am finally back into school and getting my thesis and committee organized. I have exams this week and next. My mom and step-dad are set to visit in a few weeks. It should be fun to have them come up and see my apartment and meet my friends.

I'll try to post pictures to go along with all the events above soon. Now it is time to get back to work! Please excuse my crappy spelling and typing.