Relax; take it easy...

From this week's thefridayfive:

1. What do you like or dislike about autumn?
I absolutely love autumn - the smell of the air, the colors of the leaves, the cooler temperatures, the migrating birds and butterflies. Nothing quite rivals a sunny, fall day, except maybe a fresh, spring day. :-)

2. Have you raked leaves into a pile just to jump in them?
Yes, indeed.

3. Have you ever carved a pumpkin and how did it turn out?
I try to do one every year! I learned from the very best (my mom) - a big, snaggle-toothed grin with no nose makes for a wickedly amused pumpkin-face.

4. Have you ever eaten anything made from pumpkins other than pie?
Yep. Just last week I made a pumpkin-shrimp bisque (I found the recipe at Epicurious.com here), and everyone loved it. My mom used to make pumpkin cookies with raisins and white icing when we were kids, too. They're still one of my very favorite kinds of cookies.

5. Where is a good spot to see the leaves change color where you live?
I suppose the Poconos would be the place, but it's a couple of hours north-west of here, and the leaves may already be changing. I always liked the look of the trees planted on Millersville University's campus in the fall, especially when they began to drop their leaves. You'd be walking to class, and it would be raining down red and yellow leaves everywhere - just gorgeous.

In other news, the MLS playoffs begin tonight with Chicago hosting DC United. I'm rooting for the Fire, since as a Revolution fan, I'd rather New England faced them later on rather than face DC again. Of course, that's all dependent on the Revolution having success against the MetroStars in the next two games. Ah, the pressure!

From this week's thefridayfive:

1. What sport do you most enjoy watching on television (or tolerate most)?

I enjoy watching soccer (understatement).

2. If you could be really, really good at one sport (we're talking world elite here), what would it be?

Um, soccer? Not much money in it for women, but the coolness factor trumps that.

3. Have you ever been active in some form of sports?

Intramural volleyball a loooong time ago

4. Would you rather be a computer geek or a sports geek?

These days I'm happy if I can successfully download and install a program without screwing things up. I'm definitely a bigger sports geek now.

5. What teams do you cheer for?

Soccer: The US Men's National Team and a couple Major League Soccer teams - New England Revolution, Kansas City Wizards

Baseball: Philadelphia Phillies

Don't forget: US vs Mexico, Saturday @ 7:30pm on ESPN Classic and Telemundo. Talk about a rivalry, kids; it doesn't get any bigger than this in the US.

Ahhhh! Why didn't I take Spanish in high school?

Anyway, it's Estados Unidos y Panama at three pm Eastern on Univision.

Go USA! :-D

Wow. So is Mexico playing its B team, or is South Africa really that good?

Why am I staying up to watch this, anyway? Stupid time zones.

Long time, no post. Eh, c'est la vie. Now that it's been nice outside and such, I just haven't been around to fire up the old 'puter for blogging. I haven't watched television in a long time, either. Frankly, I don't think I've been missing anything in that department.

Well, I shouldn't say that I haven't watched any TV. I've been watching soccer on the weekends, and when I do go online, it's been to read the articles and stats at MLSnet.com. My favorite team (The New England Revolution) has been doing a fantastic job of staying on top of the league and entertaining their fans with great games.

This weekend, too, I took my family to see An Evening With Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood (you know, the guys from Whose Line Is It Anyway?) as an early Father's Day present for my dad. Oh, so much love. We laughed the entire time, and yes, it was all improv. My family really isn't the theater-going type, but we had a blast.

This morning we went for a walk along the canal and saw all sorts of wildlife, including two water snakes swimming and a family of baby wood ducks. The ducks and snakes weren't anywhere near each other, which was good news for the ducklings. :-)

So here's to a great weekend. The pain of having to go to work tomorrow is significantly dampened this week because I've got Election Day off. I think I'll make a date with Wal-Mart or Target to see about getting a new bicycle helmet, and, if the weather's nice, go for a little hike.

What can I say? Life's good. :-)

Man, I love the weekends in spring. We've got gorgeous warm weather and soccer. It's like weekdays are just the blurry spell between the wonderful, sunny, soccer days of real life.

::happy sigh::

So the US lost to Mexico today with a score of 2-1. Life goes on. I do feel that we put a whole lot of effort into this game; we had a slow start, made a couple errors in the first half that cost us, but as a whole, I liked the energy that our side had and the show of determination. I think we had Mexico on edge the entire game, even when they were up by two. It was not an easy win for them.

I know that my heart was in my throat the entire time, anway. Of course, that just gave me more room for candy. :^)

And now, from hp_memage, a Harry Potter meme ( behind the cut. )

ETA: Whoa. At least our game wasn't like today's match between Mali and Togo. Bwah.

Woo-hoo! I got what I wanted for my birthday! The US Men's National Team just won 2-1 over Trinidad and Tobago in World Cup qualifying.

::dances::

*loves*

Why is it that I must have such a ridiculously low tolerance to drugs? One not-quite-full cup of coffe (hazelnut!) at eight o'clock and three and half hours later I'm still twitching like a victim of Tourette Syndrome. And my BRAIN won't SHUT UP. Argh. It doesn't help that my mother insists on playing Jefferson Airplane on repeat all night (White Rabbit over and over...).

I'm swearing off caffeine. Alcohol (except on holidays, maybe) was first, Percocet was second (nasty audio and visual hallucinations...blurgh), and now caffeine. Okay, no caffeine after three o'clock. I'm not in college anymore...there's no reason for me to stay up all night, especially after having been up since six-thirty and spent the day in Lancaster browsing country crafts with Mom only to be caught in the downpour of the century and getting soaked to the skin and laughing because, really, we knew it was bound to happen and giggling because we had to sit in the car for fifteen minutes with the heat blasting to feel human again while waiting for the rain to let up enough to find a place to get a sandwich before our stomachs ate our spines in retaliation.

Of course, the Chicago-LA Galaxy game is on at midnight, and now I'll have plenty of nervous energy to last me through til two tomorrow morning before I crash into a metabolized-stimulant headache-haze of misery.

Go Chicago, anyway.