Props to the Tween

I'm learning how to make web banners. For those of you proficient, I take my hat off to you. Considering I have to kick my dear hubby or tween off the computer to get any time to fiddle around with them, I'm pleased with my progress so far.

So, above, my third web banner ever. My darling tween painted a vibrant picture of birch trees in autumn which inspired me to use a colorful snippet from it as the base. Thanks sweetie!

And more props to The Pioneer Woman for her tutorials too.

A boo-licious affair

My office had a little Halloween party and costume contest. The party involved all of us, the costume contest was truly just little. Four of us dressed up. I submit for your viewing pleasure, me in the winning costume.

A little snow in SOHO

Can you see it? Snow. If you look closely you might see the snowflakes in this photo ... maybe around the UPS truck? I promise you they are there.

Even the New Yorkers we met said snow in October is unusual, even a 5-minute snow flurry.

I love visiting the city, but every time I do, I realize I don't have quite enough black in my wardrobe.

Privacy and security

I was sad to read today that the Little Rock anchorwoman who'd been attacked in her home died yesterday from her injuries. Here's the story. The story quotes police who say the attack was random. My heart goes out to her family and friends.

When I was her age, I was a news anchor in a small Southern town. Luckily, nothing like this happened to me or my fellow anchors and reporters, mostly single girls who were living and dating. We had to consider our privacy and either pay extra to have an unlisted phone number or ask our roomates to put the phone in their names. And this was before Google and cell phones, digital cameras and Gawker-like sightings. It was like hiding in plain sight. I can't imagine how much tougher it is to do today.

iGoogling

Steve Rubel just told me about this nifty iGoogle gadget that lets me blog from Google. How cool is this? Thanks Steve. Thanks Twitter. Thanks Blogger. Thanks Google.

Halloween Treats

Just saw an article on Yahoo about the 10 most disappointing Halloween treats. And some stuff I personally love is mentioned. You can read the article here.

Candy corn? A disappointment? Really? I know it's not everyone's favorite, but I'm a fool for candy corn. My brother used to trade me all his candy corn for candy bars I didn't like, like Butterfingers. I always thought I got the better deal because there was way more candy corn for him to give me than Butterfingers for me to give him.

Smarties? Who doesn't like a roll of smarties? I know they go kinda fast, but they are just sugary fun.

Laffy Taffy? Now I am not a big laffy taffy fan personally, but my tween can't get enough of this stuff.

The other stuff on Ed's list I agree with: Necco wafers, raisins, apples, toothbrushes, pennies. Confession: my parents used to give out pennies for Halloween. One for each year of the kid who trick or treated. I spent several years after I was done trick or treating, helping them count pennies into trick or treat bags until I was able to convince them to just give out candy. I think we switched to fun size snickers.

And I do think they're fun size, Ed. I really do.

Aside from Candy Corn and Fun Size candy bars (except Baby Ruth. Yuck) I'm guilty of sneaking Nerds, Skittles and Twizzlers from my tween's haul. You can see last year's booty above. What are YOUR favorite Halloween treats? Tell me in the comments.