Ha! You think I forgot! But no, I didn’t! I have a brand new system of filing blog topics. It’s called a notebook! In here, I place ink to paper and jot down ideas of what to write on every freaking blog I work on or manage. It’s early in the morning or time for you to wake up anyway. Here we go, kids – the rest of October.

As you know, I ran the Long Beach Half in early October. Here’s the post-race photo.

10.9.11 - Long Beach Half - post-race

I met an old coworker for lunch in Santa Monica at Tender Greens. I didn’t even know they had opened a new location until another old coworker suggested it. (And I worked a block from there. Duh.)

10.14.11 - Tender Greens, Santa Monica

The next day, I went horseback riding! Ok, she was a mule, but still – a very tall four-legged animal that could kick the sh#t out of me if she wanted to. The Wife’s friend offered to take me on a ride and a lesson for my birthday. Uh, YES – I’ll totally take that offer up! When the heck am I ever going to get on a horse (mule)?! It was so fun! You know what wasn’t fun? My hayfever. Snot running out of my nose every 10 minutes.

10.15.11 - Horseback riding (that's Katie the mule), Pasadena

After my fantastic ride, I ran into a library… with a book sale! That’s like moths to a flame. I stopped at the Hastings Branch Library and ran into this sign. I was surprised there’d be a sign like this, but youth these days are hard to scare. I bought two hardcover books by Eoin Cowlfer for $1 each – score!

10.15.11 - Getting ready for Halloween at Hastings Branch Library, Pasadena

I also made a stop at Rite-Aid to pick up a greeting card, and ran into THIS. Did you know Taylor Swift lent her name to American Greetings for her own line of cards? Me neither. (Ever watch 500 Days of Summer? Yeah.)

10.15.11 - Taylor Swift greeting cards at Rite-Aid

The next day, we went to visit Guitar Center. I don’t think I’ve ever stepped into one before. It is filled with… guitars. It’s a little overwhelming if you (me) don’t know what you’re looking for.

10.16.11 - Guitar Center, Studio City

We also headed to UCB for Jen’s performance! I liked her group the best – objectively speaking, they weren’t shouting over each other and showing off.

10.16.11 - UCB Theatre Los Angeles

While on a grocery run, I ran into these coffee plants at Trader Joe’s! While I was tempted to buy a pot, I knew I’d kill it before the month was over.

10.18.11 - Coffee plants for sale at Trader Joe's

A few days later, I saw this poster while running an errand. It caught my eye. Running shoes, Arthritis Foundation. Interesting.

10.20.11 - Arthritis Foundation poster

I had an appointment in Westwood and found a nice foggy view of UCLA.

10.21.11 - View of foggy UCLA and Westwood

Then I headed to the mall to find a gift. There was a person standing next to this giant box called ecoATM. She showed me how it worked – you select what you want to recycle and put it in the box and get money back for it. I randomly selected to recycle an old iPod and it only offered a few bucks for it. Hmmm. Pass. I might do better just donating it to a shelter.

10.22.11 - EcoATM - Glendale Galleria

My girl friends recommended the Goody Spin Pins to pull hair into an effortless bun. I was skeptical. My hair is crazy thick and I have a lot of it. I pulled the proverbial trigger and bought the regular Spin Pins as a trial.

It works! It works best for my hair when it’s wet because my hair is a tad shorter than ideal to pull it all up. However, when it’s wet, I can gather all of my hair into a bun, screw those two pins in and I’m up for the entire day!

10.21.11 - Goody Spin Pins at Target

Ever meet people who are just cool? They exude style and brains. I met up with Allison (or AJ) for breakfast and noticed this fancy coffee lid at Porto’s. The little tab will close or open that opening.

For you non-LAers, Porto’s is a family-owned Cuban bakery that serves some tasty pastries, sammies and coffees. Where else can you find a potato ball for 90-cents?! Win. The Burbank location offers a caprese sandwich that my usual location doesn’t. Total plus.

10.27.11 - Porto's fancy coffee lid - Burbank, CA

I’ve always wanted a pair of rain boots. Sure, in LA, we don’t really see a lot of rain, but when it rains, all of my shoes are ruined. My feet get wet, and sometimes my pants are wet too. So, after years of being frustrated with wet feet during the first fall rain, I picked up these Sperry “Nellie” rain boots at Nordstrom Rack. The Wife rolled his eyes when I showed them to him. “You don’t need rain boots! It doesn’t rain enough!” So says the man with a pair of waterproof/Gore Tex Addidas sneakers he wears when it rains…

Here’s my quick review: they’re comfortable and keep my feet dry. Ta da! Also, they are bigger than true to size, so if  you’re in between sizes like me (7-7.5), choose the lower whole size. These are 7s and they fit perfectly.

10.25.11 - Sperry "Nellie" rain boots, purchased at Nordstrom Rack

Closer to the end of the month, Jen and I invited y’all to enter to win a swag bag/lunchbox full of stuff, including Knott’s tickets, on our other blog. Here’s the swag! A winner will be announced soon!

10.9.11 - OC Blogger Bash swag lunchbox

And there you have it. All of October in one post. Up next, November!

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