A Happy Halloween as well! It is still my favorite holiday, even if the only thing I have done today is drink a pumpkin flavored coffee (ugh) and am now listening to a creepy Halloween playlist on Spotify while I type this. It’s a pity, really, that I didn’t prepare some fun adventure for today. Time is at a bit of premium lately, with my school program, work, the househunt to nowhere, banjo, etc.

We leave on Friday for a week in sunny Portugal. I am really looking forward to it, even though we are going to a conference. We’ll meet up with Big C while we are there and some of my friends from the Portuguese office. Such nice people, a little shy but really warm!

I didn’t book anything except the conference tickets and the flights. GG is in charge of hotels and entertainment. I have noticed that over the past few years, my travel habits have gotten very lowkey. I only need to know where I am staying the first night. I remember the days when I wouldn’t get on a plane before I had a complete list (at least mentally) of everything I planned to see.

I kind of feel like October happened without me even noticing. I think November will be on that same speed setting as well. It’s the last month for two of my interns, which means our team will shrink. On their last night, I am having them all over to dinner for a Thanksgiving style menu. After all, I need to do something with those three boxes of pumpkin that I brought back from the US 😉

The pets are fine. Lientje is hanging over the keyboard as I type this, trying to find a way across the keyboard to my dinner plate. We’re all doing fine, just stressed out by the hunt for the house. We are really running into a remarkable streak of weird circumstances for all these houses. Last night, we agreed that I am going to stop looking. I tend to memorize all of the houses that come up in a search and can be counted on to spit out their square footage, distinguishing characteristics, last listed price and any other unique factoids. Useful in a pub quiz situation, not so useful in not getting obsessive in the daily life. 😉 GG is free to keep looking but I am breaking my Funda (the housing website) addiction!