Happy Halloween!

Just wanted to end your week with the image of my Halloween costume. You are welcome.

Getting to Know You

Ok so I tell you all about my house and my food so I guess its only fair that I share a little about myself as well otherwise known as "material to use when you need to go to sleep but can't."

So now that we've got that out of the way, here we go with the little questionnaire:

1. What do you listen to while driving? Lately I've been listening to soft rock - in my defense though they are now playing a lot of songs that were popular when I was in high school...wait I don't think that made it sound any better.

2. What is your least favorite thing about Fall? It means the cold weather is coming and summer is officially over. That is not something I am a fan of.

3. What does your dream house look like, inside and out? Pretty much the way it is now but different. I love our house now but I'd love to have a butler's pantry and storage in the master bathroom and even an eat-in kitchen. I'd also love to have everything done and furniture I like. An outdoor gas fireplace would also be nice as well as a hot tub that cleans itself.

4. Would you ever own a minivan? I want to say never, I really do but I feel like if I do throw that never out there I will be eating my words one day. So I will just say that I would prefer to get an SUV, I could settle for a station wagon and I can deal (begrudgingly) with a minivan.

5. Do you wash new clothes before wearing them? Sometimes I do but more often than not I don't bc I'm ready to wear them already but now that I say that I realize just how gross that probably is...

6. Who is the better cook, you or your spouse? I think we'd both say that I am the better cook although we'd also both agree that he is better at baking...measuring is not my favorite thing to do.

7. Are you adventurous in the kitchen or stick to the recipe? I'm pretty adventurous. I'm picky about certain things I don't like (blue cheese, olives, peppers, etc) and careful about things I could have an allergic to (tree nuts, bananas, avocados - I'm allergic to latex and they have the same DNA strand profiles or something...). All of that usually leave me looking for substitutions and many times I think of something that I think could add a little something to the dish plus I'm lazy and don't feel like measuring most of the time. I always make it a rule for myself that I will make a recipe according to the instructions and mess with it the 2nd time.

8. Do you dress up for Halloween? Nope, not really a big fan of the costume thing...this may stem from my mom putting a black plastic trashbag on me (as a dress), painting my face green, popping a witch hat on my head and calling me a witch. They also dressed me as Alf one year...

9. Did you have a pen pal when you were little (or now)? Where were/are they from? I did! It was my friend Jennifer Harper, we went to elementary school together before she moved to Ghana with her mom to live with her mom's family. We used to send all kinds of random things to each other including mixed tapes. Apparently customs over there was pretty entertained by the randomness my packages would include.

12. Do you have any nicknames and if so how did it come about? Yes, in high school I was called "Nose" because I broke mine so much...I actually have no cartilage in the end so its really rubbery and squishy. Tim calls me "Slick" because he thinks I'm always trying to get something by him.

13. Have you ever visited another country? Yes I went to Canada over Thanksgiving my senior year of high school with my family, Mexico that same year over Spring Break with a friend's family and Europe the same year over the summer with a group from school. I went back to Mexico along with the Grand Cayman Islands senior year of college on Spring Break. It was one of the best vacations ever.

14. What one song will always cheer you up? Alison Krauss "When You Say Nothing At All" it was the first concert I remember going to and was with my dad, its been one of my favorites ever since. Also Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" was one of the last songs played at our reception with everyone (from my hazy memory anyways) joining in on singing (including Tim on the microphone) and is one of my favorite memories. Everytime I hear it now it reminds me of our special day.

15. What is your job title? I am an Account Executive for an advertising firm and work on promo ads for a large wireless retailer.

16. What are your living arrangements? Just me, the husband and the dog. I sleep between the two of them and have their snoring in stereo...

17. How many surgeries have you had? 6 - one for removing my one wisdom tooth, 2 to put my nose back in place - most recently in January after Tim tackled me in the snow while visiting his grandparents his response was "You shouldn't lift your head when tackled." (he really did feel bad about it), 3 for my left knee - its always causing trouble.

Alright so if you managed to stay awake through all of that then kudos to you, I don't know if I could've!

  

Happy Trails to You!

As a favor from a friend's wedding we received little baggies of trail mix with the above saying on them. From that day I realized just how much I like Craisins mixed with M&Ms.

From that I was inspired to make my own trail mix so I took some Goldfish, Sunflower Seeds (prob won't add them again...yuck), M&Ms, Craisins, Raisins, Honey Roasted Peanuts and Pistachios (I'm not supposed to eat these but Tim enjoys them).

Talk about a party in your mouth...this stuff is delicious, filling and is a lot healthier than most of the stuff we eat (umm have you ever tried an Oreo dipped in Nutella - I have and its bliss).

Speaking of Festivitrees

Ours is starting to look pretty festive as well. I swear I just looked out today and saw that it is starting to show its true colors which are pretty stunning. I couldn't be more excited!

Meatless Monday: Week Four

Today we were pretty lame, it had something to do with not really feeling like going to the grocery store and something else having to do with just being lazy today.

So dinner was spaghetti, just noodles and some bottled sauce. For what it lacked it originality it made up for in deliciousness. Don't be jealous you too can have this delicacy. Just run to your local grocery store grab some noodles a can of sauce and be on your way. Boil up some water cook those noodles, heat up the sauce mix it all together and dinner is served. Success!

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Festivitrees

Ok so just in case you missed it that was supposed to be a play on "Festivities" and "Trees." Now that we have that out of the way check out the picture of these trees in my parents neighborhood. There is one yard in particular that always has some amazing fall colors, so bright and vibrant. I'm pretty jealous!

I'd love to add a lot of trees like this to our back yard so that every fall our yard is bright & beautiful. It might mean a little more work with getting all of the leaves picked up but I think it would totally be worth it.

Ginkgo Trees turn a gorgeous yellow but apparently can have a pretty foul smell as they produce their fall fruit.

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Katsura Trees turn that bright gorgeous pinky-yellow color and apparently they give out a pleasant scent that reminds some of brown sugar and others claim to be spicy, sounds good to me either way!

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Classic Maple trees turn that always classic bright orangey-red color or we can always get a Japanese Maple which turns the bright red in the fall.

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I found a great site that lets you check out what trees work best in your area, seems pretty neat!

We Got Booed!

Until yesterday I had no clue what being "Booed" was, that all changed when I arrived home from work and found this:

It was a little gift basket filled with candy, popcorn, brownie mix, little pumpkins, a candy corn dish and a little ghost and instructions on how to "Boo" the next person. I went right ahead and put the pumpkins on the little table outside. I'm not sure if the plant is supposed to change colors or if its dying...we will see!

We put our little ghost in the window, went to the store and got a little package together for some friends down the street. I have to say this was a lot of fun both to be "Booed" and to "Boo" some others. Get out there and try it!