Glitter Me Festive!

This weekend I took at stab at glitter pumpkins. And now I've got my own little display of colorful beauties! But be warned, they are not as easy at they look. It's all about the glue application. But once you get the hang of it, it's quite fun - though I had the advantage of doing these with my friend Parris, who always makes things more fun!

Here's the finished product! What do you think?

Happy October!

Happy October, lovelies! Don't you just love this month?! So much Fall flavor and fun to be had!

A couple of things I am looking forward to in October include: Apple Hill, wine tasting with friends, visiting the pumpkin patch, a photo session with the incredible Sarah Dawson, testing the waters of pumpkin waffles and roasting my very first chicken!

But I might be most excited about this year's pumpkin project. Remember my first experiment with pumpkin painting last year? So fun and totally plan on doing that again, but this year I am absolutely smitten with glitter pumpkins!

The idea comes from the brilliant Martha Stewart, but I am personally taken with the versions I came across here on the blog A Field Journal. Aren't they so pretty and whimsical? Lovely way to put a little sparkle on the season. I can't wait to try these out myself! I'll be sure to share my finished product!

all images/afieldjournal

Domestic Bliss

Today has been the best day off in a very long time. For one, I woke up at 7am! That's right, 3 more hours of sleep than a typical Monday. It was glorious and to top it off, I had a half pot of coffee all to myself. Secondly, my house was already clean, so I have actually been able to enjoy my clean house. And finally, I have had a chance to do all the things that usually get put off because everyday things always take priority. For instance, I totally cleaned out and organized our dresser this morning. Not only did it need it desperately, but I can finally cross that off my never-ending list! Oh, and how could I forget, I also got to work out in the morning, which always makes me happy. And currently I am scheming to re-decorate our bedroom:) So I've got my paint color picked out and unwanted goods posted to Craig's list. And it's only lunch time!

But I am quite sure the best thing about having today off was getting to stay up late with Chris last night. I think I've said before our schedules are pretty different since I have an early shift and he is naturally a night owl. I loved having no worries last night and NO bedtime! I even made our all time favorite banana bread, which we enjoyed for breakfast together:) Yep, it's been a wonderful long weekend!



Oh, and I almost forgot to share that we had a little pumpkin painting party on Saturday! The results were fabulous and I'm pretty sure this will be a yearly tradition. Here's a peek at what we did:

Family trip to the pumpkin patch!


Picking out just the right ones!


Tada!


The two big ones are for Chris to carve later.


I loved the animal print that my Mom and Jeannine decided to do!



Happy Columbus Day!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie!

I just had to share a new way to enjoy pumpkin! This delicious smoothie can be enjoyed morning, noon or night, and in my case, as a Saturday afternoon snack!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
1/2 cup fresh or canned pumpkin
1/2 cup skim milk
1/3 cup fat-fee sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla yogurt
1 scoop whey protein powder (the protein will help to curb your hunger longer)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup ice cubes

Add all ingredients to blender in the order listed. Blend for about 30 seconds on high. Optional-top with a scoop of fat-free Cool Whip and a sprinkle of cinnamon! Enjoy! Serves 2

This yummy snack is only 135 calories! And on a side note, this is very "pumpkin-y", so you should actually like the taste of pumpkin!

A Novel Idea!

Last year, while scanning the October issue of Better Homes and Gardens, I came across a novel idea...Painting Pumpkins! You may remember from last year that carving pumpkins is not my favorite thing in the world. In fact, Chris and I are the perfect pair for pumpkin carving because I love to scoop out the goo and he loves to carve! So this pumpkin painting idea has totally got me excited and naturally, as soon as Fall arrived, I set out for inspiration for my own pumpkin creations! Here are some ideas I found and I'm quite excited to get started!! The best part is, these will last all month versus only a few days with the carved ones.





I realize this last one isn't painted, but how stinkin' cute are those buttons?!


And of course, festive days always call for special desserts!

Who doesn't love a good caramel apple in the Fall? Especially a crisp, green Granny Smith!


Minis!!



And my fav, cupcakes!

I am SOO making these!




Happy Friday!

After the Fair, Can it be Fall?

We made it to Friday! I love fridays for many reasons, one being that I stop for coffee in the morning:) It's like a little reward for making it through another week in one peice!

I've got some exciting festivities I'm looking forward to this weekend! Allow me to divulge...

Tonight I am going to the musical called Mid-Life, The Crisis! I can't wait:) It started out being mostly for my Mom because since she's turned 40 she has joked, semi-seriously, about forgeting everything. I think it's funny and when I saw this musical going on in Auburn, I just had to get tickets! The soundtrack is hilarious:)


And on Saturday we are going to the California State Fair! Yippee!!! I love the fair and look forward to it every year. I just can't believe it's that time of the year already!


I don't know why, but August and September have always been "blah" months to me. Once I go to the fair, I'm ready to skip to October (my second favorite month!). I'm ready for the Fall, leaves changing colors, lots of hot tea, pumpkins, Apple hill, crock pot meals and cool weather. I'm not complaining about the warm weather, it's just that by this time of year, I'm ready for a change of pace! I'm also looking forward to...

Pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks...


Cozy scarves...


And soup! Our Vita-Mix will be getting a lot of use:)


Have a wonderful weekend!

It sucks to be a Sickie!

So this afternoon I have finally come out of my sick coma, to find my house in utter disarray! Let me explain my dilemma. I have been sick since Monday. I hate being sick. You know the kind of sick where you feel like if you get out of bed, you might fall over from being so dizzy and never get back up? Yeah, I was that kind of sick. Yuck!!

I am very lucky to have a husband who is so gracious and nurturing and completely takes care of my every need while I am in this condition. The only thing is, he is not exactly blessed with a former girl scout's keen sense of leaving the kitchen, living room, den, etc. exactly the way he found it! It really doesn't bother me that much since I am clean-freak enough for the both of us. However, this morning I was finally able to get out of bed feeling decent and I walked into the kitchen to find dishes in the sink, a used pan on the stove, garbage overflowing, etc. Haha! Trust me, I don't mind cleaning up when Chris was so amazing to me while I was sick, I just find it very comical that all of the time I spend organizing and cleaning can be destroyed in matter of days! I pray we have lots of girls:)

On to other things. This past week was so jam packed with so much activity, I felt as if I hadn't blogged in 2 weeks, when in fact, it has only been a week! You all know Halloween was last Friday~Happy late Halloween by the way! I hope you all had a fabulous and eventful day/evening! We certainly did. We spent Thursday night doing the typical festivities: carving pumpkins and making caramel apples! It was a great, relaxing night, but the real fun started Friday.

My dad (step dad for all who aren't familiar with my family dynamics) turned 65 on Sunday! He kept saying he didn't want anything and didn't want to celebrate. Well, little did he know, we already had something planned! His daughter and granddaughter, who live in Oklahoma, flew in on Friday to spend the weekend with us! He was definitely surprised! We spent Halloween at my parent's having chili and cornbread...Yum! His party was on Sunday, but Chris and I spent most of the weekend there. It was so fun to be with my family and to top it off, it rained almost the entire weekend! Talk about a perfect Fall treat! The only bummer is my dad had a terrible cold on his birthday:( You can tell in this picture. Sad!
So,we have a new president. I think I will leave it to Chris to blog about this topic. He is far better at discussing these things and I don't know that I have the emotional energy to write about that right now. Though I will say, while Obama was not my choice for president, I will respect him and hope that he ends up doing some good for our country. We all know it needs some help!

Lastly, I am so very happy that it is November. First of all, I can officially start listening to Christmas music without being a total weirdo and secondly, our new Whole Foods opened this morning!! You don't understand, I am so ecstatic to finally have one five minutes from my house! Actually, there is one more reason I am glad it's November. We are leaving for a four day trip to Chicago next Thursday to visit my family! I can't wait to meet my new sister, Madeline!!

Lots to look forward to! Stay warm and check out Diana Krall's Christmas CD! I am also totally hooked on Hot Apple Cider Tea by Republic of Tea!!

Lots of love,
Kate