Why fall is my favorite season

Yes it's 8 pm. Yes it's Saturday. Yes I'm laying in bed in my jammies blogging. I love being an adult who can make her own decisions and feels no shame at staying in on a weekend night.

Well...now it's Sunday afternoon...I ended up watching Youtube videos of make up tutorials and fell asleep. So aaaaaaaaaaaaanyway, here's what's been going on the past little while:

Remember those baggies of pre-made omelette toppings I had at the end of the last post? Well this is how it turned out! Breakfast of champions...

*cheese*

(this one is for the parentals)

Turkey chili for lunch this past week - hearty and healthy!

THIS is why I love fall. I can't get enough of the crisp air, cool breeze, and colors that just POP.

Sign outside of a bar...

Another reason I love fall....

Last weekend Gloria and I got to go to an ice rink so that she could try hockey! 

Learning to skate

She got the hang of it really quickly - she was skating on her own and hitting the puck around by the end of the session!

Posing for the camera

Thumbs up for trying hockey!

Afterwards we came back to my apartment and made French Breakfast Muffins (one of my specialties)

Topping them off with butter (of course) and sugar and cinnamon

This is why I love living in Somerville/Cambridge - you get free stuff like this!!! It actually does work and I have a DVD player I've been holding on to so now all I need are the connecting wires and I can watch movies in my living room!

Last week after church Sarah and I grabbed brunch...the drink brought me back to London...

...the meal brought me back home :) 

On Monday we had a team dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in the entire world - L'espalier (halibut seen here)

*The best* lamb I've ever had.

Grande fromage

:)

My dessert - I got chocolate since I'm allergic to the nut dish everyone else got...I think I got the better end of that stick haha

Adorable puppy outside of Starbucks after a coffee run one morning - looks like a mix between a lab and a retriever. I wanted to take him home!

Reason #439248 I love fall...especially fall in New England

I've been missing London a lot lately...if I close my eyes after taking a bite of egg and Marmite on toast it feels like I'm back there

Loved this cup

Garlic duck and rice (om nom nom nom)

Splurged on some fried ice cream - WORTH IT

On Thursday I got to take care of this little munchkin!

All smiles for Emily

Bedtime routine - reading of many many books...

She's getting sleepy...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand she's out! 

Haha saw this and it cracked me up

Yesterday Gloria and I got to go to Connors Farm for a Big Sister sponsored event - first up, the corn maze!

Picture perfect...

As soon as we saw a bouncy thing, we *had* to try it

Gloria loved it!

...I might have had a little fun too ;-)

Pedal tractor racing

~ fall ~

Cute swings, right?

America

Tractor ride!

Pig race (they didn't seem to want to go anywhere)

And lastly - closing out the afternoon with a bonfire :)

I'm definitely loving the cooler weather, scarves and boots, hot coffee, and finally getting back to enjoying cooking in my kitchen (because it's not 8 million degrees). I just pulled roasted carrots and brussel sprouts out of the oven and I'm going to head out to grab coffee with Sarah and Katelyn in a little bit. Work is going well, church is great, Little Sister is enjoying herself....life is good :)

Back from hiatus

I...have been...absolutely...SWAMPED for the past month. Like, going 24/7 from work to activity to volunteering to church function to birthday celebration... I never thought I'd be one of those people who says 'oh I don't have time for xyz' - who doesn't have 5 minutes to respond to an email or write up a blog post?!? I just didn't understand that until now...cause even when I may have that '5 minutes' I'm just so exhausted that I sit there...staring at my phone or computer screen...

That changes this week! The theme for the rest of 2013 is to be intentional. I want to look at how I'm spending my time and how I could spend it better/more efficiently. I'm going to watch what I'm eating and putting into my body and be more mindful about my habits. I'm going to be intentional about taking more steps, exercising more (even if it's just for 15 minutes) and spending my 'free' time in meaningful ways. And tonight is the night that I get to plan it all out! (I love my lists....) So before the mandatory 8:15-8:45 pm planning sesh, here are the pictures to get my caught up on life:

I love the contrast in this picture - Chihuly ring from Simon and an extra hot cappuccino from The Coffee Trike

LOVE MY COFFEE

Lately I've been obsessed with Blue Apron - they ship you a box of all the ingredients you need for 3 meals and all you have to do is assemble it. Easy as pie, delicious, and fairly healthy.

Saw this on Facebook and had to share :)

Love this dress! TJ Maxx steal for $20

I had never had Aunt Annie's until this day when I was craving something sweet and Pinkberry just wasn't gonna cut it. I wish I had never done it because now that's all I can think about every time I go into South Station

Cheers to the freakin' weekend!

BAHAHAHA Wyatt's expression is PRICELESS

Mom look away! Another funny I have to share :)

Birthday cookies from my Momma! Aren't the pretty?

Dinner with CJ - roasted potatoes, homemade beats, roasted brussel sprouts, and grilled chicken - NOMS. I love plates that are full of different colors :)

Another Blue Apron meal - a really simple bolognese 

Hahahahaha Bill & Ted...

Finally got to try out the crepe truck, but not for the crepes...

...for the Nutella shake! Omg it was like slurping up a bit of heaven...

Christie made dessert for community group - my absolute FAVORITE ice cream (sweet corn and raspberry) and pound cake...

Sarah's birthday! So lucky to have this wonderful lady in my life :) 

A group of friends and I went to see the ballet on the Boston commons - FO FREE. Gosh I love living in Beantown...

SAY IT AIN'T SO....Blasphemy...(you don't have pre-made crepes)

SO. EXCITED. I finally got matched and got to start volunteering with the Big Sister/Little Sister program!!! I was matched with Gloria, an adorable 8-year-old from Boston. She'll show up on my blog regularly now :)

I never crave tuna, but for some reason I did...you have to make it extra special - tuna with a touch of mayo, finely diced shallots and garlic, diced celery, salt and pepper, topped with lettuce and tomato. mmmmmmm

My masterpiece - homemade pizza! Caramelized onions, roasted garlic, gorgonzola cheese, and prosciutto on a whole wheat crust. You have NO IDEA how good this was....

First outing together - roller skating! I promise she was having fun :)

If you haven't seen the Hashtag Sketch with Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake, click HERE now!!! #SHOWMETHECOOKIES #Lolololololololololololol

I was craving a hotdog, and lo and behold, a burger joint showed up on Yelp! Retro Burger to the rescue!

50's vibe

OM NOM NOM - I got some free onion rings too, and they were delish...definitely going back!

Bahahaha (worthy of Dad-level corniness)

#Truth

Locked myself out of the office last week...gotta say it was a rough morning. 

Fall is my favorite season :)

Max Brenner with Gloria! First we went to the Boston Public Library to read books (and stay in out of the rain) and then we finished off the afternoon with hot cocoa

Awwwwwwww :)

Oh. My. Gosh. I haven't had these in YEARS!!!! My dad made me my absolute *favorite* Reese's cookies (peanut butter in the middle!) and mailed them up for my birthday. I'm one lucky girl!!! 

Friday, I went with Loren and Sarah to Connors Farm in Danvers for a belated birthday celebration and boy did we have fun! Sarah though ahead and brought nips of Fireball (cinnamon liquor) and we spiked our hot apple cider haha

Then it was time for....

...the haunted corn maze!!!! (we're so scared)

CREEPY

No seriously....it was THIS creepy

:) 

Sarah *loved* the spider web

<3

<3

Today Gloria and I went to Honk Fest in Cambridge (a musical festival)

She loved doing the sand art :)

Humoring me for a picture haha...

These musicians were REALLY getting into it!

Bahahahaha

I'm a genius - I prepped all of my meals for this week already (snacks included!) and had the epiphany of prepping my omelette toppings ahead of time! Threw onion, shallot, garlic, and jalapeno into the food processor and chopped up some green and red bell peppers and put it all along with some cheddar cheese in a ziploc - now all I have to do is whip up my eggs and throw in the baggy and presto - omelette!

So....it's definitely been a full past few weeks. It's crunch time at work and I really need to get into a good routine before winter sets in and all I want to do is crawl into bed in my flannel jammies. Any suggestions for good winter workouts? Healthy and hearty meals? Post them in the comments!