El dia de los muertos!

I am so excited for this weekend. First of all, it's Halloween, duh! But secondly,  my bestest friend Paige is finally coming to see me at Roanoke. She's never been here (crazy, I know) so it's finally time for me to show her how much fun it is here.

Halloween also means yummy treats! I finally made pumpkin pie milkshakes last night and I getting more puff pastry for pop-tarts tomorrow. I just love baking and having people who appreciate it!

Ok, I guess I should tell you about my costume(s), too. My favorite one is saved for tomorrow night. I'm going to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Anyone surprised? But tonig ht's going to be fun too. I have the brightest, most obnoxious neon yellow pants that I purchased at Goodwill this summer and they inspired me. I'm borrowing a friend's neon shirt and buying so black tape to spell HI-LIGHTER down my side. Yes, I'm going as a writing utensil, another shocker...

Pictures be posted but most likely not until Sunday. That reminds me, I should charge my camera.

Happy Halloween!

Gems and Jewels

Well it's time I kept up with something I promised to do. It's time for another Daily Gems.

I truly have a purple scarf
of this exact design. Aunt Sue,
you are a genius!

My first one is my favorite by far. I discovered while online window shopping (I didn't buy anything Mom) that I already have some of this fall's best styles. Not only am I ahead of the game, but I got them for real, hand-made with love. It sure made me giggle when I spotted not just a hat and a scarf that my Aunt Sue had made for me, but the sweaters sure look familiar too! How lucky am I? I'm spoiled rotten with wonderful gifts and if the weather ever decides to act like fall, I'll be ready in style! 

2. I got yet another free and delicious Subway sandwich thanks to my mother who mailed me her loaded points card with some other gifts and a nice note. Mail and freebies are so great!

3. I love quiet cafes. While I couldn't find the Mill Mountain that seems to have disappeared in Southwest Roanoke I found Pino Gelato and enjoyed a pumpkin spice and caramel coffee and got more work done (and some fun) in an hour than I had the rest of the day. 

4. Warm cinnamon applesauce. It's not quite Mom's homemade but it's a nice treat after a long day.

5. Beautiful jewelry by Stella & Dot that is gorgeous and can be mixed and matched and changed to fit exactly what you love. I know what's on my Christmas list...

Cheers!

223 outta 420 ain't bad

Last night I ran the Into the Darkness Night Trail Run at Explore Park, Roanoke. It's located just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. I've run there before, but not 4 miles and not at night.  It was, of course, Halloween themed with glow sticks, carved pumpkins and other flashing and noisy surprises marking the 4.04 mile course.  It was a rough race with the rocks and tree roots littering the narrow, tree-lined trail but I managed to cross the finish line with no scratches, slightly cold hands and a runny nose in 46 minutes and 40 seconds.  Alex was waiting for me at the finish and led the way to pumpkin bread and other complimentary snacks.  My ankles and calves hurt a bit from rolling off rocks and catching myself on roots but I never fell down! Now that I've crossed the 5k hump, my next goal is a 10k. There's a few coming up in the first few months of the year that I can start training for.  There's also a 5k run in December for arthritis if anyone is interested in running with me.

They did take pictures of the race, but those aren't posted it. Who takes a picture during mile 4? No one wants to see what they look like after 3.5 miles in the woods...

You can check out my ranking at Into the Darkness 2011. I'm 223rd overall and 14th in my 20-21 age group!

"As autumn arrives, apples appear."

The best of apple pies and pop-tarts? Small, delicious and easy to make. Not quite as easy as just sticking it in the toaster but so much tastier and healthier. I don't have facts to back up the healhty but it's made from scratch so it must be.

I stole this amazing recipe from a fun blog I just discovered called A Beautiful Mess. (that link leads right to the recipe). It's 5 ingredients, 10 minutes to prep (especially if you have a great apple-chopper like Alex) and 15 minutes in the oven. Elsie also has recipes for pumpkin pie and pecan pie and you can bet I'll be trying those too!

Puff pastry

1 peeled and chopped apple

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon (and little to sprinkle on top)

I used pumpkin-shaped cookie cutters but cutting the puff pastry can be any shape that's large enough to put some apples in the middle. The one apple provided a little more than was needed for the seven tarts that the puff pastry provided but eating the leftover cinnamon-covered apples was enough to stave my hunger until the tarts were ready.

Oh my goodness was it worth it! Some of the apple-mix was oozing out and sizzling on the pan when I pulled them out. The whole apartment smells amazing. As I am writing this, there is only one left between the three of us, so that might say something.

Midnight Snack

Well it's 11:30pm and my roommates are on their second cup of coffee while finishing a terrible take home test due tomorrow around noon.  I have a roll of crescent rolls and Sarah's Nutella.  What do I do? Yup, I make one of the best snacks ever (roommate of the month award?) It could not be simpler. I just just laid out the rolls, spread a little bit of Nutella on each and rolled them up as usual.  I baked them the suggested 11 minutes at 350 and they were delicious.  They were devoured too quickly to snap a picture but I'm sure I'll be making them again.  I might put a little more Nutella in the middle as they didn't ooze and melt as much as I had expected. I guess I'll do some experimenting on that part of it. :D

Goodnight!

Daily Gems

This summer I started a writing habit (well not quite a habit yet) to remind myself to be grateful and to appreciate my favorite things in life.  Each day (that I remember) I write down five, or more, things for which I am grateful. I stole this from a women who called it her "Ode to Joy". I named mine, Daily Gems. After stumbling across a few inspiring blogs, I see others have done this too, but posted them to share their thoughts with the world.  I think I'll give it a shot. It may be more weekly since posting is a little more involved than just jotting down a few things, but I will include pictures, links and hopefully a little encouragement for you to be more grateful/appreciate everyday. Warning: some of these will be deep and emotional, but often it will be fun and borderline shallow. It's good be grateful for silly things too, even if they don't really impact my life beyond making me smile. But I think a smile has a huge impact. :)


Daily Gems:
1. New recipes that are easy, somewhat healthy and totally yummy.  Just 1 cup of plain yogurt and 1/2 cup of Nutella. Simply stir and dip anything you can find...pretzels, strawberries, fingers...

2. Successful Do-it-yourselfers.
You are an inspiration and someday I really will learn how to sew, paint, decorate...but for now, I'll pick up tips and spend all my time exploring abeautifulmess.typepad.com and i-do-it-yourself.com

3. Pinterest.I blame Rachel.

4. Thursday gym time. I get to spend over an hour in the nearly-empty gym every Thursday. The weights I want are free and I have nowhere else I need to be.

5. Wonderful, understanding people that I can just vent to, talk with and who will always give me encouraging and loving advice.  Today was a wonderful day!

Inspiration

So after getting hooked on Pintrest (thanks Rachel) I've started doing more surfing and found a completely awesome blog full of fun clothes, recipes and hairstyles. A blog dedicated to Do-it-Yourself (abbreviated DIY) which took me longer than I'd like to say to figure out. Now I'm in the mood for some Do-it-myself fun! I'm going to start with a great pumpkin pie milkshake recipe and a sweet hairstyle for Prez ball.

Also, Elsie (my new favorite blogger) has gotten me in the mood for photography. Now I don't have quite as fancy a camera as she does but I'll see what I can do. I'll be sure to post pictures and reviews, as well as successful recipes as I go.