Autumn...My favorite Time of Year

There are a lot of reasons to like Autumn.

1. Cooler temperatures.
2. Pumpkin spice...everything.
3. The beautiful colors.
4. Halloween.
5. Football.
6. Spiced Apple Cider.
7. Peaches...lots and lots of peaches.
8. Tomatoes...lots and lots of tomatoes
9. Boots and sweaters.
10. Fuzzy socks.

Yes, I listed fuzzy socks as a top ten reason to love Autumn. 

It is in fact my favorite part of Autumn...getting to wear lots of fuzzy socks.

Thank about it, you come home from a long day at the office. You walk in the door kiss the kids and ask about homework. Kiss The BF and ask after his day. Then you make your way upstairs to strip off the day's uniform. 

You put on a pair of comfy pjs, yoga pants, or whatever you can find and last you open that one drawer and put on a pair of fuzzy socks. It is in this moment that you know you are home for the evening and that no matter what happened life is good and wonderful. It is possibly that in that moment you are happiest.

The moment doesn't last for long, soon someone is asking whats for dinner and you have to leave that moment but the socks will remind you.

What is your favorite part of Autumn?

The inspiration for this post came from Story Dam. Please check out this wonderful site for writers by writers. 

If its Zucchini it Must be Fall

You know its the first week of fall in my house when I start getting bored with eating fresh zucchini (How is it that one plant produces so many vegetables?) and I start baking.

I hate baking. Its so structured with no room for fun...or so I use to think.

As I was searching for a new zucchini muffin recipe (you can only eat so many zucchini muffins before you hate them) and I discovered pineapple zucchini cupcakes. I was instantly excited. It was fairly easy but I thought I could tweak it a little to make it, not better, more me.

MJ's Pineapple Zucchini Muffins

•  3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• a pinch of grated ginger root
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract                                                                                                                                       
• 20 oz can crushed pineapple, drained 
• 2 cups unpeeled grated zucchini                     

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Step 2: Combine the flour, oats, flax seed, coconut and dry spices in a large bowl. Mix ingredients well.

Step 3: In a separate bowl mix the honey, ginger, olive oil, eggs, vanilla and pineapple.

Step 4: Squeeze most of the moisture out of the zucchini and add to wet ingredients.

Step 5: Combine the wet ingredients into the dry and blend well.

Step 6: Spoon into lined cupcake tins

Step 7: Bake for 25 minutes.

Check out the Pineapple Zucchini Cupcake recipe that inspired me.

My Favorite Reason its Fall

I love fall! It is truly my favorite time of year.

Beyond the reprieve from the summer heat, the beautiful colors and of course pumpkin flavored everything; I love that its the time of year for sweaters to come out of storage and boots can be worn everyday.

That's right I love fall because of the clothes. 

Its rather shallow of me but what can I say I look good in sweaters and love boots.

I have always liked sweaters and I am sure it has everything to do with having large breasts and being short.

I know you are confused....I have that effect but let me try and explain. At 5'1" clothes just are not made for me. With most collars I show a fair amount of cleavage. I don't mean to but I just have so little space from the bottom of my neck to the top of my breasts (is that your decolletage?) that even a modest v-neck shows more than is decent outside a night club in Las Vegas.

But sweaters cover all that area. No need to layer. No need to double or triple check the mirror. No need to change your outfit because you can't wear that to work. Sweaters are really the most perfect article of clothing for a short big busted girl. There is the added benefit that a sweater worn correctly will enhance your bust line no matter the size.

My love of boots started young. I blame it on the movie Footloose, the original with Kevin Bacon. In one scene the heroine of our story was wearing red cowboy boots and this was the beginning of my obsession with boots not to mention my desire to one day own red cowboy boots...that day hasn't come yet but it will, eventually.

I guess you can say it had a impact on me.

I want to watch Footloose now...the original not the new one.

Score I just found out you can instant stream it on Netflix.

I will see you later.

How Do You Know its Fall?

Monday through Friday I drive through a "treacherous canyon" on my commute to and from work. In the summer its hot and in the winter its freaking scary sometimes.

But in the fall its beautiful. Its how I know fall has arrived. All week long I have been watching the leaves and the scenery change....probably not the smartest thing I have done while driving but I couldn't help myself. 

So for your viewing pleasure* I would like to present Sardine Canyon (dont ask me about the name...I never understood it).

*A special thanks to The BF who not only drove me on my recent photo shoot but knew just where to take me to get some really good pictures.

Great School Memory???

Do you have a great school memory?

I bet you do!!! I bet you have an awesome, amazing, spectacular memory. A memory that made you into the person you are today. It may be sad or happy but I bet you have one.

I don't have any stand out memories of school.

Dont judge me because of my hair.

Don't get me wrong I have blocked it all out just nothing stands out.  I got along with most people and had relatively little drama (it was high school so I'm sure we were dramatic but nothing outstanding). I don't recall kissing a boy in school but I am sure I must have...I was a normal girl and dated but again nothing stands out in my mind (sorry guys).

So lets go further back than high school (I am skipping the college years...my mom has to get dementia before I will relive those memories in writing). Jr.High that was a fun time. Not really...I was fairly awkward in Jr.High and beyond letting my mom dye my hair in the 8th grade they were fairly uneventful.

That leaves grade school...that was a really long time ago, can I even remember that far back?

Not really?

Now I am all sad that I don't have that stand out memory...of course since graduating high school I have suffered not one not two but five Traumatic Brain Injuries. You read that right FIVE Traumatic Brian Injuries. And all of them were in a 4 - 5 year time frame. That's one a year. Its amazing that I can remember my name let alone what happened 20+ years ago.

So if you went to school with me please please please share any memories you have of me.

Is It Fall Already?

This week I am participating in The SITS Girls - Fall Back to Blogging challenge.

What...you haven't heard of SITS Girls? Shame on you. Its an amazing site that has 40,000 women bloggers dedicated to supporting one another by leaving comments & learning about blogging. You should go check them out here.

Besides the constant support they have many blogging tips, blogging conferences, they also have (and this is my favorite part) challenges.

This challenge is all about refocusing on blogging complete with writing prompts to get your creative juices flowing. 

If you want to sign up you can do that here.

Here is what I will be doing this week.

Monday

Whether you have kids or not, we’re sure you have a great school story that you haven’t shared. It might be a teacher who inspired you, a disastrously funny moment, or getting your first kiss by the lockers before 4th period Geometry class – we want to read your best school memory.

Tuesday

Show us a picture of what fall looks like in your neck of the woods. Or show us a picture that means “fall” to you.

Wednesday

Fall is a great time to write, because it is a season filled with colors, smells, and textures (fuzzy scarves, itchy sweaters, crunchy leaves) – all ingredients for a great story. Share one of your favorite fall memories with us, or something you look forward to each fall (hello, Pumpkin Spice Latte, my old friend).

Thursday

Share your favorite fall craft or autumn recipe.

Friday

Link up a post you wrote on this day (September 28th) from a previous year. If you didn’t publish something on the 28th, link up a post from that week.

I hope you will join me.