Fall-ing...

It's turning fall around the edges here... Little hints of color along the highway when I drive Emily to school in the morning, The scent of burning leaves and cool air. Pulling out sweaters not seen since March, trying them on for size. We have the guys coming to inspect and clean the fireplaces on the 27th, and I cannot tell you how excited this makes me.

I'm always telling everyone who'll listen (usually my husband) that fall is, by far, my favorite season. I seem to be the only one in my family with this sentiment, as I usually get strange looks when I say this around my step mom, dad, and/or sisters. But, honestly, I loathe the hot weather, and I'm not a huge fan of weeks (or even days) of sunshine. I need some variation in my weather forecast, and that's where Fall fits the bill. You've got nice cool sunny days to enjoy the crisp air and fall colors, and you have crummy, rainy days to enjoy by curling up with a good book and a cup of tea. I also love the colors of fall, and I ESPECIALLY love the foods. In case you haven't noticed, I am a total foodie. I get excited over hard anodized cookware and elegant white serving dishes. So I love it when I can start making yummy rich fall soups and stews, homemade breads, and pumpkin muffins. Comfort food. I am all about comfort food. Just ask my thighs 

So today, in a fit of domesticity, I decided to make banana walnut muffins. Mostly because I had three bananas moldering in our fruit basket, but also because it just sounded so wholesome and delicious to me. Ok, oven preheated, flour, baking powder, sugar, milk, oil, banana, walnut, milk, egg... egg? No egg. Sweet. It was literally the last thing on the ingredient list, and the only thing I didn't have on hand. That'll teach me to bake unplanned in the future. 

This year, for the first time in my adult life, I am going to host Thanksgiving dinner at my house. This is the first year Daniel and I have had a house large enough to fit everyone comfortably, and a (matching) dining table to sit around. I've already started planning, and let me tell you, after so many years of dreaming of hosting my own Thanksgiving dinner, I am going to go fully Martha Stewart all over this holiday. There will be matching cloth napkins, handmade acorn placards, and whole apples and figs and whatnot surrounding a gargantuan, glistening, golden-brown turkey. 

Probably. 

Hiatus

So we've had a pretty long hiatus recently 'round these parts.. Because A. we've been really busy, and B. we've had an Internet crisis and have been without for oh, about two and a half weeks now. I'm actually writing this on my iPhone, which I can tell you, is the very definition of tedious. But I just can't make our loyal readers wait any longer for updates. So here goes:

Emily has learned many invaluable lessons from school, including (but not limited to) how to more legibly write her name, the absolute necessity of zhu zhu pets for the completion of one's life, and how to swing all on her own. Honestly though, she's such a bright, sweet kid that this whole school thing has been almost effortless, and the biggest stress has been remembering which colors and/or shapes correspond to which weeks and figuring out what to do with the reams of completed work she brings home.

Dan has been really enjoying his new golf obsession, and sharing in the madness with my dad and brother in law. They're all getting pretty good, and I'm contemplating getting Dan a matching plaid knickers/ vest/ cap set for Christmas.

Me: I've been really loving school and enjoying he heck out of work. I've been placed with an AWESOME freshman English class, with a really fun, young teacher. She has told me time and again how she already doesn't know what she'd do without me, so of course it's awesome to be needed, and to feel like such an integral part of the classroom. Every day I am reassured that this is indeed what I want to do with my career, and that I am going to love every moment of it.

So now you're pretty much caught up. And in case you were wondering if perhaps we were called away unexpectedly to France for business or something.. Well no. Not yet anyway.