My Little Loves

Self portrait Sunday...

The importance of hobbies and some muffins...

Indian summer is upon us and this weekend should be amazing.  With just Boden and I around the house, I plan to get some stuff done.   I finally picked out a lace scarf pattern so I can use this gorgeous silk yarn that I bought a few years ago....the colors remind me of the beautiful golden leaves I see when I'm driving around my town.  The hank went onto the winder yesterday and Nissa helped me ball it.  I'm so excited to get started!  If I remember correctly, I don't even think I picked up the knitting needles last year.  I was talking to a friend earlier this week about hobbies and how we never seem to have time for them.  It made me realize that if you don't make time for them, they easily fall to the wayside.  When that happens, I think you begin to lose a part of yourself....and that place fills up with, well, life and work and whatever else can easily seep in to replace it.  It is so important to do the things you love.  It makes you a happier person...a better person.  I'm ready to reclaim a part of my joy....

Today I have been baking and going through my recipe book looking for some good fall recipes.  One recipe I have been wanting to share with you was my favorite vegan muffin recipe.

Best Vegan Oat Bran Muffins (adapted recipe)

1 ½ cups oat bran
1 ½ cups unbleached white flour (don’t substitute wheat…it’s too earthy tasting)
½ cup brown sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 Tbsp. flax seeds (ground finely) with 6 Tbsp. water (this is the egg replacement – mix separately and let sit for about 5 mins before adding)
1 cup applesauce
¼ cup safflower oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or grease muffin cups.  Blend together dry ingredients.  Add flax seed mix, applesauce and oil.  Mix until well blended.  Spoon batter into muffin cups and let stand for 10 minutes.  Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

These are a staple around my home.  You will love these....I promise.

And I'll leave you with this sweet picture of my little man.  I bought some yummy honey crisp apples the other day and he wanted to have a bite....

Scenes from Halloween...

The butterfly....

the dog.....

two dogs in a wagon....(only one belongs to us though).....

Nissa, Boden and I had a great time trick or treating with a few of the neighbor girls.   There were lots of kids out this year and some pretty cute costumes.  You know you are in Indiana when you see the parents of the trick or treaters enjoying a nice bottle of beer on the route.  I've never seen that til I moved here....gotta love it though.  Or perhaps they are just a little more honest and don't try to hide their liquor in a hot chocolate mug.  Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Self portrait Sunday...

This is how...

we roll around Halloween time.....

No smiling pumpkins around this place....the spookier the better!   Nissa put up the skeleton on the front lawn and it looks like it's giving birth so I just left it like that for laughs.  Hey, see those skeleton hands on the walkway?  They rock!  I found those at Target this year and somehow they made their way into my cart.  I haven't plugged them in yet but they really aren't too scary looking are they?....it's almost as if they are trying to give me a high five when I come up the front steps.  The other props are from last year.....I'm still loving that black crow on the mantle.

Self portrait Sunday...

I decided I want to be more creative with my photography and to do that I am going to do a series of self portraits every Sunday.  Why of myself?...because I have no other willing participants that are breathing.  The pictures might include my face or perhaps just a hand, arm, or some other body part.  I'm trying to be creative here so bear with me...

Hello!....

Candy houses and perry...

It's fall break here so we took advantage of the nice weather and made some Halloween gingerbread (ok, actually graham cracker) houses outside....

this one looks more like a...well.....I'm not exactly sure what they were going for here....

While that was going on Ryan juiced some pears which will be turned into perry....you know, like hard apple cider but with pear juice.  The pears came from a stranger's tree in town....and no we didn't steal them like we did with the crab apples....but those are on public land so it doesn't really count does it.  Anyways, Ryan spotted this particular tree while driving home one day and thought about stopping by to see if the owners wouldn't mind if he picked a few.....there were tons on the tree and lots rotting on the ground.  So he stopped by the other day after he spotted a little old lady outside on a ladder painting.  He walked up to her and started talking and I guess she was so startled she almost fell off the ladder.  Good job boy....bust a granny's hip in the name of alcohol.  Anyways she ran inside to get her husband, a sweet little old man, and he told Ryan he could pick as many as he wanted....and he wasn't shy about it.....

ok, it looks disgusting now but it will be good when it's all done....

Enjoying the season.....

Watch my dust!...

is what I said when I left for Chicago on Friday for girls weekend.  Don't get me wrong, my family is great, but sometimes you just need to get away from it all and recharge and that's exactly what I did.  You see, every year my three girlfriends and I try to get together on a nice trip to catch up, reminisce and well, just act like we are back in high school.  Let's be honest, nobody needs to see us like that hence the need to be far away from anyone we know.

There are a few essential things that are needed for a good girls weekend: 

• good location (warm destinations are always good if you can swing it)
• incredible food (dessert always ending a meal)
• comfortable room to stay in (sure we could be in a tent and it might still be fun but let's face it, we are older and we need a nice place to lay our heads)
• spa treatments (sorry but the free back rub from the husbands to save a buck doesn't cut it!)
• exquisite food (did I say that already? thanks thesaurus, see, english class is paying off).....

Another reason for the weekend is that we all live in different places:  Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Kansas, and Chicago.  I really look forward to seeing these guys....we always pick up right where we left off and keep the friendship alive.  Girls need this, I don't know if guys can really understand that but we really do.  Plus it's always fun traveling a bit as well.....destinations have included Florida,  New York, Phoenix and a few others.  Here's a look at my gorgeous friends...

(Steph, Michele, Jamie, Me)

I've known Steph and Michele the longest, since grade school, and I met Jamie in junior high.  When we get together, watch out, because it's going to be loud....how often do you hear girls, or anyone for that matter, shouting out "Tyne Daly!" after enjoying a nice meal of tapas and sitting at a table for three hours at a busy restaurant while the waiter is trying to dry us out (not refilling the water glasses).  That having to do with trying to remember what famous person we saw a spa one year walking around in a robe (you know you are going to have to click on that link because you are thinking, name sounds familiar but who is that?).  Over the years though, the activities seem to end a little earlier as we end up in the hotel around eleven.  When the husbands ask us what we did after dinner and we say, went back to the hotel, they just laugh and call us losers.  Hey, we don't often get uninterrupted sleep people!  Stephanie cracked me up Friday night when we got back to the hotel to see that it was 'hoppin", as Jamie called it.  She looked around and said to them "hey, we'll be right back down!"....then she turned around and said "tomorrow".....ha ha!  I was dying because it was so true!

Saturday began with a trip to the Red Door Salon for massages and facials.  Then we walked up and down Michigan Avenue to do a little shopping and then back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and a show.  We met up for dinner with my awesome friend Karen at Petterinos.....always good laughs and times with that girl!  After that we went to see Jersey Boys.  I didn't know anything about Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons before I saw this....that strange singing voice.....the band dynamic....the mob connection....it's all good stuff.  Wow....it was such a great show!

(picture by Somewhat Frank)

I left Sunday refreshed and invigorated though I wish I had a bit more time with them.  Do I feel like a whole new person?....sure!....but when is the next trip?!

Did I reach....

the age where I can't wear things like this anymore?...

(from Mimi Charmante on etsy)

I have a love affair with headbands.  I've always liked the idea of a woman with a flower or pin in her hair....it's romantic.  I don't wear much jewelry so I've always considered it a viable substitute.  But it kinda dawned on me the other day when I was thinking about adding another headband to my collection.  Can I really still wear things like this and pull it off?  I'm 35 years old for goodness sake....what is the cutoff age?  Actually it made me a little depressed thinking about it, so I didn't buy one.  

What do you think about these crocheted tights?  I got them last year and am breaking them in today.  Am I too old for these....

You don't have to answer...really, please don't answer.  Let me live in my own la la land for a bit longer....

You can't tell by the tights but I just received my second varicose vein laser treatment this morning and am wearing some super sexy compression stockings underneath....hence the need for tights, though the cooler weather has just as much to do with it.  I had pain in my legs after the second pregnancy and it got worse with the third.  There was a bulging vein on the inside of my left knee and it was starting to bother me, pain and appearance wise.  I went to a vein clinic in my area and had testing on my legs which determined that I had the disease so I could get treatment if I wanted to.  I had to wait til I was done nursing, which was in May, and then I waited out the summer since I'd have to wear the stockings for awhile.  The treatment went well and of course my legs are sore but not too bad.  I have two more big treatments and then multiple follow ups.  I can't run for awhile and that is a big bummer but I can do spinning and other low impact activities.  I hope my legs feel better after this and it's worth it.