{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama: {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

 (photo taken by my bro - don't want him to get mad for not crediting him!)

DC

I had a meeting in DC this week, so Mike and I drove down early and explored.  We went to the Newseum, drove by the 'Watergate' Hotel and gazed at the Potomac River with colorful trees behind it.  We went to the National Gallery of Art, which might be one of my favorites.  I had never been to the East Building, which contains a fascinating Matisse exhibit and a sparkly lit walkway between the two Buildings, created by Leo Villareal, and an awesome sculpture by Andy Goldsworthy.  I can't believe I had never been to that side of the museum!  

Saturday night, we strolled through DuPont Circle and ate an incredible dinner at an Italian resutaurant - one of the best meals we have had in a really long time.  After some sleep and breakfast, we spent some time at the newly constructed Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial.

After Mike left, I spent a few days attending my conference and finding yummy delicious food, a very special cupcake, freshly made orange soda with just squeezed OJ, and walking around in the beautiful, sunny weather.  I would totally move to DC.  I love it!

weekends

A week ago, Mike, Donna, Michael and I walked a 5K for breast cancer in north Jersey.  OK, I didn't exactly make the entire walk (kind of lame) because of my medication feet pain.  But it was a beautiful fall day and we walked along a river and it felt great. I even got a medal from the survivor tent!! Oh, yes.

The highlight of this past weekend was Major Italian night at donna's.  Eggplant, meatballs, and sunday sauce.  I didn't even have time to take a picture because we were all standing around waiting to dig in.  Mike was fasting all day.  And we got the door prize - the extra tray of eggplant!  I love being Italian.

I managed to do a little baking and writing and napping as well, this weekend.

And roasted a whole bunch of farmers' market fall veggies!

new recipe

I find new recipes on line every day.  I have 100's bookmarked and starred in my email inbox.  I also have a very nice collection of cookbooks...And some weeks, I never try a new recipe.  I want to but for one reason or another, I continue to flag new bites and never actually try most of them.  So, I am going to set an intention to try one fun new recipe a week (at least) from blogs or my cookbooks.

This week, I made pumpkin bread, because I love pumpkin.  I didn't use my cookbooks or any flagged blog pages, but used a recipe sent from my sister, Amy.  It was a yummy bread.  I decreased the sugar by half (!),  added a few chocolate chips instead of walnuts, and used a mix of whole wheat pastry, whole wheat, and all purpose flours.  Yum!

Here is the recipe in case you are in the mood for cranking your oven!

{this moment} - mike's moment actually

Inspired by SouleMama: {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

This is actually Mike's moment, yesterday, in Paterson, near his office.  Can you believe this is 10 miles from my house?!

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama: {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

weekend things

It is approaching Sunday evening, and I am totally exhausted.  I had a whole meal planned out for tonight, but my energy is zapped.  I was thinking about how I bookmark endless new recipes but never get around to them, so I want to start picking one new recipe a week.  Dinner was going to include a new one... Then, as I sank into the couch, thinking about making dinner, Mike sang a song about ordering Chinese food.  And guess what is on its way?! We did realize though, we haven't ordered Chinese since moving to our new place, which was in May. So we are overdue...and now I can spend what energy I have left on my sewing homework!

additionally, this weekend:

Dinner and a movie Saturday night at Donna's which included chili and all of the fixings you can imagine.

Mums outside and mums in the kitchen!

Sunny, warm weather shining into our home all weekend long

Pumpkins and squash