Ready for Fall.....

Fall is just around the corner.. thank the Lord! My most favorite time of year.  Here are a few things I am most excited about...

1. Pumpkin Spice Lattes

2. Fall Boots

3. Percy Warner Park when the leaves begin to change

4. The Boulevard Bolt and the feast that follows at Deb T's house

5. Sweater weather

6. Running without the humidity

7. All things Pumpkin (patches, seeds, decor, muffins, liquor...)

8. Cheese Festival at Farmer's Market

9. Football!

10. Knowing that it is nearing the holidays!

Here is a pic of one of my favorite places... Percy Warner in the Fall!

Its Friday Night, and I Feel Alright....

Excited about reuniting with four of my greatest gals! It has been way to long since Hannah, Elizabeth, Laura, and myself have hung out.. all four of us together. Schedules get in the way, and you realize that months have gone by before you have seen some of the people that matter most. Bring back the college days.... but on another note, it is even sweeter to reunite after time has passed to see all that has happened in each other's lives. I believe that you know you have found true friends when you can go these extended periods of time and pick right up where you left off. Im thankful for that. Super excited about our dinner spot. Hannah and I found Bella Napoli one night and fell in the love with it. From the moment I entered, it seemed like such a special place. Although small in size and dinner offerings, it is charming, romantic, and... well just lovely. Hopefully the live music will be there tonight as well... and the cute bartender ;) So this ones for the girls!

It is now 2011, and it feels really good to be back to 'blogging' again. After reading several blogs this morning, some of friends I know and some of whom i've stumbled upon, I thought i'd quit abandoning mine. Sadly, there will be no European updates since that journey ended many months ago. Looking forward to going back one day soon. For now, I hope to share pieces of my life. The good and bad days, friends, family, what I love, and all the stuff in between. So it will continue as 'The Adventures of Autumn.'

So for the past week, it has just been me and little Snick at the house since my parents headed to Cabo for their 25th anniversary.  It is always nice when it is just me and Snicky because he actually pays a little bit of attention to me when 'mom and dad' aren't here.... when they are, he almost always chooses them over me.  Feel sorry for me. I've had Snicky for 15 years now, and he pretty much rules our household.  He pretty much does whatever he wants, and due to his old age, rarely gets into trouble when he 'misbehaves.'  This encompasses a list of things (doing 'business' in the house, getting into the trash, biting family members and friends (rare but does happen), refusing to come inside, etc.  Since I had not been living at home for a few years, I forgot a few odd things about Snicky.  The past two weeks has made me remember them all again.

1.  He loves ice that has come out of a Vodka/Redbull glass (if he sees a glass with clearish color, he will stand and bark in front of you until you give up your ice)- mom made me give it up even when I told her "its MY ice" - her response was "Well he likes it"

2.  Snick also loves to stash his treats and as I learned yesterday his dog food.....  I found just yesterday a box in my closet filled a good inch with dog food.  He must have been stashing up for scarce times.

3.  Snicky hates when the suitcases come out.  I guess he fears he is going to be left behind... but he acts crazy as soon as he sees them rolling across the hardwood towards the front door.

4.  Snicky also prefers the filet mignon dog treats... he has good taste :)  Dont try to give him pig ears....

5.  Ill end here.. but Snick loves to sneak and sleep on one of the four chairs he is not supposed to be on when everyone leaves for work--- I CAUGHT HIM the other day! He didn't move quick enough!

6.  One more, Snicky loves his Granny and Poppy, and will start crying if you say "Snicker, do you wanna go see Granny and Poppy?"  At one point, they did not feel the same way about him... but now Granny even lets him sit in her lap on the couch.

Well I love this dog, and I get sad just thinking that he might not be around much longer :(  He has brought so much joy to our family. 

xoxo

this is Snick (little dog) with his friend Rosco

Tonight's Menu:

Homemade Alfredo over Angel Hair Pasta - No Fettuccine
Baked Zucchini Squash
Almond Chocolate Cake (Julia Child's Recipe)

Laura came over to help cook and Chris came over to help eat. Good thing.. we had a lot of food! We started out making the cake because we thought it would take the longest... and it did... 2 hours later it was done. Who knows how long it would have taken if we were doing separately! I buttered and floured the pan while Laura put the almonds through the food processor.



Laura melted the chocolate and coffee while I mixed the butter and sugar. And so on and so on.... It took forever! After we finally got the cake in the oven, we started on the rest of the meal. I worked on the Alfredo sauce, and Laura worked on the steak. We could not stop dipping into the sauce... 1 stick of butter, 2 cups of heavy cream, 1/2 cup of Parmesan, and 3/4 cup of Mozzarella later... our Alfredo was complete... ahh it was so good! No more butter for a long time, well after we make out butter chocolate icing for the cake. First meal was a success. Maybe the next one will be a little healthier. I love good food with good friends.

Good Morning Everyone!

Last night I went to see the movie "Julie and Julia." It was such a good movie, even better than I had expected it to be.  After seeing that movie, I have a list of things I want to accomplish

1. begin blogging again

2. cook new meals at home 3 nights a week

3. be more daring when I pick a recipe (not just settling for pasta... maybe actually trying to cook lobster- too ambitious? 

4. have friends over for meals at home instead of always going out 

5. attempt not getting frustrated when I cook and something goes wrong.. have more of Julia Child's attitude

So Im sure the list with grow longer a I begin trying to accomplish this list of "things."  I am not sure if I want to pick recipes from all different types of people or just one single person. If you know me, you know my favorite cook is Paula Deen.  I would like your opinion.... try lots of different cooks or stick with one?  If sticking with one, who do you recommend?  Glad to be back!

xoxo

Autumn

Hey Everyone!

We are still in Barcelona and are going to be going home in just a few days! Mary Connell left us yesterday :( to go back to London. It was really good to see a face from home all the way over here! Yesterday, we did a lot of shopping around. They have so many cute sandals here, but no one has my size!! Wish my mom was here, she would go crazy! I might go out in search again today..... The beach is really nice here, and it is nice to have white sand again. I loved Greece, but I am not a fan of the black sand - way too hot!! I just can´t bury my toes in it while I am laying on the beach! We have decided to treat ourselves to a yummy dinner tonight. It looks like a really cute restaurant! It is a tapas restaurant like every other restaurant here, but it looks less touristy which I hope is a good thing! We had not been out in Barcelona up until last night because we never felt safe just going out as girls.... but last night we decided to with some British and Danish boys we met. They were very entertaining to say the least. Their main activity for the evening was called ¨sharking......¨ Basically, it was their way of finding a girl for the evening. I have never seen anything like it. Somehow these not so cute boys were charming all of these pretty cute girls. I guess they are pretty good at ¨sharking.¨ Christy and I kept trying to figure it out...... Although the nightlife was not quite our scene, it was a great place to people watch. Barcelona night life is crazy! Cannot wait to tell all more stories of you about these crazy people we met! :)

The street performers here are also pretty entertaining. I have to say my favorite was the Michael Jackson impersonator who made you pay him BEFORE his show started..... hmmm..... NO! He did not keep much of a crowd after telling us to pay up before he even did the moonwalk. At least give us a sneak preview! Well I am so excited about coming home to see you all! love you!

xoxo

Autumn