In the spirit of fall...

I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! It was a rainy Sunday afternoon, I had just woken up from a nap, the air was crisp outside, and our home was filled with the aroma of apple spice candles. We were watching Charade, Toby was cuddled up on the couch asleep. It just felt right to bake. I love baking just because I feel like it, not because I have to. I also love when I have all the ingredients needed. The smell of these cookies added to the feel of the fall-ish-ness that was happening in our apartment. It was a perfect afternoon.

These cookies were taken from allrecipes.com. I altered them just a bit.They are more cake-like cookies and are even better refrigerated in my opinion.

1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp milk

1 TB vanilla

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Add vanilla and chocolate chips. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 min. YUM!

Jack's Baptism Celebration

Our sweet nephew Jack was baptized this weekend. Joy Lynne and Chris had a cookout on Saturday with all of the family there to celebrate. It was a great party and celebration. I didn't take a ton of pictures, but here are a few!

He is just so adorable

Uncles Evan and Stefan helping Truett at the table

Susan and Jack

Graduation Day

Toby graduated from the intermediate puppy class today! This class was seriously one of the highlights of our week. Watching 4 dogs learn new tricks, wait their turn to perform in front of the class, wag their little tails.. so cute. At the end of tonight's class they all got to wear little graduation caps which they hated.

Edna the trouble maker

Toby watching Edna

Riley to the left and Jake below.. always smiling!

Mediterranean Burgers!

I haven't done much cooking lately. I recently started working a few nights a week at a private practice which has taken up some of my cooking time! When we were in Boone this weekend, Ginna and I had the privelege of making dinner one night! We tried a new recipe that was pretty tasty, healthy and quite easy!

Here's the recipe:

1 1/4 pounds lean ground turkey

1/4 cup pesto

2 cloves minced garlic

1/2 cup crumbled feta

1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/2 tsp salt

Mix together turkey, pesto, garlic, feta, seasoned salt, and bread crumbs in bowl until evenly blended. Form 4 patties. Grill burgers until no longer pink in center, about 5 minutes per side. Sprinkle seasoned salt halfway through cooking. (taken from allrecipes.com)

We topped it with sautéed onions, lettuce, tomato, and a lemon basil aioli (Carrie's concoction): mix a little mayo with the juice from 1 lemon, add some minced garlic, chopped fresh basil, some salt, and your'e good to go!

We paired them with a little parmesan orzo and roasted veggies. Yum!

a weekend in Boone

I have been looking forward to this weekend for WEEKS. Some of our dearest friends from college planned a fabulous trip to Boone. Boone is a special town to me and Brian for lots of reasons... It was the first town we ever lived in at the same time, it's where we went to college, where we got engaged, and where we got married!

one of the first days after Brian moved to Boone in college

the day we got engaged!

wedding day :)

We hadn't been back since our wedding. Needless to say, we were ecstatic to return to our special town and even more excited to see our special friends!!

Toby in his ASU colors

The Purple Haze..

had a fabulous view!

Toby loved Bass Lake

It's a special place to us- it's where Brian asked me to marry him

all the girls!

the whole group minus Carrie

relaxing on the deck

Ashley in the hot tub!

hanging out, visiting, watching the sun set.. so RELAXING

Melanie's was a must. I mean really. It doesn't get much better than this.

I can't wait to go back

We talked about making this an annual thing. I do hope that happens. It was a perfect weekend! Thanks Ashley, Emily, Josh, Ginna, Jeff, and Carrie for making it happen!

Happy Birthday Ginna!

Today is (one of my) very best friend's birthday!! Ginna turns 25 today! We have been bffs since we were 5 years old. We've gone through every stage of life together since kindergarten. Funny things happen to us when we're together.. I can't even explain it, but all we have to do is look at each other, and we know what the other is thinking. We lived together for three years.. all were great, but the last year in MD was one of the funnest years of my life and made being so far from Brian more bearable. Ginna and I make a great team. We work well together. We would be awesome at the Amazing Race. We can make anything happen. Love you, Ginna! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Saturday at the Park

Today we went to midtown. We love Piedmont Park. Tons of people, tons of dogs, grass to lay on and relax. We used to hang out there last year and sit outside the dog park, wishing we had a dog of our own.. Then we'd go home and spend hours on petfinder.com searching for the perfect one. And we got him!

Toby meeting his new friends

Everyone at the watering hole

We had dinner outside at Park Tavern.

Dogs are aloud to come too :)

We weren't ready to leave, so we went back to the dog park for a bit after dinner..

And somehow while we were there, his leash disappeared! Brian had to carry him back to the car...

It was a great Saturday. One of the first in a while that we haven't been out of town or had things going on.. Very relaxing indeed!

Happy Birthday John!

I'm a day late, but yesterday my brother John turned 23! It sounds so old. He is a wonderful brother, and I am thankful to have him in my life. He's also a great husband and daddy. I love this picture of him- it's from his honeymoon in Colorado. Happy birthday, John! Hope it was a great day!

The End of Summer

This year, Brian and I celebrated Labor Day weekend with both friends AND family! We traveled up to Charlotte to celebrate Nina and Mark's wedding which was absolutely beautiful.

It's been so fun chatting with her online about the planning.. and now she's a married lady!

Congratulations Nina & Mark!!

us with the Moore's!

Carrie, Ginna & Jeff

Brian & me

the girls

so fun to see college friends!

This was taken a little over a year ago at Sara's wedding...

So we recreated it at Nina's!

Carrie fed us amazing homemade waffles for breakfast the next morning.

After breakfast, Brian and I headed to the mountains to visit his parents at the cabin. This is one of the most relaxing places ever. We love visiting and are excited that they will be living there every summer now!

Notice the warm clothes... I was not expecting such cool weather! It got me excited for fall.

Brian's brother Evan is living in Asheville now and came to hang out. And to meet Toby of course.

I love that he still fits in my lap.

We spent Monday afternoon hiking some of the Appalachian Trail.

Toby wants to move to the mountains.

We made it up to the Bald.

A great way to end the summer... Now we're ready for fall! Scarves, sweaters, pumpkin spice lattes, the sound of leaves crunching as you walk, cool crisp air.... Can't wait.