Happiness Is...

Fresh Fall FlowersA few weeks ago we acquired a gorgeous pumpkin centerpiece from this wedding. Unfortunately, the pumpkin had seen it's better days so it went to the compost pile last week. With the pumpkin now gone, I couldn't let these gorgeous Fall flowers go to waste. I'm so happy I salvaged them because they really brighten up our home!

Trick-or-Treaters!I am beyond excited for our first trick-or-treaters in our new home. After 4 years of college and 5 years of apartment living, I am long overdue for some adorable children in costume showing up on Halloween. I went to Costco yesterday and filled our candy bucket and have my Jack-O-Lantern window lights ready to go!

Erin Condren Deal @ Plum DistrictI love me some Erin Condren. I already have my Life Planner which I am obsessed with, but would love to add to my Erin collection. Plum District came out with an EC deal just in time for the holidays and you know I couldn't resist it. To get this fantastic deal, join Plum District right now! Now the big question of what adorable item to pick!

Baking with Pumpkinmy less photogenic cookies
Earlier this week I think the cooler air got to me and I had the urge to do some serious baking. I opened a can of pumpkin and went to town on these delicious Pumpkin Spice Cookies from SkinnyTaste. They were very cake like and very yummy. I did the chocolate drizzle for half of the batch and added chocolate chips to the other half. Both ways were amazing!
I refused to let half a can of pumpkin go to waste so I finished it off with a batch of Pumpkin Muffins from For the Love of Cooking last night. They were the perfect addition to this very cold Friday morning we're having. What are your favorite pumpkin recipes?

The Muppets Movie
I am a huge huge huge Muppets fan. I absolutely loved them as a child and still love them today. I literally watched the Muppets Take Manhattan 300 times as a child and could never get enough! So I am incredibly excited for the new Muppets movie. I'm also excited for a new generation to discover these fantastic characters!


A Football WinWith our NFL team (the Colts) seriously struggling this year, I will take any good football I can get. Thankfully my college team delivered last night. I'm so happy we beat Miami on national TV. I may be a little tired today from staying up to see the end, but it was definitely worth it!

What's making you happy this Friday?

Pumpkin Brews

I love a good pumpkin ale. How could I not? They are the epitome of my all time favorite season. Sipping it on a chilly night preferably by a bonfire and surrounded by gorgeous leaves of every color cannot be beat. Perhaps my pumpkin beer obsession is only intensified by the Cadbury Cream Egg Effect (a product is only around for a brief time of the year making them even more special and irresistible!) Pumpkin beers start appearing on shelves in September, but since I know they won't last for long (start disappearing in early November), I make a point to enjoy them whenever I can.
About a month ago we had a small pumpkin beer tasting with friends. I highly recommend this, it was a blast! We each had a glass of 4 different types of Pumpkin beer. If I remember correctly (there was a lot of beer consumed after all), we all pretty much agreed on our favorites and those that we could have passed on. Here are our results:

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
The Dogfish Ale was the overall favorite of the night. I know for sure it was my favorite. It has the perfect amount of pumpkin and brown sugar flavors without being overpowering. Of the four beers we tasted, I think it was an easier drinking pumpkin ale allowing you to have more than one without being overpowered by pumpkin flavors.
Imperial Pumpkin Ale
(Weyerbacher Brewing)
This pumpkin ale was more full bodied than the other beers but I believe it was, in general, the second favorite of the group. It was very different and distinct from the Dogfish Ale and very memorable. I don't think I could have too many of these in one sitting because it is much more fuller bodied beer, but the one I had was pretty delicious.
Post Road Pumpkin Ale
(Brooklyn Brewery)
The last two beers I don't remember too much about. I can't say whether that's because they just weren't good enough to be memorable or if we hit a point in the evening after many downed beers, when all of the beers started to run together. That's the problem with beer or wine tastings, if you taste one too many, you can easily forget a lot about the experience. Still, I remember the Post Road Ale being pretty decent. I will say, it definitely has my favorite Pumpkin label of the group!
Ichabod Pumpkin Ale
(New Holland Brewing)
This Pumpkin ale has pretty strong pumpkin flavors with some nutmeg and cinnamon mixed in. Again, it was a pumpkin ale I would definitely have again, but wasn't my favorite of the night.

All four of the Pumpkin Ales came highly recommended by the beer guy at our local wine store, Red White and Bleu, so they all are quality beers that I recommend trying!

There is another seasonal beer that I am always sad to see disappear from store shelves in November.....Sam Adams Octoberfest is without a doubt my favorite of the Sam Adams seasonal beers and I need to stock up before they start to disappear!and I can't leave out the beer that I just can't get enough of recently.
Crispin hard cider's are perfect this time of year!

What's your Fall beverage of choice?
Any other pumpkin beers I need to try?

Weekend Snapshots

It was so nice to have a weekend at home. After traveling most of the weekends this past month, our house and life desperately needed a weekend at home for catch up!

Friday night we stopped by an Arlignton wine store, Arrowine, for a tasting and to stock up on good reds for the cold Fall nights ahead of us. We also cashed in our Groupon for cheese and meat and feasted on an impressive cheese plate while finally watching Bridesmaids. Bridesmaids was definitely worth the wait, HILARIOUS!

Saturday was spent cleaning our house top to bottom and we made our first attempt at raking leaves. We figured since most of the leaves haven't fallen yet, that we would knock out the whole yard in one hour. Boy were we wrong! Three hours later we had easily the biggest pile of leaves in the neighborhood. Still, it was nice spending a crisp Fall afternoon with VABeau doing a quintessential Fall activity that I haven't done since I was a child. This great feeling quickly dissipated, however, when I looked up and saw that most of our trees are still covered in leaves! It looks like we have our work cut out for us!

Saturday night was our first dinner club hosted by Neil and Elise. We were in charge of making an appetizer and VABeau found this fantastic recipe for Baked Brie with Pepper Jelly. I thought it was pretty delicious and the pepper jelly definitely provided a lot of flavor.

Neil and Elise's meal was delicious and it was so great to see friends we haven't seen in way too long!

Sunday morning we made another trip to Williamsburg. While there for our anniversary we found a bed during our shopping day that we could not resist. After thinking about it for a week we decided to pull the trigger. To make the trip even more worthwhile, we met VABeau's cousin, Chase, who is a student a William and Mary for lunch. We had a great 0utdoor lunch at Aromas and it was really nice to catch up with Chase.

How were your weekends?

My Fall Wardrobe Wishlist

I'm really trying to spend less money on clothes. This shouldn't be so hard since I wear scrubs to work everyday. Still I am tempted by so many cute things I see in stores and online. So to help keep me accountable, I decided to create a short clothing wish list for each season. If I want to buy something, but it's not on my wish list, it better be on a ridiculous sale or something I absolutely love or I'm not getting it. So far this Fall I have miraculously only purchased one clothing item (a jacket) and it was on this list. So I think this whole list thing is doing it's job.

Now for the items that made the must have list!

Jeans
I am long overdue for a new pair of jeans. The problem is that I can't decide if I want to go with my trusty
J Crew Toothpick Jeans
which look great with flats or boots OR if I want to jump on the flare leg jean wagon.
Hudson Mini Flare
I'm leaning towards going with my old faithful jeans. What jean styles are you all lusting after this Fall?

Red Skinny Pants
I can't get enough of reds and corals this Fall and I can't get the idea of a pair of skinny red jeans out of my mind since seeing this cute outfit on pinterest.

Source: jseverydayfashion.com via VABelle on Pinterest

I think they would make such a fun addition to my wardrobe but I refuse to spend a lot of money on them since they won't be very versatile.
J Crew Minnie Pants

H & M Pants

Silk Blouses
I am seeing blouses everywhere! They are not only very flattering, but incredibly comfortable. I have one JCrew blouse right now and have to force myself to not wear it everyday.

Source: hm.com via VABelle on Pinterest

I literally could wear a cute blouse with jeans all of the time and never get sick of them!
J Crew Silk Lucinda Blouse
Love this color!
Loft Cascade Ruffle Blouse

Shift Dresses
I am all about dresses that will work in the warmer months and in the colder months. If it works with tights and without, I'm sold. I spotted this dress on Pinterest several weeks ago and have been obsessed with this style of dress! Best of all it could be worn year round!

Source: designerbagsanddirtydiapers.blogspot.com via VABelle on Pinterest

Western Blues DressASOS Mini Dress

Riding Boots
I've already mentioned my favorite riding boots but here they are again!

Melissa Button

Barbour Jacket
This is the one purchase I have made so far. I wanted a jacket that I could wear all of the time and this seems to be it. I can wear it with something somewhat dressy and I can wear it over yoga pants and a tee. Also, you can't go wrong with a brand as classic and Barbour, you know their jackets have to be pretty quality!
Barbour Cavalry Polarquilt

So tell me, what's on your Fall wishlist? What's missing from mine?