Cookies and Leaves

A good friend of mine requested that I post some pictures to give context to where we live. So this is some of what you would see if you drove up to our apartment :) I only wish my camera could've captured the brilliancy of the leaves here...

This wreath is hanging on our door, and apart from the little pumpkins strewn all over my dining room table, is one of the the only fall decorations I ended up pulling together. But I love it. I've never really loved the fake leaf wreaths, so when I found this one with berries, I just had to get it!

And here's our apartment! #158 :) The middle floor rocks. Not too many stairs and free heating from other people. Could life get much better?

Here is a snatch of one of those beautiful trees right outside of our apartment. Our apartment complex is really into ridding the place of all twigs and leaves, I was afraid they would scoop up all the fall leaves as they fell, but I guess they're pretty enough to avoid the clean-up crew.

See?

And more tree pictures...

This here is my bike. And I love it. It works great for getting to and from my work, which is just a little over a mile away. And the little basket is perfect for my purse, a coat, a water bottle, and a bag of groceries. It was a great buy from Target!

And finally, a little snatch of what I've been up to today. I'm getting over a cold so it's been a very slow morning/afternoon with a lot of reading, sleeping, and listening to Nathan playing his guitar (*happy*). But I did want to do something to make myself feel useful, so out came the recipe book (or Pinterest recipe pinboards in all honesty ;)). I've been waiting to make these molasses cookies all season, and I *finally* remembered to put molasses on the grocery list last time I went, so I was able to make them this afternoon! Some turned out perfect... and some were just a little brown. I'm ready for a new kitchen timer to keep me on task!

A Bit of Fall

So I thought my last post was long in coming, but now I know better. Such is the life.

The last couple of months have been a whirlwind with Back to College overtime insanity at Bed, Bath and Beyond,

Nathan starting school

Trips to Portland

Visiting with Cristina

And hanging out with my family. We went apple picking at this awesome place called Deterings. But Emily and Annarose were much more impressed with the puppies than with any apples or pumpkins we found there ;)

Then we went to Lone Pine Farms (Thanks for the recommendation, Christine!) and had a blast getting lost in a huge hour-long corn maze -- something I've always wanted to do!

But the highlight of the trip for Dad was, I think, getting to see the Coastal Starlight train enter the station. He begged Nathan to take us to the Eugene Train Station, and was giddy when he saw that a train was coming in within 30 minutes. It made us so happy. Gotta love the simple pleasures :)

But life has shifted back into low gear now all that's over, so Nathan and I are just trying to find jobs, fighting colds, and carving pumpkins. Sunday night was our first completely relaxed and unscheduled night in weeks, so we sat down with a crackling fire, a big ol' pumpkin, a knife, a sewing machine and some Jim Dale (HP 7). Here are a few pictures I took to document it :)

I now remember why October is my favorite month. I just love the leaves and pumpkins and jackets and spices. And Eugene's October has been one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. We are loving it.