Pumpkin Carving

In case I haven't mentioned it enough, I love Fall. One of the sure signs of Fall is when you start seeing pumpkins popping up all around town. Gigi and Pop Pop (my parents) got Amelia Grace a mini pumpkin at the beginning of October, but it rotted in a few weeks. Why did it rot? Because our front porch gets direct sunlight all day. No pumpkin, plant, or flower is safe! Every Spring I try to plant flowers that the lovely people at Lowes assure me cannot be killed, yet every year they are dead in weeks. Too much sun. 

This year we waited until the very last minute to get our pumpkin. We decided to buy local and head over to our a cute farm stand near our house. We experienced bit of sticker shock when we saw that the medium pumpkins were $12.99 each! Maybe I'm a little naive, but that was pricey to me. The big ones were $35.99 each! After deciding that was too much for our budget we headed to Harris Teeter and got a pumpkin the size of the $35.99 ones for $4.99. They're local too, right? ;-)

David took the initiative on the design and carved it like a champ!

You mean you don't want a pumpkin UFO in your face?

She was less than enthused by this part. 

Amelia Grace enjoyed her job as spectator too!

5 on Friday [09.26]

Happyyyyy Fridayyyyyy!

*one*

I love Fall and everything about it. The cool weather, the leaves, the football-everything! Probably my most favorite part is the attack of pumpkin, though. The best place to soak in pumpkin and all its glory? Trader Joe's! I'm literally going to have to limit how much pumpkin stuff I buy on my weekly trip. This week I splurged on pumpkin pop tarts. As delicious as they sound! 

*two*

It's time for the Fall Food Truck Rally!! We went last year with our church community group and pigged out! Excited to share it with our little love this year:-)

*three*

Alright, online shoppers, what are your favorite discount shopping sites? I'm a member of Rue La La and Zulily, but I'd love to hear about any others that will save us money!

*four*

TGIT! The return of Scandal and Parenthood and the introduction of How to Get Away with Murder have this girl excited! What shows are you excited about this Fall??

*five*

Ever look at your calendar and totally freak?? That was us last night. We thought that after we got through the summer our lives would simmer down. Ha! We could't have been more wrong. We are so blessed to have so many people to see and things to do, but we will definitely be soaking in any breaks we get;-)

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Just like most Americans I LOVE anything pumpkin flavored. Here is a childhood classic, with a bit of a pumpkin twist. Let me know what you think!

Ingredients

Cookies

 1 cup room temp butter

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla 

3 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

Coating   

1/2 cups white sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of allspice

Directions

Beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

 Stir in the pumpkin puree.

Add in the egg and vanilla.

In a separate  bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. 

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. 

Stir until fully incorporated. 

Cover and chill the dough for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix the coating ingredients in a small bowl. 

Make dough balls and roll into the sugar mixture. 

Lightly flatten cookies with heel of hand (don't smush!).

 Recoat the bottom of the glass in the sugar-spice mixture as needed.

Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, or until baked through. 

Enjoy!

Friday's Letters [10.05]

Hip hip HOORAY for Friday!

Dear iPhone 5, Why are you still not here?? Do you know how frustrating it is to log into AT&T and see "pending shipment" day after day?? It was promised that you would arrive within 24-48 hours and not only are you not here after a week, but you haven't even shipped! Hurry up, please?!

Dear pumpkin flavor, Thank you oh so very much for showing up in just about every thing. I love you in my coffee and in my cookies. I adore you in my pop tarts and on my biscuits. Just keep on doin' your thang.

Dear NC State, Want to share what's going on? I mean honestly, fellas. This continuing to play pee wee football against the big boys is just pathetic. How about stepping up your game for FSU this weekend? Your fans would greatly appreciate the effort!

Dear Raleighwood, We're coming!! Please prepare accordingly:-)