The only thing scarier than Halloween is my weekend to-do list!

Oh, my goodness. This week has been bananakers! SOOOO busy!!! I feel like I was running, baking, talking nonstop. And I am paying for it today. I am wiped out.

But Happy Halloween everyone!!!! I woke up to a dancing candy corn e-card from my parents so that was a nice way to start the day and cap off my crazy week.

On Wednesday, a colleague and I had to give a pretty big presentation on the research project that we have been working on for the past year and half. Despite not minding public speaking and loving my research (I could probably talk excitedly about it for hours...but finding an audience for that nerdiness is always a challenge...), I was a little nervous and spent countless hours practicing at night. Thus, my neighbors probably think I am crazy lady who delivers soliloquy's on M7 statistics and stable seasonal patterns.

But we rocked the presentation which is 99% due to the fact that we are really that awesome and 1% due to the fact that we provided cheesecake lollipops for the audience to snack on while we talked.

On Thursday, we had our office Halloween party and everyone did a awesome job on preparing super cool Halloween foods. I'll get pics up soon!

But for now, I am working on knocking off items on my to-do list. So no crazy Halloween plans for this girl. It's a night of balancing my checkbook. You know you're jealous.

But funny Halloween story. I was shopping for a dress at Bloomingdales today and even though I knew it was Halloween, I forgot for a moment. So when I saw the sales guy that was helping me pick out dresses dressed as the Phantom of the Opera, all I could think was "Wow, Bloomingdales takes this formalwear department seriously." Then I remembered it was Halloween and it all made sense. HA! I did fall in love with an amazing dress by Carmen Marc Volvo. I did not fall in love with the price. Even in a good economy, I could not justify the scary amount on the price tag. So I have to settle for visiting the dress once a week and saying Hi...or having the location of the wedding I need it for moved to the dressing room at Bloomingdales.

Earning my Candy Corn Princess tiara

Last night I attended a pumpkin carving party and had sooo much fun. I have found myself at home at night curled up with a book far too often lately and realized that I am on the fast track to becoming the world's most fabulous hermit. So I jumped at the invite. And I am so glad that I did. (And when I get a candle for my pumpkin, I will post a picture. I think it turned out so well.)

My most important dilemma of the day was deciding what treat to bring. My first thought was Candy Corn Cookies given that cookies are the easiest baked treat to transport. I have tried to make Candy Corn Cookies in the past and struggled with it. It also bothered me how the frostings of different colors (orange, yellow, and white...the Candy Corn Trifecta) didn't match up perfectly. But I happened upon a picture online this week that found a way around that: Ice a decorative frosting seam where the frosting colors meet. No the frostings still do not line up perfectly, but the seam provides a pretty distraction.

The cookies were a huge hit!!! And so cute!!!

And naturally, I wore my candy corn socks while making these. Aren't they cute? A total Target impulse purchase (is there any other kind of purchase at Target?!?!)

A Pumpkin Cookie Good-bye

I always get a little sad when a colleague leaves our office. I hate saying good-bye to the members of my "work family."

So I always try to sweeten the last days with baked goods. The strategy is 50% a celebration of their new opportunity, 50% hope that my baking awesomeness will get them to stay. LOL, just kidding.

Anyway, today was Katie's second-to-last day so I made a batch of White Chocolate Dipped Pumpkin Cookies. I used this super easy cookie recipe but I tossed in some cinnamon baking chips. Instead of the using the glaze suggested in the recipe, I opted to melt some White Chocolate and dip the cookies in it. (I LOVE white chocolate. I know Dark is better with all of its antioxidants, but if I complement my consumption of white chocolate with copious amounts of blueberries, I think I balance the equation.)

The cookies turned out so well. There is nothing like the taste of a delicious pumpkin cookie on a brisk autumn day. And the white chocolate was a nice flavor companion to the pumpkin.


The cookies also looked like acorns (completely not planned).

So if you need a easy, delicious treat for any Halloween festivities you may have next week, try these cookies out.

And Good Luck Katie!!!! We'll miss having you in the office!!!

You know it's autumn when...

...you reach into the pocket of that winter coat/puffy vest that has been hanging in storage since last winter and discover that tube of beloved chapstick/lipgloss that has been "missing" since last winter. (And then contemplate the health risks of using it before thinking, "EW! Gross!" and throwing it away.)

My mom and dad sent me this picture taken in their yard last autumn and I just love it! It's the wallpaper on my computer. :)

Baby Got Bag

It has been a nonstop cleaning, organizing, throwing away, give it to Goodwill kind of day for me. But, wow, so productive. For as small as my condo is, I have a ton of storage space. And sometimes, I tend to shove stuff into the storage place as a temporary holding space...that turns into a permanent spot. So I ended up taking everything out of my storage closets and starting from scratch. Sorting, tossing, etc. And then I made my list for the Container Store and set off to one of my most favorite stores ever.

They had everything I needed. Most of it was on sale. Jackpot. And even though I only spent $40 (believe me, my Container Store damage is usually much, much worse), everything was kind of bulky. I had walked to the store and planned to Metro home. Then the cashier pulled out what is quite possibly the biggest shopping bag I have ever seen. To give a little perspective, I put a normal sized brown paper bag next to it.


Note that they even crafted a little shoulder handle for me. HA!

I will admit I was a little self-conscious walking home. I was quite certain that I heard "Oh. My. God, Becky. Look at the size of her bag."

What can I say, "I like big bags and I can not lie. You other shoppers can't deny...Baby got bag."

And now that you all have Sir-Mix-A-Lot stuck in your head, I must finish cleaning.

Autumn is in the air. Everywhere I look around

It's a lovely autumn day here in D.C. Even though the temperature should reach 80 or so, there is still a crispness to the air to remind us that it is in fact, October. I woke up with the urge to carve a pumpkin or drink apple cider.

I am in the middle of the rare weekend where I am not travelling or working. How rare, you may ask? Well, I have not had a weekend off where I remained in the city since December 2005. So almost three years. Wow!

And since it is a holiday weekend (Thank you Christopher Columbus and your lovely Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria), I have a glorious four full days to get caught up on life. I was reaching a burnout point so this weekend could not have come a better time. And my condo is a pure disaster. It had reached the "Where do I even start?" point. Which for me, the original organizational freak, is not good LOL. The organizational level of my living quarters is absolutely connected to my outlook on life.

So I have been cleaning and organizing since I finished my Panera Hazelnut coffee and Cherry Pie Oatmeal breakfast this morning.

I did take a break to dash across the street to the neighborhood Farmer's Market. I am very fortunate to have this so close. And I really do not take advantage of it enough.

The apples.




The broccoli, peppers, and cauliflower.


I LOVE the color of this eggplant.
I have seen this shade of purple in so many fall fashions. I am just not sure if I can carry the color off. I think it would probably go well with my eyes and hair color. Hmm, maybe I will take a field trip to Filene's Basement, Banana Republic, and J.Crew to test the color out.

I came away from the market with some Pumpkin Butter made at a local apple orchard, some Brussel sprouts for dinner, and a Suncrisp apple...which I just ate. So good.

And now I must get back to cleaning!!!

How are you spending this lovely autumn Saturday?

September Daring Bakers: Lavish Lavash

Autumn is in the air and inspiring autumnal creations in the kitchen. Seriously, I feel like I can smell Thanksgiving. Why just this morning, I enjoyed a delicious bowl of pumpkin pie oatmeal.

So when I received the September Daring Bakers challenge, I immediately had autumnal thoughts swirling like falling leaves in my head. Lavash crackers were the challenge du jour. Lavash crackers are a "thin leavened flatbread of Armenian origin." (Thank you dictionary.com!!!)

The Challenge suggested that we make the crackers gluten-free but that wasn't required. Having done a gluten-free diet for 11 months a few years ago, I totally understand the gluten-free diet movement, but I decided to go the gluten-y route on my crackers. We also had to make a vegan dip to accompany the crackers.

And those were the only guidelines. Talk about creative freedoom!!!! Woohoo!!!!

I decided to do a savory cracker and dip and a sweet cracker and dip. The crackers were super easy to make. I used a cookie cutter to cut mine so my crackers were a little more puffy than crisp.

First up, the savory. I topped the rolled-out cracker dough and topped it with what I call a "Taste of Thanksgiving": thyme, rosemary, and sage. Cue the Simon and G-Funk song.

And for the savory dip, I modified Slashfood's Pumpkin Hummus. I replaced the cayenne pepper with nutmeg and topped it with sunflower seeds. I have never made my own hummus. Recall that I am the most loyal follower of the Sabra Hummus movement. But I quickly learned that hummus is way easy to make and fairly good....but I still swear by my Sabra.

The Savory....

And the sweet. It's apple pie on a leaf!!!! I topped the dough with an apple pie spice blend of cinnamon, fenugreek, lemon peel, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. YUM!!!!

For the sweet dip, I created a fruit-schetta. Diced apples, pears, and nectarines mixed with some Harvest Song Pear and Apple Preserves that I picked up at World Market. So good!!!

The Sweet...

I am, at the moment, undecided about whether I am going to do the October challenge. We are allowed to skip two Challenges per year and I am just not feeling this one.

Dreams really do come true...and not just at Disney World

With a sigh, she set the latest copy of Tiger Beat magazine down on her bed and walked over to the mirror. Her hair was pulled back in a tie-dyed Scrunchie; her bangs were precisely poofed to be four inches above her forehead; her purple turned pink Hypercolor t-shirt tucked into her stonewashed jeans which were tight-rolled to perfection.

Yes, the reflection in the mirror passed a level of perfection demanded by the fourth-grade social circuit. Ah, but one thing was missing, she thought as she looked at the posters of Jordan, Joey, Jon, and Donnie that she had plastered on her walls. (There were no pictures of Danny anywhere because, ew, he was just not cute.) If only, if only, she could go to a concert. She put on her jacket and straightened the giant NKOTB button on the front. One day, for sure, it would happen.

(Sorry for the lame attempt at teen fiction. I just finished reading Diablo Cody's (aka the writer of Juno) tribute to Judy Blume and I was feeling inspired.)

Ah, yes, seventeen years later, the New Kids on the Block concert dream came true. The "Kids" are making the rounds on their "reunion" tour (or probably more accurately, we are running out of money and this seems like an easy fundraiser.) And I totally had tickets!!!!

I rounded up some friends from the office and we headed to the Verizon Center. Well, first we had dinner at Chop't, which is quickly become my new favorite restaurant. Pick from a list of million salad toppings, and the "choppers" create a most fantastic and delicious salad.

When we arrived at the Verizon Center, I was giddy with excitement. I could not wait!



Note my awesome, vintage New Kids on the Block t-shirt. I even wore it at the office all day. HA! Note, while I do work in a casual work environment, I rarely wear a t-shirt. But the Thursday of the concert was the rare (and we are talking unicorn rare) day that I had no meetings and knew that I would be doing programming at my computer most of the day. And SAS does not make fashion judgments...no, it just gives you ridiculous errors that make no sense. Also, I had a cardigan on standby.

The Verizon Center was packed with tons of mid 20s to early 30s women reliving their youth. And probably, like me, making good on a lifelong dream to see NKTOB in concert.

The opening acts for the Kids were some person who I cannot remember and Natasha Beddingfield. They were good, but let's face it, opening acts are boring.

When New Kids on the Block took the stage, the place went CRAZY!!! So much screaming....seriously, four days later and my ears still kind of hurt. Our seats were pretty far away. My NKOTB is pretty deep but not $100 seat deep...more of a $38 seat love.


But halfway through the show, a stage popped up in the middle of the Verizon Center and we had way better seats.

And apparently Jon is reliving 90 fashion with his white high tops and t-shirt tucked into his jeans. Oh, Jon.

Some notes the show:

The Jumbotron screen time was dominated by Jordan, Joey, and Donnie. Which leads me to wonder if Danny and Jon did not age well. Sigh, Jon was always my favorite.

Donnie opened the show wearing some glittery pants (I call them sparkle pants.) and ended it wearing a sparkle shirt (or a huge necklace...it was hard to tell). The man loves his sparkle.

The sang most of their "old" songs and some of their "new" songs....which were not too bad. I may or may not already have some of the "new" songs on my Ipod.

Was Joey on one of those celebrity dance shows? I do not watch reality television but there was this weird ballroom dance number with him that could only be explained by Dancing with the Stars or something.

In the middle of the show, there was the bizarro tribute to people that have died over the past 15 years. I think the intent was to honor Donnie father and Danny's mother (who both died) but instead turned into this weird Powerpoint presentation that included Tupac, Frank Sinatra, James Brown, and Kurt Cobain (c'mon give me a little credit for knowing who they were). It was almost uncomfortable.

And last, to my college roomies, Saira, Laura, and Becky. They totally sang "Tonight." I was SOOO excited!!!! And totally flashed back to the countless times that song was blasted in our apartment.

The concert was sooo much fun! And I can cross one life's goal off of my list. Next goal, learning all of the dance moves to the song Footloose.

Catching up!

Sorry for the lack of bloggery goodness lately. I seem to be suffering from Long-Distance Walker Re-entry Sydrome. Symptoms include,

• complete and utter lack of ability to recall what patient did before spending every spare minute going on long training walks, planning routes for long training walks, and buying gear for long walks;
• long, wistful stares at walking shoes;
• and a runny nose (ha, just kidding, but every drug commercial on TV seems to include this in the list of side effects..)

Anyway, I am transitioning back into my old life and am so happy to be back in normal gym/workout routine. YAY!

I am back to my regularly scheduled blogging programming. Including the long-delayed September Daring Bakers Challenge. I think I need to be a member of the Daring but Tardy Bakers. :)