pumpkin

Tim’s Pumpkin Patch 2021

October 11, 2021 by Alicia Leave a Comment

It was another beautiful weekend in upper New York State. Saturday we slept in a bit and then headed to Tim’s Pumpkin Patch in Marietta, NY. This is an hour drive for us and we around shortly after 10am. It was great because it wasn’t as crowded as I remember it being last year. We enjoyed some pumpkin funnel cake, walking through the corn maze and the pumpkin patch. I remember last year we gave up on the corn maze as I was stressed about school work. It’s so nice to have those days behind me and enjoy a full day of activities without worrying about papers and group work due.

I made sure to dress the part for Fall and get some pictures with the pumpkin patch. Seeing a whole field of pumpkins just amazes me. We did notice that the pumpkins didn’t seem as large this year as last year. I’m sure the extreme weather had an impact on them growing. We picked two nice size pumpkins and a couple decorative ones for the porch. I have my friend’s pumpkin carving party in a couple weeks so we don’t plan to carve ours.

After picking our pumpkins, we continued driving around and stopped in Ithaca for a late lunch. We were going to get Vietnamese food, but they were take-out only, so we walked a little bit down the road and decided on Ramen which was perfect.

We then made a stop at Trader Joes. I got a few Trader Joe’s staples (Everything but the Bagel seasoning, Honey Mint Chocolates and Almond Butter). I also picked up a few pumpkin items, like the Pumpkin Spice Jo Jo’s to try and some pumpkin spice yogurt covered pretzels.

I saw a lot of pumpkin bread and cookie mixes, but decided I didn’t need either. The Trader Joe’s didn’t seem as decked out in pumpkin and the items were spread out in different areas, but not too many stood out to me. I also can’t eat some of the items that include cheese like the Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese I always hear about. I still enjoyed stopping in and restocking some of my favorite items from there.

On our way back, we stopped at a friend’s house to chat for a bit, but I was getting tired and ready to get home. Since we ate lunch so late, we weren’t terribly hungry. I waited to go to the store since I knew we would be stopping at Trader Joe’s. I gave Brian the option of sushi from Wegmans for dinner and he happily agreed. With only a few items on my list, I added quite a few things I didn’t plan to buy to my cart. I couldn’t stop thinking about pizza and decided to try a chickpea crust pizza for dinner. We ended the night relaxing, watching a movie and I couldn’t keep my eyes open the last 15 minutes of the movie.

Here is our porch with the pumpkins.

Pumpking Carving and Stitch Fix

October 29, 2018 by Alicia 1 Comment

This weekend was a busy one. Friday night I got my grocery shopping done after work. When I got home, I got some packages that I wasn’t expecting until Saturday which was exciting. One of my packages was my Stitch Fix box. I need some help finding more work blouses so I was really specific in my notes that the tops needed to be stretchy for my shoulders. Some of my tops I own right now are now tight because apparently my shoulders are bulking up from the weightlifting. I know, I know, what a a problem to have. I was sent 4 tops and a pair of jeans. I didn’t want to buy any pants and I first thought, jeans…how could those ever fit me. Well you know I had to try them on just because and OMG they fit so perfectly and were so soft. I might regret the fact that I sent them back, but I really didn’t need any jeans and since I only wear jeans on the weekend when I leave the house, I knew they wouldn’t get worn so it wasn’t worth the money. Anyway, onto the tops. The stylist nailed it on the soft material and stuck with short sleeve and tanks as requested.

I loved the tank top blouse except for the high neck line and the price tag. So that was sent back. The grey shirt felt a little too casual to me and it was box like so the fit was a little ehhh and sent back. Then I was sent a teal pullover/hoodie type shirt which I never would wear and I didn’t like the fit. Color was great though. I ended up keeping the cheapest shirt which was a simple t-shirt with a cool back design and the material is super soft and it’s flowy. I feel like I can wear it to work or out and about, which I love. Since my stylist did so well with the material and fit of most of the items, I decided to sign up for another box in December and will see if I get more shirts I love. It definitely is fun trying on things you wouldn’t normally pick out, but the price of the tops since they are typically designer is high to me so it’s not something I can afford monthly. It is helping me to find my style though.

Saturday morning I drove to Penn Yan to see my friend and carve a bunch of pumpkins. The drive is about 2 hours, so I listened to two podcasts on my way which helped pass the time in the rainy and grey weather. I also finally got my apple cider donut (or donuts because I bought two) for the season. I stopped quickly at Wagner’s Cider Mill and got some apples and donuts. It was a delicious snack after a two hour drive.

My friend had purchased 120 pumpkins to line her front lawn with. I don’t know how many I carved, but I came prepared this year with a pinterest board of pumpkin ideas and even bought a $10 carving kit from Amazon. The metal scooper was amazing to use and the little saw.

carving pumpkin — a cat that turned out pretty well

After about 4 hours, busy carving and munching on pizza, I decided it was time to head out. The rain was not letting up anytime soon. It was a good drive back though other than I drank a full water bottle and large iced tea on the way back so I had to find a McDonald’s about 20 miles from home to stop at to pee. When I got home, it was dinner time, but I wasn’t that hungry. I decided to take a hot bath. We were carving in a garage, but it still was a bit chilly and the heat in my car is not fully functioning suddenly so I have to get that checked out soon. I eventually found some snacks to eat for dinner as I didn’t feel like making anything and ate while working on some accounting homework. Then it was time to relax watching season 3 of The Good Place since I discovered that was on Hulu. I crashed hard at 9.

Sunday morning I had some quick breakfast and then got some pork sliced and marinating while I headed to the gym. Once I was at the gym though I just didn’t feel great. I decided to take my workout slow and I made it through most of it, but my head just wasn’t in it. I cut my workout short and headed home. I had homework to work on but I decided to make my stir fry for the week first. Cooking was nice and relaxing.

Then I worked on my accounting lesson. It was a long lesson and there were a lot of videos. This next exam is going to be a challenge with stocks and bonds. Once I was caught up with that, it was time to do homework for my other class, but I took a baking break to make some chickpea blondies.

Sunday’s have pretty much become my homework days, but it works because last week I didn’t have too much to do during the week. I can’t believe there are only 6 weeks left in the semester. It has certainly made the last couple months fly by being so busy outside of work. I am looking forward to December though so I can watch a Christmas movie daily without worrying about homework.

Are you dressing up for Halloween?

Pumpkin Carving Party Weekend

October 23, 2017 by Alicia 5 Comments

With the cold weather that came last Monday, I thought we would really be heading into Fall. I was pleasantly surprised though when the weather predicted for this weekend was in the 70s. The mornings were still a chilly 40 degrees, but by the afternoon, it was at least 70 and nice and sunny. It was the perfect weather (in my opinion) for carving pumpkins outdoors. We didn’t have that brisk Fall like temperature, but I liked that my hands were warm while scooping out pumpkin guts.

Friday evening, I don’t know what it was, but I didn’t sleep the greatest. I was hungry because I didn’t have a snack after yoga and my mind apparently was just racing with thoughts leading me to toss and turn. I couldn’t wait to make breakfast Saturday morning. I was slightly disappointed though because I ran out of bacon earlier in the week, so breakfast was just 2 eggs and a couple oatmeal breakfast cookies. I also drank tons of water. I could tell I was dehydrated as I drank water through the night and also easily drank 2 bottles in the morning within an hour of waking. Thankfully I was up plenty early when I consumed all this water because around 9am I left for a 2 hour drive that doesn’t have easy bathroom breaks.

I drove up to Penn Yan where one of my college roommates lives. Each year she has a pumpkin carving party and has a HUGE display of pumpkins in her front yard. I was excited that this year, I only live 2 hours from her and I was able to make it. Sadly Brian got called back to work so he missed out.

With the warmer weather, it was perfect to be outside, the only downside was that the bees liked the fresh cut pumpkins a lot too. We had a great wooden spoon that worked as a bee killer. I didn’t try to make the bees mad, but thankfully some other guests at the party got pretty good at killing bees. One person trapped a bee in a beer bottle too. I switched between carving pumpkins and watching the little kids. My friend has a 1 year old daughter that I finally got to meet. She was so cute and warmed up to me almost right away when I arrived early and my friend was still preparing the food.

There were a ton of pumpkins to carve. I think I only carved 5 or so. I need to get more creative with my pumpkin carving. She had over 100 pumpkins!!

During the afternoon, we enjoyed stew, cookies and pie while carving the pumpkins. It was great to catch up a bit and do something fun and outside for the nice day. The past couple years when they have done their party it has been so cold they moved to inside the garage with space heaters. They really lucked out on the weather this year.

I decided to head out at about 3pm as I wanted to drive home while it was still plenty light outside. The drive home went by quickly as I finally figured out I could put on a podcast and navigation at the same time on my phone. I hadn’t tried it before. I also was able to swing by Wegmans for my weekly groceries on the way home.

I decided to make some zucchini boats for dinner as I was the only one home. Brian’s mom was visiting and headed out for dinner with everyone else, so it was just me and the two dogs, who mostly slept. I got dinner cooked and leftovers in the fridge. I did laundry and cleaned up a bit. I then had time to sit down and write for a while. I call that a productive and fun evening in my book.

I then got the surprise that Brian was actually coming home Saturday night. I thought he was going to be gone until Tuesday so that was a nice surprise.

Sunday morning I actually slept in a bit. In the morning I headed to the gym. I got my new program to follow, so Sunday was all about testing out how much weight for how many reps I could do. Overall, I know I went too light on some of the sets, but I was also just getting used to the movement. Next week I will increase. I’m excited to have a new plan to follow though as I was feeling a bit in a gym rut after not being super consistent through August and September.

Once I got home, we played shuffle the cars so others could run errands and I just parked my car in another driveway (the advantage to 3 family houses next to each other). Otherwise we would have played shuffle the cars all day long when I needed to be first for Monday morning.

Sunday was a pretty laid back day to get some reading done and also watch a few episodes of This is Us. I’m so close to finishing season 1 and then I can catch up on the current season 2 episodes.

Are you creative with carving pumpkins?

More Apples and Pumpkins plus Vintage Toys: MIMM#92

October 17, 2016 by Alicia 1 Comment

Hello everyone!! I hope you had a fabulous weekend. I had a fun and productive weekend. Little by little sorting through the boxes of stuff my parents packed up for me 2 years ago…I am finally able to let go of more and not so attached to every little thing which is nice. I know that is in part to how much I have grown up in the last 2 years and just learning that I can live without a lot of stuff. When you have boxes sitting in your closet that you don’t look in for 2 years, probably time to part with some of the stuff huh?

Getting back to the fun things of the weekend. Thanks Katie for the MIMM link up.

Saturday I headed apple picking with a friend. There was more of a variety available this time and I probably picked too many apples for just me. I guess I will have to eat at least an apple a day.

I did make these delicious apple oatmeal cookies on Saturday evening. It was seriously so hard to stop eating them after I had 3…

I also made some chili which will be dinner for a few nights. I took some pictures but they honestly don’t look that great so I’ll just tell you it was delicious.

Sunday morning I finally slept in a bit. I got up and made some waffles and bacon with a side of strawberries.

Then it was time to do my usual meal prep and worked on some blog stuff before I was off to teach yoga.

When I got back home, I decided to whip up these delicious chocolate muffins and paint my pumpkin.

I spent the rest of the day reliving my childhood as I sorted through boxes and was finally able to reduce some things down.

Marbles, floppy discs, polly pockets, old school IDs and more. Likely these polly pockets are going on Ebay soon. Did you know these are known as Vintage polly pockets? Apparently I am VERY old. Then again, babies now don’t know what floppy discs were. Instead of bringing your own USB, you had to bring a floppy disc to save your school stuff on. Oh…the 1990s…

OK time to get back to the present. Make sure you come back tomorrow, because I have a very special post.

What was your favorite toy growing up?