Happiness in Sunshine

Yesterday was one of those days when I left work and knew it was going to be a great evening.  The sun was shining, it was the perfect temperature, and despite the list of things I had to do, I was happy to have an evening at home.

Plus I didn't run into traffic on the way home, I tried a new street (construction is done and it inspired me!!!) to see if it was quicker, and when I got home there was a Netflix (Alias Season 4 Premiere! Woo!) AND a ValPak coupon set in my mailbox. Ahhhh...

1. Roller blade.  I had a mission: explore a new development in town and create a new 35-40 minute route for myself. I have 3 usual routes and I'm getting tired of them. It was the perfect roller blading temperature and I passed some friendly people along the way.

2. Laundry. Okay, so I let it build up just a little... But now it's blowing in the breeze out on the line, loving the fall air just as much as I do.  See what I mean about the beautiful day?

3. Change sheets. Clean bathroom. On a day like yesterday, these didn't even sound like chores! Look at the beautiful handiwork on the quilt. My mom made it for me. It's actually for a twin size bed but she's still working on the one for this bed, so we make do. I think the new one would've been done by now but I picked a super hard quilting pattern. Mom and Mommom have been slaving away for months now.

4. Make soup. Summer Squash and Corn Soup to be exact. Walter helped chop the veggies because halfway through the first onion I was in tears. They were ones we grew this year and very pungent! I'll admit, my soup doesn't look as good as the one from the recipe, but I didn't have the green onions to put on top. I made a few adjustments to the recipe, using regular onions and a little extra squash. I also added a hot pepper that cooked with the onions. It didn't add a lot of heat, though, because the soup has milk in it.

5. Try roasting a red pepper and making hummus. I was reading Summer Harms blog and found the recipe for Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. I actually used this one as my guide because I had tahini, but didn't use that much olive oil and didn't use the sriracha because I didn't have any. We sampled a few fingerfuls along the way and added more honey and salt.  It was delicious on sourdough bread but then we ran out and had to use Organic Blue Chips. They were good, too. 

6. Eat dinner outside! With a great big fresh salad! And beer!

6. Baked apples. Yum! Yes, it looks like mush in a bowl. My apples stayed in the oven a little too long. I'd plead not guilty but it really was my fault. They were still delicious! I stuffed them with a mixture of lemon juice, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and dried cranberries. Walter just had to have vanilla frozen yogurt with them. Actually, he wanted ice cream but I didn't have any vanilla.

7. Relax with my dessert, Alias, a purple afghan, and my Bup. I love fall.