Halloween with the Colwells!

Last night me and Danny dressed in our finest and headed to a Halloween party at Jennifer and Dustin's house. Jennifer 110% outdid herself. She made an amazing Apple Pie in a Jar, Halloween bars, pumpkin cheesecake, mummy-dogs, and a taco dip.

Jennifer even had a costume contest. And can you imagine I won for sexiest costume? And Danny swears he didn't vote for me. It makes sense though, voting took place after tequila and everclear shots. Jesus won for best costume, funniest costume went to the Mexican, and scariest costume went to the "gay guy." And I'm pretty sure he wasn't in a costume!

Costume parties with couples are always fun. I love seeing what everyone comes up with! Here are the costumed-couples!

The Mexican (aka Mike) came prepared with tequila...and shot glasses. When that was gone, the everclear came out. Let's just say...boys will be boys! By the end of the night Jesus turned the Roman into a devote follower, plans for poker nights were being made, and they were begging to go to the Waffle House.

The party was over when the boys started bargaining with us..."If you don't bring us to the Waffle House we're going to do MORE shots." Carmen and Mike brought me and Danny home, and my night was over when Danny passed out on the couch...and I claimed the bed for myself...complete with no dog!

We had such a fun night with friends and can't wait for the next time we all get together. Jennifer and Dustin, thanks so much for having us over!

I'm a World Traveler!

Okay, not really...but this weekend I did hangout with people from all over the United States. In one weekend there was Massachusetts, Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Arkansas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, and more places that we never discussed. Back in the day, before I married into the Marine Corps family, I never thought I would spend a weekend with people from all over the country. Call me a nerd, but I think that's pretty cool!

Friday night I gave my house to the guys for a poker night (Miley supervised!) and I headed out for a girls night. First, never under estimate how much pizza a bunch of girls can eat. Second, Apples to Apples is a great way to really get to know someone. Let me just tell you, my friends all have a sick sense of humor...and I love it! And I also I had my one-and-only s'more of the year. It was heavenly!

Saturday morning I did some early morning baking and headed to Katie's bridal shower brunch. If you know me, you know I love brunch, so I was thrilled when her sister said that's what we were going to do! We had delicious chocolate chip pumpkin muffins, yummy cookies, and my special strata. And we drank a lot of coffee. I was so excited to give her my gift, I had a panty bouquet made for her...and a lingerie cupcake. Seriously, the cutest things EVER! I can't wait for her sister to post the pictures..my camera apparently didn't like to take early morning pictures!

After the shower me and Danny made a brief appearance at Oktoberfest. It was a bust. (Rachel, I should have listened to you.....) But that's only because Danny left his ID at home. Um, Oktoberfest with no ID? Not gonna happen! I took a picture to prove we were there, ran home to get his ID...and ended up having a sushi date night. When we got home there was a little concert going on in our neighborhood, we went up for a little bit but Miley didn't really like the crowd (can't blame her...there were some creeps!)

We had a family day today, went for a walk, cleaned the house, did the Sunday-haircut-routine, and watched a movie.Now I'm sipping on a pumpkin spiced latte and ready to enjoy the evening with my little family! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Pumpkin Season!

Pumpkins are autumns version of snowflakes, no two are the same. There are big ones, small ones, orange ones, white ones, bumpy ones...and the perfect round pumpkin that everyone wants.

Over the weekend me and Danny picked out our perfect pumpkins. I found mine right away, Danny on the other hand...had to inspect every single pumpkin that they had!

Tonight we got out the carvings tools and got to work! I cut my top too small, broke a knife...and made a huge mess. But we both proved to be great artists!

Just one of the many thing I love about fall! Speaking of pumpkins...has anyone tried the pumpkin spice Hershey kisses? They sound amazing!

Mom & Dad in North Carolina!

This weekend went by way too fast! My Mom and Dad came down for the long weekend, my Dad's first time down here since he dropped me off in Carrboro when I moved last June. We had such a fun weekend, I've never laughed so hard!

They flew into Raleigh late Thursday night, so they stayed the night in the city. My parents are early birds so I was expecting them to show up at my front door around 7 Friday morning. Oh no, they decided to sleep in, go out for breakfast, and get stuck in lots of traffic on their way out here. They got stuck in traffic due to "a house in the middle of the road."  Seriously! Mom even sent me a picture.

When they finally got around the house and made it to my house, we headed over to New Bern. We had some lunch at Captain Ratty's, picked up my ball gown (which needs to be altered like crazy...sucks that I'm a midget even with high heels!) and walked around the marina for a little bit. I knew Dad would like seeing all the boats. It was such a beautiful fall day...I love walking around in the cool but sunny weather. We stopped at a make-shift car museum...I decided I will only start driving if I can have a 1966 Ford Mustang Convertible...in blue. How's that sound?

Bright and early Saturday the guys headed out for a day of golf. So what did me and Mom do? Shop, of course! The goal was to get everything for Katie's bridal shower present, but that didn't go as well as I wanted...so now I have two weeks to come up with something perfect! Then we went to Mike's Farm, I was expecting so much more. The country store isn't like the country stores at home, it was mostly candles. But oh.my.goodness...we got lots of fudge! Pumpkin fudge is amazing!

After the farm me and Mom headed to Ruby Tuesday for lunch, just as we were getting ready to leave Danny sent me a text message. I told him we just got done eating lunch and the plan for the night was "to go to Mike's Farm for dinner." Danny and Dad decided not to get lunch, come home and hangout until 3:00 until they were hungry. Me and Mom dropped them off at a bar, did some more shopping, and by the time we picked them up....I knew we wouldn't be going to Mike's Farm. We ended up coming home, hanging out...and decided pretty late that we wanted the Olive Garden. We ate too much, had some wine, Mom and Dad had bellinis, and took some pretty goofy pictures. Mom took pictures of me and Danny "pretending that we liked each other." So of course, I had to take pictures of Mom and Dad..and I think they were making fun of us!

Sunday morning we dropped Miley off at daycare which she loves. Seriously, whenever I bring her there she drags me to the door and runs right to the girl...and doesn't even look back to say "see ya later Mom!" We had some breakfast then headed down to Wilmington for the day!

Our first stop was the Battleship. Since we had so much rain last week everything was so flooded. The parking lot was completely under water. We weren't sure how we were supposed to get to the Battleship, so we decided to just jump the fence. Just as we got over....we saw the shuttle that was bringing people right to the ship. OOPS!

The USS North Carolina is huge. I think this was my third time on it, but every time I find something different. This time, my electronics were going crazy. My camera and phone stopped working at the exact same time..which leads me to believe that it really is haunted. My batteries completly drained, but in the next part of the ship everything was fully charged. CREEPY! We were on the ship for three hours and didn't even see the upper part of it! I could never work on a ship, I'd get so lost.

After the battleship we went to the Front Street Brewery. I think the oatmeal stout is always the mug of the day, good thing its so good! It was that awkward eating time again, 3pm. Lunch, dinner, snack? Either way, we ate too much! The guys went to another bar and me and Mom headed to David's Bridal to pick up my dress for Katie's wedding and...World Market. I seriously love that place. I made my own 6-pack...check out all the good stuff.

Oktoberfest, Raging Bitch, 400 Pound Monkey, Pumpkin Ale, The Poet, and Weeping Willow Witt

Today was their last day. Danny and Dad headed to the golf course again. It was too early for me and Mom to do anything...so we just hungout. Eventually we made our way to Barnes and Noble and Walmart. We made a Halloween package for Kaleb and sent those out. We headed out for a light lunch and picked Miley up. I'm so happy that she loves daycamp because I love that it wears her out!

Mom and Dad just pulled out of the driveway. It will only be five weeks until I see them again! We went all summer without seeing them, and now I feel like we'll be seeing them a lot. I love the holiday season!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Columbus Day weekend! It's not over yet!

i am moved by ~

the colors of autumn... looking up through flame bright trees into crisp bright blue skies...

manifestations of fragile strength... delicate  hand dyed fibers wrapped around strong, life worn circles of copper... 

knowledge that is unearthed from within us when we put fear aside; if you open up, it will present itself...  

Muscadine Harvest Festival

What a fun time! Yesterday Me, Danny, Carmen and Mike headed to a wine festival. Ever since me and Danny started dating we have loved drinking wine together. So we were really looking forward to the festival to get to try new wines and have some fun!

One of the many things I love about being a military wife...discounts. What would have cost of $50 to just get in the door, only cost us $24. Except when the man taking my ticket sees that I only have a $12 ticket, he assumes I'm underage...and gives me a funny look when I tell him I'm 24. So, there it is...this haircut might actually make me look younger than my long hair.

There were over 20 wineries at the festival. Over 150 wines. A band, food, and drunk old people. Sounds like my kind of fun! When you walked in they gave you a wine glass, you walk up to each stand, and get as many samples as you want. The samples aren't big...but when there are that many of them...they build up! You could also buy glasses of wine for $5.

Muscadine grapes are really sweet. So there were some wines that I didn't like...at all. Like apple wine, no good! But I did buy a glass of blackberry wine, which was amazing. We hungout in the Duplin tent for a while and tried all their Christmas wines and some of my old favorites. AND I had a grape cider slushie...amazing!

Of course we left with a bottle of wine. Our big purchase of the day was Catawba Belle by Vineyards on the Scuppernong, NC. It was yummy!!!


My goal for the season? Go to one fair every weekend! This is one of the many reasons why autumn is my favorite season!

A Story and A Recipe

First, the story. Hubby got home from ten days of training last night. I am so excited that he is home! However, the next time they go away to train...I will know to expect vacation stories. They were gone for ten days, Danny worked every other day...and had a 96. So what did he do with all of his spare time? Oh, just ate tons of amazing food. Melting Pot (yes, with a bunch of guys...I thought it was a little gay,) Cheesecake Factory, Japanese Steakhouse, Brazilian Steakhouse, and bars every night. Oh, and then he went to a baseball game, a museum, and had a "training" flight to NYC. How is that training for him? Flying isn't even his job!

But anyway..the point of the story! To "make it up to me" Danny brought  me to Starbucks last night to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte. As we were pulling away from the drive-thru window I said "thanks." His response? "Well, now I can get what I want tonight!"

I thought it was funny, thought about blogging about it, and then said "nah, it's not that funny." Danny thought maybe it was because my Mom reads my blog. I said "Well, obviously she knows we have sex." There was a long pause before Danny said...."How about you're Dad? Has anyone broken the news to him?"

Maybe it was one of those "you had to be there" conversations...but I thought it was SO funny!

And now, to the recipe! I enjoyed my pumpkin spice latte with homemade Warm Pumpkin Pudding Cake! It made my house smell so good!! And it was unbelievably easy to make!

Warm Pumpkin Pudding Cake

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp.salt
1 cup buttermilk (If you do not have buttermilk, put 1 tablespoon lemon in a 1 cup measuring cup and fill the rest with milk. Let it sit for 5 minutes before adding to batter)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, melted
2 cups pecans (I used almonds!)
1 jar Stonewall Kitchen Maple Pumpkin Butter

Directions

1. Grease a 9"x13" baking pan with shortening.
2. Preheat oven to 325°F.
3. Excluding the Maple Pumpkin Butter, mix all other ingredients well. Batter will be firm.
4. Spread in prepared pan.
5. Spread Maple Pumpkin Butter over batter.
6. Bake until bubbles have risen to the top and cake feels firm to the touch, approximately 55-60 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean when inserted.
7. Transfer to a rack to cool. 

My Favorite Time of the Year!

My favorite season officially begins tomorrow! I love everything about autumn..the colors, the smells, the clothes..literally everything! I know a bunch of us have already started to take advantage of one of my favorite things..pumpkin spiced lattes! Even though it's still in the 90s in Jacksonville, nothing beats a hot pumpkin spiced latte.

Here are a few more of my favorite autumn things!

Starbucks pumpkin muffins. One word: YUM!

Cardigans. I  can never find the perfect one. But I want this entire outfit!

I miss New England apple picking. Does anyone know where you can do this in North Carolina?!

I love decorate pumpkins, fake ones, real ones, they just scream fall to me!

 I think I'm one of the few people who really likes candy corn.

Everyday I find a new pair of boots I like. Today I'm obsessed with these!

And my number one love of autumn...Halloween Oreos.

I don't care what you say...they taste better than the regular ones!