Carving Pumpkins

It's the time of year y'all! Time to carve pumpkins, dress up, and go bobbing for apples. (I have actually never been bobbing for apples, it kind of sounds terrible.)  Anyhow, last weekend my roomies and I made turkey burgers, muffins, and carved our pumpkins.  It's actually a rare occasion that all three of us are home together so it was pretty nice.  Plus, here's a confession, I have never really carved a pumpkin on my own.  My memories of carving pumpkins as a child are telling my dad what I wanted on my pumpkin and watching him do it. Is that sad?

Hope you all are having a happy fall and doing lots of fall activities!

Easy Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Muffins

The other day before the UCLA Cal game I made these easy pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for our tailgating party.  They are super easy if you want to make something festive for an upcoming party or get together.

All you'll need are:

• 2 boxes spiced cake mix
• 1 Large can pumpkin puree
• 1 Large bag chocolate chips

All you have to do is simply mix your three ingredients together, scoop into cupcake tins, and cook for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. It's that easy!

I had seen this recipe all over the internet and I was skeptical as to how they would turn out with no eggs or oil or anything but the puree keeps them moist and they are perfect.

End of October

  Happy November everyone!  November may be my favorite month ever, fall is upon us, football season is in full swing, my birthday is near, and Christmas is approaching.  Before I concentrate on the wonder that is November though I though I would catch you up on what my last days of October have entailed.

  Last weekend my friends came down to visit me in San Diego for a couple of days.  Saturday day night we went out for pizza then stayed in with some cheap Whiskey and reruns of "The OC" which was relaxing.  The next day we had breakfast at my favorite breakfast place near my house, The Living Room Cafe.  Just about the best part of my day was discovering that The Living Room already had their peppermint mocha's out, so naturally I had to get one.

  Later we met up with my friend who lives nearby and got ice cream at a cozy little place in South Park that makes their own ice cream and walked around a couple shops down there, including a shop that only sells things made by locals in San Diego and Tijuana.

The place is called Make Good and I would definitely recommend going there if you're every in the San Diego area.

  My Halloween was pretty good too.  I haven't done something for Halloween in a few years so I felt like it was time to dress up again.  Of course I waited till the last minute to find a costume so I just ended up buying cat ears at the last store in the mall that had them the day of Halloween and wore those, all black, and a fur vest.  Easy costume.  

  After finally getting my costume together I spent the first half of the night with my friend Sam's family in San Ysidro taking her little cousin's trick-or-treating and playing a few games with them.  Later in the night we went to pick up another friend from her work in downtown San Diego and walked around down there.  This is my first year living in a big city for Halloween and it was crazy.  Bars were packed, the streets were filled, and everyone was in costume.  Halloween is the only time of year you can see Santa Claus, a Telly-Tubby, and Freddy Krueger having a beer together, which is kind of cool.

  Here's me and my friend Sam dressed up at Barley Mash, a local bar downtown that she and my friend work at.  And as you can see the street behind us is packed with people.  If you chose to drive downtown that night, you were screwed.

  This weekend I drove up to my parent's house for my sister's final football game!  Her and I were both cheerleaders in high school and junior high so after years and years of football games, it's kind of sad that it all came to an end last night.  Especially since my sister's school and my alma mater didn't win a single league game this year.  At least it was fun right?

Have a Happy Autumn

We all know what a magical time autumn is and because I want you all to have a successful and cozy fall I have come up with some of my favorite things, essential to fall.

1.  Festive fall lights.  No house is complete during fall without some cozy twinkle lights or fun halloween lights.  These can be found at Target.

2.  I think this one is self explanatory, what's fall without pumpkins.  My advice? Have a pumpkin carving party with some friends.  Carve your pumpkins, bake the pumpkin seeds and enjoy some coffee and pumpkin muffins.

3.  In my opinion the BEST thing about fall are cozy blankets.  Save yourself a few lazy fall days, curl up in a cozy blanket on the couch with some tea and watch your favorite movie and/or TV show.

4.  If you include a cute mug into this cozy day on the couch I promise it will make you like 89% happier.  Happy mugs make a happy life, fact.  You can find this owl mug at modcloth.com.

5.  Wreaths aren't just for Christmas, there are also tons of autumn wreaths out there just waiting to hang on your door and say, "Welcome, this is a happy home."  Don't want to buy a wreath? Make your own, there are tons of tutorials on pinterest of DIY wreaths and you can get most of the items at the dollar store!

6.  Something I desperately loved about my youth were the Halloween cookie cutters my mom had.  Sugar cookies cut out with some of these festive cookie cutters are an easy gift for friends or favor to bring to a Halloween party.  These cookie cutters shown are from Crate and Barrel.

7 & 8.  Of course the easiest way to make your house smell like happy are candles.  Lucky for us we live in a world with Bath and Body Works and can buy just about any smell in jar.  Bath and Body Works has tons of holiday smells perfect for the season such as "Autumn" and "Apple Crumble."  

Hope you all have a successful holiday season and a safe Halloween this week! What are you favorite ways to make your home fall-like?