Fall Into A Good Book

October is my favorite time of year.

It's no secret that I love a good book. However, this is the time of year is when I read the most of all. The air is crisp and leaves are slowly changing color. I love being able to curl up in a comfy chair and stare outside in between chapters. Plug in a wax burner filled with apple pumpkin, crisp fall leaves and toasted campfire wax melts and it's almost perfection. Fall is the time of year, you wish you could just enclose it in a bottle to remember the sights and smells. Last year we took a weekend trip to Lake George and saw the last of the leaf peeping season here in the North Country. We stopped alongside the Hudson Watershed and snapped a couple quick pics. Autumn in New York is brief, however it is breathtakingly beautiful. 

October is a time for fresh apple cider and hot cider donuts. Enjoying one in front of a waterfall is an added bonus. Impromptu picnics on the remaining days of an Indian Summer and spend the evening under a full moon warming yourself beside a roaring bonfire. It's more than PUMPKIN everything. As I said, it's my most favorite time of year. New books begin hit the shelves at local bookstores and  The New York Times Best Seller list produces tons of fall worthy reads. Which brings me to my original thought. I love a good book. A few ladies in our neighborhood have formed a book club and although we took  the summer off from reading we started back up in right before school started back. For August, we picked a historical fiction WWII novel, "War Brides" by Helen Bryan. Although most of our group enjoyed some parts of the book, we mainly agreed it was a little slow going. It received 3 1/2 stars. 

September's selection was a debut novel, California by Edan Lepucki. It was a post-apocalyptic novel following the characters, Cal and Frieda into the wilderness leaving L.A. behind in their past. Our group enjoyed the far fetched reality that Cal and Frieda faced, but we were left hanging by the ending. California received a week 3 stars. For October's selection we decided to go with a thriller to fit with this time of year. "The One that Got Away" by Simon Wood was a fast paced thriller that had us rooting for Zoë and that the Tallyman got what he deserved in the end. Wood's book received 3 1/2 stars. 

For November's book club pick we decided to read another thriller.  Reese Witherspoon's Instagram account provided our selection. "In a Dark, Dark Wood" by Ruth Ware is a mystery/thriller based on high school friends that loose touch, only to reunite at a "hen weekend" to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Clare. I picked this book up after our meeting to get a jump on reading. It was a page turner and had you guessing until the very end. Ware's debut novel received a strong 4 stars. I'm also excited to see news that Witherspoon is taking this novel from page to screen. Meanwhile, I'm trying to finish up reading the first book in the Outlander series, so I know what all the hype is about and then moving on "Into the Wilderness" by Sara Donati. I'm hoping that there's no thick Scotch accents to read like in Outlander. I hope this rambling of my love of all things fall and a few book club selections kept you entertained. Until next time y'all and keep on reading! 

An Autumn Meal

Tonight, I made a super simple Sunday supper that screamed "Fall is here". We had apple bourbon pork loin, a sweet potato, apple & pecan 'hash' and braised bacon Brussels sprouts served alongside some Harvest Pumpkin stuffing. Dinner was delicious and I had several friends on Facebook asking for the recipes. So, here they are! 

For the pork loin, I marinated it for about 20 minutes in a packet of McCormick brown sugar bourbon made as directed along with 2 tablespoons of apple cider for a little kick. Then I seared the loins in a cast iron skillet and once done I transferred them to a stoneware dish. I baked the pork loin at 350*F for 45 minutes until it reached 170*F. 

While the pork was cooking I peeled and diced a few sweet potatoes and granny smith apples. In my cast iron skillet, I melted 3 tablespoons of coconut oil and cooked the sweet potatoes for about 8 minutes until they were beginning to soften and starting to turn golden brown. I added the apples next and continued cooking them until they were browned. A couple teaspoons of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice were added to the apple and potato mixture. Then I tossed in a half cup of pecan halves and a cup of Craisins (soaked in warm water for 5 minutes, then drained before adding to the hash). Stirred it all together and cooked for about 2 more minutes. Then you're ready to put it on the table.

Bacon braised Brussels sprouts are probably one of my favorite go-to dishes during the spring, fall and winter. Bacon makes everything better. I take a bag of frozen Brussels sprouts and cook them partially in my Pampered Chef micro-steamer. Meanwhile I'll dice and begin to cook 3 strips of thick-cut bacon in another cast iron skillet. Once the sprouts are done in the microwave, drain and cut them in half. Add about 1-2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to the sprouts in a bowl and season with some McCormick Montreal Steak seasoning. Then scrape the sprouts into the skillet with the partially cooked bacon pieces, mix together and cook alongside the pork loin for the last 20 minutes at 350*F. The harvest pumpkin stuffing I found at Aldi's in their seasonal aisle and made it according to the directions on the box. Dinner was simple enough, on the table in about an hour and gobbled up by my boys. 

Hope y'all enjoyed my take on an autumn meal! 

Wedding Anniversary Weekend

So last week, the hubs and I celebrated 13 years of marriage. We kept our celebration a little low key, but still had fun. We went on an impromptu trip down to Syracuse to B&N  to browse books, popped in at Trader Joe's for a couple things I love from there and we even squeezed in a trip to Wegmans for steaks to grill the next evening for dinner. 

The hubs got me some beautiful irises and tulips, since I'm not a roses type of girl. The boys were out of school for Columbus Day and we decided to take our fall family portrait in 70* weather with sweat rolling down our backs. Mind you that 4 days later it snowed. Yep, October is broken up here in the North Country. However, our family pictures turned out great! Then we capped off the afternoon with a picnic, steak dinner and watched Billy Madison, just like we do every year on our anniversary. 

We even had a cake. Wait, let me explain. I made a delicious lemon pound cake from the same recipe used for our wedding cake 13 years ago. Then the hubs used the Rummage family decoration skills that I lack and iced this 2-tiered sugar confection to perfection. And then we smashed it in each other's faces...twice. The first time our oldest bumped the camera tripod that we had set up to recreate the cake cutting and we ended up with 10 pictures of the window in the dining room. The second time was way more successful.

So, here's to 13 years and many more with my best friend!

Crazy busy.... Or I'm a slacker at blogging.

I apparently took off the spring and summer from blogging. BUT I had several DIY projects in the works. The last one I had posted was the coffee mug wall hanger I like to call "Paradise". Which turned out super functional and pleasing to the eye. Then for a belated Mother's Day gift (since the hubs went on a training mission for a couple weeks), my sweet husband crafted this beautiful console table from plans out of The Handbuilt Home by Ana White. This book has tons of plans and we're slowly building furniture pieces from this book. 

I also did some decorating on the front porch. For the 4th of July I crafted this wooden American flag to hang. All it took was a couple 1x6 boards joined together, wooden stars and a couple pieces of stripping. Then I just stained it all with Mission Oak, leaving it darker or lighter on the areas that needed it. It's a lovely addition to our porch and looks great. Another fun project was the DIY wooden tags to add to my fall wreath. I just cut a couple 1x6's, drilled a hole and hand painted "give thanks" onto the tags. 

After a trip to a local antique store and I found a solid wood door. Pinterest-inspired, I set out to make a corner door shelf. The hubs cut it down the middle, added some shelves, blinged it out with a crystal door knob, cleaned up the original hinges and covered it in a coat of Caribbean Sea. 

My biggest project that consumed my time was what I like to call the "Great Dining Room Redo". I once had yellow chairs surrounding the farmhouse table that the hubs built last year for our 12th anniversary. However, those got a fresh coat of Caribbean Sea, the same color as my console table and door. If you couldn't tell, I love this color! And it matches my Fiesta-ware plates in Peacock.

Then I built this super simple rustic wood planter to house some mason jars and candles. The next addition was the giant chalkboard. I have awful chalkboard art abilities, but I love how I can change out my quotes anytime I like. The final touch in the dining room is the awesome DIY lanterns made from 1x2s, 97¢ glass tumblers, clear adhesive caulking and white candles. The dining room turned out better than I expected and then the next project waiting for the hubs and I to tackle was a new tv stand, since a guilty Weimaraner chewed the MDF corners on the one we had. We once again turned to Ana's book for inspiration and knocked out this beauty in a weekend.  

Future DIY builds we hope to accomplish are 2 matching bookcases to flank the media console, a farmhouse bed frame with storage, a desk for our oldest and an apothecary console for the living room after we redo our second living space off the dining area.  I hope some of these DIY projects have inspired you. Happy DIYing Y'all!