We were awfully fortunate this week in that Sandy didn't cause serious damage in this area. Lots of heavy rain, and some big trees down in town, but certainly nothing compared to what NJ/NY is facing. Jack and Jill did have school cancelled Monday and Tuesday, but now they are back in business!!
The pumpkins are carved, the decorations hung, and the costumes ready: HAPPY HALLOWEEN! It's been a long time (okay, let's be real, it's been like 6 years) since I've been trick-or-treating. Well, my friends, tonight is the glorious night that I once again relive childhood and go with the little tots! (eek, I should probably figure out a costume...STAT!)
Life has been pretty low-key as of late. I think I've got the routine pretty well under control, and I am loving it being fall. Nothing is prettier than the drive down the GW parkway, lined with colorful trees crisp with autumn (made complete often with an afternoon coffee and carefree tunes- does driving get more perfect than that?)
Another thing I love about fall: soups.stews. cold weather cooking! (Did I mention that Mickey and Minnie bought a new crockpot because I was putting it to use?...now we have a giant crockpot (by which I mean avg.-sized, but bigger than the previously owned small crockpot) Which, would this blog post be complete without a recipe? This one was a real winner! It's supposedly Spanish-style...I never had anything like it while I was in Spain, but whether it's authentic Spanish or not, it is delicious, and awfully easy to make! (We doubled it, and good thing....that will most likely become lunch for the week! yummmy!)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/spanish-turkey-meatball-stew-recipe/index.html
Now, let's reflect on the exercise aspect of my life these days...It has finally become my favorite outdoor weather: the weather that is cool and breezy so you can wear sweats and along sleeve t shirt without ever getting warm. I've been trying to spend time outdoors before it starts to get too cold. So I've taken Pluto for a few night walks (which are always more enjoyable in theory than in reality, but oh well!). This weekend I decided to go for a run, which would simultaneously help me in figuring out the lay of the town some more. Well I was overly ambitious, and what I intended to be a 2 mile run, became more like a 1.5mile run, with an additional 3.5 miles of walking....But, I did make a big connection in terms of how the roads in town come together, so it was great! I also went to go play tennis with a friend this weekend. We spent probably half an hour trying to locate an available court. Apparently the tennis league reserves practically all the courts, which means goodluck to you if you arent in the league with finding somewhere to play! Well finally we neared a court that had some older people sitting on a bench, but no one playing. We asked if they were using the court, and they said we were welcome to use it. When we got onto the court they asked if we would be interested in playing doubles. Now, I haven't played an actual match since sophomore year of high school. I played (more like piddled around) two times in my four years at college- and my friend hasn't played in at least a year, and claims to have learned how to play from mario tennis...Despite our clear lack of God-given talent, we figured that the pair of 60-yr-olds who were asking us to play might not be too much better than us. I am now humbled by the fact that age is no indication of ability. We were absolutely destroyed (6-1) by this pair. DESTROYED. It was fun, don't get me wrong, but talk about a wake up call! Man oh man do I need to start practicing!
And, I've been keeping up with the personal training sessions that Minnie so generously allows me to crash. (I don't know if I had mentioned, she has a personal trainer come to the house about twice a week, so I've been joining them). Now, the trainer comes at 6 AM, which means I wake up around 530 (ie I set my alarm for about 530 but most times roll out of bed at 555 and throw on gym clothes just as they're coming downstairs). I never thought working out in the morning would be an enjoyable thing- it's one of those things that I thought people were actually crazy for doing...there are not many things worth getting out of bed for before 6 AM...I didn't think this was possible, but I actually get so energized from working out in the morning. When the trainer comes, I actually end up not drinking coffee those mornings, because I'm so awake and refreshed and ready to go for the day (unlike most days...) It seems as though all those "crazy people" who get up early to work out are actually on to something...who'd have thunk it?
All right, I must get ready to run some errands! Happy Halloween!
Rachel
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