out my window

oh my, i love this time of year. the leaves are beautiful, the weather is perfect, and the aroma of pumpkin spice is all around. i feel giddy inside just thinking about it. i intend on enjoying as much of this fall beauty as i possibly can. do you have any wonderful plans for the weekend? i was thinking a hike or drive up in the mountains! i am sure it is beautiful way back there. and tonight i will be cheering on my amazing tennis player hubby in a woody tennis tournament. i am pretty excited to watch everyone play with the old wood tennis rackets. i am going in hopes of making new friends. because we all know, we could use some friends here in Utah! have a wonderful weekend. i will be back in october.. ha ha ha - wednesday to be exact. 

a blogging break

did you notice i have been on a blogging break. That's okay if you didn't. I am technically still on this break from the blogging world. However, I  wanted to pop in to say that I will be back on Wednesday.. ready to go! Until then, enjoy the rest of your week. Oh... I might show up tomorrow to bring you the weekly picture. The leaves have sure changed a lot in one week!!

Friday Picture

taken on my porch
at 8:00 a.m
on the first day of fall

Go see last week's picture here. 

the thoughts for the night

it's getting late and I should be cuddling up with the Mr. but instead, a burst of energy hit me while I was lying in bed and my mind wouldn't relax. although I am not thinking about anything in particular nor anything important I just can't settle down. So instead of being a nuisance with my tossing and turning, I decided to get up, make a cup of tea, and write some emails. Yeah for getting a head start to the week! But I got distracted from my emails and decided that writing sounded better. 

How was your weekend? Our weekend turned out fantastic. All of my family has been in town and we took full advantage of being around them. Nightly gatherings, day trips, and wonderful lunches were on our agenda the past couple days. I will write more about their visit later. 

I had a wonderful photography shoot this evening. Every single time I go on a shoot I feel so blessed that I get to do what I love. I LOVE taking people's pictures. It makes my heart so happy! 

While I was thinking about my photography and how delighted it makes me feel inside, I started thinking about other things that make me happy. So I created list and I thought I would share it with you all. Have you seen rockstar diaries 'Happy Lists'. Reading them makes you happy and grateful for all the small things in life that make you smile. 

Here's my Happy List

1. The memories that Bear and I made the past two weeks with my Grandparents.

2. Feeling the warm sun on my skin

3. Pumpkin spice lates 

4. The smell of my pumpkin spice candle

5. When Bear apologized for loosing my to-go box yesterday (silly husband)

6. Thinking about decorating a new house 

7. A rainy evening cuddling with Bear & lots of blankets 

8. Waking up in the middle of the night and feeling my puppy by my feet 

9. Finding new recipes

10. and of course, taking pictures

and ten things that I want to start doing. That will, in return make me a happier person! 

1. Send more letters and post cards

2. Kiss my husband more

3. Re-initiating our weekly date nights

4. Organize our bedroom

5. Find new ways to market my photography business

6. Start doing more yoga 

7. Make new friends here in Utah 

8. Paint my fingernails

9. Bake these yummy looking treats

10. Start taking Shento on more walks. We need our us time! 

Goodnight. 

Happy Friday and Happy Fall

The leaves are really starting to change colors here in Park City. It feels like summer went by too quickly. I think all the moving and stress made us not fully enjoy the summer months. Oh well, I am super excited for fall and have a list of things that I am delighted about. Apple picking, Sunday drives through the mountains to see the colorful leaves, hot chocolate, oversized sweaters, cuddling by the fire, knee high boots, and anything that smells like pumpkin.  My Grandma just bought me a pumpkin spice scented candle and I already have it burning. The smell is wonderful! 

I had an idea, something that i regret not doing in New Jersey, so I decided that I am going to start it here. Every week, I will be taking the same picture at the exact same time. I want to see how quickly and drastically the seasons change. I started today. At 8:30 a.m. I went outside and snapped the pictures below. Do you see the spots of color? 

the great outdoors

we took a birthday camping trip with the Brooks many weeks ago. i apologize for feeling lazy about uploading these photographs until now. the trip was wonderful, beside the fact that Bear got sick the first night and we ended up making the trek home every night to sleep in an actual bed. we were still able to enjoy the outdoors (and family) by relaxing by the river, fishing, eating yummy food, and celebrating my sister-in-laws birthday. do you see the hammock picture? that is where the campsite was. isn't it beautiful?

weekend report

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. 

Ours was lovely. 

Shento turned five... where did the time go? 

We celebrated his big day 

by going on a long walk. 

The air has been so crisp and clean, 

it is definitely starting to feel like fall around our neck of the woods

We also stopped by the doggy bakery 

and picked out a peanut butter cupcake. 

We loved on our not so little puppy anymore 

and reminisced about the past 5 years. 

Shento has truly been the best pup 

we could ask for. 

My family has been in town 

and we have been visiting and hanging out. 

It's fun being around all of them and catching up. 

I have some pretty silly Uncles,

they make us all laugh pretty hard.

Since being in Utah, we (okay, so I think I need to leave Bear out of this) have been on the search 

for a good bakery. I am in need of a moist, scrumptious donut. 

I am sorry to report that I have not found one. 

I tried this weekend.. but failed. 

I am going to gain 5lbs just on my quest to find that perfect bakery.

If you know of one in Utah, please share. 

Happy Monday!! 

Almond Blueberry Macaroons

One thing that I have been fiddling around with is vegetarian and raw food recipes. Bear actually picked up an amazing cookbook, The Vegetarian Gourmet’s, which is filled with easy international recipes. We have tried a handful of them and they all have been delicious. I am also intrigued with learning more about raw food recipes. Although I could never go 100% raw, I like my warm foods too much, I would like to include more raw foods in our diet. When I started researching recipes online, I found so many tasty looking snacks and desserts that were all raw. So I am here, sharing one with you.

Bear love almonds but I must admit, I am not a huge fan of them. I will occasionally have a handful just to be healthy! So when I was researching a recipe, I wanted to make something that incorporated almonds but was also a good snack. I came across these macaroons and twisted the recipe just a little bit.  Because these are raw you don’t cook them. However, if you wanted to be a rule breaker, they would be scrumptious baked at 350’ for about 15 minutes, and then (I have not done this but in my mind it sounds wonderful, and I will be doing it next time I make these) drizzle a little bit of honey on top. These make good grab and go snacks or are yummy as a dessert.

Almond Blueberry Macaroons

■2 C Dried Coconut (Unsweetened)

■1/2 C Almonds, processed into a coarse meal (I used a little more than 1/2c.)

 ■1/2 C Dried Blueberries, chopped (you can use any type of dried fruit. The original recipe called for dried cherries)

 ■1/2 C Agave

 ■1/4 C Coconut Oil (cold pressed virgin)

 ■1 t. Almond OR Vanilla Extract*

Place almonds in food processor and process until a coarse meal texture is achieved. Add coconut, dried berries, coconut oil agave and extract*. Process until mixture starts to hold together. I use a tablespoon to scoop the mixture out and press into a ball. Place on dehydrator sheets (or wax paper) and dehydrate until desired consistency is achieved. 8 – 10 hours. 

 Makes approximately 2 dozen.

we will always remember

we will never forget all the lives that were lost on this day ten years ago.
this commercial tells the story of how New York feels now.  amazing!!

a weekend in the woods

I hope everyone enjoyed the long relaxing weekend. We sure did! Last minute, Bear and I decided that we needed to take advantage of the long weekend and beautiful weather. We packed up the car with camping gear and headed up Mirror Lake highway. No destination planned out… we rolled down the windows, let the breeze blow through our hair and sang as loud as we could to the music playing on the stereo. It was wonderful. We found the perfect spot nestled in between trees and right near the Provo River. Bear fished, I read a book, we hiked, and Shento loved splashing around in the water and chasing squirrels. Those poor squirrels had to deal with life and death experiences with Mr. Shento being around.  Our spot was very peaceful, and being in nature away from everyday life was refreshing. 

Both Bear and I think that living in the woods next to a river would be lovely. We even have this great big plan of one day buying a piece of land, with of course a river on it, and building a tiny house. I would love to be surrounded by nature all the time. My only request would be to have a real bed. Sleeping on the ground in sleeping bags is only fun for a couple of nights. I sure do hope that our dream comes true one day!! But for now, I am off to go cuddle with my hubby and watch a little tennis.  Goodnight my lovelies.

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because everyone loves a camp fire