Fall Pleasures

I can never fully commit to loving fall because it has winter so close at its heels, but I do appreciate the perfect fall days when they come - it's hard to beat sunny and 70s.

A few weeks ago we had the supermoon lunar eclipse - otherwise known as the blood moon - as did the rest of the world. My roommates and friends and I went out to the grass across the street to watch it. I have to say I was pretty disappointed. Yes, it had an orangey tint, but it was pretty small and not very blood red. I saw some pictures taken from other parts of the world and it looks like they got a much more exhilarating show than we did. We had fun, though. Carrie played us lots of songs having to do with moons, my personal favorite being "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. We also had the opportunity to talk to some of our neighbors who came out for a bit.

The next day, the sunset was out-of-this-world, lighting up the whole sky with color. It was the kind of sunset that makes you just stop whatever you're doing and watch because it feels disrespectful not to. I couldn't help but think it was the sun's way of showing the world who's really boss - certainly not some barely orange, once-every-thirty-years blood moon.

One of the reasons I can't fully appreciate fall: cold, rainy fall days. We had one of those right before I left for Hawaii. I went running, and it was just a miserable day, but the scenery of the city is still beautiful! I love the War Memorials downtown. One of my favorite spots in the city.

That night, our neighborhood association put on a pretty fabulous block party. There were bands, vendors, a bonfire, games, and food. The decorations were fabulous and it was a great lively event, even though we had to dress up like it was winter time.

One day, Rebecca decided she was going to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with spice cake, pumpkin, and chocolate chips. Super easy recipe and the result was amazing. The four of us who were here that night ate the entire batch in one sitting. I like to call them veggie cookies, because they have so much pumpkin in them that they're practically a health food. The next weekend, our friend Johnnie bought the ingredients and made them again - again, the whole batch at once, though this time there were more of us. The next weekend, I bought the ingredients and made them again. They're so good! And so easy! I'm not usually a fan of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies - too moist - but when these are warm, they are little morsels of heaven.

Video Love

Lately I've been getting random video calls from this sweet face and it makes my day every time. She says my name now, "Kakee", which is the only other name she knows besides Mama, Dada, and Piper (the dog), thank you very much. Isaac and Dominika have both said that anytime she sees a picture of me, she's immediately repeating my name over and over and often won't stop until they call. She melts my heart. I love to hear her little voice and to watch her interact with me through the phone and play with whatever is around her. She will often identify her body parts when I ask, gives farm animal noises, and just recently will do the hand motions for songs like "Itsy Bitsy Spider." I'm so grateful for the technology that makes Colorado seem so much closer.

Little Man

One weekend, Jacob had to work so he asked if Nalon could come hang out with me Friday night until my parents came to get him on Saturday. I picked him up from his babysitter's house after school, then he and I came back to my house. He did some research about white tigers while I did a workout video - he did it with me for a minute until he apparently decided he was appropriately worked out. Then we both got ready for bed and settled in with Netflix. He was coming up with all kinds of movies that looked terrible to me, and then I realized he had probably never seen any of my favorite movies from when I was a kid. I looked up "The Big Green," and there it was! It was much cheesier than I remember - I guess you don't notice that when you're a kid - but we both really liked it. I made this huge deal about how he'd never seen it and he HAD to see it. Then the next afternoon when my parents came to get him he was making this huge deal about how my dad had never seen it. :) The movie ended pretty late, and I tried to set him up on the couch downstairs but he was content to sleep on my floor and was fast asleep in less than three minutes. 

The next morning, my roommate Rebecca made pancakes and we all played Pit and Farkle. My roommates were great sports about playing with him and he had a great time here. I'm going to have to make this a regular thing for all my nieces and nephews!