And so it begins!

Don't get me wrong, I'm a Halloween lover. But I can't deny that half my excitement for Halloween is knowing the next day we'll wake up to full blown fall, when I can shamelessly obsess over florescent orange leaves on the trees and bundle up in cozy scarves and bake as many loaves of banana bread as my holiday loving little heart desires! 

The hubs is not a fan of winter. He's dreading the first snow. For him, November 1st marks a steady decline into miserably cold weather and sundown at 5pm. I've been warned not to even think about putting up the Christmas tree until the day after Thanksgiving, but I've been sneaking out bits of holiday decor when he's not home and trying to draw some festive spirit out of him a few weeks early. For example, the adorable ceramic Santa cookie jar from my grandparents... How can he say no to such a thing... when it's full of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies? He simply can't, and he didn't, thusly, Santa is already prominently on display in our kitchen and should safely remain so long as he never runs empty.

HALLOWEEN

 THANKSGIVING

CHRISTMAS

 IN THE KITCHEN

Pumpkin Seeds from our carving pumpkins - Salted, spicy, cinnamon & sugar

 

 Baked stuffed apple / GF banana pancake with berry topping

 Pumpkin beer bread / GF pumpkin chocolate chip mini muffins

 Chicken & veggie quiche

Skydiving in Santa Cruz

Last month I surprised the beau for his birthday with skydiving in Santa Cruz! He had been saying for months that he desperately wanted to do it, and I kept insisting he wait until after the wedding, but I started to feel guilty for being such a downer when I've been twice before. 

The place I jumped in Lodi was only $100 a pop, but that's largely because you're jumping over farmland and they get a higher volume of jumpers. The jump in Santa Cruz ran me nearly $300 for the highest possible altitude and photos. We were disappointed to find that they haven't been allowed to do beach landings in a year, but regardless, the scenery is mind blowing - ocean on one side, forest on the other - and it was a great way to experience a first jump!

The beau had never been to Santa Cruz, so after skydiving we headed to the boardwalk and had beers and burritos at a little taqueria. I'd say he was a very satisfied birthday boy!