Halloween

I love Halloween.

I love the gaudy decorations.

I love Jack-o-lanterns.

I love roasting the pumpkin seeds when I carve a pumpkin.

I love cheesy horror flicks.

And I think The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of the most romantic movies of all time.

Skeletons are cool.

I love handing out candy to freezing children. Because chocolate is worth getting frostbitten.

A

I love Halloween!

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I’m loving that one of my favorite holidays falls on the weekend this year! It makes it a lot more fun and festive. The little town I live in (about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh), really gets into this holiday. Lots of haunted houses, lots of dressing up even if you are over the age of 12, and lots of pumpkins.

After physical therapy yesterday, I met my Dad for coffee to watch the Halloween parade in town. It’s really low-key, just the local marching band and the dressed up kids with their parents, but its pretty adorable.

Before I left, I had breakfast and watched the finale of Project Runway (I wanted Mondo to win!).

 Toast with hummus and two over-easy eggs.

 

It was pretty blustery yesterday, making it the perfect day to be inside with a warm beverage and talking to my dad. Plus we had perfect seats to watch the parade.

Decaf soy misto please!

 

Did I mention I love Halloween?

Jam of the day: Ryan Adams & the Cardinals “Magick”

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Butternut bomb

For lunch yesterday, I was really excited to tear into my first butternut squash of the season.

But first I had to deal with my stomach, which didn’t want to wait over an hour for the oven to heat up and the squash to bake.

Favorite Larabar.

Spinach salad with carrot, green pepper, tomato, and ginger dressing.

 

Okay, back to the squash. I baked it at 400° for 45 minutes and took a purist approach by simply sprinkling it with cinnamon and sea salt.

Amy’s Non-Dairy burrito and butternut squash.

 

The verdict? Well…

It wasn’t bad, but it was not what my mind had built it up to be. It tasted rather watery compared to what I’d remembered. Perhaps I had a bad squash? Or maybe butternut squashes aren’t my favorite and I just hadn’t realized it until I’d tried other varieties (buttercup, delicata)? What do you all think?

I still have the other half to contend with, so who knows what I’ll do with that!

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In other news – it’s the weekend!

• Hockey games
• Farmer’s market
• Coffee trip
• Maybe some shopping?

Enjoy yours!

Jam of the day: Rilo Kiley “Silver Lining”

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Why I need Costco in my life

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Hey!

 

I’m glad you all enjoyed yesterday’s musical post. Truth be told, I love that I’m blogging about my interests outside of food. Yeah, I love food, it’s tasty and fun to photograph, but there’s more to me than that, ya know?

For instance, there’s the fact that I’m a huge hockey fan, but we don’t need to talk about that today.

(What happened last night?)

Ironically enough, today’s post is all about the food. In the past two days I’ve reminded my mom that we should probably use our Costco membership more often.

SOME of my eats from Tuesday and Wednesday:

Tuesday

(aka the day I ate a whole bag of spinach)

Spinach salad with carrots, broccoli, green peppers, and ginger dressing.

Tofu scramble with zucchini and spinach, toast with Earth Balance.

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Wednesday

(aka the day I ate a whole container of Greek yogurt)

Pumpkin banana protein oatmeal with flax and peanut butter.

Almond butter and carrot sandwich and a macoun apple.

Greek yogurt (with maple syrup).

Butternut squash ravioli and “marinutta” sauce.

Greek yogurt and chopped apple.

 

Whew!

I am so lucky and thankful that I have amazing parents to help support my food consumption!

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Pain update: I’ve had a great couple of weeks, but I’ve started to notice the pain returning (especially in my arms). This is perhaps the most frustrating thing about chronic pain, and anyone who deals with pain will tell you this. It moves and changes and is entirely unpredictable.

I’ve finally learned to accept this (rather pooey) reality. Before I would get so mad and frustrated (it worked yesterday so why won’t it work today?), but now I just acknowledge the pain, give it a nod, and do the best I can that day. It’s not easy, but it’s been than being a sulky mess.

I encourage you all to do the same with the pooey things in your life. Give it a nod of acknowledgement, and then just do your best in spite of it. I promise it gets easier with practice!

Happy Thursday!

Jam of the day: Lenka “Don’t Let Me Fall”

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