A Frozen Halloween + A Blue Baby Shower + A Fall Foliage Stroll + A Monday Run

While I have a full heart, I dreaded the return to work on this Monday morning. I spent the weekend in the Research Triangle visiting friends. And it was oh so wonderful. I listened and talked, talked and listened for a solid three days.

I partied with a Frozen family on Halloween. And consumed an abundance of candy on the one calorie-less candy day a year.

I celebrated K.N.K.F. at her blue baby shower, and pridefully won the "Who knows K.N.K.F. the best?" competition game. If you're counting, I also, with the help of a teammate, won another game--turns out, I'm competent in baby animals terms. The countdown continues; if Baby R.J.F. agrees with his due date, he'll grace us in just 37 days!

I ate entirely too much Mexican food at Moe's, Bandido's, and Nana Taco.

I leisurely strolled through the gorgeous Duke Forest with my pregnant friend and her dog. The fall foliage was stunning. I thought Washington, D.C. was filled with greenery, however, I'm rethinking that. It's uncertain to me whether or not there are trees here in the city I call home. The trees in North Carolina were painted with color. I could have walked forever had I been dressed more appropriately.

I rejoiced in the end of Daylight Savings Time. This not only provided an extra hour to my weekend, it did so on a weekend when I was visiting a friend I haven't seen in over a year. (Scheduling is hard.)

Before finding my way to the office, I made time for a five miler to decompress after a fun, fun weekend. I again rejoiced in the new sunrise time--6:39 am--because I was able to cruise through a more scenic route provided the light. I had been running laps around the same "illuminated" streets, and I was frankly bored. I'm not entirely prepared for the winter months of treadmill-ing... yet. The fueling of my body with three Mexican meals (in a weekend), more chocolate than I'd care to admit, and entirely too much party food during a baby shower made for a solid run. Not. I needed today's run to brace myself for the week... and, of course, to burn some of the garbage I added to my waistline.

The time spent with friends and our friendships that transcend time and moves and marriages (and soon a baby!) was, per usual, super short but the time away from adult-ing long.  The early mornings and late nights of disregarding exhaustion can remain fun for so long. After a couple days away, the abrupt jump back into routine was nice. May there be balance in life.

Apples picked. Pumpkins patched.

This last weekend was the Washington, D.C. area''s first fall-like weekend. The mornings were crisp with an almost winter scent. As the days wore on and the sun to rose, the earth was heated to give us comfortable, warm afternoons. And with that, Boyfriend and I partook in the quintessential fall activity: apple picking. I have only picked apples two other times in my life, and the first time, I don’t actually remember picking a whole lot of apples from trees so much as purchasing pre-picked apples from barrels. Regardless, visiting apple orchards has recently become the thing I look forward to most about fall, more so than even football and pumpkin-spiced everything. With at least eight varieties to pick from, caramel apple rewards, and cider - heavenly cider - it's hard not to anticipate this outing. 

Is it gorgeous everywhere apples grow?

We’ve found our apple picking home at Hartland Orchard, in the not so distant Markham, Virginia, where the trees are already turning. And the drive there is littered with fall colors, which is simply delightful.

We couldn't leave without bringing home our pumpkin, from the conveniently attached patch. This year there wasn’t a bad pumpkin in sight, which made it tough to find a pumpkin with the character, necessary in the likely event our pumpkin is gutted for seeds and left uncarved; he needs to stand alone.

It’s actually fun to pluck the perfect apple from each tree (and a pumpkin from the patch). All the while dreaming of the delicious goods that will come. We brought home a bushel of apples, a gallon and a half of cider, and a pumpkin for seeding. The caramel apples didn't survive the trip out of the parking lot. We demolished them while an elderly man and his grandson pressed apples into our cider. Since this weekend, I’ve made a delicious apple fritter cake and a batch of applesauce. I've also consumed a good many apples smothered in almond butter.

An apple a day keeps the doctor at bay.