Pumpkin carving party!!!

As promised!! Here is my post about my Halloween get together I hosted!! We all had so much fun- it was such a great group of girls- and I’m so extremely lucky to have such amazing,  intelligent,strong,beautiful friends ♥️ we were treated to pretty views of the fall foliage and enjoyed each other’s company, and yummy fall foods! 

Me with vast majority of my favorite women of swva!!! Love you all 😘

Our pumpkins!! 

It’s an orb 😂 it’s really smoke but when I took the picture I claimed it was a ghost 👻 

Camille’s beautiful “la Luna e las Estrellas”

 Laura, robins and Kate’s handiwork 

 Beth’s executioner 

 Beth is the pumpkin carving wizard 

 Jack and Todd free handed their pumpkins as I did I 

Hard at work! 

 Me and mama bear!! 

 Gluten free pumpkin pie! 

Todd being edgey 
 

Me and my amazing friend Camille who handled hanging out with a cult of ultrarunning alpha females extremely well 

I had table decorations!! This was a swanky party 🎈 

End of the day I am just grateful I was able to share a happy evening with some really dynamic awesome ladies and definitely want to make us all getting together like this a regular occurrence♥️ mellow Monday day after masochist!! 

My obsession with decorating for fall

So this month I’ve been fully immersed in decorating for fall- more than I can ever recall?  

Its really just my front porch and dining room- but I think I enjoyed it as much as decorating for Christmas only more so! (Christmas triggers me like no other holiday I find it so stressful and hard emotionally (draining) so I’m def in the bah humbug crowd personally other than making sure my kids have an amazing time- and I enjoy going to my parents farm- other than that I’m counting the days until dec 26th so I can take the tree down and move on to New Years- (which I enjoy much better)  so I think that’s why I feel so good about fall- no pressure - it feels homey and safe 

Here are some of my fall decorations for this year 

Apologies for the non running content of this post- but it’s just something that makes me happy!! There are multiple

Facets that make up each individual So I wanted to share it- ♥️🎃
So call for comments: do you decorate for fall? Why or why not? Also what is your favorite season -and why? 

Cutting back hedges, making room for more light in my life

Yesterday was a bear. It was the third day that I spent with my 72 year old dad clearing brush and cutting back my hedges in my landscaping because they had become so overwhelming to me- they were blocking the  sunlight that comes into my house - and also growing up against my house and just making a mildewy mess- I love plants- and at first recoiled at having to trim them back what I felt was severely- but as my dad pointed out- in the long run it makes them grow correctly it makes them heartier and healthier and give me space- so as we were working I noticed the more sunlight and space I was making by trimming- the more I could breathe I literally felt lighter and better- the sheer overgrowth of my landscaping I felt had choke hold on me and I didn’t realize it- I wish I had before and after but this walk way I couldn’t even use before it was like a green tunnel and really mosquito-y in the summer 

Now it’s so open and lovely and I feel I can actually utilize it- so my point is - what other things have a subconscious choke hold on our psyche? Are there places in our life that are so out of control and over grown- we need to prune and trim and cut it back into submission so that it actually works for us  and makes sense again? Just something to think about- but I know I want to make more  space for myself  and for things to look lovely and have access to plenty of sunshine!!! ♥️

I was so tired last night for dinner I made soup again but this time it was my spin of beef pho- but I used  fake ramenoodles soba ? I think so their name (gluten free) sirloin from pounding mill land and cattle ( my parents farm) and I used beef bone broth I had made- if anyone wants the  precise recipe I can post it later- 

It’s going to be another beautiful October day! Clear blue bird day crisp high 60- I’m getting ready to go run 🏃‍♀️- 5 miles then plan to take maverick for a walk-  here are some pictures of the back of my house with maverick this morning- I’m just so happy how everything looks in my yard now ( and that I can breathe) 

 Maverick be like “lady stop taking pictures of me” 

Okay  lastly this is a humble brag - yesterday I fixed my son todds bounce back for lax- it had gotten messed up when the yard dudes moved it to mow around it - and since spring had been under my back porch in a crumpled sad heap- and it drove me crazy- I hated it - I wanted to throw it away but was too afraid I would scratch my truck trying to load it by myself because it was so cumbersome- 

My dad said he would help me haul it away yesterday and I said well let me try one more time to see if I can get it to stand and not fall down-  and for whatever crazy reason and some wd40 I got it to work 

 So I had a happy child

After school who practiced on his bounce back 

Then he practiced cradling and shooting for an hour- so that is a victory  in my book. My goal is just to continue to dig out small victories like the bushes or the bounce back every day - 

Hope everyone has an awesome Wednesday!!! 

Gluten free cornbread and pumpkin, turmeric chili

Hi! Just wanted to jump back on my blog real quickly this morning  and share my pictures and recipe from dinner last night! As I mentioned I’m really into baking but Utlizing gluten free methods-  so in my last post I mentioned as an ode to fall I was making pumpkin/veggie broth based chili with pumpkin and turmeric and gluten free corn bread- both turned out amazing and I wanted to share some pictures! 









 I like to  literally crumble the cornbread into the chili - but after stirring it up I think you can really see the pumpkin orange and the turmeric color- this recipe was so yummy.  And I’m going to share it although not approximate 

For the cornbread I got it from the website “gluten on a shoestring” which I really like this site they are simple and informative- 

 Okay y’all I did this recipe except I omitted the honey- because my family for generations has NEVER put sugar or sweetener in cornbread- just no. Lol- but if your fam like sweet corn bread - that option is there (my suggestion is to just bake them a cake- haha)  and I baked it in a warmed and greased (with bacon grease- hello paleo!) cast iron skillet at 400f for 20-25 min

I also would

Suggest adding milk or butter milk or even water to the batter to make it more moist 

For the chili- this isn’t approximate but I use 

One small yellow onion

3 cloves of garlic 

One package of ground beef (I used beef from my parents farm!) bison is a great substitute if you have to buy at store or go the farmers market and get ground beef from there- much better quality 

2tsp of salt 

3tsp of turmeric 

3 tsp of chili powder 

Dash of red pepper (if you like spicy chili) 

Can of crushed tomatoes 

Can of pumpkin (plain be careful not to get pie filling)

Two cans of red kidney beans 

I used a 16oz jar of chicken bone broth I made but you can use veggie stock or chick broth or water - 

Sauté onions and garlic add hamburger salt 

When well done add spices and canned goods and broth stir well and bring to a boil then simmer for 30 min

Be sure to taste! Before serving to make sure it’s salted enough or seasoned enough and voila!! 

Today is going to be beautiful hope you get outside and enjoy the leaves changing and crisp weather Bring to a 

This is my street I get to run on everyday!! 

Decided to add some pictures of my pets! (this is only some of them) Leo the Tom cat

Brocks dog belle the blue heeler

Maverick my dog MY best friend and super pet - I love him so much 

And this is little Alice my snuggle buddy- Abbie meadows gave me this dog in 2013 and she is doing great  happy and loves everyone