It's Fall again!

Fall is my favorite time of year. When you can smell the spice and pumpkin in the cool crisp air. Not that it's overly cool and crisp here. But it's cooling off and the sun is taking longer to rise and pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks and all stores have a well stocked supply of pumpkin on the shelves. 

The end of September until Thanksgiving are the most fun for me. The colors, the leaves, the baking, everything is just so much more clear and in focus. There's a general feeling of anticipation and it makes me a little giddy all season long. It's like a parade leading up to the climax of Christmas. 

Already, I'm planning more savory dishes for dinner. As much as I love fresh summer veggies I am excited to have some cream and pasta more now. I love baking my light spring/summer goods, but I am excited to make my pumpkin cream cake this weekend and later, when I move and have more counter space, I'm stoked to try my very first apple pie. 

Then of course, it's the Halloween festivities that I always partake in. The Nightmare Factory in Havelock, the Fear Farm in Clayton, haunted hay rides in Belvoir, I love it all and it's what I look forward to all year. This year though.... well... they don't allow women who are 9 months pregnant to partake in such things. 

The irrational part of me wants to yell "SEXIST!!" but then I mean let's be real. I'm already huge and clumsy and exhausted. I do not want to be up all night driving an hour to an attraction and then an hour back, standing in line for hours while there, and then crawling around, running around, bumping into things. It's not safe for one. Not safe at all. Another, I just don't think I can physically do it. 

Guys, I went grocery shopping last night (like 3 different places- it was a 3 hour ordeal) and by the time we were done my lower back was killing me, my pelvis was shooting pain though my entire body, and I swear it felt like the nugget weighed about 45 pounds instead of the 4 1/2 pounds that she actually is. 

So yeah, no Halloween festivities for me. Except for one. 

Pumpkin carving. I love pumpkin carving more than most people do. While my friends are off having a complete blast doing all the Halloween things I wish I could be doing, I'll be home carving pumpkins. Lots of pumpkins (probably with more than a few tears as I "woe is me" my day away). My husband had an excellent suggestion that I get some craft pumpkins- that way they'll last forever instead of the week carved pumpkins usually last here (like I said- it doesn't really stay cool here and pumpkins wilt and mold in under a week). So I'll do a couple of real ones later, and start with craft ones. 

I got a deluxe heavy duty carving set in preparation for my month of carving. That's right, I'm baller.