This weekend …

This weekend (or maybe I should say last weekend?) was amazing. I think every weekend should be 3 days – then I can actually feel good about being lazy for one of those days and still be productive 🙂

So, Saturday was busy. But a super good, awesome busy!! We had decided earlier in the week that we wanted to head up the Manchester Designer Outlets this weekend – they are only about an hour away, we have a blast, and we almost always head up there in the fall because of the awesome foliage! This time did not disappoint! And honestly, I think sometimes my favorite part is riding in the car with Pete – we have uninterruped time together, and he likes to be silly and make up his own words and make me laugh! The foliage did not disappoint and we picked up some good deals – a couple of tops for me, a pair of pants for Pete, a old-fashioned syrup dispenser and a new flour sifter!

Aren’t the leaves amazing?

After shopping was done – we tried to get a fall tree in the background. Didn’t work out so well!

We left later then we would have liked (story of our life!) – so we rushed home, quickly stopped at Subway for dinner, and went home to let the puppy out of her crate for about an hour. Then we were back on the road to check out our friend who was singing at open mic at a bar close to the house — he is amazing, and such a good guy!!!

Sunday involved a lot of housework! First, I got my sweat on with Bob Harper’s Pure Burn Super Strength DVD (omg, have you guys tried this one? He tries to kill you!!). Then I got to work with doing laundry, sweeping the floors, switching out the summer clothes to the fall clothes and de-cluttering while Pete was doing yardwork. Later that evening we finally gave the puppy a bath! We spent the rest of the evening on our couch catching up with the DVR and inadvertently falling asleep. oops!

She LOVES warm, clean laundry out of the dryer! Hops in it as soon as I set it down to fold it!

Monday – no work! yay!! I made my first batch of pumpkin pie custard oatmean with carmelized brown sugar. Oh my word friends. It was awesome. The recipe is at the end of the post! If I had time before I had to leave for work, I probably would have made it again. Plus, it kept me full for about 4.5 hours. LOVE that. Sadly, I’ve had to give myself sometime off when it comes to exercising – my left shin is really bothering me. I have no idea why, but it pretty much hurts all the time, and I can’t stand for all that long. Weird. So I talked myself into 2 rest days. I think I’m going to try out some Yoga today after work. We ran some errands, one of which included looking into getting new railings for our front porch, since ours corroded and fell off over the summer! Yikes! Those are kind of important, especially come wintertime, and oh, they are part of building code. Who knew that railings would be so freaking expensive!! Pete also made soup on Monday – which pretty much makes me the happiest girlfriend in the world – he keeps me in homemade soup all winter and I have been WAITING for him to make my apple butternut squash soup. This girl is happy.

Happiness in a bowl. Complete with grilled cheese and apple sandwhich

 

Pumpkin Pie Custard Oatmeal with Carmelized Brown Sugar –(makes 3-4 servings, depending on how hungry you are!)

Ingredients:

• 1  1/2 cups of quick cooking oats
• 2 cups Almond milk
• 1 cup water
• 1 mashed banana
• 3/4 -1 cup canned pumpkin
• 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 capfulls vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• brown sugar (for sprinking on top!)

 Directions:

1. Mash your banana in a bowl and set aside
2. Pour oats, almond, milk, and water into a saucepan – stir over medium heat
3. As oatmeal begins to thicken, add pumpkin, spices, vanilla, and banana. Continue stirring
4. Whisk eggs into the mixture
5. Continue cooking oatmeal until it has reached your desired consistency
6. Pour into oven-safe container(s) and set the broiler on your oven to “Low”
7. Sprinkle oatmeal with brown sugar and broil for 3-4 minutes (until the brown sugar starts to bubble) – it burns easily, so keep an eye on it!
8. Add your mix-ins ( I used raisins and cinnamon, but next time I’m going to use granola too!) and Enjoy! 
   

   it makes a whole bunch – there was still another large bowl in the oven at this point!

 Let me know if you try it out 🙂

I’m off to go heat up some soup for lunch 😀 – it’s currently 63 degrees in my office and i am frozen solid – I have my coat on and it’s zipped up to my chin! I don’t know what’s going on with the heat, but i cant feel my fingers and toes!! Soup is just the thing I need!

 

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