I love things lately.

Lately has been pumpkin brownies, new obsessions, and fun buys.

Last weekend, I baked pumpkin choco-chip brownies for my sister and I. We were home alone and needed treeeeeats. They turned out pretty decent. I think Catie liked them more than I did. I usually can't get down with brownies from scratch -- they just don't taste as good as brownies from a box. It has something to do with the cocoa powder? I don't know. 
If Catie weren't in the house when I was making these, I probably would have gone nuts. There were a few mishaps - including putting in the wrong size pan and having to scrap off parchment paper while yelling. Good times. I think they look pretty! If you like brownies from scratch, pumpkin, and chocolate chips - here's the recipe!

In the past week or so, I've developed a few little obsessions. One being Google Docs. I'm obsessed with using Google Docs right now. I have so many lists and it's thrilling to me to know that I can look/add to the lists while I'm at home, at work, etc. SO CONVENIENT. Anything that helps me with my lists makes me happy. The other obsession is scarves. This isn't a new obsession in my life - just a new obsession now that it's fall again. I have to have at least 15 scarves already....and then I've been buying them online every weekend since it started even looking like it was going to be cold soon. Even when it was 75 degrees outside, I was looking at scarves, wanting to wear scarves, dreaming of scarves. Ugggh. I love scarves. So warm and cozzzzzzy.

When I said fun buyssssss...I meant fun buy. Singular. Just one. I mean, I always have fun/make fun buys when I buy things online at 10:00am every Saturday morning. But I made this one on a random Tuesday afternoon and I'm pretty excited. I got a Baggu bag! I've never had a reason to buy a Baggu...but I've always wanted one! This lil guy will be my new lunch bag. 
Here's the one I got:

It's got cute lil baby foxes and it's orange-ish pink-ish. I'm in love. 

I love weekends.

This weekend I:

• baked the yummiest pumpkin cupcakes! 
• went to Baugher's with Paul, Aditi and Anusha to hit up the pumpkin patch. It was a blast. There's so much to do there! We did the hayride to the pumpkin patch (obviously) which was so fun. When we got back, I bought some applesauce and apple cider and a baby (or not-so-baby) pumpkin to carve! I need to think of how I'm going to carve that little baby. 
• had about 8 heart attacks during the Ravens game. Ouch. Luckily, I had the previously mentioned applesauce to eat as I ate my frustration/pain away during the 4th quarter.
• did the "dynamic duo" - I just made that up - with Shannon. The dynamic duo is Chick Fil A and Target. Winning.
• spent a lot of time on the couch with my puppy. Quality bonding time.

I love pumpkin bread + pumpkin cupcakes.

Actually, like most other people, I love pumpkin everything. The best part about fall time (other than the humidity leaving and my hair finally being awesome again) is pumpkins everywhere - in my mouth, in my drank, on our front step. Loveeee itttt. 

In the past couple weeks, I've made some pumpkin bread and pumpkin cupcakes. And that's just the start. There's still plenty of weeks left to bake/make all of the pumpkin-y foods and drinks (aka milkshakes). 

Here's the recipe for the pumpkin bread I made. It's made with greek yogurt - which makes me think it was really, super, incredibly healthy. That's probably not the case at all but it was delicious. The recipe also gives info on how to make it with Nutella + chocolate chips. Ahhh yum.

And this past weekend, I made one of the best things on the planet - pumpkin cupcakes! Here's the recipe! These...I also pretend are supposed to be healthy just because they were on a website called "Skinnytaste" but I'm pretty sure they're not healthy at all (just like the pumpkin bread). Truthfully, I try not to really care if they're healthy or not if they involve pumpkin because pumpkin is worth it. 

I've probably written about this before but making homemade icing for cupcakes is always an issue for me. Even if I follow the recipe EXACTLY...it still ends up too runny. What's wrong with me? Why can't I make icing that isn't the consistency of water? It's not supposed to be like that! The day I make good homemade icing will be one of the best days of my life. 

Despite the super liquid-y icing, the cupcakes were pretty amazing. Super proud. They even got the Paul O'Sullivan stamp of approval. Catie and I are home alone for the week, though. And that means we have to find some way to eat all of them before they get icky...I think we can do it with a little help!

I love weekends.

This weekend I:

• went to dinner with Paul and two of our friends, Aditi and Courtney. We were expecting two more - but they stood us up, hahaha. It was a lot of fun. It's nice seeing the both of them since Paul and I rarely get to see them in general. I got the "trifecta" of margaritas - which was pretty great. 
• attended an 80s party @ Zoe's house with Paul. I'll be real - I wasn't sure if I was going to dress up! Luckily, my handy-dandy kind of-crafty skills allowed me to just make an off-the-shoulder shirt and my mom's handy-dandy "OH MY GOSH THE 80S" skills allowed me to have a jean jacket to wear. Those two things with some stirrup leggings and a side ponytail = 80s life. I was most impressed with Paul's outfit. He's cute. And so was Zoe's cat, Shiloh. I love him and he loves me.
• drank an iced pumpkin spice latte. Who loves hearing about Starbucks? Okay good. My brain never thought that iced + pumpkin spice would ever be a good pairing but AH IT WAS SO GOOD. If it were warmer outside, I might start getting them but I have a feeling I won't want an iced drink once the fall weather really decides to kick in and stay around.
• sportsed it up with Shannon and watched the O's game with her on Friday night. I can't lie - I fell asleep between the bottom of the 8th inning and right after the top of the 9th ended. My body knew what was coming during the bottom of the 9th and decided to wake me up so I could watch it and I'm so glad it did! AHHHH. 

I loved September + the first week of October.

September was and October has been:

sweating (and yelling) during Ravens games + also some minor heart attacks.
cruising in the Inner Harbor + more with coworkers. It was like the Senior Cruise I never had except with alcohol.
hanging at the Greene Turtle on Wednesdays with Amanda to see Lardarius' radio show and in the process, falling in love with Jacoby Jones.
being spooked by the Spaceship for the first time this year with Paul.
stalking Shannon on the Find Friends app on my iPhone.
trying pumpkin beer for the first time and being sad that I don't love it as much as I thought I might. 
loving the new Ke$ha song, hahaha. I can't lie. Happy she's back!
crying (almost) over the Orioles. I can get emotional over sports from time to time.
baking pumpkin bread with yogurt in it! First time ever using greek yogurt as an ingredient while baking and it was nummy.
drinking way too much Starbucks. As usual. I'm finally a gold member, though! Congrats to me.
feeling very uncomfortable in jeans - as I do every fall. I'll have to get used to it but for now, it's rough times.

I've been terrible at blogging lately. I'll be better about it soon!