My Fall Bucket List

Posted in Travel Tips by meganandeggs

Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year. I cannot even explain how much I miss fall in New England. It is such a magical time of year where life starts to slow down after the craziness of the summer, & before the busyness of the holiday season sneaks up on you. In the past years, working in retail, October meant the craziness was upon us. Even though malls aren’t crazy yet, preparation for the biggest money making season was here.

For me in retail, my social life kind of took a back seat from October to January, so now that it is my first year out of retail management… I am celebrating. There are so many things on my list of Favorite Fall Activities that I had to narrow it down to just 7. (Well 5 just wasn’t enough.)

Decorate with real pumpkins

Even if it is just at the grocery store, picking up real pumpkins add the perfect amount of festivity into any home or office. I even have a little gourd on my desk at work.

Take a drive to see the foliage

Depending where you live, this may be a little harder but nothing screams fall more to me than seeing trees full of gold, orange, & red leaves. When I lived in New England all I needed to do was step outside of my door & I had a plethora of colored leaves at my fingertips. Now I try to take a trip to the Central Coast every fall to experience as much foliage as I can in California.

Wear seasonally appropriate clothes, even if it doesn’t match the weather

Everyone has their own style & mine, all year round, is neutrals, denim, light weight outwear pieces with a little pop of burgundy or army green. I live in fall 4 seasons of the year. Do it! Wear boots, wear sweaters, wear capes… wear it all!

Take a train ride

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A few years ago my friends & I took a steam train ride to a pumpkin patch & it was such a good time. Just north of LA is a small town called Fillmore where for $22 for adults you can take a train ride to a little harvest festival at the end of the train line. There are pumpkins for sale, a little haunted house, a place for pictures & a little corn maze. It is still one of my favorite fall memories.

Go apple picking

Apple picking is a fall staple when you grow up in Connecticut. There are apple orchards all over the state, but I haven’t been apple picking in probably 7 years. This year we went. Lucky for me, Chris enjoyed it just as much as I did… if not more. He was trying to get only the most perfect apples. More on the apple orchard later but Oak Glen is the cutest little town in the San Bernardino Mountains; you should stop by if you’re in Southern California. I had no idea it was so cute and quaint.

Make a pie… any flavor pie

And what do you do after you go apple picking… make a pie obviously. What else are you going to do with the ungodly amount of apples you just picked? This week I am planning on making my first pie from scratch. I am going to try to make the crust from scratch but let’s be honest, I have a store bought crust in the freezer right now.

Go to a haunted house

This is not one of my favorites, but this year Chris talked me into going to Universal’s Halloween Horror Night & it was so much fun. The anxiety beforehand nearly killed me, but once I figured out what keeps the actors away I was all in… PS. Don’t act scared. If you look at them unamused they’ll go away. It’s great.
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19Sep2016

Favorite Fall Trends

Posted in Beauty by meganandeggs

This is the first fall that I am not working in retail & let me tell you… it is amazing. But something that I definitely miss is seeing all of the new trends come in. My favorite part of my job was styling the mannequins, creating the window displays, & making the store look absolutely amazing. This fall I am keeping up with the new trends like normal people: Instagram, blogs, & Snapchat.

Right?

So since I am not seeing the clothes as they come into the stores, I put together some of my favorite fall trends. Right now I am obsessing over booties, off the shoulder & cold shoulder tops, & gold layering necklaces. Here are some of my favorites.

These booties are my absolutely favorites. I got them for a steal at DSW for a wedding last month & now they are weekly staple into my work wardrobe. Peep toe booties add so much comfort while still dressing up just a little bit. (See here, here, and here) This cold shoulder top I actually got at the beginning of the summer, & I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wear it a little too much when I got it. I was obsessed. I’ve seen some cold-shoulder tops done really wrong, but this one checks all of the boxes. It has more than just a spaghetti strap holding it up, it has the perfect amount of sleeve to make the sleeve look purposeful, & the cut out is the right amount where the top doesn’t look like it is falling off of my shoulder all day. Bravo Express, Bravo! This one here though, someone invite me somewhere ASAP so I have an excuse to push the Purchase button!

And this necklace, well who doesn’t love a double chain & some great statement pieces. My mom went back to World Market to get one for herself after picking this cutie up for my sister & I. I love the color of teal because it’s just enough where it can go with everything without being over bearing. And who doesn’t love a gold leaf?

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12Nov2015

Tomato Soup

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

It’s finally starting to feel like fall here in So Cal. Temperatures are finally in the 60s, people are pulling out their sweaters & boots, trying to embrace as much of the autumn weather that they can before temperatures go back up to the 80s, I’m sure sometime soon. I am taking this time to make as many soups as I can. I have made a little stock pile of turkey chili & veggie soups.

Tonight I am snacking on every child’s favorite post snow playing snack. Tomato soup & grilled cheese. My favorite part of playing in the snow was coming inside & defrosting at the kitchen table with some hearty, creamy, tomato soup & grilled cheese.

Although creamy tomato soup is amazing, right now I am all about a light weight soup. Sometimes a heavy soup is a little much, especially when it is not too cold out. Now once that fun stuff starts falling from the skies, sign me up for a heavy, cream, filling soups. But for now, I will stick with light soups that are full of amazing flavors.

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6 Tbsp butter
1 large yellow onion, chopper
3 cups chicken broth
2 whole garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
4 small roma tomatoes
3 vine tomatoes, peeled
1 ½ Tbsp tomato paste

1. Melt butter on medium-low heat. Add in salt, pepper, onion and garlic until soft.
2. Add all tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken stock, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat and simmer for 40 minutes. Stir regularly to avoid burning.
3. Blend using an immersion blender, or in a blender in small batches, until smooth.
4. Return to pot and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.

23Sep2015

Roasted Butternut Squash Pumpkin Soup

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

Happy first day of Fall ya’ll! Only it’s still in the 90s here in SoCal I am sure the rest of you throughout the country aren’t over heating but these temperatures don’t seem like they are every going away here.

Fall is a super nostalgic time for me & since moving to California I haven’t really been able to get a grasp of the new normal I have out here.

As some of you may know I coached high school cheerleading for 8 years, 4 in Connecticut & 4 in California. Fall to me is football games on Friday nights, cozy sweaters, pumpkins in pumpkin patches, & piles of leaves lining the streets. Here it is football games where I need to apply enough sun block that I don’t burn, pumpkins sitting outside grocery stores while you wear a tank top & shorts, & the palm trees being trimmed around town. Not really the quintessential New England fall that I grew up with.

So with all that is in me trying to bring New England fall to sunny So Cal I am going to be dedicating my fall season to all that is pumpkin, orange, & cozy. Today’s recipe is actually a mess up that I made while I was trying to make a simple butternut squash soup. I through a little too much pumpkin and cinnamon flavor in & Chris ended up loving it. It’s not my favorite, because ironically, I am not a huge pumpkin flavor person but if you love pumpkin this is the soup for you.

1 large butternut squash
1 sweet onion
2 celery stalks
3 carrots
1 medium apple, peeled and cored
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 ½ cups chicken broth
1 cup water
½ tsp pumpkin flavoring
1.2 tsp cinnamon
Salt and pepper

1. Cut butternut squash in half long ways and place on cookie tray. Season with 1 Tbsp vegetable oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 60-75 minutes, until top is lightly browned.
2. Remove squash from oven and allow to cool to touch. Peel carrots and chop carrots and celery to 1 inch pieces.
3. Add remaining oil and chopped vegetables to a pot and allow vegetables to cook until tender. 5-8 minutes on medium heat. Stir regularly not allowing the vegetables to burn
4. Remove squash from the skin and discard the skin. Add squash and apples to pot.
5. Add broth, water and spice.
6. With an immersion blender puree all ingredients together until desired consistency. If you don’t have an immersion blender, blend ingredients in a blender in small batches and return to pot when completed.
7. Bring to a boil and lower heat to a simmer. Simmer, covered for 45 minutes.