our road trip.

image via

well, emotional doesn't even begin to cover these past couple of days. but as a. said, emotions are good. & in this case, these emotions solidify our true love for new york and our amazing friends. and distance isn't a bad thing, after all, it makes reunions that much better...

so today we set out on a new adventure. a bit more delayed than we had hoped, but on the road nonetheless. over the next couple weeks a. and i will be driving across the united states visiting with friends and family & seeing some of the oddest and most magnificent sites along the way.

as we drive and explore, i'll be sharing our adventures with everyone on instagram and twitter. in the meantime, enjoy your weekend and spend as much time as possible with everyone you love!

chasing fall.

around here, fall is my absolute favorite time of year.  so much so, that i'll stop everything i'm doing just to take in the impressive colors or grab a photo of the leaves.

it wasn't always like this.  growing up in southern california, fall meant hotter weather (if you can believe it) and santa anas with dry, static-y air, and wildfires.  doesn't that sound like the most wonderful time of the year?!? yea, i think not.

the irony between a socal fall and an east coast fall is that while things are heating up out west, a different kind of fire starts on the east coast.  a fire of maple reds, birch yellows and the glowing hues of sumac.  much like an actual fire, it's mesmerizing.

unfortunately, this will be our last colorful autumn for a while.  but we can't get to upset about this because, over the next two weeks, we'll be chasing fall through the united states.  i'm not exactly certain what our road trip will hold for us- but i do know many photos of the colors we encounter will appear on instagram and likely, here as well.

in new york, we have about a week, to a week and a half until full peak, these photos have been taken over the last couple days and as you can see, gradually, the colors are becoming brighter and more radiant.  it's not hard to see why this time of year is ranked so high on my list of loves.

note: the last photo was taken using the new iphone panorama option.  have you used this feature?  if so, what do you think?  i'm still on the fence & can't decide if it's any better than my dmd panorama app.

bake 20: the perfect apple pie

just in time for fall, the perfect apple pie (& crust).  one of our neighbors happens to be an excellent chef/baker and was super-excited to teach me the secrets behind a picture-perfect apple pie.  my only regret?  that i didn't take any photos during the process.  total blogger failure.  oh well, the pie turned out fabulously- and really, that's all that matters.

recipes: apple pie filling & apple pie crust

adjustments: we made the double crust recipe for this pie (bottom and top crusts) and for the filling, we actually added everything into a bowl and didn't cook the ingredients on the stove prior to adding it to the pie.  by doing this, we were able to pile the filling high to give the pie that story-book effect.  i also omitted the nutmeg from the filling.  not that i have an aversion to it or anything, we just chose not to use it.  for the apples i used a combination of granny smith and cortland.  & since i love tart pies, so we also went easy on the sugar.

review: from the minute we pulled it out of the oven, the pie was gorgeous.  picture-perfect, golden, and smelled like heaven.  i brought it to game night and everyone loved it.  i would love to find a reliable crust recipe that doesn't require crisco for future pies...so i'll be on the hunt for that.  otherwise, the crust was flaky, had nice flavor and the tart apple filling would have perfectly complimented vanilla ice cream.

this was #7 of the bake 20 challenge.

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over the next five months i'm going to try my hand at 20 different baked goods.  there's no specific order and no plan.  just making things that look good and hopefully in the process, finding a new appreciation of baking.  feel free to join me in the Bake 20 Challenge.

septemb-agram

i love these monthly recaps.  often i'm amazed by not only the quantity of photos i have taken in a month, but also how much we've crammed into thirty days.  in this case, i'm particularly surprised.  from kayak camping, to exploring cny, a quick trip to cape cod, apple picking, visiting family in dc, learning how to knit, packing up our house and a final game night with friends, we really packed it in.  

for october, we're keeping things as simple as possible despite moving out of our home, driving cross country and trying to start a new life for ourselves.  this being the case, there are no monthly goals other than staying in shape & eating as healthy as possible on the road.  safe to say, good stuff is ahead of us.  very good stuff.

what's in store for you this october?

happening now.

baking my first apple pie with my super-sweet neighbor. we spent the morning in her kitchen peeling, cutting, rolling & learning the tricks behind a perfect crust.

learning all about essential oil therapy from my dearest friend. she is a firm believer in holistic living and i can't wait to continue using her as a reference.

sorting through every closet, cupboard, drawer and closet in our house. the goodwill pile is growing & we're finally paring down to a reasonable amount of stuff.

listening to the newest mumford & sons album on repeat.

searching high and low for a.'s passport.  somewhere between our trip to germany & the moving process, it seems to have disappeared.  so now, we're recalculating our trip to michigan & will be driving through ohio instead of canada.  

sharing our favorite memories about our home, city, new york moments, people and everything in between with one another.  currently, a. & my favorite new games are: remember when & what was your favorite {blank}.

chasing fall and doing our best to capture the essence & striking colors of this season.  

walking in the rain and through falling leaves deep in conversation & laughter with one of my favorite people is hands-down, my favorite way to spend a morning.

eating and drinking pumpkin everything (closely followed by apple everything).  i'm obsessed with making some of the featured pumpkin recipes in this month's sunset magazine.

testing and retesting our house for radon.

trying to believe that it's actually october.  is it really? seriously?!?

arguing with the moving company about an employee reeking of marijuana and justifying why on earth we would ever refuse his services.

visiting with friends as often as possible to say our last see-ya-laters.

getting excited to read the happiness project.

wondering what our new life in california will hold.  where will we live?  where will i work?  where will we grocery shop and go on walks?  how far will we be from the ocean and can we ever find a network of people as wonderful as the one we've found in syracuse?  

knowing that no matter what, i'm doing all of this with my best friend and partner in crime.  and knowing that makes everything wonderful.

this post was prompted by the ever-inspiring ali edwards around here post.