Haunted House

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I love getting our place all spooked up. I usually like to have our decorations up the first few days of October, but this year I've had very little time to dedicate to festive prep. Tonight we finally got around to getting our outside Halloweenified and though I still want to decorate the inside, carve pumpkins, and get my costume ready, I'm excited to have at least a few fun signs of the season up. 

{orange lights, ghosts}

{Flav doing a great job on the decor}

A couple of superfluous sleepy Guiri photos...

{Sunday night cuddles with dad}

Happy Friday + Fun Links

How is it already Friday?!  I feel like this sleepy cat and wish I could just nap in the sun right now...

This week has been good, busy, rainy, and sunny all in one. I've missed being on my blog, but haven't felt particularly inspired lately. Inspiration comes in waves, I guess. I have, however, been enjoying other people's contributions to the internets, and bookmarked a few links to share here today, in case you're in a web-surfing mood. I hope you have a most relaxing weekend. :)


:: The sweetest apple butter gifts - I might copy her packaging exactly.


:: 8 things every happy woman should have.


:: Dying to bake again (5 more days of our paleo challenge!!) and I need to make this bread asap.


:: Dying to drink again (I promise I don't have a problem!!) and I need The Spiced Pear in my life stat.


:: Can you read people's emotions?  I got 32/36, thankyouverymuch!


:: Thinking of buying this bar cart.


:: How to say no. (Fascinating study!)


{Photo via}

Early Bird

{sunrise sky}

In my old age, I'm starting to realize there is something wonderful about being up early. For most of my life I've been a night owl and always scowled at those bright eyed and bushy tailed morning folk. But to my complete shock, I'm becoming one of them. Most mornings we're up at 5AM to work out. [Who am I?!] There are stars in the sky when we leave for the gym. We do our morning run and the streets are empty and quiet and the air is crisp. By the time our workout is over, the daylight is just peeking through and we drive home under hypercolor sunrise skies, chatting about the day ahead. At home, we blast Pandora, shower, linger over coffee, walk Guiri, and by the time I get to my 8AM classes, my head is clear and my body is awake. The wee small hours of the morning feel like stolen time. I'm glad to finally be discovering them.

PS: The one thing successful people do every morning

Lost in Translation

It was mostly a chore-filled weekend, so I'm sure none of you are dying to see photos from my trip to Costco, etc. I'm lesson planning on this Sunday evening, so I thought I'd pop in and nerd out on a little sociology. Bear with me here - I think language is fascinating.

In sociology we teach a concept called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which suggests that language predisposes us to see the world in a certain way, and that the words we use are symbols that reveal much about our particular cultures, lifestyles, and values. To illustrate this concept, I show my students untranslatable words from other countries. Then we work together to determine what the unique norms and values of these cultures are, considering they use particular words that English can't identify. Artist Ella Frances Sanders illustrates untranslatable words and their meanings, and they are just wonderful...

You can see more of these lovely words here. 

I hope your weekend was filled with sobremesa, komorebi, waldeinsamkeit, mangata, or something else enchanting and untranslatable. 

Pets in Plaster

My classes are in what I call The Golden Period. Each semester there are 2 or 3 weeks, about a month into classes, where you can see that the students (and instructors) are really enjoying the learning environment - friendships have formed, midterms are still a ways away, students are understanding and applying the concepts, burnout is far off, and things feel abuzz with learning and curiosity. It's been busy, but overall exciting and I feel lucky to say I really love my job. One of my brightest students was absent earlier this week and when I asked her why she told me she was out because her dog got hit by a car and is now in a cast. A cast? I'd never heard of putting pets in casts - is that weird? But, of course pets need casts! That makes sense. While I was sorry to hear about her dog (who is expected to fully recover, by the way), the whole idea of pets in plaster made me curious. If Guiri were ever in a cast (knock on wood she's not!), I'd bedazzle that thing up with art and stickers and lots of colorful get well soon! wishes. I did some research and indeed, Animals with Casts is a Tumblr. While it's sad to see pets injured, I am happy in knowing their owners are getting them the care they need. Aren't these babies pitiful and sweet and heartbreakingly adorable? I just want to squeeze them.

I hope you have a wonderfully healing weekend.

You can see more cuteness here.

Transitions

{fall colors outside our house}

Fall comes quietly to San Diego. The sun is usually shining and the colors are mostly muted, so without any drastic temperature changes or splashy orange-red treetops, you have to be a sharp observer to catch its beginnings. This week brought slightly cooler evenings and I've been looking forward to trading out our summer bedspread for our winter comforter. I'm dreaming of nippy mornings, burrowed into flannel sheets. I find myself holiday planning, busy thinking about things that are still weeks and months away. Oddly, at the same time, I've been mourning summer, with its freedom and sunsets and drinks on our porch. But in the midst of all this pining, I realized something this evening: I'm missing the unique subtleties of this current transitional time, the beauty in the in-between. Coming home from work tonight, I noticed for the first time this year my evening drive means commuting under dusky skies. I took Guiri for a sunset walk in a sweater and flip flops  - a wardrobe combination unique to early October. As we approached our house at the end of the walk, our little home looked warm and inviting lit up in soft gold against the darkening night skies. Despite the slight chill, I could smell a neighbor's barbecue in the distance. Inside, I sliced up an apple, preferring it to the summery nectarines we have in our fridge, and ate it with the windows open and my legs wrapped under a blanket - maybe the best way to feel the end of summer, and the beginning of fall. I'm feeling more attuned to this between-season, with its subtle shifts in light, color, temperature, clothing, and produce.  I don't want to hurry these transitions, or the seasons themselves. It's tough - I usually find myself looking too far into the future or longing for the past, but I'm going to make a conscious effort to just be, and watch, and appreciate right now. Being mindful of the weather is at least a place to start, I think.

Octoberfeast

Last fall, Flavio and I found ourselves eating out a lot. Once the semester gets going, things get distracted and rushed and we realized we were in a rut where we were dining to-go more often than not. We decided to give ourselves a challenge: for the month of October we would not eat out - not even once. ONLY homemade meals. And guess what? We had a blast. We found ourselves trying new wines, getting creative with recipes, cooking together after work, and mostly being mindful of our meals and our money. 

This year we're on our paleo challenge (more than half way through now, by the way) and because of the dietary restrictions on said challenge, we're not really able to eat out anyway. We debated not doing Octoberfeast this year (the paleo challenge has been tough and we're feeling a little challenged-out), but when we remembered how doable and enjoyable it was, we decided to go for it. So! The 2nd Annual Octoberfeast is on! All homemade, all the time. No eating out until October 31 (except for a friend's birthday party on October 18).

Below are a few photos from 2012's 1st Annual Octoberfeast. There were plenty of nights with boring scrambled eggs, but these were some of our livelier dinners.