Tag: halloween

Pumpkin Seeds – a halloween treat that’s SO good for you.

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I carved pumpkins over the weekend at my parents house – yeah I know – so cool of me. Well, anyways I love spending time with family and I take every opportunity to do so because who knows where life will take Nico and I in a few years — we could live in another part of the world because of Nico’s job and then I won’t be able to carve pumpkins with the fam so easily!

We almost threw out the seeds this time. Luckily, dad made sure to gather them all up, rinse, separate all the stringy pumpkin pulp and roast them (325° F for 25 minutes, make sure to stir them around every 8 mins or so). It wasn’t until last year when someone I used to work with brought in a ziplock bag filled with a medley of in shell roasted pumpkin seeds and roasted coconut chips (he got these from Trader Joe) to snack on. I was hooked on the flavor combination and looked into (more…)

Book Club: Choices for Book #3

Happy Friday! Happy Halloween!

We are getting ready to select the next book to read for the Book Club. I can’t believe we are already on book #3, I feel like we just started this club a week ago! It is great to make reading a fun part of your life, even when you feel like there is no time in the day for you to read- trust me, I know! I had to push out our last book discussion a week because I literally had NO time to read with the new puppy and all… but I managed and I loved the last book and I love being a part of such an intellectual conversation about life, happiness, sorrow,love and everything else in between. So, my message to you all -there are millions of books out there…GO READ! …..or better yet, help us choose a book and Read With Us!

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Choices with summaries:

Frog Music – Emma Donoghue

Summer of 1876: San Francisco is in the fierce grip of a record-breaking heat wave and a smallpox epidemic. Through the window of a railroad saloon, a young woman named Jenny Bonnet is shot dead.

The survivor, her friend Blanche Beunon, is a French burlesque dancer. Over the next three days, she will risk everything to bring Jenny’s murderer to justice–if he doesn’t track her down first. The story Blanche struggles to piece together is one of free-love bohemians, desperate paupers, and arrogant millionaires; of jealous men, icy women, and damaged children. It’s the secret life of Jenny herself, a notorious character who breaks the law every morning by getting dressed: a charmer as slippery as the frogs she hunts.

The Goldfinch– Donna Tartt

The Goldfinch is told in retrospective first-person narration by Theodore “Theo” Decker, who recounts the story of his life thus far. As a thirteen-year-old boy in New York City, Theo adores his energetic, beautiful mother — as do many other people in Manhattan. He thinks of his father, who had walked out on them a year earlier, as an alcoholic, abusive thief. Theo’s life is turned upside down when he and his mother visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see an exhibition of Dutch masterpieces, including her favorite painting, Carel Fabritius’s The Goldfinch. There, he falls in love at first sight with a red-headed girl who is accompanied by an elderly man. But then a terrorist bomb kills his mother and dozens of other art-loving citizens. Selected of 10 Best Books of 2013 NYTimes Review.

Where’d you go, Bernadette?  Selected 11/3/14

Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace; to design mavens, she’s a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette’s intensifying allergy to Seattle–and people in general–has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence–creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world.

This is Where I Leave You -Jonathan Tropper

The death of Judd Foxman’s father marks the first time that the entire Foxman clan has congregated in years. There is, however, one conspicuous absence: Judd’s wife, Jen, whose affair with his radio- shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public. Simultaneously mourning the demise of his father and his marriage, Judd joins his dysfunctional family as they reluctantly sit shiva-and spend seven days and nights under the same roof. The week quickly spins out of control as longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed and old passions are reawakened. Then Jen delivers the clincher: she’s pregnant.

This Is Where I Leave You is Jonathan Tropper’s (One Last Thing Before I Go) most accomplished work to date, and a riotously funny, emotionally raw novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the ties that bind-whether we like it or not.

Book to be selected by next week!

October is….

Happy October 1st!! Being a Resident Adviser in college, -on top of all the related job responsibilities we had – one was creating a monthly bulletin board! For inspiration, I would look up what each month was known for nationally and turned it into a fun educational piece 🙂

So, being the first day of the month – I thought I would share some of my favorite National holidays for October:

Adopt A Dog Month –done and done… please help out a dog before the cold weather hits!

American Cheese Month, not the biggest fan of American cheese – but a pretty big cheese lovah – a whole wheel of warm Brie to my face.. yes and yes.

Apple Month- can’t wait for our annual apple picking trip!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month- Here is a link on how to do a Breast Self Exam at home.

Bullying Prevention Month – try to have a convo with a kid in elementary, middle or high school and see if they open up about anything related to bullying at school (or at home)

Celebrating The Bilingual Child Month – I learned English in kindergarten and only spoke Polish, so I can appreciate this one!

Halloween Safety Month- I’m not sure if having a puppy counts as being able to partake in trick or treating anymore? I wish they did a puppy trick or treat.. do they? I’ll be double checking those treats though! Sorry, it’s sad but true – there are cruel people out there.

National Animal Safety and Protection Month – I’m so on it! 2ndVet apt is tomorrow!

National Bake and Decorate Month- isn’t this every month? but I can see with the weather change, autumn decor, warm pie – makes sense.

National Cookbook Month – I’m almost through my ISA Does It cookbook- I saved some Fall-like recipes that I’ll be trying soon and then on to a new cookbook.. its so great to learn new recipes- hopefully ones that you can carry on when you have a family (your go-to’s!)

National Dental Hygiene Month– one of my favorites! working in a dental office for 7 years, I love anything Dental related -fingers crossed I get into an American dental school this time around!!. Please make sure you FLOSS – my #1 take home message. I went to Honduras for a medical brigade a few years ago and gave out tons of tooth brushes and floss.. flossing by far is the most important to take care of those gums – b/c if they aren’t healthy- how will your teeth stay in place?

Photographer Appreciation Month – I can’t wait to take a photography class with my dad soon… having this blog and reading so many other blogs with wonderful pictures has really opened my eyes to the beauty of a simple photograph.

Polish American Heritage Month- well hello! You bet your pierogis that I like this one!

Look here for complete list!