A nice fall weekend

Fall is such a wonderful time of year in Ithaca, and I am loving our "no travel" pact after this weekend because it was really relaxing to be at home and do things around the apartment.

On Saturday, I helped David brew a pumpkin beer for the first time. Usually, I am only mildly interested in helping David brew because he tends to brew beers that are very hoppy in flavor (yuck) and very high in alcohol content (not so good for a lightweight like me). In other words, he usually chooses beer I am not interested in drinking. I was very excited that he chose a beer that I love this time around! It smelled a lot like pumpkin when we took it out of the pot, so hopefully it will not turn out to be one of those pumpkin beers that is flavored with mostly pumpkin pie spices and not much pumpkin. It should be ready right around Halloween, and I am very excited to try it.

I love shopping at Target, and this past weekend was no exception. Though we went there to buy gifts for Amanda and Paul, I left with a gift for myself too! These slippers are super cute, and even more importantly, they are super warm too. I love them. Yesterday while being silly with David, I named them Melvin and Marvin.

On Sunday we watched FOOTBALL at BUFFALO WILD WINGS! Both games had a happy ending because the Dolphins and the Steelers won, though both games were a little stressful to watch (especially at the end). After the games, we made crab and chili ravioli for dinner and watched the season finales of True Blood and Entourage. Dinner was delicious. Below is a picture of David making the ravioli.

I am looking forward to more weekends in Ithaca this fall! Come visit us :)

Things you missed while I was busy not blogging

It has been awhile since my last post! August was a busy month for me, so here are some things you have missed while I was busy not blogging:

1. I turned 27! Being 27 is not different at all from being 26, as it turns out. I got nice gifts from several very thoughtful people this year, including a Regal Cinemas gift card from my parents, lunch at Heights Cafe from David, and cupcake band-aids from Kristen.

2. Our garden crop season is winding down. We do not have many plants left! Much to my surprise, our broccoli finally began coming in! We plan to eat our broccoli with chicken in a stir-fry tonight. I had high hopes for our cantaloupe melons, but unfortunately, so did some animals around the farm.

Shown above is a beautiful melon that the animals got to first. We did get to try two of the ten melons we had, and to be honest, they weren't very good/sweet. I don't think we missed out too much by losing most of the cantaloupe, and we won't grow them next year. (Maybe pumpkins or watermelons instead??)

3. Travel! In order to save money, David and I (reluctantly) agreed to impose a "no travel" pact for the fall, but I did manage to slip in two more trips before the end of the summer. My first trip was to Boston for the American Chemical Society meeting. I saw a few posters, networked with a few scientists, and mostly just hung out in my favorite city with some of my favorite people. I can't wait to move to Boston in a few years!! This trip was truly fantastic, though it took me forever to get to Boston and back. USAirways severely mishandled my entire flight reservation, and I received a $75 travel voucher. (Kind of ironic, since we agreed not to travel. Now I am planning a lot of imaginary trips we can take in the spring, when I might be able to convince David to use the travel voucher.) I also went back to Butler at the end of August for a trip to the dentist. When I went to the evil man that maimed me (a.k.a. the dentist) in Ithaca, he told me that one of my fillings needed to be replaced because I had ground it down in my sleep. However, since he tortured me in the office while filling another tooth, I did not want to let him do any additional damage and promptly scheduled an appointment with my childhood dentist back in Butler. It was a really great dental visit (and I am not saying this strictly because I was under the influence of Valium to calm my nerves). My filling did not need to be replaced after all (silly evil Ithaca dentist), and I got fitted for a new NightGuard to help prevent my night grinding.

September is looking to be a pretty quiet month here in the Hokanson household. We are very excited for the NFL football season to start this Thursday, and the arrival of cool fall weather (hopefully for David's sake, anyway). To get into the fall spirit, we plan to brew a pumpkin beer on Saturday and go to BWW to watch the football games on Sunday. Go Steelers!