5 Things on My Fall Bucket List

This post is sponsored by prAna in partnership with FitApproach. 
All opinions and images are my own.

Happy first day of Fall!

Growing up, spring was always my favorite season. It brought new life after the harsh Minnesota winter. It was a sign that summer was just around the corner. You could feel the excitement as the days grew longer and the end of the school year drew nearer.

Now that I am living in Las Vegas, I still love spring, but fall is quickly becoming one of my favorite seasons. I love the summer heat, but I also love the crisp, cool fall mornings. The flavors of pumpkin and apple are in abundance. The return of sweaters and long pants. It's all so comforting, like a hug from an old friend.

It's no secret that I've been looking forward to fall for several weeks now, so it's about time I came up with a short list of things I want to be sure to do now that fall is here.

My Fall Bucket List

Jeff and I are heading out for a long road trip in the beginning of October. We're heading up to the PNW to visit his family and to pick up a tote we left with his brother when we moved here 5 years ago. I'm pretty excited for the road trip and to cross the first two items off my list. :-)

Golden Gate State Park

We've been to San Francisco before and even walked halfway across the Golden Gate bridge, but it was Christmastime and cold and dark. We're planning this stop in the early morning. Perhaps we'll be able to catch the sunrise.

Cathedral Gorge State Park

I've been wanting to visit this NV state park for a few years now. It's less than 2 hours from Vegas, but we've never made the time. It's a short detour along our route back from Washington, so it seems perfect to include it as a stop on this road trip.

Bellagio Conservatory

One of the things I love most in Las Vegas is the Bellagio Conservatory. They change the display with the seasons, and it's always fun to see the new theme. This summer it was a tour of Italy and the fall theme is Proud as a Peacock. I'm excited to see all the beautiful flowers.

@EnjoytheCourse is ready for fall! What's on your fall bucket list? #prAnaFallStyle17 #sweatpink

Las Vegas Balloon Festival

A few years ago, I stopped at this festival before heading out for an 18-mile run. It was fascinating to watch the balloons take off. They have an evening Glow Show which sounds fascinating. There are lots of other activities as well, and I hope to spend a bit more time at the festival rather than just a few minutes before a long run.

Gilcrease Orchard

A Vegas gem that I've not yet experienced! They have a variety of fruits and veggies to pick yourself, but I'm most excited to try their apple cider. It's their signature item and perfect for a fall day, right? The pumpkin patch opens Sept 30, and I've read that apple picking starts sometime in Oct. I'm excited to get up early one Saturday morning to check it out.

In addition to these bigger items, I also plan on taking more walks with Sallie and maybe even Jeff. We also really want to get back on our bikes because it's been months since we've gone for a bike ride.

And, of course, there will be plenty of Starbucks fall treats.

Be sure to follow me on Instagram or Twitter so I can share my adventures with you!

Many thanks to prAna for the amazing Harlene Top and the comfy London Jean from their new fall collection. These will be perfect for my road trip and many of my other fall activities.

No matter what's on your list for the fall, you'll find something to love at prana.com.
Use code FACD15 to save 15% off your order now through Nov 22.


What are you looking forward to this fall?
Any local events that are unique to where you live?

I'm linking up today with Running on Happy & Fairytales and Fitness for the Friday Five 2.0. This week's theme is Fall Activities.

Week in Review - 4/09

Happy Sunday! How was your first full week of April? Work was a little crazy for me, but everything else was pretty good! I'm excited for the rest of the month.

Since I'm not currently training for anything in particular, I'm switching up the format for my weekly review posts.

Happy Spring!

Don't be jealous, but the weather has been pretty perfect here lately! Highs in the 70s/low 80s; lows in the 50s/60s. Even the wind hasn't been too crazy.

Ah, perfection. :)

Today marks the first day of Spring. Oh happy day! Those of you living in the colder climates, I'm sure it will start  warming up where you are soon.

Spring is like the promise of new and great and better things to come. I LOVE SPRING!

But with the change in weather, my closet becomes more depressing. All my clothes seem to be too warm or too dark. I need some light and bright clothes to spring-up my wardrobe.

It seems that the older I get the cheaper I get. When I was in my 20s, almost all of my clothes were purchased at the mall. At stores like Express and NY & Co. True, I generally shopped the sales racks, but I didn't have nearly as much trouble spending money on clothes as I do now.

Now, I do most of my shopping at thrift stores. Like GoodWill or Savers. Sometimes I'll peek into some higher end thrift stores, but even those seem to be too spendy for me. :D

I prefer shopping alone because I am a super slow shopper. Thrift stores can be so overwhelming, and I really need to be in the right mood to go, but when I do go, I'm there for several hours. Including many trips to the fitting room.

There are so many sweet deals you can find at a thrift store, but it often takes a lot of hard work. A lot of sifting. Scouring. I'm compelled to search through each and every rack in fear of missing out on something great search of the perfect piece at the perfect price.

To me, thrift shopping is serious business and not for the casual shopper.

I also love thrift shopping because it's greener than buying new. I like knowing that, in a small way, I'm helping to make the world a little better by reducing waste and buying used.

Thrift shopping is an adventure. With all the scouring and sifting I already mentioned, it's like a treasure hunt. You never know what you'll find.

And one of the best things about thrift shopping? It's rare that you'll ever buy the exact same thing as your co-worker! Unless, of course, you shop at the same thrift store that your co-worker donates, then you might just end up buying their old clothes. lol. True story. It didn't happen to me, but I overheard the story in the lunchroom.

Does the season change make you want to go shopping and spruce up your closet?
What do you love or hate about thrift shopping?
Tweet

Fall Foods: Soup and Cheesecake

Today the SITS Girls challenged to share our favorite fall craft or recipe.

I'm really not a very crafty person, but something I love about fall is the return to soup season. Potato soup is one of my favorites, but I'll take just about any kind of warm, liquidy goodness. What I love about making soup is that I don't need a recipe. I just toss about a bunch of stuff in a pot or slow cooker and voila! a wonderful, fill-the-house-with-good-smells soup. Yum!

Since I rarely use a recipe, I'm going to share with you a lovely recipe for squash (pumpkin works, too!) cheesecake that I made last year.

Flying Witch

Yields 2+ cheesecakes

Ingredients:

• 2 ready made graham cracker crust
• 4 8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened
• ¾ c granulated sugar
• ¼ c packed brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 small golden nugget squash
• 4 eggs
• ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice (or ¼ tsp cinnamon, ⅛ tsp nutmeg, ½ of ⅛ tsp each of allspice and cardamom)
• 1/2 c semi sweet chocolate chips, melted
• Pictures of a flying witch or a howling wolf or whatever you'd like on the cheesecake

Directions:
1. Pierce squash a few times with a fork. Soften in microwave for 45-60 secs. Cut in half; remove seeds. Place in a microwaveable dish; cover with plastic wrap. Cook for 9 minutes or until fork tender. Scoop squash into a food processor and blend until smooth. This should give you about 1 cup of purée.

2. While squash is cooking, cream the cream cheese and sugars together in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and eggs . Mix until well blended. Reserve 1 cup of batter. Pour remaining evenly between two graham cracker crusts.

3. Add squash purée and pumpkin pie spice to the reserved batter. Mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto the white batter. Gently swirl with a knife. I swirled in one direction to give the impression of a windy, stormy, scary, Halloween night. I had a LOT of leftover squash batter, so I put it in a small dish to bake a 3rd, smaller, no-crust cheesecake.

4. Bake at 350°F for 40-45 min or until the center is still barely jiggly or right before cracks start to appear. Remove and let cool on cooling rack.

5. While cheesecakes are baking, place pictures under wax paper. Put melted chocolate into a plastic baggie and snip off the corner. Pipe the chocolate over the pictures. I had some extra chocolate, so I hand drew a full moon, a spider web, a spider, and some bats/birds/whatever. Place on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer to harden.

6. Once cheesecakes have cooled, cut the wax paper around the chocolate pictures and place pictures on the cheesecake, wax paper side up. Leave waxed paper on and chill cakes in the fridge for 8+ hours or overnight. Gently pull off waxed paper.

This recipe was originally posted over at my other blog: Tale of Two Sisters and Their Kitchens

What's your favorite fall recipe or craft?
Tweet

What a hike!

Today the SITS Girls challenged to share our favorite fall memory.

For some reason, hiking always reminds me of fall. Hiking in the fall in MN is something really special. The crunch of the leaves underfoot. The beautiful colors. The crisp air.

The memory that first came to mind with this prompt was a family hike. It was a long time ago. I'm not sure if was even during the fall, but since hiking seems to equate to fall, it seemed appropriate. :-)

Nestled in central Minnesota is one of the highest points in the state - Inspiration Peak. It was probably about an hour away from where we lived. It was beautiful and not a very strenuous hike. Good for the whole family!

We took family hikes there on several occasions, but one was more memorable than the rest. We'd all piled out of the family sedan. Us kids were playing around, anxious to be out of the car and heading up the mountain hill.

We hiked up to the top. We hung out taking in the beauty around us.

From the top, you can see 9 different lakes and parts of 3 different counties! My memories of this day does not include the lush greenery of this picture, so I really think this may have happened in the fall.

After spending some time at the top, we began our descent back to the car. Once back, my step-dad realized that Oops! He'd locked the keys in the car.

Well, the locking of the keys was intentional, but he had thought he'd removed the key for the doors. Instead, he'd removed the key for the ignition. Do they even make cars with separate keys for doors and ignition anymore?

This was in the days before cell phones, so calling for help wasn't exactly easy. No, it involved a long walk to a nearish cafe to use a pay phone. After trying needlessly to break into our own car, my step-dad and a brother(?) surely, my parents wouldn't have left us kids alone, right? headed to the cafe to call another brother. Meanwhile, us kids continued to play.
Hopscotch.
Tag.
You know, anything to stave off boredom fun kid games. :-)

Eventually, help was on the way! We were all very relieved when the spare keys arrived, and we could start the drive home.

Good thing we'd finished our hike early enough that there was still a bit of daylight when we were finally able to get back on the road.

Phew! What a long day.

What's your favorite fall memory?
Tweet

Fall Is...

Today the SITS Girls gave us a photo challenge to share what fall looks like where we live or what fall means to us.

Since I've only lived in Vegas for a few months, and haven't really experienced fall here yet, I'm not entirely sure what a Vegas fall is like.

Being a born and raised Minnesotan, fall to me will always include vibrant colors.

The changing colors of the leaves.
The crisp air.
The switch to sweaters and boots and warmer clothes.

What does fall look like where you live?
What does fall mean to you?
Tweet

Where Does the Time Go?

Spring has come and gone and will (hopefully) come again soon. I've been struggling a lot this spring. I blame SAD. I think getting a real taste a warmer weather made it so much more difficult to accept the relapse back into colder temps. I'm hopeful that it will not last long.

In an effort to overcome SAD, I've been attempting (the past few days) to brighten my outlook. I've been trying to wear brighter, more spring-like colors. While this has helped immensely, it has also been a part of the problem. Staring into my closet filled with browns, oranges, and reds, it's becoming more and more diffcult to decide on a cheery outfit.

And so, although April is nearly over, my workout goal for April has been to beef up my exercise schedule. It's kind of a complicated schedule, so let's just simplify it by saying my goal is to exercise 23 days from April 2nd to April 30. I've got it all scheduled out. It's a mix of running, biking, and swimming. So far, I've met this goal. Only one more week to go! :)

My prize for attaining this goal? A SHOPPING SPREE! I get to buy some fun, spring/summer clothes. It's been very motivating. I just know I'll meet this goal.

It had been awhile, so I also decided to update the look of my blog. Let me know what you think.

I'd especially like to point out the addition of a couple widgets in my right sidebar. I've joined a site called Daily Mile (basically a twitter-like site for althetes). I've added a widget that simply states the total miles I've done (since joining the site) and one that gives a snippet of my most recent workout. I only joined the site yesterday, but I'd already recommend it to anyone that wants a nice, easy way to track and reflect on their exercise routine.

For those of you that may celebrate it, HAPPY EASTER tomorrow!

Summer and AC and Running with Friends

I missed posting my Gratitude list last week. :-(

This week, I'm thankful for:

It's been HOT, HOT, HOT this summer.

And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!

I've always been in the "I'd rather be hot than cold" camp, so this summer have been delicious for me!

Even though I like it HOT, I'm still also grateful for AIR CONDITIONING, so I don't have to do this all day.

I'm also grateful to be able to RUN! I love running. There were a couple years when my shins would hurt too much to run, but that has been changing, and I've been forcing myself to run a few times a week. Today I had the wonderful opportunity to run with my friend, Tacy. We ran further and longer than I normally do on a morning run, AND I made it to work on time. Whoo hoo!

*****************************************

What are you grateful for today?

Baby, it's COLD outside!

When I was getting ready for work this morning, the radio kept saying it was 5-degrees outside. Brrrrrr...

So I got all bundled up--winter coat, hat, gloves, scarf, warm clothes underneath--for my 1 block walk to the train. 5-degrees is cold, any way you look at it. My cheeks tingled, and my eyes burned. I don't think it was that windy, just cold, bitter, bitter cold. It's gonna be a fun winter.

Of course, the best part is when I get downtown. I'm all bundled up, remember? Well, I have a 5+ block walk to work. Minneapolis has this incredible skyway system,

so I have the option of walking that 5+ blocks inside. Yeah!

Except....I'm all bundled up for the walk to the train. By the time I get to work, I've generally worked up a pretty good sweat. Today was no exception!

Here's to winter!

Fall Leaves at Minnehaha Falls

Living so close to Minnehaha Park, I couldn't resist going on a little photo shoot one Saturday evening.

Here are my 5 favorites:






If you'd like to see more, you can visit my entire album on Picasa: Minnehaha Falls

Winter in Oregon

Winter in Oregon is unlike winter anywhere else (at least in my experiences).

Growing up in Minnesota (and living in Missouri and New York), I am used to cold weather, snow, and underneath the snow...dead grass.

Here the winter is the beginning of the rainy season, so the grass is a very vibrant green! It is so beautiful! Sometimes I just can't get over it, and I stare out the window at the rich colors of winter. The green grass is complemented by all the evergreen trees. It is truly a sight to see. I should really take some pictures.

Of course it does get cold here and it does snow as well.

I think it has snowed twice this winter so far. It is kind of funny, because it might snow over night and a little in the morning--possibly accumulating 1-inch (tops), and the schools will shut down. By the afternoon, almost all of the snow will have melted, and we'll be left with the brilliant grass peaking through. Gorgeous!!

This is usually accompanied by a cold spell where the temperatures might dip down to the teens--usually just the 20s.

All is all the cold and snow don't seem to last very long (knock on wood as I type, and hopefully as you read, this), which is perfect for me because I only like the cold and snow in small doses.

I have to admit...so far this winter has been quite enjoyable--with the brilliant colors (rainbows, grass, trees, etc) and relatively mild temperatures (remember I'm a MN girl).

Brilliant Rainbows

Yesterday, driving home from the grocery store, I got to behold one of the most brilliant rainbows! After several days of one downpour after another, there was a break in the rains yesterday afternoon. It was so beautiful, I longed to have a camera as part of my phone--or a camera of some sort. Of course a digital pic probably wouldn't have done it the justice it deserved.

Since moved out to the rainy Pacific Northwest, I have seen several rainbows. I guess that is one of the perks of living in an area that rains 8 months out of the year! Growing up in MN, its not like I've never seen a rainbow before, but they're different out here. I can pick out every single color in the ROY G BIV spectrum. They are big and brilliant--and frequent!

Unfortunately, I usually see them while I'm driving. This could cause a problem because I am so drawn to them that I'm not paying as close attention to the road. :-(