Fall Fun
I had a really nice, fall-ish weekend! When I say “fall-ish,” I don’t mean I visited a pumpkin patch or went apple picking. No, we don’t have that in Florida- although, I’m pretty sure it’s too early for those things just about everywhere right now. But those are things that never happen in Florida, so we have to make our own fall. We may not have cool temperatures and falling leaves, but we do have football and homecoming! Saturday night was our high school homecoming dance, and my daughter went with two of her friends, looking amazing in her new dress. I got a lot of GREAT comments on my post about the suit vs. dress dilemma, including one from Julie saying that she wore a tux to her prom! For this dance, my daughter wore a dress- who knows what will happen in the future. I dropped my daughter and her two friends at the dance, and I loved seeing all the kids dressed up. I also loved that these three girls didn’t feel like they needed dates- they were happy to be going together. I was excited that it was my daughter’s first high school dance. I was also excited that after the dance, another mom was picking the girls up and bringing them back to her house for a sleepover. I knew that my daughter would be in good hands and I knew she would have fun- and my job was done for the night. I got home just in time for the start of the Baylor game. It was gloomy and rainy outside (a typical South Florida evening in September) and my house was so cozy! We broke out the fall food and beverages. We tried each of the beers: the Oktoberfest was very good; the Pumpking Ale was okay, and the Howling Gourds was terrible. The only one we actually finished was the Oktoberfest. It turns out some things just shouldn’t taste like pumpkin, and beer is one of them. But it was fun to try them all. I LOVE chips and salsa, but don’t normally eat them. It’s one of those thing I can’t stop eating once I start, so I usually don’t let myself start. But I made an exception since they were “fall-themed” (holiday foods don’t really count, right???) and I loved them. The pepita salsa is delicious, and chips are always good. Plus they looked like fall leaves! We also had this: It was good. I mean- it was good for a prepared dinner. Elaborate cooking wasn’t in my plan for this night, so we definitely enjoyed these “heat and serve” enchiladas. We watched Baylor win, and oh yes- I was wearing my new favorite pajamas. After the game, I stayed up late reading, and finally crawled into bed, knowing that there was no work or school tomorrow, and no one would be needing me for anything. I could sleep as late as I wanted, and didn’t wake up until 9 am. It felt AMAZING. After a nice slow start to the morning, Sunday got underway. I picked up my daughter, did the grocery shopping, and started thinking about plans for the week. I felt a little melancholy that the weekend was coming to an end. Sometimes everything just comes together perfectly. I know there will be more fun times this fall, but it’s possible that I’ll look back and say “Yes, that was the best night of the whole season.” Are you starting to think about fall, or are you still in a summer frame of mind? Pumpkin ale- yay, or nay?