Autumn Loving & Learning

 

To celebrate fall’s arrival, here’s a bit of what I’m loving and learning in the cooler temps….

Rejoicing

Pumpkin EVERYTHING is back!!!  Candles, muffins, donuts, cheesecake, Pumpkin Spice Lattes. I can’t get enough.

Note: Do NOT google what’s in Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Lattes. No…you already did? Ugh,me, too. And now my dream, that one where I sip a PSL while walking on the beach, that dream is shattered.

Preparing

31 Days – Ahhh, it’s that time of year again.

Deep breaths….

Last year I dared myself to join in The Nester’s 31 days challenge. Writing on the same topic for 31 straight days sounds easy…until you attempt to do it.  You can see my 2013 series here.

This year, a 31 day topic has simmered and brewed in my head for the past month. Still, 31 Days…I’ll need a Pumpkin Spice Salted Caramel Mocha Latte, or 45, to fuel this endeavor and get what’s in my head onto the blog.

Come October 1st, its lights, camera, action for my 31 Days 2014 topic: “Light Your Creative Fire”.  And, I’m on fire I”m so excited to roll it out, so please come back in October.

Watching

Silicon Valley – the HBO series

Do you know what a hacker hostel is? If you watch Silicon Valley, you’ll learn that and a quite a few other things. Like how little estrogen there is in the Valley. Seriously, there is almost no estrogen in Silicon Valley. Sad, but true.

Experimenting

With the Diana photo app, you can create pics like this one…

Have you discovered the Diana App? Who knew transposing one picture over another could be so engrossing and addictive? I revamped my Twitter and Facebook headers using Diana.

Eating

I’m chowing down on the aforementioned pumpkin delights, of course. And with the cooler temps, I’m in the mood for enchiladas. Specifically, the best enchiladas ever, from Shauna Niequest’s Bread & Wine.

Planning

We’re heading to Cali soon….hitting up San Francisco, Monterey & Big Sur. What should we do and see? Suggestions?

Reading

After a summer of fiction, I’m back on non-fiction.

Why did I wait so long to read Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s Gift from the Sea? Short and beautiful, it’s as timely today as in 1955 when first published. Every woman should read this book; it’s the prototype of the feminist books which would come later. I finished off a moleskin notebook writing pages and pages of notes from this one.

Most everyone knows of Charles Lindbergh, the Spirit of St. Louis, and the kidnapping & murder of Charles & Anne’s first child. Only after coming across this book did I discover that Charles Lindbergh’s wife was also an aviator and an accomplished author. Interestingly, in the 1990s, DNA tests proved that Charles Lindbergh had fathered seven children with three different mistresses in Germany. Now I want to read everything by and about the Lindberghs…

Listening

This summer I discovered 8tracks.com and a whole new world opened up to me. Just supply 8tracks with a few adjectives (ex. happy, pop, french) and, voilà, it suggest  playlists for you. Now my ears are jonesing for more Carla Bruni and Vanessa Paradis. And to think, I previously thought of them as only models and respectively, the former First Lady of France and Johnny Depp’s Ex.

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(I’m linking up with Leigh Kramer’s What I’m Into and Emily Freeman’s Chatting at the Sky.)

What are you loving and learning now? And will you be participating in #31days this year? If so, leave a comment below so I can follow you.