Back to Fall

It seems funny to me that I'm feeling so strong of a transition to fall this year.  I remember being surprised the last couple falls, the first 2 falls since I was 5 that I wasn't going "back to school."  But now this year, I feel like I'm going back to...fall?  Our travel is done (for now), but my work schedule is not changing.  There are a few things I'm going back to, things that I've squeezed out of my routine with the busyness of summer.  I'm going back to sewing, back to blogging, back to seeing our friends weekly at home community, back to seeing friends on a regular basis.  Back to routine, it seems.

I have realized something very important this summer, I think.  That this is life, this thing we are living right now.  There is no "someday," and really, life does not slow down at some point down the road.  If anything (I'll leave this to you mamas and papas out there to confirm), it speeds up and gets more and more full.  My theme this summer, and I repeated this over and over, was "Next month, when things slow down."  Then we'll get together.  Then I'll sew.  Then we'll have coffee.  Then we'll...  But you say that for four months and then you realize you still haven't called the friend you had meant to when June rolled around...  So I'm trying to live in the now.  Trying to prioritize, trying to say no to things I really want to do for other things that I equally really want to do.  Train for a marathon or stay with my book club?  Join the Pain team at work or join the Cancer team?  Make one date with a big group of friends or a few dates with a friend or two?  Quality or quantity--isn't that always the question?  I'm choosing quality, and I'm practicing saying No.  I guess this is what I'm going back to this Fall.

By the way, my excuse for not updating my blog is that we got a new computer and have yet to get a new attachment to upload pics.  I have many from this summer to share!  We had weddings, and my dear friend Sara came down from Canada, and Megan had twins and we are going next week to meet Juniper, another new arrival into the world.  We went home to Montana for my 10-year class reunion and through Yellowstone, up to Washington, into Central Oregon to the cabin.  We have hardly been home, and have the photo proof for it.  More to come.  For now, I decided to the webcam to show off some delicious cookies I made last night from Megan's Redemption Cookie recipe. All I adapted was the flours to make it gluten free, and added some xantham gum.  They actually rose!

Redemption Cookies

(Adapted from the Neiman Marcus recipe)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened 1 cup light brown sugar 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour (I did 1 cup brown rice, 1/4 cup sorghum, 1/4 cup tapioca, 1/4 cup chickpea flours) 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1 teaspoon Xantham gum (for gluten-free version) 1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder or substitute  1/2 - 3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 bar dark chocolate, shaved and chopped Directions I just mixed the wet ingredients, then sifted together the dry ingredients, then added them all together and dropped them with my dropper on 2 sheet pans, baked at 300º for 20 minutes.                                       I'll be back soon...