October Monthly Recap and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Happy Halloween everyone! What are all of you dressing up as this Halloween eve? We went to a family Halloween party this weekend and attended as the Adams Family. My daughter pulled off her Wednesday costume perfectly, it was so much fun!

Well on to my October recap… In short, I really sucked at posting this month!! What makes me sad is that it is only going to get worse as I will be traveling for half of November.I guess the good news is that I have some really fun things going on in life right now!

In case you missed it, I took a huge step towards obtaining my captain’s license with the U.S. Coast Guard this month! The only disadvantage was that it had me completely out of blogging for a solid two weeks while I studied. I learned how to chart and navigate a course with paper and pencil amongst a whole bunch of other things that made me feel super nautical, and it was a great learning experience and a lot of fun.

Another really awesome thing I had the chance to participate in was a learning experience with the Northwest Goodwill learning center in Tacoma, Washington. I had absolutely NO IDEA how much Goodwill did to give back to the local communities! I have been on a huge “giving back” kick lately, and left this interaction with all good feelings. I will think of them often now as I go shopping as I totally support what they are doing, of course from an education and job-creating standpoint, but also from the stand of what up-cycling does in regards to conservation.

Of course, we made our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch, trying out a new one this year (Bob’s Corn Maze in Snohomish, Washington). We also did some fun Halloween baking… these black velvet mummy cupcakes are my absolute favorite!

Here is the link to the recipe if you want to whip these up for some fun on Halloween Eve! If you don’t have the ingredients to make the black velvet cupcakes I am sure you could just frost some regular chocolate cupcakes like this and your guests would love them just the same 🙂

So, looking into November there are some key things I want to focus on.

The first is CONSERVATION. There have been some pretty jarring things happen to our planet this year that I just cannot ignore (6 hurricanes in a row, anyone??). Global warming isn’t a myth, and I cannot stand the fact that the United States government is now ignoring it. So, with the small voice I have on social media, I would like to bring more awareness to it, and what we all can do to help on our own. All our efforts make a difference. I am working very hard to make our family more eco-friendly and live a more sustainable life, and  I plan to share HOW we are doing this along the way!

The next big thing I am featuring in November is THANKSGIVING! We are a huge foodie family, and every year I travel home to spend this holiday with my family and we go all out. To make things more interesting, we have been ‘theme-ing’ our Thanksgiving feasts. Last year we did a Santa Fe theme, and incorporated some different spices and ingredients… my favorite part was the jalapeno cornbread stuffing! This year we are doing a French theme and will be attempting Turkey Galentine… if you have any recipe ideas that tie into this, please do share! I will be sharing our Thanksgiving prep along with lots of recipes… can’t wait!

I can’t believe the holiday season is officially here! I just love this time of year and need to soak it all up before it is gone.

Thanks for tuning in everyone!

X.O. Abbey Co.